When I was a teenager my dad frequently told me that I was a geek magnet.  Since that time, I think the word "geek" has really come a long way.  No longer are geeks just considered the guys with pocket protectors, or in my case my dad's chance to give running commentary on guys I dated.  Fifteen years later, geeks are good.  Right?  Or have I just slid too far into geekdom that now the geek that surrounds me is just normal?  Maybe this is really just hopeful thinking.  It doesn't slip past me to see the irony in the fact that I married an IT guy.

I've been looking at our family and saw us as forward-thinking, technically savvy, lucky.  But yesterday, as I was telling a story to my friend, I realized that to an outsider, my vision of technology in our family could be considered to be some kind of geek farm.  For example:
- The kids use digital cameras - mine, Grandma Jane's, their own.  They know how to take them and how to switch the setting from shots to playback.
- I let Martin play with my iPod shuffle the other day and he had the whole thing figured out in probably two minutes.  Sure, there are only a few options on there, but he could maneuver the options without looking at it while it was hidden in his pocket.
- We've been letting Martin play on our computers and he really loves it, frequently asking if he could go to pbskids.org.  And believe me when I tell you hearing anything that ends with "dot com" or "dot org" sounds really funny coming out of the mouth of a preschooler.
- Yesterday Martin asked me if I brought the backup tapes into work.  I said I did and he wanted to know if I brought them straight into the server room.
- Martin has his own network login and asks to use it.  I think the only thing keeping us from complete computer autonomy at this point is that even though he can write his name, he has yet to figure out typing.

So far, at two, Sophie isn't showing quite the same interest - happy with calling a calculator her computer.  Wait, I just re-read that.  Yes, she plays with a calculator.  Maybe I should consider changing the name of this site to GEEKnelsons.