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Flying the Geek Flag

As I've mentioned before, I have some geeky tendencies. It often leads me to find humor in situations where others may or may not find the same humor (e.g., if a meat shredding tool reminds me of Wolverine). It's just a part of my personality, so I've basically come to accept that this is my place in the world. It's not good or bad, it just is.

Recently, though, this particular tendency has been amplified by work. For starters, my teammates have started a tradition that involves the Microsoft ninja cat. If those three words alone don't give you a pretty good indication of where this discussion is headed, let me present a picture of said ninja cat (from the very same link):

In case it's not apparent, that is a ninja cat riding a fire-breathing unicorn. Just let that sink in for a moment. It takes a special type of humor to find that amusing, and it just so happens that I am surrounded by folks who find that amusing. You can imagine what kind of jokes that encourages.

Along the same lines, laptop stickers have started to become en vogue at work. It's not so much that people suddenly discovered the joys of laptop stickers, it's that a trend of using them sort of appeared. I am no stranger to this phenomenon, so I am sporting a few stickers on my work laptop. It's a fun sort of way to personalize your tools, while also showing some of the stuff that you've worked on. It's mostly harmless, so people have some fun with it.

To me, though, the funniest part of that trend came into focus when I had a meeting with some other software developers. At one point, when there was a lull in the meeting, one of the others asked me the real hard-hitting question: what stickers was I sporting on my laptop? I cracked up when I heard that. It clearly wasn't going to change the actual work that we did, but it highlighted just how much people appreciate the ability to personalize their laptops.

I think I'm going to have to keep a close eye on my laptop from now on. I don't know when it's going to become a topic of conversation again.
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