Let us now praise friendly geeks

I consider myself a kind of untergeek, I cheerfully acknowledge my suckitude at all things tech, but I still spend most of my time on the computer and I like new things if I can get them to work. Being eager and timid in equal measures, there's nothing I like better than a helping hand from a friendly geek, assuring me that "this is user friendly. You can do eet!" So, a shoutout to KF Monkey for his "geek translator" post, which recommends several open-source alternatives for expensive microsoft office products. And Faisal for explaining to me via email what "graphic bandwidth" means very patiently. Also, thanks to my buddy Lawrence for alerting me about technorati tags...it seems a little bit bit of a bother for us blogger users to participate, but I'm glad that I at least know what they are now. Without the kind of tech-savvy guys (and gals) who take the time to explain how things work to mere mortals like me, I'd probably still be in a cave somewhere, browsing with Internet Explorer and using the ugly green blogger template I chose in a fit of madness.

And I can't praise the geeks without also giving dues to the companies whose stuff I use and who has never yet seen a dime of filthy lucre from me. Omnigraffle from Omnigroup is a software I use all the time in the limited trial version to organize information and images in an effective, eye-catching manner. In fact, I harbor a secret ambitions to write an entire cookbook in Omnigraffle format, though I'll definitely go pro if I do that. Backpack is a really effective web-based program for organizing information, lists, links and such. I set up my browser homepage to be my backpack to-do list so that I can't avoid it. On the web design front, Nvu has taken the fear and loathing out of making websites for me. So, after all this blogging, I might finally go back and set up the humble homepage I've always wanted. A page for the schnauzer dog pictures, a page for my travelogs, someplace more "permanent" to put the pieces of writing that I like...

So, would I ever buck up and become more proactive about my computer knowledge and eventually become a geek myself? I doubt it. If an aptitude for this stuff have not emerge by my age, it probably isn't ever going to do so. Besides, I kind of like my place in the pack -- well back from the bleeding edge, but not so technophobic that I cling too long to the old, outmoded ways of doing things.