Say it loud, say it plowed.

Modern Drunkard Magazine.com

The Sisters

I call my two girls “The Sisters.” Cora and Callie are less than two years apart in age and are rarely apart physically either, preferring to do most everything together.

The Matthews

My two closest friends are named Matthew: one wants to be called by the full name Matthew while the other is fine with just Mat. I also have at least two other Matthews in my regular circle of friends.

Since all the Matthews know each other the sum of their combined influence on me can be thought of as a cross product of their individual influences on me. (Anyone remember their matrix equations from Linear Algebra?) I refer to “The Matthews” as a shorthand for this cross product of the Matthew Matrix.

Tee

Tee is shorthand for my wife Tina. She is the most wonderful, beautiful, supportive, inspiring person I know. She’s persevered through three pregnancies to give me three wonderful children and, amazingly, she’s made love to me way more than just those three times. I’m her servant, fan, and partner forever.

Got a spam email today sent from Heidi Bambi. Does that name instantly tell you what the email is going to be about or what? In its own way, that

This is — you guessed it! — my third installment of the multi-part article.

This is my MPA, part 2.

This is my multipart article. Part 1.

I don’t really consider this a blog per se. It’s more of an adjunct to the family web site at colemania.com. I use it for entries of mine that don’t fit the vibe of the Coleman family website as a whole.

This photo was taken by my brother on Christmas morning as my girls were opening their Christmas presents. Callie got some TicTacs in her stocking and, as Callie is wont to do, her first reaction is to share them with someone else.

What is it to be a nerd?

In junior high and high school nerdiness was mostly about being unpopular while also smarter than the popular kids. If Star Quarterback, being stronger and better looking than you, fails to match your A on the chemistry test then the reason, obviously, is because you’re a nerd. Popular kids are indeed amazing but you wouldn’t expect them to out-test a nerd, would you? That would be nerdy!

In the teenage years nerdiness only existed at the intersection of smart and unpopular. There were always people both smart and popular who were not nerds. In fact, if Star Quarterback failed to match Beautiful Cheerleader’s grade on the chemistry test, he might tease her that she was becoming a nerd. Should this insult be allowed to diminish her popularity then it would indeed mean that she was becoming a nerd. To avert that catastrophe Beautiful would be compelled to tease back that, no, Star got a C because he was just stupid. Equillibrium is restored.

But what about when we’re adults? Does nerdiness continue? What would constitue a nerdy adult? Does simply knowing more stuff than those around you make you a nerd? Or do you have to keep reading and learning new stuff for knowledge to count as nerdiness?

Does staying on the leading edge of technology and gadgetry indicate nerdiness at all? Does knowing a lot about any subject make you nerdy, or only when you know a lot about particular, nerdy subjects?

We run a wireless network at home because that’s the easiest way for Tina to use her work laptop in the evenings and weekends. She likes working at the kitchen table, connected to the internet by the wireless convenience of electrical air. Of course this means we’re providing a means for our neighbors to unobtrusively use their laptops on our network too.

Today we had an electrician add some external power outlets to our house that we’ll use to power Christmas lights. Now passers-by can plug in and charge up their laptops while using our wireless network.