We The Geeks

I just got back from the Community Partnership and VoluneerFair at BGSU and am still reflecting on the whole experience. As a geek to the core I've been on the outside of society looking in for some time now. That familiar feeling came over me again today. Just how does a charity that refurbishes old computers to those in need fit in to the mix of all the other charities out there. to be honest with you, our table didn't attract that much attention,even though we were holding a drawing for a fee laptop!

Being a square peg in a round hole is nothing new to me. After all, while other people can't wait to get home and watch the game, In can't wait to get home and hone my recon skills in battlefield Bad Company 2. I'm the guy who does not own a Mac but recently received a copy of OS X 10.4 and is fantasizing about installing it in a virtual machine on my windows XP box for no purpose other than to prove I can do it! I got four versions of Linux running on my desktop and bootable Linux and Windows XPE on USB keys.I look at a computer loaded with spyware and viuses as a fun challange, not a job.

I'm really NOT tired of being that guy with his face buried in a computer screen 90% of the time. After all, who else can people call when their Windows box gets a virus, or crashes with a blue screen of death, or they accidentally format their drive and their important data, or they suddenly can't connect to the internet except for some damnable pop ups that tell them they have a spy ware infection. I can fix these things. I've got skills man! But what are we doing with our mad computer skills other than impressing our friends and coworkers?

We have developed our own cultures and subcultures around our favorite, moves/games/software/hardware. We now can frolic with other nerds in various venues and demonstrate that our fandom exceeds theirs. We have Mac Fests and Linux Fests and Microsoft Big Days. We have conventions to celebrate even the most obscure of geek fascinations.We can feel at home for a little bit with like minded individuals before we must return to the normal world of work, family and community.

Computers for Charity was started as a charity to connect us outsiders to the inside of the community. Its an outlet for those geeks with a social conscience to make a difference in our world. It would be much easier to return to my Army of Darkness Directors Cut on a nightly basis and let the world be damned. I know some of you look forward to watching the world burn from the comfort of your terminal window. Consider this though...

At the partnership fair I made connections with a other charities that were very interested in what we geeks do. Many of them are interested in providing computer solutions to their clients. One was interested in helping the disabled set up assistive technology software on their systems. Another wanted to add computers to their computer room in trier nursing home. Yet another wanted to set up a computer to their youth center and many need assistance with things like web development and setting up pages and causes on the social networks and the list goes on.

We have a lot of needs in our community going unmet becasue the right geek has yet to step up to the plate and take on the casue. Thats what were here for. At Computers for Charity we provide an outlet for you to use you God given talents for a good casue. Will you help us to take on these types of projects in our communtiy? The harvest is great but the workers are few. I'm praying that the Lord of the harvest will touch your heart and send you to assist us in this worthwhile endeavor.

I Want You!

Calling all geeks in Northwest Ohio...

• Have you always wanted to use your geeky talents for a good cause but couldn't find a charity that 'fit' you?
• Have you ever thought, 'gosh why is there no one who is providing computer for the less fortunate in our community?'.
• Do you have an environmental conscience when it comes to all the electronics leeching toxins into our landfills?
• Have you ever wished you could play around with hardware and software and networks without fear of breaking the companies stuff?
• Have you ever wanted to hang with a group of like minded individuals and who actually know what terminal window is?
• Do you have a desire to learn something new about technology or do you have the desire to teach a willing audience about something you know?
• Do you have a ton of computer stuff you've held onto just in case someone may have some use for it some day?

We have a place for you! Every Tuesday from 4:00 to 8:00 PM (usually till 10 PM cause we just can't pull ourselves away from our computer stuff!), Computers for Charity meets in downtown Bowling Green, Ohio at Turning Point Church.

We take donations of computers from businesses and individuals and refurbish them, usually with Linux, sometimes we fix broken Windows and work with Macs too!

We have a dedicated core group of 8 techs of various backgrounds who lend their talents. We have about 20 volunteers total who help with various community projects we concoct. We are a young and vibrant charity who cherishes innovation and self determination. Speaking in Klingon is a bonus but is not required.

So how do you now if your geeky enough to join our L33T crew? Take a look at the 'You May Be A Geek If...' checklist and see if you have any or all of the following characteristics.

• you’re a card-carrying member of the EFF
• when you have to write with a pen, you find yourself using the Palm Graffiti characters.
  
• you think (x<<6)+(x<<4) is a perfectly natural way to multiply by 80.
• you’ve gutted and rebuilt your computer 5 times since you last changed the oil in your car.
• you know what a router is, and you know what a bit is, but you’ve never heard of a router bit.
• you know the square root of 65536 is 256 without having to do the math.
• you consider 65536 and 256 “nice round numbers”.
• …and you *always* put the period outside the quotes, since you’re not quoting the end of the sentence…what the hell do english majors know, anyway.
• you see a good-looking girl and you DESPERATELY want her e-mail address so you can get to know her.
• you wake up and realize that your sleep pattern has been following an algorithm.
• your computer chair has the permanent and stiff indentation of your butt in it.
• the only tan you’ve ever acquired comes from your monitor.
• you have assembled your own Linux distribution, and re-wrote some of the more inefficient code, just for fun. ( Hmmm… it’s a thought… )
• every time someone says “I like iMacs” you get mad and shout out “So you only go for the looks, do you? Superficial guy! The inner qualities are what’s important, not the looks! Beauty is only skin-deep!”
• when asked if you have more than one hard drive, you answer “In which computer?”
• you postpone your moving date so your computers can set new uptime records.
• given the choice between a T3 and a date with a good looking guy/girl, you’d take the T3.
• you’ve ever been successful at catching a spammer.
• you call sex with your cute girlfriend “CuteFTP.”
• you spend more time changing settings in Windows 98 than using it.
• you dream of high-end computers instead of beautiful girls.
• you get angry when someone says they own a Pentium IV processor.
• your friends have a club with the word .com in it.
• you almost get in a fight when a small child says there is no internet.
• you think everyone should have an opinion about Bill Gates.
• you refer to having sex as setting up a LAN!
• you refer to going to the toilet as “extracting to the temp folder” and flushing the toilet as “deleting the temp folder”.
• you refer to eating and drinking as uploading!
• you understand and find www.ircnews.com funny.
• you’ve ever passed notes at school in binary.
• you regard the “User Friendly” virus as a good thing.
• you’ve had an article appear at segfault.org.
• you’ve figured out how to crash Windows NT on a 128MB system, using only Internet Explorer and Notepad.
• you snicker whenever someone asks how much memory is needed for Windows NT to run smoothly.
• you go into a computer store and takeover a discussion for a salesman on the specs and merits of a computer while he site there nodding as you make the sale.
• you’ve ever written a useless program just for the “fun” of it.…or you prefer writing useless programs.
• a 23 GB HD, color laser, four 128MB DIMMs, and a 21″ monitor would beat out Sarah Michelle Gellar, Cameron Diaz, Heather Graham, and Cindy Crawford.
• you can actually read the error message details when a Windows program has a problem.
• you spend more time chatting on-line in one day then you do in a week’s worth of actual conversation with people face-to-face.
• there are two magazines in front of you, the newest issue of PC Magazine and the other a porno. And you choose the PC mag over the porno.
• you refer to using the bathroom as downloading.
• the number of computers in your house exceeds the number of relationships you’ve had in your lifetime.
• …and you didn’t correct the grammar of that last item.
• if (DEC 25 = OCT 31) means true to you.
• your computer costs more and runs better than your car
• your watch is set to GMT. Always. (After all, it’s the only time that makes logical sense.)
• in real life, you tell people to go to http://www.hell.com/
• when you’re reading a magazine and you see an underlined passage, you feel compelled to click on it.
• you have the Linux Penguin sitting on your monitor… and you know the penguin’s name.
• everytime you go to write a note, you put your hands on your desk, as if looking for a keyboard to type it on.
• you’ve ever debated the merits of the FVWM95 window manager…
• …with yourself.
• you’re grossly offended that anyone would want to make their Linux box work anything like Windows 95.
• you wake up wondering which directory you’re in.
• you set up your old computer next to your new one 2 months ago so that you could transfer files and you’ve been using them “both” since.
• you have more computers now than you’ve had relationships in your lifetime.
• your wallpaper is made up of Linux code.
• your favorite pasttime is IRC on Saturday nights.
• your computer is set for Dvorak… but your keyboard is actually a qwerty.
• …you know what Dvorak and Qwerty refer to.
• you have a PC for every person in the house, and still think you need one more. What if one goes down!?
• you salivate when you hear the word, “upgrade”
• instead of laughing you say “El-Oh-El!”
• you have actually heard someone do this in real life.
• …and you actually understood what it meant.
• you dream in code.
• you not only know what Be OS is, you have an opinion about it.
• you want to be the first one on your block to be wet-wired.
• you dual boot because you want to be able to play some of them there cool new games.
• you bought a super socket-7 motherboard, not because you really needed it, but because you got it for only 40.00 via an online auction. Now you have a reason to build that extra computer you don’t really need.
• to you, the word “scuzzy” is sexy.
• your girlfriend kisses you on the neck and you think “uh oh, priority interupt!”.
• you and the campus Unix Sysadmin have a geek contest.…and you win.
• you believe Unix/Linux is the most superior operating system out there
• you e-mail yourself notes rather than writing them…
• …and you can justify the advantages of doing so.
• …or you actually reply to the note.
• you can program in more languages than you can speak.
• you refer to your computer as a friend.
• you can talk to your computer without being sarcastic or raising your voice.
• you talk to your computer the way most people talk to their significant other.
• you use old CD-ROMs as coasters…
• …and you’ve collected a matching set for every room in your house.
• with the exception of the blood-sucking part, you have the same basic characteristics as a vampire.

Feel free to respond with your own!

Hey even if your not a true geek and you care about helping people and the environment we have a place for you too. Come see us on Tuesday. We need your help!

At Computers for Charity we are part computer club, part charity, part education and training, and all about having a lot of fun.

http://computersforcharity.webs.com