Happy Geek Day

July 33rd doesn't have anything with it.

That's only on Praetorian America.

You should start National No National Day.

There is at the moment, but the Worldwide Holiday Committee is considering making it Middle Class White Male Heritage Day. Problem is, giving a holiday to that particular minority is considered racist.

You could still crack open a beer and watch some sport as an act of defiance.

I had lasik surgery in 2002 and no longer wear glasses. To me, that is the ultimate in geekdom. "I'm going to cure your nearsightedness by shooting laser beams into your eyes."

They asked me if I wanted a valium to calm my nerves before the surgery. I told them, "No way! This is something right out of Star Trek, and I want to be completely awake, aware, and in full possession of my faculties throughout the entire process!"

I distinctly remember the surgeon walking in and asking me, "So how do you feel today?" I told him, "Who the hell cares how I feel? How do you feel? Be up front with me. Did your wife leave you this morning? Did your dog die? Because I want you to be really comfortable and happy while doing this procedure." He was appropriately amused an assured me that he and his wife were happy and his dog in good health.

Little tip for anyone considering lasik. If you go for it, the day of your surgery, wear a sweatshirt. I don't care if it's 100 degrees outside. They keep the room where they have the laser frigid and you're going to be lying on that freezing cold slab of a table for a while. I was stupid and wore a t-shirt and blue jeans, and I damn near froze my buttcheeks off.

It really was like something out of Star Trek. Immediately after the surgery, my vision was around 20/30. Over the next two weeks or so, it normalized to around 20/12, which meant that I had better than normal vision. There was no pain, no discomfort, no itchiness at all. The only bad thing about the experience was the nasty antibiotic eyedrops I had to use for a couple of weeks. When they drained down my tear ducts and into my throat, I had the most godawful taste in my mouth. I'd always have to use them around the time I ate to try to keep the taste out. And it was slighly chalky, so these little white boogers would accumulate in the corner of my eye after using them. But two weeks of nasty eyedrops versus eight years and counting of not having the hassle of glasses or contacts and having friggin' lasers shot into my eyes, that's a no-brainer. I'd do it again in a heartbeat and highly recommend it to anyone considering having it done.

I hope they come up with a similarly cool cure for presbyopia before I get old enough to need reading glasses.

No, the ultimate in geekdom would have been an accident during surgery that left you with the ability to shoot lasers out of your eyes

As a nerd (Who dislikes the use of word "geek" to describe people like me. Geeks are the folks who shoot cannon balls at themselves or hammer nails up their noses in circus sideshows.), I need no special day to fly my freak flag! For me every day is nerd day!

You nerd. :P

and I completely forgot about towel day.

My wife is having it done next month. Mind if I give her this little tidbit to toss out there?
Another good idea. Consider that suggestion well-taken.
I assume that long ago that it was the blade-type lasik? Wonder if the new blade-free dispenses with the anti-biotics...
While meeting with the surgeon last week, he mentioned that this was 'being worked on' - essentially he thought it was already in FDA trials, but whether it gets approved in 6 months or 6 decades is anyone's guess.

As for me, still rocking 20/12 in my good eye and 20/20 in my 'bad' eye at the ripe old age of 43 next month. Hopefully I can stave off the downhill slide until the presbyopia fix is in and just get it all done at once.
It's not like there's a guy standing there sticking a laser pointer in your eye. I think the chances of permanent eye injury are less in a lasik procedure than the chances of a hailstone hitting your glasses and driving a shard of glass into your eye.

Yeah, they take an entire 6-week course to get licensed to use that thing.

And damn proud of it! I work hard to build this empire of dirt I lord over! Mwhahaha!

You have dishonored the honorable Spectacles. He will place a curse on you that makes you only able to speak Klingon.

(Why is it that my web browser doesn't think "Klingon" is misspelled, but it thinks "colour" is misspelled?)

One is correct, the other is not.

Okay, I can live with that. That's certainly how I was in ancient days. Adulthood has taught me many coping mechanisms. I can engage in idle chitchat with the best of them--but inside, if it's not a subject I'd ordinarily froth over, I just mark time until the zero interest conversation ends and I can get back to reading my book or the Web.

But I don't think it's mere introversion. There are introverts who are not nerdy and there are nerds who are not introverts--I think Feynman was one of those.

And maybe it's not fair to class Feynman as nerd. Nerd doesn't necessarily mean genius but it does seem to imply higher than average intelligence at weird and mostly useless things.

Maybe the term is just useless in the end. Maybe it's just only pejorative for any kid who's just a little different.

There's a reason it's called an "irrational" fear.