So the second part of what it is like to go out with a nerd; the not-so-good bits. After thinking this through a bit I do think the good outweighs the bad. No-one is perfect including myself. So hopefully below is a description of some of the quirks you may face if you go out with a nerd / engineer…
It’s been a little over one and a half years since I’ve gone out with my boyfriend Keith. Don’t know if you’ve heard but he’s kind of nerdy / geeky. But, I like many others, have found that they are girls’ best kept secret (just google nerds / geeks, husbands etc). They make really cool boyfriends! why you ask? Hmm let me tell you 10 reasons why (just off the top of my head).
I was reading this article from the ConsumerAffairs.Com website on what they think the top ten scams of 2006 are. Having read it, it made me think about why so many people actually fall for scams in the first place. Does the fault fall on the victims of the scam as much as on the scammers themselves?
I guess it depends on the type of person you are. At one end of the spectrum, there are some people who are naturally trusting and would by default believe anything that a stranger says. These people tend to give others the benefit of the doubt and therefore are more vulnerable to scammers who take advantage of this character trait. In the article, it mentioned that elderly people tend to be more affected/targeted by scammers. I guess there is some positive correlation between that and the fact that society perceives old grannies to be weaker and vulnerable.
At the other end of the spectrum, there are those who are naturally skeptical and would by default question anything that a stranger says. These people tend to not accept anything said at face value and would require evidence backing up the statements before accepting it as truth. I’d imagine that a scammer would find it difficult (if not impossible) to get their way with these people, unless they happen to be particularly greedy.
For me, I think I sit in the skeptical side of the spectrum. I tend to question most things and I won’t accept blind statements as fact/truth unless I have enough evidence backing it up. Hence, I consider myself rather immune to scams. I guess my attitude is “if it’s too good to be true, then it probably is (unless I can find evidence to point to the contrary)”.
Where do you, gentle reader, sit in this spectrum and how vulnerable do you think you are to scams? Do you think naturally trusting people who get scammed are themselves as much at fault as the scammers who prey on them?
In the past two weeks, I attended three 21st birthday parties. Given the fact that I haven’t been around the age of 21 for quite some time, I consider that to be a lot of 21st’s given the time frame. My sister (whose 21st party was one of those three), being in that age range, has been seemingly attending 21st birthday parties non-stop ever since uni exams finished (perhaps slightly exaggerated, but you get my point).
Also happening within the last couple of months or so were a number of engagements. Given a rather dry engagement-less patch earlier in the year, it was interesting to hear news of several couples all getting engaged all within a few weeks of each other.
I guess it might be something to do with it being pretty close to the season to be jolly…
Speaking of seasons, we’re supposed to be in Spring right now. However, the temperature over the last week or so has been a bit interesting. It’s almost as if the weather has gotten a bit confused with what season it’s meant to be in. One day (or night, to be exact) it would get into the single-digit temperatures, and on another day it would almost hit forty degrees. *sigh*
On a semi-related note, there’s been some updates to the gallery.
According to this article, it looks like the ATO is considering placing a tax on virtual transactions that occur when you’re playing games online. For those of you who play games that fall under this category (yeah, you know who all you WoW players are), I’d like to hear your thoughts on this matter, and what effect (if any) it would have on you.
Yesterday, a bunch of us from work flew down to Melbourne to farewell Andrew. It was quite an emotional event for pretty much everybody there. By the end of the day, my handkerchief was fairly soaked from all the boohoohoo-ing but I was glad to have been there to see him off. It was also nice to have spent some time talking to some of his family.
I guess it’s now time to move on.
On a lighter note, here are some things that I noted about Melbourne:
Here are some things that I noted (not specifically about Melbourne):
Can’t really think of much more right now. May post some more later.
There’s an old story about the person who wished his computer were as easy to use as his telephone. That wish has come true, since I no longer know how to use my telephone.Bjarne Stroustrup
I attended a training course over at North Sydney over the past week and hence re-experienced catching peak-hour trains packed with commuters going to work/uni/whatever. Now, it’s been a while since the last time I caught a train bright and early in the morning, having my personal space compromised by passengers who evidently have too much blood in their caffeine-stream and thus still in a semi-zombie state. In fact, it must be back in my early uni years (since by the time one reaches late uni years, one doesn’t bother getting to uni before lunch). In these past 5-6 years, I’ve noticed something that’s significantly different – the evolution of gadgets.
For those of you who don’t mind a bit of profanity, here’s a rather entertaining clip of some WOW player going nuts. Despite the fact that I don’t play the game, I still found the amount of personal attachment to the game rather amusing even though I have no idea what he’s screaming about.
It’s scenarios like this that I’m glad I don’t spend that much time playing games online anymore.
Joyce has been quite busy with RICE stuff at the moment so don’t expect any posts from her any time soon. I’ve also been a bit busy with other stuff, but I thought I’ll post this just for amusement value…
On my daily commute driving to work, I inevitably end up having to squeeze myself from a small side-street (Cliff Rd) into a major road (Carlingford Rd) in congested peak hour traffic. Needless to say, the cars that are queued up on Carlingford Rd, and have right-of-way, couldn’t care less about cars that are trying to get out of a side-street. So, the only time cars can get out of Cliff onto Carlingford is when some nice obliging driver lets you into the traffic.
In an attempt to have more of a say in squeezing into traffic, I tried different “tactics” and noted the response of each one. What follows is a rough description of the quasi-experiment and its results and observations. Note: this is in no way scientifically rigorous, nor does it make a serious attempt to be – I was just bored sitting in peak hour traffic doing squat, so I amused myself with this…