If Geek is the new cool.......I was ahead of my time.

I never wanted to be a cop when I was growing up. I never wanted to be a soldier either. It is funny where the wind can blow you when you do not have a direction firmly in mind or the will to hold a course. I am not complaining about my life, I absolutely love my job and the experiences I have gathered through out my life. I love my family and I love where I work and where I live. All and all I am blessed.

Sometimes however I feel like there is a raging geek inside me struggling to get out. The things that interest me have absolutely nothing to do with the career paths I have found myself in. (Don't get me wrong, blowing stuff up has always held a special fascination for me and I have had some opportunities to make some really tremendous booms!) But instead of subscribing to guns and ammo and, well......whatever the cop magazine is called, I have a subscription to Discover, Nat Geo, and Popular Science.

I also have some super geek hobbies which I will share with you now.......

This is my fossil collection!! (or part of it)

Maosasaour Teeth and other assorted goodies! Lots and lots of trilobites (or bugs in geek speak)

I love Sharks. I know, stereotypical geek but I am not simply a geek

conformist; I was into sharks way before I knew they were the geek hallmark.

This bad boy came from a Megalodon that was bigger than a killer whale. Some experts think that they got as big as humpback whales! (for my non geek readers 60 feet....who am I kidding I probably lost all my non geek readers at Maosasaur)

Here is my fossilized Mammoth tooth. He is the the baby in my collection being only 4.5 million to maybe only 5 thousand years old. Best as I can tell he is about 30,000 years old although I would love someone (Veatch family geologists, ahem) to tell me with more certainty. Most of my other fossils range from 525 million years old to 20 or so million. Still he gets along well with his big brothers and we are happy to have him.

Here is a couple of fish, an Ammonite, an alligator jaw bone and a cave bear jawbone. A nice little hoge-poge. But, I know what your thinking! (those of you who are still awake) The cave bear and the mammoth where contemporaries, right? But the last cave bear went extinct like 27,000 years ago compared to the mammoth at 5,000 so although it is possible that the cave bear is younger then the mammoth, the mammoth has the youngest possible age so it wins.

Geek in training!

Here is a piece of amber with two little bugs trapped inside. Do any of you know how hard it is to convince your wife that you need something like this?

So far I have been spending a lot of my time on my fossils. I don't want any of you to think that I am not a multifaceted geek its just that fossils are an aspect of my geekness which is easy to photograph. Here are some of my other geek pastimes.





Here is my magic card collection. (I know that I made a few of even the most hardened geeks who are reading this wince) And yes, my wife makes me keep it in the basement.






Here is about half of the board games I have. A rocking night at my house will see me and the family huddled around a game of Settlers of Catan.









Here is a poster I have hanging over the john. It keeps ending up in the basement and I have to go and rescue it. Silvia liked it for about a week but since then she banishes it whenever she cant take it any more.









Here is one of my favorite T-shirts. Now that is funny. Speaking about funny and geologic periods...(sorry Shelly)

We were at the museum and there was a display of a big misty swamp with giant insects and the caption said, "a Pennsylvanian swamp" and my sweet sister, who is not an unaccomplished geek in her own right, said, "wow, its hard to imagine Pennsylvania looking like that." he, he, he, he!

And now for the crowning achievement of my geekyness!!

(note* if you have known me for over ten minutes, I have most likely already shown you this E-mail)

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Dear Mr. Jones,


I received your email concerning the mislabeled sharks teeth in our Megalodon room. After investigating this I have found that your identification of both species is correct. I thank you for bringing this to my attention and commend your keen eyesight. I will correct this problem A.S.A.P.

Sincerely,

Rick Hunter
Museum Of Ancient Life

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From: Ken Jones

Subject: Mislabeled Exhibit

Mr. Jorgenson,

I'm not sure if you are the proper person to address my problem, but I trust that you will know the person who is....

First, I love your museum. I go all the time. However, the other day I noticed a display that was mislabeled. It is in the room with the megalodon. Specifically, in the glass display case with all the shark teeth. There are several teeth that are labeled, "Hemipristis serra." They are actually Squalicorax pristodontus. You do have several Hemipristis teeth in the display. They are lying on the stand that is holding the beautiful megalodon tooth. They are unlabeled. They are the ones with the serrations that face backward (toward the point). Thanks for your time, and keep up the good work.

Respectfully, Ken Jones

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Yes, it is an E-Mail from the curator of the biggest museum in Utah!! Is that not the coolest, I mean the geekiest thing ever? Stand back and bask in the warm glow of my nerdiness! Be stunned by the profound, monumental peak of my geek achievment! Throw your pocket protectors and retainers my way in recognition of a true geek among geeks!

For any non geeks who have made it this far I thank you for your patience. Although, I know you thought the five inch shark tooth was cool. Beware of studying to deeply the way of the geek, for it has a way of entraping you........ and I wouldn't have it any other way.