Another sign of worst geekiness

Image via Wikipedia

I modify things.

It's something I guess I picked up from my dad who always made things work "better." Now days, it's called hacking, but back in the day, it was just making it work better.

Lawnmower: Sharpen blade. A lot.
Car: chip mod, tint windows, new higher-performance air filter.
eeePC: Add 2GB RAM.
Windows: too many "upgrades" to mention.
GeekWife's Kindle 2: add new "cover" image that says "Don't Panic" in friendly letters.
My eeePC: swapped the right-shift and up-arrow buttons.
my My bass guitar amp: goes to 11

...and the list goes on and on.

Why do I do this? Why does any geek do this?

Because we know better. Even better than the designers. And in the end, we want to make the item "ours."

Why? Well, it comes down to the fact that items are designed for general use. Most of the time, at least. So, when I get an item, whether it's a car or an R/C aircraft, there is something I may want it to do or in a manner for which that item was not specifically designed. Like my car.

I wanted it to get better acceleration and better fuel mileage (both were already good, but I wanted "more"). So, I had the ECU "tuned" with a new program that got more performance out of the engine than it was designed for (within safe parameters, of course). I am quite happy with the results, and I do get better performance.

Almost every true geek I know does this. The reasons we do these hacks for may vary from item to item, but it all comes down to the fact that we have the know-how, the time, the patience, and the energy to take something that was meant for everyone and make it ours.

That's one of the things that makes me so excited about Windows 7. Faster: cool. Better implementation of security: cool. Neater effects: cool. Better task switching: cool. Customization beyond anything Windows has allowed before out-of-the-box: WAY FREAKIN' COOL!

Just about all my geek friends I've spoken with in regards to Windows 7 seem to be fixated on two things: performance (duh) and customization.

I guess it's because we like to make things our own, and we like to modify things.