what makes you a nerd?

[BarefootDawsy]

And, perhaps, nerdiest of all, I made this powerpoint presentation: https://csel.cs.colorado.edu/~mcnultym/oo/tdd/

That presentation is awseome...wish my lecturers would use your technique rather than the boring garbage they usually put together!

[MatthewD]

Well I am old school AD&D still have 2 of my original books from the early 80's

Read scifi and fantasy a lot

Reteaching myself organic chemistry seems I have forgotten a ton

I still have and use my TI-74 BasiCal on a regular basis.. trying to teach myself how to use one of those new fangled TI-83 plus now

I teach chemistry and biology at my high school

I am the goto guy on anything tech related at school.. even if it is something I have never seen before I get to solve the problem first

I owe a tie with Albert Einstein on it

[ETFnerd]

i forgot that i am a card-carrying member...

[Loren Wade]

i forgot that i am a card-carrying member...

I hope that isn't an expiration date.

[K Po]

Off the top of my head...

-Science has always been something I enjoy doing and am currently pursuing a PhD in Chemistry.

-Grew up on Marvel. Comics, cartoons, action figures, everything. Loved them all.

-Former action figure collector and enthusiast.

-I love me some video games, though have played less this in the past year. I finally got Skyward Sword and need to figure in some play time.

[ETFnerd]

yeah, i have an expired iq...

[RDOwens]

I just read through this thread. Interesting. Even if I didn't think I was a nerd, after reading all the responses, I found out that I was. Why?

• books
  Lots of folks mentioned books. Yeah, I got books.
  
• cartography
  Had I known it was something I could have studied in college, I would have. Who knew? I love maps. That, along with the love of GPS technology, is the reason I got into geocaching more than a decade ago.
  
• modems
  I remember modems. I believe the first modem I used was 300 baud. It seems to me we doubled them up at some point that seemed to increase the throughput.
  
• D&D
  My D&D days were before there were modems. Well, actually, that isn't quite true as the first home computer I connected to was circa 1975. Anyhow, I began creeping back into D&D right before I met my wife. When she showed up, the dungeons were retired.
  
• flute
  I was first chair in fourth grade. Who cares I couldn't (and still can't) read music? My musical career was short-lived.
  
• grammar
  I like teaching grammar. I am on record as saying I could easily teach grammar and mathematics all day long. I battle over word usage; I've purchased textbooks to re-teach myself diagramming sentences; I had a dictionary collection, not to mention I have toyed with writing a few different dictionaries. This stems directly from the fact that the dictionary made an appearance at dinner in my youth.
  
• computers
  I built my own (and for others) computers for years
  
• baseball cards
  I collected for years. I learned statistics from that; a family friend cautioned my mother not to toss my cards when I outgrew them; years later I got back into it again. By the time I sold them, I had enough to purchase a new car; before the Internet, I would calculate batting averages as I ate my Wheaties so I could update my cards
  
• pets having a web page
  My cat had a web page and a column in a newsletter I used to publish monthly; yeah, having a monthly newsletter about yourself is rather nerdy, eh?
  
• Monty Python movies
  I have seen all the Monty Python movies multiple times . . . back in college we used to rent VCRs for the weekend, sign out a room in the arts building and show movies all weekend with our friends. Meaning of Life was a huge hit!
  
• I cheer for the underdog when my team isn't playing . . . unless the underdog is the Yankees. There is never a moment I root for them.
  
• Standing in Line @ Midnight
  I purchased the fifth Harry Potter book at midnight when it went on sale (although, I was not in costume); I did the same for when Windows 95 came out
  
• OCD
  That's me. I just finished organizing 85,000+ digital photographs. Each is tagged thoroughly. Now I am working on the ~2,000 books. When I collected baseball cards, I had to finish the series.
  
• have owned a hermit crab
  

It seems to me that I have other characteristics that may label me a nerd.

• played Third Reich for days on end in college . . . with one of my professors
  
• I organize things for fun; there's the OCD.
  
• completist
  I can't just do something a little bit. When I traded Grateful Dead tapes, I had to have them all. When I geocached, I had to find them all within my region. It doesn't matter what I do, I have to have it totally completed; I can't leave it incomplete.
  
• I enjoy listening to Tom Leherer. I thank my mother for that.
  
• I realize that a pocket protector is functional (although I don't actually have one)
  
• Used to go see Rocky Horror on a regular basis
  
• I recall the Happy Days episode where Potsie was called a nerd but Joanie called him a Dren!
  
• I have a MLB.tv account so I can score baseball games. I have designed my own scorecard to that end.
  
• I plan my Toastmasters speeches (and other roles) a year in advance.
  

[Maggie May]

I guess on the outside (to other people) I don't come across as a "nerd" - unless you knew I was a HUGE "band nerd" and was in marching band all the way through college. And I studied music, so I still listen to it with a very analytical ear - it drives people nuts!

Oh, and sometimes I dance in front of the mirror. By myself. I think that's pretty nerdy..

[Atalan]

Dancing in the mirror by yourself?

That's what I do between sets when I work out (I work out at home).

[Benhem612]

Why am I a Nerd - Mostly a book / sci-fi nerd.

1. My pickup line in college - "Do you want to see my book collection" My pickup line after college -"Do you want to go to my favorite book store?" (After having to much to drink at a party and falling out of my chair a nice lady was telling me about her love of Autumn, I forced her to take a Ray Bradbury collection home with her..She is now my wife, I no longer fall out of chairs but still love my wife and bradbury)

2. I tried MMOs but I have diagnosed myself with multi-player social anxiety. I now stick with single player video games.

3. I like most everything science fiction and fantasy (oddly enough I haven't been able to enjoy star wars)

[Tophreignssupreme]

-My love of weaponry

-My desire to make ancient, medieval, and renaissance weapons

-I'm obsessed with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Batman the animated series, Game of Thrones, Xena: The Warrior Princess, Classical Disney Movies, Original Disney orchestral scores, and Gargoyles (the Disney show).

- I love History, fantasy, mythology, politics/debating, and languages.

-Speaking of learning, I love attempting to read 20 books at once. My brother often tells me that reading will make me "dumberer" :-)

-I hope to get involved in battle re-enactments someday.

[Benhem612]

Tohpreign I hear you about the 20 books at once. I don't plan to try them all, I just get a lot of recomendations and end up immersed in a bunch at once. Getting a kindle was one of the best things that could have happened to my marriage due to the number of books I used to have next to the bed.

[Top Boss Ultra]

- Writing fiction.

- My BA in English teaching.

- Reading literary fiction.

- Playing banjo.

- Playing D&D.

- The years I wasted on WoW.

- The video games I still play.

- Rubik's Cube.

- Being a member of this forum.

There's probably more.

[bondgirl311]

Oh gosh, where to start?

- I'm more of a "late-blooming nerd" - I didn't like Star Wars until a few years ago

- I love history like a techy loves his/her computer bits

- I devour anything I can read (I also had a "no books at the table" rule as a kid... okay, even now. I get anxious if I don't have something I can read with me when I go out - Kindle for iPhone saved me.)

- I suck a video games. But I played a lot of games like "house" and "dress up" as a kid... by myself

- I research things for fun

- Instead of texting on my phone during class I was cross-stitching, crocheting or doing crossword puzzles

- Words to me are what numbers are to a mathlete, I like to refer to myself as a "word nerd" sometimes

- I'm more of a social geek, but I was in no way popular in school

- I was in band, choir and drama before it started becoming cool

- Picked on as a kid a lot

- My mother would say "You are so weird..." and then try to correct herself by saying, " - no... unique. You're unique." I guess she didn't want to give me some sort of complex

- I think a guy who can fix my computer and lift heavy things is sexy (especially if they'll watch Doctor Who, Torchwood, Star Wars or Firefly with me afterward.)

...

- This list continues to grow!

[bondgirl311]

-My love of weaponry

-My desire to make ancient, medieval, and renaissance weapons

-I'm obsessed with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Batman the animated series, Game of Thrones, Xena: The Warrior Princess, Classical Disney Movies, Original Disney orchestral scores, and Gargoyles (the Disney show).

- I love History, fantasy, mythology, politics/debating, and languages.

-Speaking of learning, I love attempting to read 20 books at once. My brother often tells me that reading will make me "dumberer" :-)

-I hope to get involved in battle re-enactments someday.

Where have you BEEN all my life?! *warm, friendly embrace*