Geeking Out

I love pens. My friends know this fact and because of this, I get awesome pens as gifts. On my last birthday, I got two new ones. One was an Inoxcrom. It has a Tungsten Carbide ball stainless steel point. Very nice, very elegant.

The other was from my housemates who got me - are you ready for this? - a Space Pen! What, you ask, in the world, is a Space Pen? Well, you may not be asking, but I have been dying to be asked so I can finally geek out about it.

Space Pens are created by a company called Fisher. They patented the anti-gravity pen which was tested and used by NASA in Apollo 7. Fisher manufactures pens that can write in extreme temperaturess (-30 to 250 degrees F, can write at any angle (even upside down), and can write underwater. What I have is the trekker variety which comes with a carabiner and a break-away lanyard. The day I got it, I left it in the freezer for two nights, and it wrote perfectly well after. Such a cool pen (literally).

I love books. Since I got my Kindle a few months ago, I have picked up again on my reading. Interestingly, I have been reading more nonfiction, which I previously wasn't very keen on. Most recently, I've read "Freakonomics" and "Superfreakonomics" by Steve Levitt and Stephen Dubner. Fascinating stories, studies, and experiments. Who knew Economics could be so fun? 

Somewhat long overdue, but I've also finally read the Douglas Adams book with cult-following, "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". Amazingly humorous writing. And the book was way funnier than the movie. I also tried to start reading Frank Herbert's "Dune" because of the stellar reviews, but I'm putting it off for now. Something about the dialogue, and the use ellipses and the hyphens that I need to get used to.

I still read dead-tree books, to those purists out there. I think the last one I read was "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes. Lovely, touching story. I still love the feel of a physical book in my hands. Turning the pages, smelling the paper. In fact, I have an Excel file of my list of to-buy books which my friends just ask me to email them as a gift guideline. It turns out, they are not readily available in bookstores, much to the frustration of Pau particularly, who have asked me point blank to just give a book and store branch where he could find at least one so he can get it over with. 

I love podcasts. I commute to and from work and I found out that listening to podcasts is a good way to calm myself during the rush hour. Currently on my list are: Freakonomics Radio, NPR: On Science, Geek a Week, The Nerdist, Doctor Who, TEDTalks. I am a fairly new podcast listener and am open to suggestions, so please let me know what you listen to. 

One downside of listening to podcasts is that I look totally mad when I smile or laugh to myself amid the crowd of grumpy commuters. The Chris Hardwick interview with Adam Savage at the Largo was fantastic. I'm sure its humor was lost on the elderly woman I sat across from in the train who obviously thought I was odd, but it was worth it.

In a different podcast, an interviewee said that he needed an outlet so he could release all the geek tension that he carries around with him in everyday life. And I could totally relate. The disadvantage of having very specific interests is that you'd be hard up to find people who share the same enthusiasm on the same things. It's hard enough to find someone who will not think you weird, much less find someone who was as psyched as you about Steven Moffat's twist on River Song's identity.

With that, I am so glad I have a blog (but after this, it will be with a huge chunk of ostracized readers, admittedly).