Nerd

I'm a nerd.  Yes it's true.  Nerds come in a variety of types and some of us are not as obvious as others.  I for instance may be among the more subtle ones.  It's not because I was a math major in college.  It's not because my job is in Information technology.  It's not because I carry two cell phones almost all the time and one is in a case on my belt.  It's not because I am excited about my daughter being involved in Science Olympiad.  It's  not because I'll happily sacrifice a night out with the guys from work to come home and play angry birds with Addie. 
I don't know how to write this but there is or should be a brief pause here as I adjust to the shock of discovery that I'm not subtle after all.  I'm eat up with nerdiness.  "Eat up with" is a southern redneck phrase meaning consumed with or totally committed to.  Example uses are; my house is eat up with termites (not really). My sister is eat up with the idea of growing her own organic food (really). 
At any rate you may be wondering why I brought up my nerdiness.  Last night we were visiting my sister and Davis called.  My brand new refurb IPhone 4 which I am still learning how to use chirped with the cricket ring tone I've chosen.  Since we were at Debbie's house he wanted to see the house and see everybody and see the baby chickens, ducks and guineas that Debbie is raising in the house (she's a nerd too).  So he said, "Give me a minute to put some pants on and we can face time."  I didn't think about the pants thing until later when it became clear that he was calling from the locker room.  At any rate the face time thing was a fail on my phone.  I still don't know why, but it worked on Marsha's phone.  At the time I took that to mean I'm not eat up with nerdiness.  You have born witness to the changing of that tide.
I got an email from Benn this morning.  That's on the other phone, the Blackberry.  No I don't plan to receive my email on the iPhone to combine the two.  We've already established who I am.  Benn is in Brazil.  This trip is for a race that an American has to win.  Winning this race means the US will have a C1 Olympic slot.  Not winning means no American goes to the Olympics in C1.  Of course Benn wants to be that American who qualifies the spot.  Assuming an American wins this race, the next big race will be for the Americans to compete to see who gets to fill the slot. 
I saw the red flashy light on the blackberry while I was washing the dishes and grabbed it to find an email from Benn.  I sat down and answered his email.  He's probably thinking what a nerd I am for answering so quickly.
Benn has a week to go in Brazil.  It's not the fun Brazil on the east coast.  It's the rain forest jungle Brazil on the west side.  There is a job to do and Benn went there to do it.  Sounds harsh and surprising for a guy who does his thing paddling a canoe, but that is truly how it is this time.  I am confident that he can get the job done, but I, the nerd, am keeping both phones close while he's gone to make sure I don't miss a word of news that I might be able to get while he's there.  I sort of hope though he doesn't try to face time with me till I get that figured out.