These days just about everybody loves at least one nerd. In many ways this is quite advantageous; you never have to worry about how you’re going to hook up that lovely new entertainment system when you get it home, how you’re going to recover a decade’s worth of pictures when your hard-drive bursts into flames* or what to do when the twenty page document you just spent the last month writing won’t print. This relationship, however, can become troubling at Christmas time when you realize you have no idea what this person would like or how to even find the things they’ve told you they would like. Sometimes I wonder if my husband has written his Christmas list in pseudo-jargon just to mess with me. Despite wish lists that might as well be written in a different language and my outright inability to understand technology, over the last ten years with my nerd, I’ve learned how to make him happy on Christmas morning.
*I think it’s perfectly clear that I have no idea how computers work
What Nerds Want:
1. Novels written by Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, J. R. R. Tolkien or Isaac Asimov are always a safe bet.
2. Being Geek: The Software Developer’s Career Handbook by Michael Lopp.
3. Tinkering kits.
4. A nerdy watch, possibly one that no one else will be able to understand.
from thinkgeek.com
5. Esoteric T-shirts.
“To be or not to be”
6. A nice cardigan they can wear to school or work.
from H&M
7. Anything with bacon.
from thinkgeek.com
8. Anything about Sriracha hot sauce.
from theoatmeal.com
9. An Amazon.ca gift card.
10. Copious quantities of their favourite food or beverage. Most nerds love macaroni and cheese, pizza, beer or coffee. (I’m serious – I’ve never seen my husband happier than the year his mom wrapped up a case of his favourite brand of macaroni and cheese.)