I’m a nerd, and a geek.  So is Certain Someone.  It’s the best time I ever had with anyone.

Most people agree geeks and nerds are kind of the same thing.  They’re not, really, but they share many similarities.

First, they’re usually pretty intelligent.  Second, they tend to like things that aren’t mainstream.  Third, they may or may not be socially awkward.  Sometimes at a sci-fi/fantasy convention, it’s hard to tell.

It is possible to be both a nerd and a geek.  While geek is a term used to label someone with superficial pop culture interests as opposed to more upper-level intellectual pursuits like nerds, just because you like Buffy the Vampire Slayer doesn’t mean your IQ is in the lower percentile.   You can still be a microbiologist who thinks Buffy kicks ass.

If your family member is a nerd

A brother, sister or even a parent may be a nerd.  In my family, I’m the only person who reads Harry Potter, who gets anything about current video games (except maybe my nephew) and knows who Frodo, Elrond, Glorfindel, and Tom Bombadil are.  I’m still learning about the games, thanks to CS, but new stuff keeps your brain in shape.

If your family member is like me, embrace this person.  Do not try to make her be something she is not.  She thinks fashion is trivial—so what?  Look for other common interests.  Almost everyone has something, even if it’s only making fun of Aunty Myrtle with the hairy mole.

If your child is a nerd

You know it’s always good to encourage your child’s interests, right?  I would kill for a kid that liked science and grew up to work for NASA or the CDC.  Talk about built-in source material! Okay, that’s a writer nerd talking.   But still.

You may have dreamed of a buddy to shoot hoops with, but if your kid is a music nerd who is only interested in the cello, PLEASE don’t make him feel bad for it.  Use this as an opportunity to expand your own horizons.  Ask him something about what he’s interested in.  Kids absolutely love it when they get to tell adults stuff.  And you might learn something from him.

If your spouse / significant other is a nerd

Harry Potter, marine biology, computers; whatever her main interest, it’s not going to be a surprise to you if you married her.  It might even be her career.  She’ll have cool stories.  She can fix your machine.  A brainy chick is sexy.  But you’re smart enough to know that.  Right?

NEVER EVER EVER make fun of her for being intelligent.  It makes you look like a dumbass, which you are if you do this.

Wives / girlfriends, you may not appreciate your nerd’s large collection of Star Wars figures, but if he’s hoarding you have issues I won’t cover here.  All that passion can be channeled toward you if you know how to work it.   Nerds often make fantastic boyfriends / husbands, because they are so damn happy to have someone who really gets them.

If you’re still engaged, be advised.  Never marry a man thinking you’ll change him.  Rough edges can be polished but a nerd will always be a nerd.  Don’t like it? GTFO and leave him to someone who will appreciate him.

Nerd gifts

When nerds have a birthday or Christmas is coming, they usually let you know EXACTLY what they want.  Pay attention to this.  Get the junior telescope or regulation Jedi Master outfit from the website your kid has emailed you 47,000 times.

Don’t buy your nerd something you think he should have, unless your son has completely outgrown his underwear and his face is turning purple from the constriction.  Anyway, underwear makes a lousy gift.  Something practical yet cool will be appreciated, if he hasn’t gotten around to getting it himself.

Accepting a gift from a nerd

If the gift is nerdy, like a paleontology kit from the Nature Store, don’t just pitch it into the closet.  Give it a chance.  Nerds are smart and observant (most of the time) and yours may have noticed a budding interest you mentioned in passing.  You might find you like looking for fossilized dino poo in a box of fake desert.

Nerd manners

Sometimes, your nerd may scoff at something you say or a question you ask.  Kids especially may do this because they haven’t learned how to navigate social situations with grace and tact.  Don’t let him do that.   Make it clear to your nerd that just because you don’t know every little nuance of Starship Troopers and have never heard of Robert Heinlein, that doesn’t mean you are stupid.

Nerds are running the world now.  As Gilbert in Revenge of the Nerds wisely pointed out to the beautiful people, “There are a lot more of us than there are of you.”  Being a nerd isn’t the stigma it once was.  Love your nerd and the rewards will follow!

I was going to write that title in Middle English á la Chaucer, but it looked funny.

To kick off my summer, this past weekend I went back to Tucson to see Certain Someone (CS).  We drove up to the top of Mount Lemmon.  Usually this time of year Tucson starts getting pretty toasty.  It’s a dry heat, yes, but still damn hot.  Up around 8000 feet above sea level, there’s a big difference.

Yes, Arizona has mountains.  They are kind of pointy.  They’re not high enough to have a lot of snow, like the Rockies, which I flew over on the way home.  Pretty!

This is a pointy Arizona mountain.

Because they have been shaped by erosion, there is a lot of this going on:

And when you get to the top you’re in Summerhaven, a tiny, unincorporated town with…well, nothing.  But it sure is pretty.  When you brave the winding mountain roads, you’re rewarded with this:

There’s a lot of dust in Arizona, and it likes to fly around in the wind.  If you drive south and west of Tucson over more pointy mountains, you’ll come to Old Tucson and the Desert Museum.  You can walk around outside and look at plants and a few animals, and some neat exhibits in the buildings.  I got a great long-distance view of some dust storms from there:

In the desert live many different animals like this burrowing owl.  A ground dweller, the owl eats insects and small rodents and is active during the day.  He likes to hunt mostly at dusk and dawn, when it’s cooler.  Who could blame him?

Javelinas (say hav-eh-LEE-nuhs), closely related to peccaries (a kind of wild pig relative), also hang out here.  The museum has a few and apparently they know what to do with a 98-degree afternoon.

Sleep under a bridge, of course!

Cacti are everywhere in Arizona.  The common prickly pear can be seen all over Tucson, and it comes in more than just green.

Purple!

The saguaro (say SWAH-ro) is the most famous cactus of all.  If you drive into Arizona from California, you will begin to see them dot the landscape, like alien sentinel scouts:

Saguaro – advance guard!

Then they thicken and approach:

Saguaro sentinels – they're everywhere!

And as the second wave crests and recedes, you pass into New Mexico, where they disappear altogether.

They have a flower on top that blooms in May and June.  Elf owls like to live inside them.  If you see a rather large hole in the body of the cactus, chances are some sort of bird has made a home there.

Tall…silent…knobby appendages…yep, they're aliens, all right.

Driving around Tucson, we passed the famous No-Tel Motel.  Yes, it exists!  Look here for a fascinating (and squeamish) Tucson Weekly account of Saxon Burns’ attempt to stay there for a week.

Daily, weekly, monthly rates were posted; don't know about hourly.

I leave you with this cool horse sculpture from the Desert Museum.  There’s a lot to see and do in Tucson, so if you’re passing by that way and get a chance, check out some of the nature there.  The desert isn’t all scrub and scorpions.  (For the record, I haven’t seen one of those yet.)

Y'all come back. HEEEeeeeee!

I’ve been watching Doctor Who on DVD and Netflix.  Great show! How did a nerd like me miss this?

It occurred to me that it’s very hard to come up with something original for a story.  People would argue it’s all been done.  Well, blimey, I think the TARDIS is pretty original.  “Time and Relative Dimension in Space” is a pretty funny name for a spaceship.  But then, the TARDIS is no ordinary ship.

Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain, published one of the first successful time travel novels, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, in 1889.  So time travel fiction has been around for a while.

For those unfamiliar with the show, it’s produced by the BBC, and was on from 1963 to 1985 originally,  and was revived in 2005.  It’s the madcap adventures of a 900-year-old alien, a Time Lord, from the planet Gallifrey, who flies around in his TARDIS.

The Doctor is one character, played by different actors, because he goes through a periodic regeneration.  My favorite was David Tennant, the tenth Doctor.  The current eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith, is kind of growing on me.  I plan to watch as many of the older shows as I can.

The Doctor is just known as “The Doctor,” and someone invariably asks, “Doctor who?” Hence the show’s name.  He travels with one primary companion and often a few extras.  The companions are usually women, caught at a crossroads when the Doctor comes into their lives.  He doesn’t date them, but he does love them in a deeply protective and mentoring way.

His TARDIS looks like a 1950s blue police box, something like a phone booth, and makes a very distinctive sound as it materializes and dematerializes.  It’s sort of a mechanical wheeze.  According to a recent episode, it’s not supposed to do that, but it’s due to some wonky adjustment.   The Doctor likes it so he left it that way.

Click HERE for the sound of the TARDIS!

Its most distinguishing feature is that it’s bigger on the inside than the outside.   This often amazes first-time visitors.  It contains many outfits from different time periods, although the Doctor and his current companion never seem to change clothes when they visit the past.  And no one there seems to notice.

Despite the incongruities, the show is a plethora of fast-talking sci-fi / fantasy action adventure with great character and awesomely creative villains.  Because it’s time travel, they can encounter everyone from Shakespeare to a giant slumbering futuristic head (The Face of Boe).  And since they can go to other planets, monsters and aliens abound.

One of the scariest monsters in any show ever appeared in a Season 4 Doctor Who episode called “Blink.”  Weeping Angels are classical-looking statue-like creatures that feed off energy.  They don’t move when you’re looking, but when you’re not…**

The Doctor tricked them into surrounding the TARDIS and then dematerialized it so they were trapped, looking at each other, and couldn’t move.  Clever!

Sci-fi and fantasy genres give television, film and novel writers endless possibilities.  There’s almost nothing you can’t do.  Speculative fiction has produced some real dogs, but there are lists and lists of excellently written books out there.  Tons of good TV shows, too.  I know people who don’t like that sort of thing.  That’s cool.  Go read some boring political thriller and leave me to my TARDIS!

If you have any suggestions on sci-fi books or shows to share, please do tell in the comments.

** CLICK AT YOUR OWN RISK!