The Geek Family Robinson*

In my family there is a long and proud history of geekiness. There's a strong tradition of careers in science, technology and education and what comes with that is a gentle nerd-itude.

Dad was a Mech E with an MBA before he retired and Mom was a nurse. And Dad really loved his physic classes. This led to a really odd knowledge base for my sister and me.

You know how, when a car takes a corner, everyone inside leans to the side? And when you're kids you try to steamroller your siblings during this? Well, when my sister and I tried to squash each other, we did so while hollering "Sudden change of intertia!" Sometimes we still do this and it's even funnier 'cause we're both in our 30's.

Anytime it is remotely appropriate, my father will pontificate "Momentum is conserved" with his index finger up in the air.

Mom writes little c's with dots over them instead of w/. This made grocery lists very confusing until I figured out what she meant.

When I had my radio show in college, I tried to introduce my family to the types of music I played. My father was immediately enraptured with the idea of Industrial music; not the actual music but the name. Anything industrial had to be good. To this day, anytime I mention music my father will ask "Is that Industrial music?'

Additionally, both my parents routinely refer to ska as "scud music." I think this is because the first Gulf war was going on when I first told them about it. Or they just really don't like ska.

Dad wore a pocket protector for many, many years.

Mom was charged with making circle skirts for the band front when my sis was in marching band. I distinctly remember my father on the floor with a compass and a protractor, designing a skirt that strongly resembled a yin-yang symbol.

Two Christmases ago, my parents were in the middle of moving during all the holiday festivities. This led to very limited Christmas decorations and some holiday dinners on paper plates. It has now gone down in history as "The Robinson Family Half-Assed Christmas" and I created a scrapbook to commemorate the event.

Also, during the half-assed holiday season, my sister appeared at the top of the stairs, yelled "The cow was Canadian" and disappeared back into her room. This makes a little more sense when you know my sister works in food safety and the first mad cow had just been discovered in the US. But it was still damn funny. And for the remainder of the week, anytime someone lay down, they were referred to as a downer cow.

I know there's more, but I think I've embarrassed the fam enough for one day.

* My family's name really isn't Robinson and it isn’t even Swiss, but I'm on a blog anonymity kick so y'all will just have to deal with the pseudonym.