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Jason and I love experiencing our world, whether that’s through a bike ride in the mountains or a concert in the park. Last week we did a lot of experiencing.

Snow Patrol was sweet!

For starters, we went to a Snow Patrol concert. It was awesome! Of course, if I didn’t absolutely love Snow Patrol in the first place I wouldn’t have drug Jason to their concert. Although I wasn’t surprised by how skilled the band was live, I was surprised by their size: 2 drummers, 4 guitarists, and a keyboardist. I guess with all the layers in Snow Patrol’s music I shouldn’t have been too astonished that that many musicians were required to create their unique sound.
My favorite part of the evening was their performance of “The Golden Floor”. This song’s haunting melody and catchy rhythm made it an instant favorite of mine when I first heard Snow Patrol’s new album, A Hundred Million Suns, but seeing it played live exceeded all my expectations. One of the band’s drummers pounded away on some giant metal drums throughout the number. The intensity of his beating gave the song a primal feel and made the experience unforgettable.
Plain White T’s, the opening band, also put on a great, but extremely short, show. Their lead singer, Tom Higgenson, was sick and so they only played a few songs. Even though Tom was barely able to talk he managed to sing without sounding very strained. Since I really liked what little they played for us, I’ve decided that I need to purchase their CD.

This is me at the Real game. I was a bit cold but I was very grateful I wasn't wet.

Our second cultural event of the week was a Real SLC game. We won some amazing tickets for this game at a silent auction event for a charity. Our seats were right on the sidelines, behind the team benches. Sweet! As fate would have it, the day of the game was an incredibly rainy one. Blast! We loaded up for the match with lots of rain gear and garbage bags – everything we could think of that might decrease the soaking we assumed we were about to receive. And then the miraculous occurred: as we were traveling to the game the skies cleared and the night turned into a beautiful autumn evening. It was still cold enough that hats, gloves, jackets, and scarves were needed, but with that bundling it was pretty pleasant and, more importantly, it was completely dry.

Anakin told me he was going to use an old Jedi trick called "wrappa armaround". He must be strong with the force because he pulled that one off.

Two days later we headed up to Salt Lake City again, this time for Star Wars: In Concert. Fantastic! A giant LED screen, Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) in the flesh, a live orchestra, actual props from the Star Wars films, and more geeky fans than you could possibly imagine made for a splendid nerdfest!

I think Jason was ready to join the dark side at this point.

Hooray for three memorable evenings!

Jason and I went to Las Vegas last weekend to geek it up at DefCon. For those of you who aren’t nerdy enough to understand the significance of DefCon, let me enlighten you. DefCon is the largest hackers’ convention in the world. It takes place every summer in Las Vegas. Now I know what all of you are thinking because it’s exactly the same thing I was thinking when I first heard of DefCon. “Really? There’s a convention for hackers? To teach them how to hack better? Really? Is that legal?” The answer to all of those questions is yes.

Me trying to mimic the DefCon poster. Am I doing a good job at looking menacing?

Yes, every summer over seven thousand of the nerdiest people you’ll ever meet converge on Vegas in 111 degree weather to learn how to improve their computer hacking and lock picking skills. Yes, really. The conference isn’t attended by just hacking bad guys or “black hats” though; geeks like Jason go to keep up on hacking trends in order to maintain their status as network security superstars.

They had a display at DefCon of ridiculously old computers. This monstrosity was the biggest.

Despite the caliber of geeks this conference attracts, not all DefCon goers look noticeably nerdy. There are plenty of guys there that look completely ordinary. But, there are also a considerable number that do not. These not-so-normal attendees I like to call “feral geeks”. These are the guys with long greasy hair that pick their noses unabashedly and look like they’re wearing twenty-year-old leftovers from high school that probably weren’t even fashionable back then. These are the guys that probably still live in their mamma’s basement and consider showering optional.

Though those of the female persuasion are usually highly outnumbered at DefCon, I decided to brave it and be among them. I know this acknowledgement will expose me as the geek I am, but admittedly I did not just attend this conference to humor my husband. I also went because I am a curious person. I like to know how everything works and am eager to learn, even geeky hacking knowledge falls under my umbrella of curiosity. I actually enjoyed most of the presentations I listened to – I know, I know, that makes me an even bigger nerd. I happily learned about computer crime law, malware mess-ups, and cyber warfare. Surprisingly, only one presenter baffled me with his technical details, the others I didn’t have any difficulties understanding. Yes, yes… I am a geek.

While DefCon isn’t much different from other scientific seminars in many ways, there are a few things about it that are a bit on the peculiar side. For one, the presenters can often be seen guzzling bottles of beer during their lectures, instead of water. And anytime they spout profanities, which happens frequently, the crowd inevitably cheers.

Even the DefCon badges are designed with microchips to render them hackable. Check out this link to view the awesome nerdery: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/08/hacking-the-defcon-17-badges/

Beyond just the idiosyncrasies of the presentations, the atmosphere at DefCon is unusual. There’s a lock picking village where you can improve your ability to break and enter. Doesn’t seem legal does it? But strangely it is. Intelligent attendees absolutely avoid getting on the internet while at DefCon. Any laptop or phone linked into the DefCon network is hacked nearly instantaneously. Conference fees can only be paid for in cash; credit cards are not accepted. The organizers of this convention understand that if they allowed attendees to pay with credit cards, many of them would be fraudulent and all the card numbers, legit or otherwise, would probably be stolen from their system anyway, via hacking of course.

Brawndo: it's what plants crave.

Another DefCon oddity is the presence of the feds. Agents from just about every federal organization come to DefCon. They come in part to spy and in part to recruit. They’ve realized that although some of these hackers use questionable means, many of them are exceptionally talented. The feds try to blend in at DefCon, go unnoticed for the most part. But it is not unusual to hear accusing shouts of “Fed, fed!” radiating randomly from an attendee if they believe they have spotted an agent.

Although DefCon is immensely entertaining, Jason and I didn’t just geek it while in Vegas. We took some time to watch a Cirque du Soleil show, Mystére; it was beautifully done. We also squeezed in a little shopping and a bit of gambling. After all, Vegas is just a hot desert dustbin without those slots.

We met up with our friend Lee while in Vegas. Here we are being Star Trek geeks.

My DefCon analysis? Hot, foul, nerdy, interesting, peculiar, amusing. DefCon is an absolutely unique and bizarre experience. I definitely recommend that all you coding monkeys check it out.

Have you often pondered what the offspring of two totally nerdy programmers and a geeky attorney would look like? Well now I have the long awaited answer to that burning question!

After a lengthy and difficult labor the brainchild of Jason, my brother Drew, and our friend Jeremy Rowley came into the world today. Like many proud parents they named this child soon after its conception months ago: LebWinks.

Jason and Drew were so intent on programming their beloved site that they consented to doing it in our freezing unfinished basement in the middle of winter. What can I say, they wanted to program early on Sunday morning. I didn't want to be woken up, on my one day a week to sleep in, by the sounds of geekery.

Here’s the skinny on this child of genius:

LebWinks is a social networking site of sorts. I know, I know, as if the world didn’t have enough of those already. But LebWinks, as would be expected from its unusual parentage, is unique. Say you found an amazing website you would like to share with your buddies, well LebWinks provides a nearly effortlessly way to do so. You can share your favorite websites with your friends on a real time basis while keeping to yourself whatever sites you deem “private”.

Jason, Drew, and Rowley have been toiling away on this project for over a year now and thanks to lots of hard work, brainpower, and caffeine, it has finally been released. Way to go boys!

Please join us in welcoming their new arrival. Come check out the geeky awesomeness that is LebWinks at LebWinks.com. Just remember, since this is a newborn it has a few kinks that still need to be worked out – it’s not potty trained quite yet - but it’s fantastically incredible anyway.  So visit LebWinks.com and bring the LebWinks joy into your life!

I have been an avid Star Trek fanatic since I got hooked on The Next Generation series as a teenager. Yes, nerdery took root in me at a young age. I am not ashamed to say that I had a huge crush on Data the android through my teen years. While other girls my age salivated over Tom Cruise, Luke Perry, or the rockers in Guns N’ Roses- I dreamed of Data.

Our geeky group

Being the diehard Trekkie that I am, I was super stoked when I heard that a new Star Trek movie was coming out. I wanted to make watching this movie a memorable event. So I plotted with my friend Cameron and together we amassed a group of 20 friends to witness this spectacular show together. Thanks Cam again for being in charge of ticket purchasing!

I just can't resist a man in uniform. Resistance is futile?

The unabashed geeks in our group wore Starfleet uniforms to the showing. I would have proudly been among them but unfortunately, due to the high volume of Trekkies with the same idea, I was unable to purchase such attire. All the sites online were sold out. So I settled for a t-shirt that says “I heart Data”.

Fran gave Jason's uniform a try. Living long and prospering must be hard to do.

The movie was fantastic of course- action packed, well written, and funny. It paid homage to the original series without being predictable. The casting was impeccably done and the special effects were breathtaking. I plan on catching it again in the next couple weeks- this time at an IMAX.

We’ve all heard that old adage: what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Well I guess it’s not always true because last weekend here’s what happened in Vegas.

The largest hackers’ convention in the world, DefCon, takes place in Vegas every year. My geeky husband has been dying to go to it for years but has never managed to make it. This year I promised him that not only could he go but that I would actually accompany him.

We went down with a large group of geeks that included Aaron, Dave, my brother Drew, and Jason’s brother Jeremy.

Some things about this convention were not too surprising, like the occasional whiff of BO you encountered as you walked amongst the geeks. I was surprised however by just how many of these hardcore geeks actually looked relatively normal and seemed to have some semblance of social skills. The proportion of normal to abnormal appearing geeks was much higher than I expected, though I definitely saw many attendees that fit the part of the stereotypical nerd.

I attended a couple seminars with Jason just for fun. (Did I just say “for fun”?) I was surprised and disturbed by just how much of the lecture material I actually understood. I guess all that geeky stuff Jason has been telling me over the last decade has taken its toll.

Since we were in Vegas we couldn’t just geek out, we had to party a little too. I was keen on doing some shopping, of course. I was really stoked to go to the new Vegas H&M store. But after having been to the huge H&M on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, the tiny H&M in Vegas was a bit of a disappointment. I still found some good stuff though. And more importantly, I bought a couple pairs of shoes.

We also decided that we should go to a show while we were in Vegas. Although, our original plan was to see one of the Cirque du Soleil shows, we didn’t buy our tickets in time, so we ended up going to see The Blue Man Group. Jason and I saw this show in Vegas a few years ago but we still really enjoyed it the second time around.

And what’s a trip to Vegas without a little gambling? I tried playing 21 for the first time on this trip. It was a lot of fun. Jason and I managed to win $52 dollars with the $20 we gambled. But my most amazing gambling feat was winning $90 in about ten minutes on a 1 cent slot machine, using only a dollar. I was surprised and thrilled! It was awesome that Jason and I managed to actually make some money in Vegas, over $120, using only $21. I’ve already spent most of our winnings on shoes. After all, there’s really no better way to spend your money!

It was a fun trip, perhaps a little too testosterone and geek laden, but still a lot of fun! Sorry boys if I ruined your geek-a-thon with my girly presence.