Hello. My name is Rusty, and I am a nerd.

The first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem. Recently, I have come to realize that I am a nerd. You might be asking yourselves, how do you know? What are the warning signs? How can I avoid becoming a nerd? As you would expect, my wife was the first to notice what was happening. One evening I was playing Halo 3 online with my cousin Mike (sorry bro, you are a nerd as well). I had on the headset that comes with the controller. The headset is used to communicate with your playing partners that are in other locations. Jen walked into the room and started laughing. Not just a chuckle, but reacting to the best Dane Cook stand up comedy you have ever seen, laughing. When she recovered, she looked at me and said "You are a nerd". I thought she was crazy, but then I imagined the scene from her point of view. Here was a nearly 40 year old male sitting in front of a TV with a video game controller in his hands and a headset on his head talking to his cousin who was at his house wearing an identical headset. Not a pretty picture.

So, I began to think about my life to determine if Jen was indeed correct. She usually is, but I had to see this for myself. What I found was worrisome to say the least. I love technology. I listen to podcasts and audio books. When I read books, it is on my iPhone. I would be lost without my RSS feeds and Google Reader. Recently, I watched the bootleg live video stream of the keynote address from Apple's WWDC. Then I watched the official Apple version of the same keynote. I pre-ordered the new iPhone 3G S. I am jonesing for a new Macbook Pro. When Mike and I talk, it is processor this and RAM that, with a little network or syncing thrown in. I drive a hybrid, and I like it.

After that introspection, it seems that my wife hit the nail on the head. Back to that night, after she called me a nerd, I told her that she was the one that agreed to marry me. She responded with, "You were not a nerd then".

So, nerds everywhere, there is hope. Dress well, act cool, be polite, get the beautiful girl to marry you, and then put on the headset!