Sexiest Geeks Alive

Photo by Scott Beale from Laughing Squid

I met Andrew Mager (who often just goes by “Mager”) officially on Facebook and in person at the Merkley??? 111 girls on couches book launch at 111 Minna. We quickly became friends (which is one of Andrew’s super hero powers) and took an awesome picture together:

Andrew is a fireball of goodness. He’s always positive and smiling, which is addictive. Whenever I’m having a downer of a day, I think of Mager and it always cheers me up. Sometimes I SMS him and he’ll send me back an awesome quote that puts me back in the right frame of mind.

The sexiestgeeksalive.com website wouldn’t exist without Andrew. I worked on the concept for a while and talked to several designers about what we wanted to do. In the end, it was Andrew who rolled up his sleeves on a Saturday afternoon and whipped up a website for us. He’s awesome to work with. Not to mention, he knows about every cool site that the cool kids are using these days. I tell him about something I want to do and he responds with, “have you seen X website yet?” and he’s right on the money.

I asked Mager if he would do an interview for the site (btw, he also writes for the site!!!). We plan on having podcasts, video and written interviews, and I’m proud to announce that Mager was up to the task. He chose a written interview and I’m sure you’ll love it as much as I did:

1. What kind of geek are you?

According to this photo, I would consider myself a band geek. I was in the marching band all through high school and college, and I was even the trumpet section leader at Virginia Tech last year. If I could choose a second type of geek, I would go with code geek. I love learning new programming languages, and experimenting with websites. I have about 50 active domain names.

2. Thanks for creating the Sexiest Geeks Alive website! What do you
think so far? What would you like to see?

I like the simple design, and I am really impressed with the amount of content already on the site. In just a week, we have over 1,500 page views. Imagine when we start adding pictures of sexy geeks

I’d like to see 20 bloggers contribute. If people have ideas, I want to see them published. Any who wouldn’t wanna read about sexy geeks?

3. As you saw in one of my previous posts, for a long time I didn’t
get Twitter. So, I see you use Twitter and you’ve posted over 1000
times. What would you tell someone who’s never used it? How would you
explain it?

Twitter is my favorite social utility today. I like it more than Facebook sometimes. Twitter keeps me in touch with my friends better than anything else. I am addicted to every tweet. I love it because it’s short and sweet.

For someone new to Twitter, I would suggest that they update at least three times a day. Most ask, “Well, why would you wanna know what I’m doing?”. I usually answer, “Because.”

I would also recommend that a new Twitter user add at least three friends a day. It’s no fun if you don’t know anybody on the site.

4. What do you think is sexy? Just in general terms?

Confidence is sexy. Consciousness to style is sexy. One who absorbs culture is sexy. You gotta proclaim your sexiness before someone else tries to define it for you. Being different is sexy to me.

Any soul who is constantly thinking up new ideas is sexy. You have to love love to understand true sexiness.

5. What’s sexy about a geeky woman?

If we can hold a conversation about the future of the Internet, I am impressed.

If a girl has a blog, and updates it regularly, she is basically sexy. I am obsessed with the power of information, and the web now allows us to publish anything we want for free. Any lady geek who understands this is sexy to me.

6. Who’s your sexiest geek alive?

This is a tough question. I could think of a bunch, but Veronica is my favorite

7. What do you like to read and why? (can be a blog, book, newspaper, etc.)

I have “RSS subscriptions” on this thing called “Google Reader”, but I don’t have time to read it

Besides my hundreds of work emails, I mainly read my Gmail, and Twitter. Oh, what do I like to read?

I love to read The Examiner. I pick it up every morning on my trek to SOMA. I like to read about mayor Gavin and Governor Arnold’s public meetings. It’s old media, but its tabloid style reminds me of the Philadelphia Daily News.

I like to read various blogs, and my mom’s malformed emails.

8. If you could have a human 2.0 feature, what would it be?

The ability to see one second into the future. Or, the skin to never be hot or cold.

9. What is your favorite gadget?

Definitely my MacBook. It’s the cheapest one, it takes a while to load Firefox, freezes daily, but it’s very handy. I can pull it out anywhere in San Francisco and get steady wifi.

10. What is your super hero power?

I can make anybody smile. When I am walking around the city, I never ignore a stranger. If someone is in need, I try to help them.

I have the ability to understand the present. I have seen bad times, and I know how to help others recover.

I may clown you, but it’s all in good spirit