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Welcome to the Geek ClubThis month GeekTech shares tips, tricks, and reasons why it's great to be a geek.Alexandra Krasne, special to PC World
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So you call yourself a geek, huh? If you do, you've undoubtedly provided tech support to countless friends when their PCs start displaying undecipherable error messages (or you just run and hide like I do), discussed the merits of gigabit ethernet during a romantic dinner (who hasn't?), and even built your own computer.
Few people, myself included, were born geeks. It took years of practice and tinkering and asking geekier friends really dumb questions. Eventually, you graduated to geekdom, fully embracing geek culture in all its glory. This column is an ode to all things geeky--or at least to some geeky stuff that I piled together this month.
Ah, it's great to be a geek.
Geek Activities
At some point you're going to have to step away from your PC. Maybe to eat or sleep, or possibly even shower. But when you're brave enough to leave the glow of your monitor for the glow of that yellow thing in the sky (commonly called the sun), you can explore and find new places doing something called Geocaching.
It's like hunting for buried treasure, but with a Global Positioning System receiver. Here's how it works: Someone hides a treasure and puts a coordinate on the Geocaching site, then others find the treasure. When you locate the treasure chest (usually a plastic container) you get to take something someone has left and put in something of your own.
To get started, buy a GPS device. Then go to the Geocaching site, type in your zip code, and you'll see a list of places where treasure is buried. Then grab a map, a geeky friend, and your GPS device, and put on your walking shoes.
Geek Style
And when you do finally take...