Here it is, folks.

Alright, alright, I'll make a post. Bekah has been asking me for some time to make a post, and I really have been meaning to. Just waiting for that perfect idea, I suppose, and boy has inspiration struck. Check this baby out:

For the first time today, I thought to myself "Man, I really wish the pen in my shirt pocket wasn't sliding around all over. If only I had something to keep it in place..." Only then did I realize to what a benefit a pocket protector might actually be. Think about it: when you need a pen fast (and we all do) then what are your options? You can dig one out of your pocket, but given my increase in size around the middle lately it's getting to be a tighter squeeze every day, or you can fish one out of your backpack, also lame and time consuming. I need instant access, and a pocket protector is the way to go.

But I don't think I'll actually get one. Why? For one, I don't think Bekah would ever let me hear the end of it, but in reality what stops me is the stereotype. We all know the first thing we think of after we hear "pocket protector" is this guy:

The geek stereotype is nothing new to me though, partly because I consider myself a 'tweener. (Check it out, he's even got a USB flash drive in there!) For those of you who don't know me so well, I'm a Computer Science major at the University of Utah, which is perhaps reason enough to peg me as looking similar to that guy above. Maybe. But keep in mind that I am also a suave musician. However, I don't feel I fit perfectly in either category, musician or geek, but feel the need to be part of them both. On one hand I see myself as Michael Buble, saving the world one rendition of Mrs. Jones at a time; Bekah is lucky to have me. (I hope she approves of the use of that semicolon) On the other hand, I'm Andy Hertzfeld, one of the founding fathers of the Macintosh and a computer genius. (All those seeking to get their inner geek on should check out folklore.org)

I'm fine with being both, but it wasn't always that way. I took computer classes in high school and really enjoyed them, but I'll never forget the B-O laden, neck-hole-in-the-white-T-shirt-is-WAY-too-stretched-out kids around me in that class that I in no way felt a kinship too (or rather feared having a kinship to them due to the stereotype). No one wants to be this guy:

This led me toward music, whose stereotype is only slightly more desirable. But even that got to me after awhile (the music lounge was the cesspool of band geeks but I had to eat my lunch somewhere on those cold, snowy days...) and I began giving my inner geek some game time by taking an intro to Computer Science course. My professor was Dr. Erin Parker, and she was great. I really enjoyed the class and most of all I appreciated that she was not at all the stereotype. (I currently TA for her in that same class!) I've come to find that every CS professor I've had has been very socially-adept, well-showered, and can carry on a normal conversation. In fact most I wouldn't even have guessed they were computer scientists.

I poke fun at the stereotype only in jest (for those of you offended by my cesspool comment) because I myself have acquired many of the quirks of musicians and computer geeks alike, and I'm now ok with it. For example, I've recently switched to using a command-line text editor called Vim when editing my code, and found it interesting when someone told me about another keyboard layout that was supposedly more efficient than the one currently used on most computers. Don't judge. I'm going to post this blog on Facebook, and most that see it, including probably you, are going to think, "Ah, he's one of them." But you're here reading it cause your saw the picture of the big fat guy. Gotcha!

So maybe I'll get a pocket protector afterall. Truth be told, the stereotypes aren't really as bad as they seem, even in the Music program. There were some students that I realized led the battalion of bandgeekness into the far reaches of campus and garnered the bad name for us all, but most were quite pleasant, especially the professors. Or maybe I've just become "one of them" so I'm blinded by my brainwashing. But that's for you to decide.