How big a geek am I? I was reading through Bob Cringely’s tech blog (which I have just started reading) when I came across this post, which described how his family has been sending out some rather unusual Christmas cards, and how the local FedEx Kinko’s (or whatever they’re called now) won’t print them, because in the photograph he, his wife, and his three sons are completely naked.

I’m not prudish about nudity, especially when it’s tasteful, as his card is, or when it’s humorous, which his card definitely is. Having once published a zine or myself back in the day when Factsheet 5 was still a magazine and not a website, I am familiar with how difficult it can be to get not just good service, but consistent service from them.

I also remember an incident about ten years ago when a coworker’s daughter took some film of her infant twins in to her work to get developed. There were a few pictures of her children in their bath (I don’t recall their exact age, but they were less than a year old), and when she picked up her pictures, she was told that they would develop this roll, but in future, if she brought in naked baby pictures to be developed, her film and prints would be confiscated and handed over to the authorities. Keep in mind, this was from the place where she worked. Talk about an overreaction.

Some people will just never be comfortable with nudity in any shape or form. Remember then Attorney General Robert Ashcroft having a statue of the Spirit of Justice covered because he didn’t want to be photographed in front of her nude–and aluminum–breasts? But that’s not really what caught my attention about his blog post.

This is what I noticed–in this order:

1. He really needs to get a spam filter for his comments.
2. Hey, they’re not really baking any cookies! Those baking sheets are empty.
3. I wish I had beautiful old wooden floors like that in my kitchen.
4. You know, his wife is quite attractive–and a lot younger than him.

Yeah, that’s right. The first thing that stuck out in my mind had to do with technology.

And yeah, that’s right. The second thing I noticed had to do with food.

I am a geek. I have well-combed hair, I don’t use a pocket protector (I wouldn’t even know where to buy one, assuming that they are still available), and I have played D&D less than a hundred times in my life (I hated being a cleric). But I’m still a geek.

I’m a happy geek, though.

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