There is a strange and unique species of geek, a relative of Videogameous dorkus nocturnous, which thrives on a specific activity-playing board games. This species is known as Boardgameous dorkus maximus.

Although they are in the same geek family, there are several differences between Videogameous and Boardgameous. Unlike its cousin, Boardgameous actually enjoys being in the presence of real human beings and having genuine social interaction. To the non-geek, the type of socializing that occurs at board gaming events might seem strange and perhaps undesirable, but it is still interaction between actual living beings, and is therefore less geeky than the atmosphere Videogameous dwells in, which is devoid of any human contact.

Now, if when I mention board games, you are envisioning the likes of Monopoly, Clue, Cranium, Battleship, Sorry, or Life- you are grossly underestimating the caliber of geek I am referring to. Boardgameous would never be satisfied playing such games, they are for lesser beings. Instead, Boardgameous enjoys games such as: Arkham Horror, War of the Ring, Descent, Robo Rally, Puerto Rico-games that all you non-game geeks have probably never heard of. If these games are unfamiliar to you, rejoice, for you are less geeky than me and there is still hope for you.

These geeky games are much more complex than your standard board game. In fact, some of their rule books are about the same length as Crime and Punishment and take an equivalent time to read. And if reading the rules for a game doesn’t take you a decade, playing the game certainly will. The playing of some of these games is an all day event.

I must admit, that while I am not really into the extreme hard core geek games, such as Arkham Horror or Descent, I do quite enjoy geek gaming. Nearly every Saturday night for over a year now Jason and I could be found at the Rowley’s playing some geek board game. Now that the Rowley’s have moved to New Jersey we will have to relocate our game night, but the tradition will continue.

Speaking of the Rowley’s-no discussion about board game geeks is complete without mentioning Jeremy Rowley. He is a perfect example of a special sub-species of Boardgameous. This subspecies is practically unable to function unless given a regular infusion of board games. I am happy to say, that while I am geekier than I would like to admit, I am not THAT geeky. (Halleluiah!)

So there you have it, my confession. Although I am much less obsessed than Jeremy Rowley, I am a board game geek, and I have no intention of reforming.

Jason attended Brainshare last week. For some of you, the word “Brainshare” may conjure up images of something resembling the Borg collective. But no, Brainshare is Novell’s geek-a-thon convention held every year at the Salt Palace. Although the arrival of Brainshare means Jason will have to work long hours and will be sharing very little of his brain with me, there is one good thing about it-the Brainshare concert.

As part of their geek celebration each year Novell has a concert at the Energy Solutions Arena just for Brainshare attendees and Novell employees. Jas and I quite enjoy these concerts; they actually bring in some quality talent for this event. The concerts typically consist of a comedian as an opening act and then some form of musical entertainment. Bands that have been part of the show in the past include Goo Goo Dolls, Counting Crows, and Train.

The comedian this year was Frank Caliendo. I had never heard of him before but he was hilarious. His impersonations were impressive and quite entertaining.

The band performing this year was Collective Soul. I am a fan of Collective Soul and have been to their show once before. They didn’t disappoint.

Based off the quantity of geeks at this event, and the anti-social nature of the typical geek, one would expect the audience to be rather blasé, but they were not. This may have been due to the amount of alcohol most of them had consumed rather than any inherent social skills. Either way, I’m glad I wasn’t the only one enjoying myself.

Jason was able to procure enough tickets to the concert for us to invite Jim and Cindy Brown, and Tom and Aimee Brown (yes, they are brothers) to join us. My sister Kristen and her boyfriend Johnny were also able to attend, so we had our own little concert posse to chill with. It rocked!

St Patrick’s Day: the day we celebrate gold-hoarding miniature men and mutant clover plants. St Patty’s day is celebrated here in American by those of Irish and not-so-Irish descent, a great tribute to the melting pot that is our culture. Why all the bother when we aren’t living in Ireland and most of us aren’t even Irish? Who knows? But hey, it’s an excuse to turn things unnaturally green and annoy everyone by pinching them incessantly, so why not?

Jason decided that although he isn’t a tad bit Irish, and I am most likely not either, that we needed to do a little St Patrick’s Day celebrating. So he bought me various food items that had absolutely nothing Irish about them, but were in green packaging, which, as far as he was concerned, counted. One of these items was a six-pack of non-alcoholic malted beverage, or O’Doul’s. Yummy! Not only were the bottles green, there’s that “O” in the name, so he considered them doubly Irish. He also bought me Irish Springs soap…maybe I stink. The crowning achievement of his St. Patty’s day cleverness was buying me a Green Day CD. He still laughs periodically and tells me, “Green Day…get it?” to remind me of just how enormously funny he is.

So there you have it, you don’t have to be Irish to enjoy St. Patrick’s Day, but apparently having a silly husband helps.