#NerdsUnite: So She Has a Boyfriend. So what?

<editorsnote> Jordan is a dating coach. But not like "a" dating coach ... lemme rephrase that, he is THE dating coach. He has a show on SiriusXM called "Game On" and he's a super smarty pants when it comes to examining social dynamics. No ... like for real. </editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's Jordan Harbinger

So you hit it off with a woman and then she tells you that she has a boyfriend.

If you really have balls – and you have to do this with extreme confidence – you can to look her directly in the eyes and say, “Listen, I’m going to lay it flat out for you. I rarely meet someone that I find this attractive, and you’ve got fucking killer energy.”

Continue, “Here’s what I’m going to do: I know that there’s a chance in life that this boyfriend of yours – and he’s your boyfriend, not your husband – might not work out in the future. I’m not someone who is going to squash your relationship; I’m not going to tell you to break up with him, and I don’t want to be your friend.”

“It’s not that I don’t like being friends with women, but I don’t want to be the shoulder to cry on.” So you say all that and then you just smile. You can even play it up a little bit and play it off as a joke: “I don’t like wearing dresses; I’m not one of the girls.”

You keep going, “But I have to tell you something – you have a dynamic presence. If you ever break up with him, here is my card. Tuck it away in a corner; put it on the shelf in your shoe closet – I don’t care where you put it. But if you break up with him, you and I are going to get together and I’m going to get to know you better.”

If you can say that with confidence, hand her that card, and then with the theme music to a movie in your head, you touch her lightly on the arm and ask, “What was your name?” She says, “Amy.”

You respond, “Amy, it was a pleasure. We will be seeing each other soon.” And then you walk away smoothly.

She will tell her friends and her friends will not believe her. Her friends will say, “What are you talking about? Why are you still going out with Joe? Come on, go out with that guy!” And she’ll have your card. She’ll produce that card.

You have to play the percentages. Just because she’s in a relationship doesn’t mean it’s a good or healthy one. You don’t have time to find out if it’s good or not – you’re not a girl. You don’t want to find out about the depth of her relationship with another guy.

But you are willing to play the cards. And when you play that card, it will get passed around to her friends. “Was he hot?” they will ask. “Oh my god, he was hot,” she will say, and they’ll say, “Text him, text him!”

If you have that confidence, you never know what might happen. I have done this before and received random text messages a few days later. You ask, “Who is this?” and she responds, “It’s Magazine Girl!”

If you really want to get in touch with her, get sensual with her and give her a nickname. “Alright, Magazine Girl, I’ll see you later.” “Alright, Chocolate Girl, I’ll see you later.” Giving her a nickname creates immediate intimacy.

Doing this takes total balls!

#nerdsunite

Jordan Harbinger is a Wall Street lawyer turned Social Dynamics expert and coach.  He is the owner and co-founder of The Art of Charm, a dating and relationships coaching company.  If you dig this and want to learn more from Jordan and The Art of Charm team, then visit http://www.theartofcharm.com.  You can also interact with Jordan on Facebook.

#NerdsUnite: Woot! Shirts

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Jordan. He was one of the first writers here on TNTML and he's a really rad mofo. I forget how we first started talking - but he lives allllllll the way over in Kansas and wants to talk to you about life from his side of the monitor in the keyword of nerd. I only have one more thing left to say ... HIT IT JORDAN!! </editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @SaintPepsi

I can't remember when I first was linked to www.woot.com, but it in a way it changed my life. I rarely buy any of their woot deals. However, I have become quite fond of their T-shirt daily deal. Every day, I check to see what the new artistic design is on their shirt site. My closet is overflowing with T-shirts for every occasion now. I certainly, don't buy every single shirt I see, but it seems at least once a month one comes around that I just love. I don't often do promotions for anything here, but there is something fascinating about these shirts in particular. For one, aside from the woot community, no one else really wears them, which gives them an exclusive and inclusive feeling to them. I’m sure I could go to Hot Topic and find some funny shirt, but I know I would run into a few other people that are wearing the same shirt and that’s just awkward. Bumping into other people wearing a Woot! shirt though, that’s just fantastic. We beam with pride over our purchase and exchange stories. This brings me to the point of this article.

We know our own. It's weird, but even if we didn't buy the shirt we can recognize it as a Woot! shirt because like I said, we check the site every day for its new merch. I can’t tell you the number of times I have stopped someone in the street or at a bar and opened with a point of the finger and just uttered the word, “Woot!” It’s our calling card. Their shirts are both fantastic and artistic. I realize there are many T-Shirt communities online. Threadless, Think Geek, and many others I’m sure. It’s just that Woot! has always had my heart. They deal in the brand of Nerd I most closely associate with. They in large part interact really well with their community. Each shirt is accompanied with a description, a short story on the artist, and usually where and when you should wear the shirt. There have been many a math shirt I didn’t get at all. I’m not very into math jokes. Those shirts have a very particular audience though. I tend to get shirts based around video games and literature. Their interaction with their community is stunning though. They have Derby Draw offs, where they suggest a theme and people create shirts for that theme that are then voted on. I must admit I have a dream to one day design a Woot! Shirt but I always forget to check when the Derby is up and running. It helps to get in early.

Furthermore, the shirts themselves are just super comfortable. I have given so many of these shirts as gifts. Usually, when they do the random shirt I’ll get 2 my size as they are half the price and if I have them already or just don’t fancy them I’ll give them to friends. With the general price of the shirts at 12 bucks shipping included that’s one hell of a deal. Especially, for someone my size. I will usually wear them out to give them a test run with my peers. For instance I got one shirt: It was Red with and it had an excited robot on it. I said to myself, “Man! I don’t think I would ever wear this shirt.” Still, I gave it a test run. Walking down the street a random passerby said, “Hey man! Sweet shirt.” I thought to myself, “Well maybe it’s not so bad.” So I would wear it more often, always getting compliments on it. I dubbed it my lucky robot shirt and lucky it was. I met Jason Bateman in that shirt. In fact that shirt has been on many adventures with me. Just saying always give the shirt a test run.

In summary, this may not be your community, but I definitely urge you to give it a shot and see if any of the shirts they have for sale tickle your fancy.

#nerdsunite

click here to follow Jordan on the twittah!

#NerdsUnite: Confessions of a Videogame Journalist (Goodbye, Old Friend)

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy John. We started talking on the twitter not too long ago, and then he reached out and asked if he could write for us regarding his journey through the nerdy realm. I was all DUDDEEE!! That's so raaaddd!! And now, here we are. Like right now, in real time, this is happening. Pretty cool huh? HIT IT JOHN!!! </editorsnote> 

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @JohnSollitto

On April 3rd, I woke up to disturbing news.

One of my all-time favorite publishers, LucasArts, had closed its doors as a development studio.

Since George Lucas sold his company and all those under LucasFilm to Disney, I had been wary about Mickey Mouse doing some house-cleaning.

Sure enough, LucasArts was hit and is now only we can only look forward to games about Star Wars and Indiana Jones coming from companies that bid high enough to be able to handle a game that Disney decides they want to produce.

While it is true that LucasArts has not produced a decent game since Battlefront or Battlefront 2, it is unfortunate to know that two very promising and much anticipated games are now canned, or at least put in indefinite suspension until Disney decides that it is time to bring them back to the public eye.

Why is this upsetting to me? Well, for one, I wanted to work at LucasArts. From my very first journey into the Star Wars universe outside outside of a VHS or the movie theater, I have been captivated by the work the company did.

Not only did they produce top-notch flight sims like TIE Fighter and Rogue Squadron, but the cheeky point-and-click adventures for the computer provided hours of family entertainment and intellectually stimulating fun.

What has Disney produced? I hesitate to say a load of sub-par games as the Epic Mickey franchise is both fun and unique, but honestly, when was the last time you played a Disney Interactive game? From cart racing to movie tie-in games, Disney has released nothing but games that many people just acknowledge and don’t really take seriously.

This is not to say that LucasArts has done anything of note recently that would shatter the cosmos. Some might debate that the Force Unleashed series was actually okay if you ignore the second game, but the last game that I remember Disney producing that wasn’t a racing game based off of Cars was the Tron game and I still want my money back from that.

I’m worried. While Bioware and other companies have stepped up to the plate and made games like Knights of the Old Republic, there’s just not enough in Disney’s powerhouse to make me feel like they’ll do good with Star Wars brand when it comes to video games.

In a similar vein, THQ recently shut its doors and sold off all of their franchises to those willing to buy. I’m not sure if it’s something in the air or if there really is trouble in Paradise, but there have been some closures and big layoffs in the gaming industry.

For companies dedicated to making games that people enjoy and love, they’re sure on some hard times.

#nerdsunite

Want more from John? Click here to follow him on the twitter!

Check out his gaming site too!

#NerdsUnite: The secret life of a veterinary technician (Reflection Part 3)

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Lindsay. She and I met ... well, somewhere in the social space. I think we might have started talking through this site directly, then through facebook - maybe ... I'm not sure. But she's awesome. I talk to her on twitter almost every day, and she's really rad and TOTALLY a big huge animal lover. Like crazy huge!! In these series of posts she will be talking about her life and random adventures with sometimes more than two legged creatures. I guess there's only one more thing left to say ... HIT IT LINDSAY!!</editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @TheCraftafarian

(Catch up by reading Part 1 and Part 2)

We last left off on Reflection Part 2 in 2007 when I left AVS and was accepted into the University of Florida undergraduate program. I took a position at UF's Small Animal Veterinary Medical Center. After working with the amazing staff at AVS I knew that no matter what I couldn't let anyone keep me from my passion--animals, science, veterinary medicine. Since this story is about my career and not the blunders of college (again that can be for another time) I will keep it short and just say my acceptance was conditional but I wasn't informed in time to complete the requirement thus my acceptance was rescinded. At this point I was focused and refused to give up--I stayed in Gainesville with my new job and resumed classes at Santa Fe College. 

My job was in the small animal ICU/CC (intensive care unit/critical care). I worked the "swing" shift which was 5 days a week 5pm to 1am. I also went to class during the day. The shift I worked was mostly unsupervised--no doctors--just techs with doctors on call. When I first got up there I had to get blood drawn, physical exam, rabies vaccinations, and training on the day shift. They told me usually new employees train for a week but after 3 days I was put onto my new shift. The rabies vaccinations were administered in a series of a few weeks and they made me feel sick every time--which is supposedly a normal side effect. 

I fit in fairly well with the diverse staff and learned many new skills quickly. Most of the time we were monitoring and administering medications and treatments to the patients in our ward. We had many post-operative patients as well as critically ill patients. I went in with general nursing skills and came out knowing advanced skills. Despite all the obstacles I've faced everything has made me into the person and professional that I am today. Working in ICU we had our unfortunate fair share of experience in CPR and because of this I am quite comfortable (for lack of a better word) performing the potentially life-saving action. My almost two years of employment at UF was a crash course in emergency care/resuscitation, cardiology, surgery, advanced nursing and venipuncture (special IV catheters and blood drawing) and so much more. 

I wish I kept journals during so much of this time but I never really wrote about work and when I did write about anything it was sporadic depressive ramblings. Anyway, for about a year I worked that shift and most weekends drove back to Orlando to visit David. I never specifically had trouble with management but a few of my coworkers did and I developed a healthy disdain for my employers (or at least the people they put in charge). For whatever reason our department (there was cardiology, radiology, etc--just like human specialists, they had everything) was the only one in small animal that ran 24 hours a day and constantly brought in money but our staff was often the most harassed and we were always an after-thought. Upper management purposely misled our direct manager during evaluations (that were supposed to lead to raises) so that most of us did not score high enough despite what our manager reported about us. They created this "career ladder" format of rigorous checklists, signatures, written and verbal testing which was the graded using a mysterious formula that equaled to a dollar amount for an individual’s raise. When questioned they were unable to provide said formula or explain their conclusions. Several other little rude, condescending, selfish actions and remarks that aren't even the point of this story. They often forgot about the late shifts when they actually planned something for the staff whether it was educational, fun, or mandatory. We would have to stay hours late after our shifts or come in during the middle of the day just for a meeting. Even though I am still a little bitter about a few things I would do it all over again because it made me just that much better at what I do! 

I'm having a difficult time remembering which cases came and what point while I worked at UF so I'm going to go through some photos (thankfully the files has date taken recorded...awesome!) and try to figure out what happened at what time. During my last year there I was suddenly switched from the swing shift to an overnight position which entailed more duties, longer shifts, less help, and I would at one point be the senior technician. I didn't have an option. I asked for an increase in pay and was denied. I had to drop all of my classes as my new schedule was effective within two weeks. I had a really hard time adjusting to the overnight shift but I still have some amazing experiences and became good friends with someone I probably wouldn't have if we didn't work so close together. I'll share this photo of a 10 month of white Bengal tiger baby boy. He's quite large as he is almost a year old. The "little" guy injured a bone in his leg and was on cage rest with a cast. Our duty at night was to check on him and make sure he didn't remove his cast. If he did then we would call the zoo med veterinarian. However we did get to pet him through the cage a few times. ;-o He was very sweet and would try to lick your hand through the bars and would place his paw against your palm.

Next week I will share special and interesting cases I experienced during my time there. I hope at the very least to show you some cool photos of animals you wouldn't usually get to see up close and also to show you what I do and have done in my career in veterinary medicine. 

#nerdsunite

<3 Lindsay 
twitter: @thecraftafarian
blog: craftafarian.blogspot.com
email: craftafarian at gmail d c

#NerdsUnite: Confessions of a Videogame Journalist (GDC!)

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy John. We started talking on the twitter not too long ago, and then he reached out and asked if he could write for us regarding his journey through the nerdy realm. I was all DUDDEEE!! That's so raaaddd!! And now, here we are. Like right now, in real time, this is happening. Pretty cool huh? HIT IT JOHN!!! </editorsnote> 

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @JohnSollitto

Well I’m back!

GDC was extremely fun and beneficial to me in a personal and professional capacity, but I wanted to talk about the entire idea of GDC and how much I love it.

So, for those who don’t know what it is, GDC is the Game Developers Conference that is held each year. During that time, there are several panels and talks that are beneficial to those in the industry and those trying to get in the industry.

The talks range from high-profile game developers and companies, to small-time indie studios talking about their latest projects or their newest releases.

I think what I love about this is that it is a large-scale version of what I want my site to be. The Game Creators Vault is a place for learning and sharing. In our reviews we try to be academic and smart rather than commenting on how fun a game is and how much our personal preference matters. We try to dissect a game down to its core mechanics and really show whether or not this was a good move or not.

We want to reach out to gamers and those interested in getting into the industry as a creative or any other type.

GDC seems to be the best and most international and professional way of doing what we want to achieve. Not only that, but it is an irreplaceable way of having those in the industry meet up with each other and form solidarity in the fact that we are all in this together and that we are all in love with what we do.

My most favorite thing to hear during the convention was, “Hey, what’s your story?”

People were just happy to meet each other and learn about each other and share in the experience. Men and women. Don’t let anyone tell you the gaming industry is a boys club anymore. I saw just as many women looking for jobs, showing portfolios and shaking hands with hiring managers as there were men.

Now, I have said on Twitter that I am working on my own game project, but as a press man, the most interesting thing to me was seeing how a convention could really just be one giant job fair and exposition.

For press, this is just a way to gauge how the industry is going. Which companies are hiring, which aren’t. What projects they may or may not be working on. If you’re careful, you can gauge if a company is doing well or not simply by how many positions they’re willing to fill. This could mean expansion or rounds of lay-offs. You just have to ask the right questions.

My favorite thing to hear was “Hey, what’s your story?” but my favorite thing to see was the IGF. The Independent Game Festival was soooooo cool to browse through. Games I’ve never heard of, games I have heard of. All sorts of stuff. The varying styles, the interesting ideas and the sheer excitement of everyone there was so infectious.

It was so wonderful to see the developers smiling broadly, just happy to be there and show people what they made. After all, they were just like the people attending the convention. Just as eager to get into the industry and just as bewildered as how to do it. I’m just like that now and I can’t wait to be on the other side of it.

I had a good friend get me into the convention this year and I owe him a lot for all of the professional connections that I made and the experiences there. I am truly blessed with some good friends and some good times.

If you want to talk more about GDC and what goes on there, give me a tweet at @JohnSollitto and we’ll talk!

#nerdsunite

Want more from John? Click here to follow him on the twitter!

Check out his gaming site too!