Unleash the hidden nerd

When I was a child, I used to be such a nerd. I didn't like playing sports or going outside, I always brought along a ton of books, I asked a lot of questions, and I complained when our family newsletter (yes - my family is so big that we used an internal newsletter to keep each other updated) congratulated a cousin for being ranked 3rd in his class (I was ranked 1st and wasn't mentioned).

I lost my "nerdiness" when I entered high school and discovered beer.

(At least this is what I think - my cousins who I grew up with still think I'm sooo nerdy).

Some of my friends in college called me the "secret nerd." They were amazed at my ability to party and drink almost every night, and somehow manage to get respectable grades.

My secret? I lived right behind the university - so while the rest of my classmates were on their way home stuck in traffic, I would be in my room studying and finishing papers. By the time they got home, I would be drinking. Hehehe...

I lost all of this when I started working - I became interested in "normal" stuff. Cars, travel, large speakers, house music, going to the gym (although the effects don't show), drinking beer, drinking wine, drinking rum cokes, drinking scotch, food (especially Persian food - yummy!) - I was slowly losing the inner "nerd" in me.

Enter TED - which stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. TED is an idea-sharing conference that occurs once a year in the US. It costs $6,000 to attend, and all slots are taken 1 year in advance. They decided last year to post their most interesting talks online. I stumbled onto this site when someone showed me a very interesting clip with "TED" plastered at the start.

I got hooked - its YouTube for nerds. Here are two of my favorites:

Hans Rosling - amazing how he can turn something boring (like statistics, which I still hate) into something very thought-provoking.



Dan Gilbert -a very, very, very interesting (and nerdy) take on how to achieve happiness.



Each talk is about 18 minutes long - and they cover a wide variety of topics. "Normal" people watch 24, Heroes, Prison Break, or Grey's Anatomy to unwind after work - I prefer watching short TED video clips.

Isn't that so nerdy?