Geek friend has become ungeekified

[Looney]

Originally posted by: Beattie
When we were young, this friend of mine was such a geek. He knew all sorts of things about computers, he built his own, he even taught me C. Then we went off to college, me to Rutgers and him to Stanford. Well, we graduated and now he is back in the area. Last week I went to his place and was hanging out when he showed me his new computer. An HP box. He didnt build it himself, it's not even a Dell. He has lost the way. It's not just that, he's so out of technology in general. He's never heard of Slashdot or BitTorrent, cant program very well anymore, and some other things also.

I just find it amazing how out of touch with the things he used to love he has become. Has anyone else ever observed anything like this before?

It was young, and it was a hobby/interest to him. Now he's moved onto something more interesting for him. What's so hard about understanding that? You cant' expect people to have the same passions and love throughout their entire life.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Sounds like he found these wonderful things called "Women, Parties and Alcohol".

- M4H

 

[Soybomb]

Originally posted by: Beattie
When we were young, this friend of mine was such a geek. He knew all sorts of things about computers, he built his own, he even taught me C. Then we went off to college, me to Rutgers and him to Stanford. Well, we graduated and now he is back in the area. Last week I went to his place and was hanging out when he showed me his new computer. An HP box. He didnt build it himself, it's not even a Dell. He has lost the way. It's not just that, he's so out of technology in general. He's never heard of Slashdot or BitTorrent, cant program very well anymore, and some other things also.

I just find it amazing how out of touch with the things he used to love he has become. Has anyone else ever observed anything like this before?

I don't know that I can see myself always building my own boxes. Its nice to pick out everything I want, but lets face it after you've built a few hundred the excitement isn't there anymore. I think I could settle for an out of the box solution and just save some time. Works for laptops........

 

[Martin]

Originally posted by: Ranger X
I'm a geek and I don't know Slashdot or BitTorrent.

You're not a geek.

 

[bleeb]

Originally posted by: conjur

Originally posted by: Eli
It happens.

I used to follow the computer industry like a hawk. Not so since I.. :Q

Found real women.. :Q

realdolls != real women!

Also, you can't consider BJ Blow-up dolls to equal real women!

 

[nakedfrog]

Is there a specific criteria one must meet in order to maintain geek status?

 

[gtsukada]

Originally posted by: lager
He has a life now.

you should give him a cookie

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

If you don't know about slashdot, you're not a geek. If you know about and *like* slashdot, then you're a lame geek.

edit: anyways, who cares? Being a coder nerd isn't for everyone. Obviously it's not for him, if he doesn't care about it anymore.

 

[PeeluckyDuckee]

Keeping up with technology to maintain platinum geek status is quite costly. I've personally thrown more than $5k into it over the course of 3yrs.

Thinking back now, it is pretty silly. Could've spent the money on more important things, like buying my own car, which is what my plans are at the moment.

Don't care for videocard, cpu, mobo, ram upgrades every 3-6 months anymore. Just got tired of the process. Gets boring after awhile. Hardly trade online anymore as well.

 

[her209]

i bet he's laid more women than you have... and in the end, it doesn't matter what hardware you have in your computer

 

[Aharami]

Originally posted by: Beattie

Originally posted by: Radiohead
what does he do now?

Well, he parties, drinks a lot, and reads. He has a degree in Classics from Stanford and he's all into that kind of literature now. Coincidentally, he went to Stanford as a CS major, then switched to Classics when he felt that CS would interfere with his time for drinking and partying.

He's actually going to Rutgers now getting a degree in Physics because as he says "Classics wont get me anywhere."

wow graduate from stanford to go to rutgers? usually people aspire to do the reverse

 

[zephyrprime]

So he was too lazy to get a CS degree and now thinks that he's gonna get a physics degree? HA!

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

Originally posted by: PeeluckyDuckee
Keeping up with technology to maintain platinum geek status is quite costly. I've personally thrown more than $5k into it over the course of 3yrs.

Thinking back now, it is pretty silly. Could've spent the money on more important things, like buying my own car, which is what my plans are at the moment.

Don't care for videocard, cpu, mobo, ram upgrades every 3-6 months anymore. Just got tired of the process. Gets boring after awhile. Hardly trade online anymore as well.

I'm a bigger geek than you, and don't spend that much money on computers. You sound like you were more of a gamer than a geek.

 

[Crappopotamus]

*shrug* ive dropped off in geek status as well. i used to read 10-15 hardware news sites... religiously. every day. come to think of it, i was a hardcore geek. :| anyways. ive discovered... new more interesting things, and have been only barely keeping up. i check once a month or so. i know about the major developments. but not like before, when i would know about every new COOLER AND FAN that came out.

however, i dont think i will fall so far as to buying a prebuilt box. its something that will probably be with me for life. i can see myself 10 years down the road... looking up the best value gear, and building myself a nice budget box. just like the good ol days

 

[HOWITIS]

where are the before and after pics?

 

[Cougar]

Originally posted by: rh71
I found that knowing the latest BIOS versions for mobos wasn't as cool anymore... it happens.

Dude, I know exactly what you're saying. I used to live and breathe pc hardware. I could tell you what video card was best, which sound card was the bomb, which motherboard was the most stable, etc, etc, etc... Nowadays though I don't really give a flying rip. Instead of spending my time pouring over 30 articles and analyzing 100 graphs to see which video card got 1 fps more in Quake 4: The Revenge of Spunky, I hang out with friends, look for jobs, browse ATOT, shop, watch movies, etc.

The funny thing is that my one friend is exactly where I was about 4 or 5 years ago. He spends every waking hour reading up on tech stuff and telling me who did what to Valve and ATI and Nvidia. I figure I'll just let him be and in a few years he'll come around like the rest of us. After all...knowing which sound card can realistically reproduce the sound of a scuba diver farting into a tin can in the depths of the Marianas Trench doesn't really do one much good in life.

 

[PunDogg]

Real women.. :

WHERE!!!!???

 

[beer]

Originally posted by: Cougar

Originally posted by: rh71
I found that knowing the latest BIOS versions for mobos wasn't as cool anymore... it happens.

Dude, I know exactly what you're saying. I used to live and breathe pc hardware. I could tell you what video card was best, which sound card was the bomb, which motherboard was the most stable, etc, etc, etc... Nowadays though I don't really give a flying rip. Instead of spending my time pouring over 30 articles and analyzing 100 graphs to see which video card got 1 fps more in Quake 4: The Revenge of Spunky, I hang out with friends, look for jobs, browse ATOT, shop, watch movies, etc.

The funny thing is that my one friend is exactly where I was about 4 or 5 years ago. He spends every waking hour reading up on tech stuff and telling me who did what to Valve and ATI and Nvidia. I figure I'll just let him be and in a few years he'll come around like the rest of us. After all...knowing which sound card can realistically reproduce the sound of a scuba diver farting into a tin can in the depths of the Marianas Trench doesn't really do one much good in life.

That's how I feel now to. It just doesn't matter to me much anymore. Most of those guys that spit back numbers off the top of their head really don't understand computers, anyways. They can plug stuff in slots and use software other people wrote to modify clock speeds, when they couldn't even tell you what a clock is in the first place. There is more sh!t to worry about in life than the maximum FPS in a game or something. If the box works, I'll be happy with it....