Best of the web for Geek wannabes:

I’m not a geek, not really, but I’d like to be one. Really. As an independent person with more than a slight tendency to be a control freak, I enjoy solving problems on my own. Sometimes, it is even more fun to solve them for other folks. During my career as a high school journalism teacher, I had to teach myself quite a lot of tech, and I learned via the tutorials that came with software, (yes, they used to have those) from books, or from magazines such as MacWorld or Dynamic Graphics. Oh, the internet existed, but it was in its infancy, and the online resources that many of us take for granted were not yet available.

From time to time, I have taken classes at the UGAETTC, but I do prefer teaching myself, so the internet is often my textbook. Often, I learn about new products and what users think of them from Amazon.com. Yes, it is a great bookstore, but they sell so much more. I have purchased cameras, printers, and even tea from Amazon. I always read the posted reviews, because I think it is one of the better sites for getting real world opinions of the value of the items I am thinking of buying.

For even more geeky learning sessions, I have three other suggestions:
TWiT, which is This Week in Tech, features many former on air personalities from the now defunct Tech TV. The site has both video and podcasts, and is a good way to increase your knowledge of many areas of technology. Once before I mentioned CNet on this blog, and I continue to really enjoy this site. Their short videos (click on CNet TV) are very helpful to anyone who wants to keep up with the latest products. Finally, you can learn quite a bit about How Stuff Works at the site which bears that name. I did research on Tasers while I was writing The Gift Horse at that site, and I based a few concepts which I used in Trinity on Tylos on my reading about space exploration at HSW as well.

These sites can help your geeky skills, and the pocket protector is optional.