For my little ones, this represents the last weekend of summer vacation. So for them, we’ll have to do something fun on Saturday. We’ll come up with something good, I’m sure.

For the oldest, she is now a first grader in a room full of other first graders of like intelligence. She is very excited, a little timid, but looking forward to all the books she’ll get to read. We met the teacher today and she seems very nice. She won over my daughter with the Spongebob band-aids in her cupboard and we found 3 books about penguins. She loves her some penguins.

Our youngest is also embarking on a school year of her own. She’ll be attending pre-K in a setting that has her there 5 days a week. She has a uniform and a brand new facility and couldn’t be more excited. Although she is also a little nervous because none of her pre-school friends are here. Time to make new friends which she will do on day one without problem. I don’t have a picture of her at her desk, I guess it got lost somewhere in my phone. Crap.

Instead I will leave you with this picture snapped by my brother in law. It is my favorite actual road sign on an interstate.

I have long called myself a nerd. I have always been a nerdy kid. I love computers and all things technical. I was never the smart kid in class, but I wasn’t the dumb kid either. I may have smelled but that’s not the same. No, I never got stuffed in a locker as I was a bit of an enigma to those would would do such a thing. Yes, I was a small nerdy kid, but I was also very capable and sometimes very good at holding my own when it came to athletics. I have been able to turn my love of video games and computers into a living. I am able to mostly provide for my family thanks to being able to write code. Code is poetry. Being a nerd is a wonderful thing in my opinion. Especially when you see it blossom in your children.

I have two amazing daughters. I love them and they love me very much too. My oldest daughter is very much a nerd just like me. She loves knowledge and computers and technical things to figure out. My youngest is a girlie girl of sorts but she also has her nerd side too. She loves to play with me in the games and her sister in their own. Some day they will be the head nerds in charge and I hope they remember me fondly for encouraging that nerdy spirit.

This weekend we took our nerdy selves to a new level. We went to a Star Wars convention. See, in our house, we all love Star Wars. Most of us anyway, someone just likes it or tolerates it. The largest gathering of all fans of the Star Wars universe came to our backyard and we all went as a family. If you can imagine what it might have been like inside the convention center, it was. There were toys of today’s youth right beside the toy’s of my youth. Some of that junk is worth some SERIOUS cash these days. So long as it wasn’t given to a kid like me and is still in the original packaging. Yeah right, I was under 10 when all original 3 came out.

Anyway, it was a very large gathering of the fans, creators, and actors in the universe. It’s tentacles reach pretty far across the world of art, entertainment, merchandising, and culture. 25,000 people were expected to show up for the big event and we added 4 to that count. We saw elaborate costumes and we saw costumes that made the person wearing it elaborate. We wandered around the expo hall, taking pictures with characters as well as pictures of the characters. I don’t have any pictures here, my wife got them all on her good camera.

We all had a great time. I now know what it’s like to go to one of those things. I don’t know if I’d go back, perhaps I would if I could go into some of the panels and hear about how things were done. Having the kids though was awesome. Seeing them light up at the sight of things as the little boy inside me were was an awesome feeling. After all, I really wasn’t there to by up the merchandise and especially not to pay money to meet and get a signature by the actors. I was there to enjoy some of my inner nerd and re-visit some of my favorite childhood memories. What made it even better was being able to share that with my wife and kids.

If your reading this blog, you most certainly have a little nerd in you. You most certainly have a little bit of love for some things the super nerds of the world invented. Whatever brought you to this point, whatever inspired your love of these sorts of things, embrace it. Let your flag fly and have no reservations about doing so. Even if for just one day. For just one day, you can fully embrace a love of something as silly as a movie saga and not feel fear of being stuffed in a locker. You will love yourself for doing so and the Sith Lord commands you to do so.

So tell me, what are you nerdy about?

After 7 days away from home, my freshly squeezed(looking at you @laughmom) butt is finally home. After 3.5 days of madness that was BlogHer 2010, we spent the next 3.5 days with my real family in New York. Sorry, I have no pictures at this time because I left my phone behind when we left for the airport. Thankfully, my cousin already put it in the mail and I should have it in a couple days.

During my time in my favorite city on Earth, I was part of the husband party. It was mainly myself, Mister Britt, and Mister Mommy Wants Vodka(the Daver), with occasional appearances from Mister Melee and others. We did some fun unplanned stuff. We took strolls around the city, found cool bars to share lunch and beers in, took in the art at MoMA, and even acted as the guys group at most of the parties.

I cannot even to begin listing all the awesome people I met at all the awesome events I was lucky enough to go to. What I did witness though was an amazing community of support, friendship, and love. There was mass amounts of hugging and squeeing like I’ve never before seen. It was impressive and inspiring all at the same time. Although I don’t think I could ever truly be in the club due to my Y chromosome, I am quite happy just to be in the presence. It rubs off on you, sometimes it even rubs up on you.

I had an amazingly great time. I shared drinks and laughs and smiles and hugs with people I’ve never met in person before but spoken to often. It was so great that I cannot wait to do it all over again. Hell, I even danced at one of the parties. Not that I really had a choice, but I pushed through it and let go a little bit. Trust me when I say a little bit is a LOT for this guy too.

I hope to attend the big event next year as well. I made some real friends on this trip. I am walking away with real friends and an extended network of people I enjoy talking too and just hanging out with. This is what I am taking away from the conference and for me, that makes it a perfect adventure.

The last half of my trip included time spent in the house I feel like I grew up in. It was my mother’s childhood home, my grandmother’s home, and now it is my aunts and uncle’s home. I spent most of my life in this house even though it was never a residence. It was where my aunt raised me and my sister until we were of school age. It was where my family gathered most every weekend for swimming and cookouts. It was home away from home. I strolled into the basement and saw things myself and the other cousins put there 30 years ago. Memories of my childhood were right there and they could be touched. The house is much smaller than I remember, but I was half the size. The memories of summer were intense, the smells were the same, the breeze was exact, the sounds….everything.

The highlight of the entire trip came from my aunt. About 25 years ago my aunt suffered her second stroke. This stroke changed her life forever. It left lasting brain damage that took her ability to walk, communicate fluently, and the use of her right arm. Fast forward to 2 days ago along with some new and improved therapy, and I saw my aunt walk under her own power down a hallway I used to run down. The only assistance she needed was the banister. I stood in awe as she did it over and over again, 5 times to be exact. After one of the trips down the now shorter to me hallway, I gave her a big hug. I had tears in my eyes as I realized it was the first hug I had given her in 25 years when she wasn’t sitting down. I was just so proud of her and I made sure she knew it.

Tomorrow my babies come home from their vacation trip to grandma’s house. I miss them so much. Over the weekend we’ll go to another conference. This time it’s for Star Wars and I’m looking forward to being a little nerdy with my girls. I’m sure we’ll have a blast. We’ll be having dinner with some blogger’s too, which I am now very much looking forward to.