Die Geek Die!

In the interest of being more productive and keeping work separate from home, I’ve been going to school early and staying late. I bring in my laptop and set up camp in an empty classroom until my noon class begins. It's been a great way to quietly catch up on my notes and review the lessons for the day.

Then the geeks found me.

At first, it was just one. He’s annoying but means well, and kept quiet unless asking me competitive Mac questions like “Do you have Tiger or Leopard?” I didn’t mind, and even had fun geeking out with him by comparing Leopard and Tiger, and whining about the crappy Auckland internet.

Word has spread and today my quiet empty classroom became HQ for 4 of the biggest geeks in my class, including the little kid I suspected of being American (wrong – he’s from Holland and is 16 years old).

I was trying to work, but the intermittent WiFi I was using/stealing from a nearby company kept going out. (that’s right: the school that specializes in digital and internet technology and design doesn’t allow its students WiFi access)

When the boys all started talking, it was game over. Topics of note:

1. the train conductor who didn’t know how to open the back doors (repeated to each person upon arrival)

2. Celsius versus Fahrenheit

3. Whose laptop gets better WiFi

4. My friend who owns a design company in Chicago says, "......"

5. Dude, I'm so psyched - I finally sold my old PC on TradeMe last night!

6. Whether a blog uses PHP or JavaScript

7. My girlfriend is hot - you should see her. She wears bikinis.

8. The roadblocks down the street: why are they there? (LOTS of debating over this one)

9. Oh yeah? Well, you know my friend? The one who owns the design company in Chicago? HE says, "....."

10. whether the A/C and heat is adjustable in our classroom (this revived the Celsius and Fahrenheit debate. It was ruled that Fahrenheit is "stupid" and all eyes turned to the American, like I would take offense somehow)

11. who makes the best external harddrives?

12. why Safari is the worst web browser

13. I'm just waiting for my Green card so I can go to Chicago and work for my friend. He owns a design company.

I sat there quietly, rolling my eyes and stifling all homicidal urges. After all, these kids and I will be spending almost as much time together as one does with coworkers. But it's safe to say that I will no longer be going in to school early. They've effectively taken over my once empty classroom. Geeks: 1 Sas: 0.