OT: And I Thought We Were All A Little Geeky...

[Ash]

I thought that we all here were a little geeky in our own particular ways including myself.

I think that one has to be infected or born with a little geekiness to like B-movies. (If you deny this I wouldn't believe you)
Brother Ragnarok & I had that specific discussion on our road trip last April and we unanimously agreed on it.
We both admitted that we have a little geekiness in us and that we weren't ashamed.
Oh well, what can you do right?

BEHOLD!  
I have found the EPITOME of ULTRA-GEEKDOM.

Go here and read this first:  

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20040201_1082.html

Tell me this....What kind of woman would ACTUALLY go along with that!?
What is this s**t?  
Some kind of warped publicity stunt?
Rather than go along with my inherent geekiness and think it's cool, I actually find myself a little peeved about it and I don't know why.
I guess my COOL self and my GEEKY self are at odds over this and my cool self seems to be winning.

I would have to admit that both husband and wife may indeed have some mental problems...I would very well be willing to bet money that a psychiatrist would in fact diagnose them both with a disorder or two or three or four or five...no NORMAL person would do such a thing.

I don't mind geekiness and dorkdom but only in limited quantities is it acceptable...even for other geeks!
This is geekiness to the 500th freaking power!
My God!.

I have this weird urge to beat the father very badly with various assorted objects until he relented and gave that kid a proper f**kin' name!  
(the wife would be strapped into a chair and forced to watch as punishment to her for going along with it all)

I know I know, violence won't solve anything but it sure would feel good!

P.S.  If you actually think that this guy and his wife doing this is cool....give me your address so I can come to your house and beat you with various assorted objects!
Hehe!



Post Edited (02-03-04 17:14)

[Evil Matt]

That poor kid is NEVER, EVER going to have sex with a woman unless he pays for it.  His parents are vicious bastards.

[Eirik]

I have a place in my heart for most kinds of geeks...  except tech geeks.  The guys I deal with at work are a major pain in the ass and act like I'm imposing every time I have a problem.  When they solve the problem, they explain it to me in jargon like I was a numbskull for not knowing.  Meanwhile, I doubt any of these geeks could write a coherent paragraph, much less do any of the other things required by my job.  And of course they're just there to support me.  They're high and mighty now, but in a generation or two, what they do will have all the cache of being a mechanic.  People will call them keyboard monkies.  So in short, ASHTHECAT, I have no sympathy for tech geeks and I feel your ire here is completely justified.

Additionally, being a geek is one thing, but burdening your kid with a geek name is inexcusable.  A star trek geek who gave his kid a klingon name for example should be shot.  Fortunately, the young Mr. Cusak can always neglect to mention the stupid 2.0 thing.  He can also have it legally "deleted" on his 18th birthday at no cost - he just has to go down to the social security office and fill out a form.

[Mr_Vindictive]

I am one of the dreaded tech support that Eirik mentioned in the previous post.  As much as I love computers and dealing with them, I would never  EVER give my child a 2.0 at the end of their name.  That's just sick!

And by the way Eirik, not all of us are so bad. :o)

[Chopper]

HAHA!
Isn't there a law somewhere that states this is "cruel and unusual punishment!?"

[Eirik]

"And by the way Eirik, not all of us are so bad. :o)"

I'm sure you're not, but at my work they're all just like Jimmy Fallon's caricature of "Nick Burns, Your Company's Computer Guy."  

"And by the way...  YOU'RE WELCOME!!"

[Mr_Vindictive]

Heh.

Nick Burns is my hero.

"Yeah, well I know a lot about computers! I'm on the internet!"

"I bet you use AOL don't you?"

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?"

"It only doesn't support javascript!" ~snicker~

"Wha...."

"Oh my God that would be so funny...well if any of you knew anything about computers"

/Nick 0wnz

[AndyC]

Funny, I never thought Jr. or II or 2.0 would be an official part of the name. I figured they were just used to clarify when father and son have the same name. In any case, at least he'll probably just be known as Jon (although Jon Cusack is kind of amusing in itself). I agree that applying computer jargon to anything but computers is annoying, and giving kids weird names from hobbies, jobs and TV shows is just baffling, but this could have been much, much worse. His parents could have named him Photoshop or something, instead of just tacking the 2.0 onto an otherwise normal name. I'd consider it a mild example.

All tech geekery aside, I always found it kind of egotistical (and not particularly imaginative) to just name a kid after yourself, as this guy has done. I mean, maybe give him your first name as a middle name, or name him after a grandfather or a rich bachelor uncle or something. Nothing wrong with family names, but let him have a little individuality. At the very least, it clears up confusion when people call on the phone. I'll admit it makes a certain amount of sense to pass on a name if it is an important and recognized name that will be of value to the kid in the future, as in some wealthy families, but that's about the only excuse I can think of.



Post Edited (02-03-04 14:30)

[trekgeezer]

Dear Mr. Eirik,

I have been one of those Tech Geeks for 25 years and  would I not berate them if I were you.  Most of them act  the ways they do towards end users because a lot of end users are helpless dumbasses. We get tired of showing people the same stuff a million times and they still can't do it themselves.

I' m p**sed, so I am going to reign myself in a bit here and not totally toast your ass. But, aren't you doing the same thing you're accusing those  'computer guys' of and painting them all with the same brush?

I also wouldn't be looking down my  nose at  mechanics either. If you are so damned smart  why don't you fix things yourself?

I consider myself some what a geek, but  I draw the line at naming my kids after characters from from  Star Trek or wearing a  Starfleet  uniform to work.  I like TV and movies but they are not my life (neither are computers).

[wickednick]

Wow, I feel for that kid. I my self was named after the golfer Jack Nicklaus.My dad is a huge golf fan, I most dissapoint him becuase I hate the sport.
But to tell you the truth I have met geekyer people.I had a friend who loved D&D and actually changed his name to his D&D charector. So now he is known as Rudecar. And have you people ever delt  with the super Star Trek geeks who actually live by the rules of the federation? I have two cousins who are like that, and always bring up there Star Trek philosophie at family gatherings. Its hard not to revert to my dork beating up days when I'm around them.

[Velvet Brotha]

My friends know me as the chic geek! ; ) No.... not chick... (sheek)

[Vermin Boy]

I think he can have it changed before then, if he can convince his parents. That's what happened to Dweezil Zappa-- the nurse refused to help if they named their son Dweezil, so Frank came up with a "proper" name, then just called him Dweezil. When the 8-year-old Dweezil found out that wasn't technically his real name, he insisted they get it legally changed.

And I dunno about the "never getting laid" part. If I were him, I could totally use "John Cusack 2.0" to my advantage. ;)

[Brian Ringler]

I don't think its such a big deal.  I've jokingly tried to get my wife to agree to 5-6 middle names for a kid (whenever we have one, hopefully not soon, too many student loans still) so that the initials spell out a word and then use that for a secret code name for the kid.

PS I'm tempted by your offer of beating with various objects, but if you want to do that you can look me up in South Dakota so it wouldn't be that long of a trip for you ash.

[Brother Ragnarok]

That is intensely stupid.

Brother R

[AndyC]

Brian Ringler wrote:
> I've jokingly tried to get
> my wife to agree to 5-6 middle names for a kid (whenever we
> have one, hopefully not soon, too many student loans still) so
> that the initials spell out a word and then use that for a
> secret code name for the kid.

Actually, my wife and I have discussed the idea of a proper first and second name, and a third name that is a little more creative, taken from history or literature. That way, we could have something interesting without saddling the kid with an oddball name. I still think it would be kind of cool to have a son named Archimedes - Archie for short. Although it would be really ironic if he sucked at math.