Adventures of a Tech Jock

Post written by Steve Otto. Follow me on Twitter.

The Golden Years When I was in Elementary and Junior High School I was your typical dorky adolescent. I remember hanging out with some of the more goofy kids (which I fit into that category perfectly) who played Dungeons & Dragons and had collections of Star Wars figures and Radio Controlled Cars. I didn’t really fit into the ‘cool group’ at that point, but as I came into High School I started excelling in sports and shedding some of that goofy and awkward layer I carried around for years. Being in a small school with a graduating class of about 65, it was actually possible to know nearly everyone in my High School. That became a goal of mine. I knew what it was like to be part of the goofy group – you know the band geeks or A/V kids in your High School. But I also enjoyed becoming part of the popular crowd. At one point I even had possibly the most attractive girl in our High School longing to date me but at the time I had my heart set on another girl in my church youth group. Thank goodness neither of those worked out.

A new term I remember at one point in my High School Years when a female friend of mine was complimenting me on my skills. I had found some loophole in the system where I was really good at computers and gadgets but didn’t fit the personality profile of most of the A/V guys. I didn’t have a pocket protector or coke bottle glasses and I was actually coordinated. So she gave me a new label – “Tech Jock”. I fit in with the coolness of the Jocks (evening earning Athlete of the Year my Senior Year) while still enjoying my passion for gadgets (and we’re not talking all the cool gadgets like we have now – we are talking gadgets like the Commodore 64 here).

For my peeps So for all those guys out there that have a passion for Audio and Visual goodness but were shunned from the cool group, being called a computer nerd or other debilitating names – this column is for you. You can enjoy A/V and still be cool. You too, can be a Tech Jock.

Of more importance So Technology is of course one of my passions, but I also have a few other roles that outrank the Tech Jock Label. Husband, Father, and a Follower of Jesus. I am absolutely blessed by my marriage to my wife Amy. She is my best friend and we have a lot of fun navigating through life together. Which brings me to our kids – Hannah and Jacob. Life is never boring in our house, and I look forward to sharing some of those adventures with you. Finally, through all of this, my love for Christ is a part of everything I’m involved in. I’m sure I’ll be sprinkling stories in which God is working in my life here in there, because that is always exciting as well.

So I hope you enjoy my weekly column here on Sundays and I want to leave you with one recent story of our 4 year old Jacob.

A Parenting Ubermoment I recently came across the iPhone app called Joost which allows me to watch old TV episodes right on my iPhone. While I was browsing through the retro animated cartoons I came across my absolute favorite: G.I.Joe. My brothers and I were such big G.I.Joe fans that between the three of us we honestly owned about 400 figures and over 100 vehicles. It’s no wonder that all three of us eventually joined the Army Reserves. I was thrilled to share these episodes with Jacob and hoped he would enjoy them as much as I. It wasn’t long before Jacob was cheering on Snake Eyes and fearing Storm Shadow. The episodes are terrific because there are no cartoons, but they do show the commercial brake. It’s kind of entertaining. At the end of an action sequence the G.I.Joe logo comes on and the narrator states “G.I.Joe will return after these messages.” The screen goes black for a second and then the narrator comes back on and continues, “And now back to G.I.Joe”. Well after watching nearly all of the 20 or so episodes and having a half dozen commercial brakes for each episode, it wasn’t long before we found Jacob repeating this. The way he shares this is adorable and a little intriguing. Jacob will recite the narrators comments word for word and then close his eyes for a second or two before coming back with the phrase, “and now back to G.I.Joe”. You gotta see it to see how cute it is…

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