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Why Do Other Geeks Leave the House?

JG_Elliott asks: "Being a geek getting more and more frustrated with shopping trips, I've turned to the internet to buy things to save time and effort. This made me wonder, other than leaving the house for work/lectures/school, why do other geeks leave the house? What is in the big wide-world that you can't get online (other than real sex)? What do other geeks get up to in their spare time, that they recommend, as something to do out of the house?"

29 of 262 comments (clear)

  1. Life by Cranx · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Life is out there.

  2. Uh.. by hookedup · · Score: 5, Funny

    To go see the new star wars..duh.

    1. Re:Uh.. by azuroff · · Score: 4, Funny

      You mean you haven't downloaded it yet?!? I mean, what true geek waits for something to come to the theaters?

  3. Only one thing by pen · · Score: 4, Funny

    Buying a new house. If my current house runs out, I have to buy a new one. In order to do that, I have to leave my current house.

    1. Re:Only one thing by GigsVT · · Score: 5, Funny

      When I bought my house, I figured I'd get the low end model, since I thought that in 12 months, a house that was twice as big with twice the features would be out for about the same price.

      Sigh.

      --
      I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
  4. eat,sex,shit by el00343 · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...that's about everything I can't do online. Of course,if you have a laptop,everything changes

    1. Re:eat,sex,shit by unixbob · · Score: 5, Funny

      you leave the house to go for a shit?

      --
      The Romans didn't find algebra very challenging, because X was always 10
    2. Re:eat,sex,shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Of course. It's better to shit in the yard than on the carpet.

  5. Supermarket by dacarr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Because, quite frankly, you can't get decent produce by sending somebody else to get it.

    --
    This sig no verb.
    1. Re:Supermarket by Otter · · Score: 4, Funny

      I dunno -- they put perfectly adequate vegetables on my pizza! Have you considered black and green olives with artichoke hearts?

  6. It's depressing to be in the same place always by daviddennis · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I like to shop because it takes me out of the house, and out of Geekdom for a while. I also like being able to see and touch things before I plunk down my hard-earned.

    I find that a bit of human contact, even if it's saying hi to the cheerful checker at Gelson's, leaves me reenergised and ready to take on new items back in the Geek Castle :-).

    Besides, how could I check out the latest Apple stuff without visiting the Apple Store?

    D

  7. Re:I'm here to save you.... by shunnicutt · · Score: 4, Funny

    By throwing your pc out the window you will be overcome with the need to go out of the house for things like... food... shopping..

    Your monitor...

  8. Re:'enlightenment' topic by Dr.+GeneMachine · · Score: 5, Funny
    and you do need a change of scenery every so often.

    Change of scenery, huh? Replace your windows with plasma screens. Works wonders, I can tell you.

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    This comment does not exist.
  9. Why not? by Vincman · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think a more interesting and honest question is 'Why do people not leave the house?'. Is is related to past experiences? Is it a result or cause of social phobia? Is it related to the satisfying of short-term objectives? Is it related to intelligence or laziness? Is there a correlation between any variable (e.g. happiness) and time spent ouside?
    So does the good of outside-activity outweigh the bad, or vice versa? The relationship between obesity and inmobility has already been discussed numerous times.
    In my opinion, there are lots of reasons to leave the house, which outweigh spending time inside. The best answer was already given: Life is out there! Nothing beats the sweet smell/feel/taste of ... (fill in gap yourself)!

    1. Re:Why not? by Tackhead · · Score: 5, Funny
      > I think a more interesting and honest question is 'Why do people not leave the house?'

      What's outside the hosue is as boring as the Sims, but it's even slower, the speed-up key can only be used once a day, and it only works at night, when you're at home trying to game, rather than you just pushing fast-forward during the day when nobody's home!

      The list of defects goes on. Like, there's no fucking save/restore feature either! Spend six weeks setting up a menage-a-trois with your boss' wife and just one lousy goat, and you might as well pull out the old .45 and reformat.

      No way, man. The game outside the house is teh sux. I wouldn't even warez it.

  10. Re:Why I leave my house. by sydb · · Score: 5, Funny

    So you've noticed sex can be geeky to? You know, you half-wake in the middle of the night from a C-hacking dream with the raging horn and your s.o. lying next to you, there's only two chars' difference between hacking and **cking, one thing leads to another, we've all been there, right? As the int main(int argc, char *argv[]){..}s scroll through your minds eye, your scrolling through her pie! Know what I mean??

    Right???

    Stop looking at me like that!!

    --
    Yours Sincerely, Michael.
  11. Two reasons... by immortal · · Score: 3, Insightful

    One, fresh vegatables at the local farmers market, and two, basics like milk and eggs.

    --
    "Your having a bad day when the voices in your head put you on hold"
  12. joy? by M1FCJ · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Taking photographs. Walking to the riverside and watching swans. To feel the sun shining, wind blowing. For going to the pub and having a couple of pints of warm ale. To go and lay down on the grass in the park and read a good book. For fun and joy.

  13. Re:My Car by karnal · · Score: 4, Funny

    Which one usually wins? You, or your car?

    --
    Karnal
  14. Re: Why Do Other Geeks Leave the House? by manavendra · · Score: 4, Funny

    To throw garbage

    (The cleaning company refused to send their employees inside my house to pick up the garbage bags)

    --
    http://efil.blogspot.com/
  15. Leave the House by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Apart from work, I leave the house to be Rejected by Women at parties.

    It's better than drinking alone alone.

    (I'm joking THey Run screaming before they can reject me :P )

  16. Coffee shops by greywire · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Go to your local coffee shop and relax with a cup of java. Then do one of the following, depending on who you are:

    1. Feel good about yourself as you observe the fact that you are not like the other complete losers who frequent coffee shops because they have no life, no job, and have nothing but superficial "friends" and juvenile dramas. Then go home and truly appreciate it.

    2. Revel in the fact that all your friends are there and enjoy the sense of community and belongingness that comes from being just like everyone else while you enjoy your Starbucks coffee which you think is just the pinnacle of fine coffee enjoyment. Then go home and be patheticaly depressed.

    --
    -- Senior Software Engineer, Attorney appearance services, locallawyerapp.com.
  17. to get away from the gear by tverbeek · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The last time I was at peace with the universe was a week I spent backpacking in the wilderness. In some ways it was like being at home (i.e. sleeping alone, almost no human interaction), but the only electronic device I had on me (or within a few days' hike) was my camera. No TV, no computer, no PDA, no phone, no pager, no radio, not even a watch... nada. Just me, the trails, the moose, the lakes, the wolf tracks, and the stars.

    --
    http://alternatives.rzero.com/
  18. Easy! by Pseudonym · · Score: 4, Funny

    If you don't go out of the house, you can't justify the purchase of your mobile (cell) phone, PDA, portable MP3 player and so on. So clearly, one important reason to go outside is to use your personal gadgetry.

    --
    sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
  19. Playing with GPS by Devar · · Score: 3, Informative

    To go Geocaching!

    --
    It's a Bagel.
  20. Re:Raves (or Clubs if that's all you can find) by FLEB · · Score: 3, Funny

    So, you can take the music away from the house, but you can't take the House away from the music?

    --
    Information wants to be free.
    Entertainment wants to be paid.
    You just want to be cheap.
  21. Re:Life by chrismear · · Score: 5, Funny

    Leaving the house was the best thing that ever happened to me. ... Humans have human needs.

    You do know they make indoor toilets now, right?

  22. Work From Home by Tarwn · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I work from home, which means a guaranteed 9+ hour stretch of having to be indoors. Then I get off work and have to play a few minutes of stress relief in the form of HL or BF1942. By that time I have to go sit down and relax cuz I'm tired from the long work day. After about 30 minutes of that my computer chimes and starts up Stargate, so 50/50 chance I'll watch it live rather than let it record it (I never go back to watch the recorded ones, wierd I know). Then I or my fiance makes dinner (she has now come home from work). Then I sit with her for a while, then a little more gaming or work on a side project. Then bed time.

    Complete list of Leaving the House:
    - I smoke and my cat has fragile respiratory (projectile cat snot sucks) so I smoke outside. 15-ish trips/day tothe side patio
    - We just moved a month ago and have a horrendous lawn, so 3 afternoons outside doing yardwork and 1 trip to Lowes for way to expensive equipment
    - Food shopping. I eat better than my fiance (I grew up eating fresh food) so I have to be there to do stuff like order the deli meat and pick out fruit and such. Haven't signed up for the Lowes food delivery pogram yet :)

    Food shopping and buying cigarettes are the only reoccurring trips out of the driveway. Sometimes it worries me that I don't leave as much as I used to, but one plus side is that for the first time in 6 years I am putting less than average mileage on my car...and while I do enjoy things that can't be done at my house, there are many more things that I enjoy more at my house. Plus we have pampas grass. It's evil. I cut the 12 foot one down to two feet, I feel the need for a maniacal laugh coming on....

    --
    Whee signature.
  23. Re:People by Sigma+7 · · Score: 3, Insightful
    It's easy to hide behind elitism, Aspergers, or whatever excuse you want to make up for why you avoid people, but the truth is that the meaning of life is found in other people.

    I was once a hard core geek, and for a long time I thought I was happy, and better than the common masses. But since I forced myself to get over my unease, get out and meet new people and engage in "normal" activities, I have become a much happier person.
    This is easier that it sounds. After being emotionally scarred through high school, I'm sure most affected geeks would have a lot of trouble getting a "normal" social life. Unlike regular shyness that may appear during their early childhood, this emotional scarring is permanent damage that is extremely difficult to get rid of.

    If the meaning of life is found in other people, the same geeks would envision the meaning as cruelty in the social activities instead of the intended benevolence. As opposed to committing themselves to that option, they will instead look for other avenues where the meaning of life has a much better image - the internet with no (or limited) emotional communications would appear as a much better option.