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With tongue firmly in cheek..
Jan. 10th, 2005 06:56 pm(This post is geek-heavy. Feel free to skip this post.)
As some know, I'm a diehard Commodore 64/128 user. I'm currently the treasurer for SWRAP, the South West Region Association of Programmers, (http://www.swrap.org http://www.swrapexpo.org).
Every year, we host Expositions -- basically a hotel convention room full of geeks showing off the latest and greatest in 20 year old hardware hacking. Recently, there was a new product released at QVC -- the Commodore DTV 30-in-1 tv joystick, which, coincidentally, was created by a bunch of people I know and hang out with every few months at the different Commodore expos. Everybody behind the DTV is wonderful, but for one simple reason, one specific person behind the DTV stands out.
Her name is Jeri Ellsworth.
Yes, I said "her." A female is the main force behind this device, and she's the one who actually designed the chip that runs the whole thing, and as far as I know, the actual circuit board as well.
Now why do I bring this up? Well, as my friend Dave and I have talked about quite often, because she's female, younger, and quite obviously a geek, she has attracted the attentions of nearly every male in the Commodore geek community. From what I understand, she also has the attentions of males in the Apple II community, and other older 8 bit computer communities as well.
Maybe you've seen her in the news -- the New York times did an article on her that was picked up, and according to the people that run our mailing list, their hits increased substantially when the Times article debuted due to geekbois googling her.
Personally, I find it absolutely hilarious to see all the people who fall over themselves over this -- I've hung out with jeri quite a few times, and while admittedly she -is- attractive, and she's great to hang out with, and lots of fun, as someone who's hung out with her, I have a hard time fathoming this response by the male geek community -- well, okay, I do understand, but still, having been one of the few to be happily married and no longer in the "loser" club who fawn all over some unattainable object, it's wierd to see all these people objectify her as some sort of geek babe. She's my friend, not some geek pinup to adore. I googled something related to her myself in regards to this post (apparently someone online has a DVD about her!) and came across a couple of livejournals where people have mentioned how hot she is, or their undying love.. such as this post: http://www.livejournal.com/users/sylvar/98587.html
As a dedicated people watcher and student of the social condition, this concept fascinates me. I've met quite a few people that could be considered "famous," but to me, they're just people who've done neat stuff, and while I admire what they've done (and okay, get weak in the knees at times,) it doesn't make sense to fall at their feet and worship them. Going out for drinks, talking to them like normal people, that I can understand. However, I'm also a sadistic bastard.
Yes, you read that right. I'm sadistic.
So, to all you geekbois out there.. mwahahahah!
So does that make me some sort of geek god now? *sarcastic snort*
TW
As some know, I'm a diehard Commodore 64/128 user. I'm currently the treasurer for SWRAP, the South West Region Association of Programmers, (http://www.swrap.org http://www.swrapexpo.org).
Every year, we host Expositions -- basically a hotel convention room full of geeks showing off the latest and greatest in 20 year old hardware hacking. Recently, there was a new product released at QVC -- the Commodore DTV 30-in-1 tv joystick, which, coincidentally, was created by a bunch of people I know and hang out with every few months at the different Commodore expos. Everybody behind the DTV is wonderful, but for one simple reason, one specific person behind the DTV stands out.
Her name is Jeri Ellsworth.
Yes, I said "her." A female is the main force behind this device, and she's the one who actually designed the chip that runs the whole thing, and as far as I know, the actual circuit board as well.
Now why do I bring this up? Well, as my friend Dave and I have talked about quite often, because she's female, younger, and quite obviously a geek, she has attracted the attentions of nearly every male in the Commodore geek community. From what I understand, she also has the attentions of males in the Apple II community, and other older 8 bit computer communities as well.
Maybe you've seen her in the news -- the New York times did an article on her that was picked up, and according to the people that run our mailing list, their hits increased substantially when the Times article debuted due to geekbois googling her.
Personally, I find it absolutely hilarious to see all the people who fall over themselves over this -- I've hung out with jeri quite a few times, and while admittedly she -is- attractive, and she's great to hang out with, and lots of fun, as someone who's hung out with her, I have a hard time fathoming this response by the male geek community -- well, okay, I do understand, but still, having been one of the few to be happily married and no longer in the "loser" club who fawn all over some unattainable object, it's wierd to see all these people objectify her as some sort of geek babe. She's my friend, not some geek pinup to adore. I googled something related to her myself in regards to this post (apparently someone online has a DVD about her!) and came across a couple of livejournals where people have mentioned how hot she is, or their undying love.. such as this post: http://www.livejournal.com/users/sylvar/98587.html
As a dedicated people watcher and student of the social condition, this concept fascinates me. I've met quite a few people that could be considered "famous," but to me, they're just people who've done neat stuff, and while I admire what they've done (and okay, get weak in the knees at times,) it doesn't make sense to fall at their feet and worship them. Going out for drinks, talking to them like normal people, that I can understand. However, I'm also a sadistic bastard.
Yes, you read that right. I'm sadistic.
So, to all you geekbois out there.. mwahahahah!
So does that make me some sort of geek god now? *sarcastic snort*
TW
