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Even if you think you're a geek, that's no reason not to be social. You can join your fellow geeks at dinner tomorrow night.
Thom Allen is a geek. He knows it. His family knows it. To give you some background into how geeky he is, he claims to have three pocket protectors, he listens to Devo, and he speaks a little Klingon.
But that's not why he calls himself a geek.
"My hobby is technology. I'm not just a consumer. I like to fiddle and be on the edge and I'm always wanting the newest, latest gadgets," he said.
Allen goes to monthly get-togethers for other self-confessed geeks. He's been doing it for a year and a half. As a software developer, he uses these geek meetings to network.
"A really big majority of my work comes from referrals [and] networking that I've made from the various events that I've attended," he said.
Other geeks, like Laura Moncur, just need help making friends. She's not anti-social; she's just stuck at home all the time, managing Web sites.
"When I worked at home and thought it would be great and I'd get to be in my pajamas every day. I found out that I was very lonely," she said.
Moncur says she has no problem calling herself a geek.
"The whole thought of geeks being something bad kind of went away a few years ago, at least to us. I don't know, maybe the jock boys think it's an insult," she said.
She formed these geek meetings in 2006 to have other people to talk shop with. Moncur says Salt Lake has a proud geek community. She has seen up to 250 geeks in one gathering, although the monthly meetings are usually a little more intimate.
"Our dinners can be as small as about five to 10 people, and it kind of fluctuates," she said.
The geek dinners are usually scheduled for the fourth Thursday of the month, except for November and December, because even geeks spend time with their families for the holidays. This Thursday's dinner will be at Jason's Deli across from the Fashion Place Mall.
E-mail: pnelson@ksl.com
