Am I a….computer geek?

I remember when being called a ‘computer geek’ was an insult.  ‘The Revenge of the Nerds’ is the first thing that comes to mind, but hey, that was a long time ago.  As like everything else in life, things change, but how much?  What’s the first image that comes to your mind when someone mentions the IT guy in your office?  The bottom line is this, I WISH I was a computer geek!

IT jobs are not only at an all time high (no, I’m not going to back that up with any statistics), plus, those jobs pay good money!  Too bad I don’t know SQL, PHP, JAVA, C++, or any of the other languages and programs that fill up the computer universe.  I can learn them, but that doesn’t seem to tickle me silly, if you know what I mean.  (to be fair, I haven’t given any of them a fair shot)

I find myself in between the average computer user and the ‘computer geek.’  To my parents, who completely lost out on the internet, and everything that it has to offer ( a subject that I will definitely being addressing at a later date).  They can send emails, and do a little bit of browsing, but that’s it.  (I spent 30-45 minutes teaching my father to copy and paste!)  On the other side of the spectrum are programmers, database developers, network administrators, and every other job title that I don’t fit under.

I’m very computer savvy.  I LOVE ’surfing’ the net and finding new ‘beta’ apps.  By the way, can I still say ’surfing or has that changed to ‘browsing?’  (rhetorical question)  Yes, the word ‘beta’ gets me excited!  I love technology and everything that comes along with it.  I think it’s such a shame that this unbelievable resource, the internet, isn’t being utilized enough!  You can get the answer to anything in .022 seconds in a Google search, anything!!!  Not to mention the best part about it, it’s free!!  No, a computer and internet connection are not, but when was the last time you paid for anything Google related?  A multi billion dollar company that doesn’t charge for 90% of their services!  You can setup an office (Google Documents), create a website (Google Sites), upload photos (Picasa), write a blog (Blogger, or WordPress of course)….you get the point.

Does this excitement and knowledge make me a ‘computer geek’ as I’ve been called?  I hope so!