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Evidence of My Geekdom

I’m an architecture and urban planning buff. That in itself isn’t geeky (I hope). But I belong to an online group for Boston area architecture buffs (a forum where you post comments on existing and future developments, as well as public transit infrastructure). Mostly it’s a bunch of guys (no females, go figure) who rant and (rarely) rave about what’s going on in this city.

Well, I’ve only met one person off this site (just under two years ago). We’ve hung out a few times, walked around Boston taking pictures, and bitched about the progress made on the Big Dig parks. Mostly, we’ve just stayed in touch online – checking back with each other every few months if we enjoy one another’s comments on the website. Last night we got together for the first time since last summer because he wanted to see the photos I took in Prague. He’s always wanted to go there and very well might be even more interested in urban planning than I am.

How do I know this? Well, let me put it this way. I’ve shown these photos to a handful of people so far and it probably took about 15-25 minutes (that includes London, Prague, and Paris pictures). Last night we just looked at Prague alone…and it took nearly 2.5 hours. I’m serious! I must admit, even I was getting a bit tired half way through (by the time we had viewed the first two days worth of a four day trip). He analayzed the colors, the details, the juxtaposition, the street patterns…everything!

I mean, I do that, too… but for a few seconds. But he was able to summise what century a building was likely built (and what part of that century: early, mid, late). When viewing photos of the statues of what, to me, were random Czech people, he knew who they were and what they’d done to warrant a statue being built in their honor. He seemed to enjoy it and we agreed he can return another time to view photos of London and Paris (and last year’s Amsterdam, which he’d not seen yet).

Next time I’ll be prepared. I’ll stock up on nourishment.

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