Hula Girl Loves Nerd Boy

Tonight I went to my first hula dance lesson taught by Jennifer. I went with my next door neighbor Annie, her next door neighbor Margaret (on the other side), and Celeste across the street. Annie's husband Fred dropped us off down the street at Jennifer's house. It was so close we could have walked, LOL. My hips tried really hard, but they looked nothing like Jennifer's. We learned to lele and kaholo. I didn't do too badly for a first-timer I guess. Jennifer was a thorough and fun teacher and I had fun just hanging out with my neighbors. :) We took the day off work today so that we could go sign the contract with our remodeling contractor. After that we met with Jim the appliance guy and got quotes for kitchen appliances. Then we stopped by the plumbing store and Mark schooled us on shower heads, valves, toilets, and sinks. And we got tons of brochures to bring home. Then we met with Kim, the designer we're working with, and picked out the stone for our kitchen backsplash. It was so fun, but overwhelming and exhausting. We walked away with so much information and sometimes even more confused than before. The tentative start date of our remodeling is April 6th. Todd had an interesting night too. I'll let him talk about it in his own words. :p The San Diego Science Festival is going on right now. When I heard they were having a presentation by author Ben Nugent about his book American Nerd: the Story of My People (book review here), I had no choice but to attend. I felt like a bit of an automaton as I was drawn to the Pacific Beach library to see what I might find. The night went about as I expected. The author was nervous, unpolished, and not well-dressed. Nugent started by reading a few passages from the book and followed it with a much more fun Q&A. His most interesting concept was Dr. Frankenstein as the "proto-nerd." He was feared because of his mysterious technical skills. Similarly, we nerds/geeks of today wield a bit of "mystical" power. Those who don't have it become jealous and cast aspersions our way. And of course we don't help ourselves with our poor social skills. I think a lot of the audience wanted to believe the romantic-to-them notion that the nerds of adolescence will rule the world as adults a la Bill Gates (while the jocks have seen the best years of their lives already passed by.) At times it seemed that the bulk of the crowd wanted to hear that affirmation. That wasn't really Nugent's message but he ran with it a bit. It is true that there are more opportunities than ever for the technically sharp/socially inept. I enjoyed the sociological message and it was a fun and unusual evening. But after attending this event, I still am not sure if I am a nerd or not. However, my love of Battlestar Galactica is unquestioned. :p