A Dip Into the Waters of Geek-dom

My first Linux experience was with setting up a Redhat 5.0 webserver somewhere around 1998.  While I have never worked as part of any IT team, I felt compelled to experiment with this  strange new software without the blessing of the Novell and Windows IT department.  I honestly think they were a little  more than surprised when I got it to work!  Since then I have had minor contact with Linux.until about a year an a half ago when I helped set up an Edubuntu terminal/DHCP server with thin clients, an asterisk PBS box, and a firewall/VPN/proxy server at my clinic,  In the last six months I have totally abandoned (or set myself free from) Microsoft Windows on both of my laptops and have never felt more geek... that is before this last Friday.
 
Last Friday I took a plunge into total Geek-dom.  I attended the Southern California Linux Expositon (SCALE) and surrounded myself with Geeks from across this great country.  I confess, I have never seen so many t-shirt wearing, laptop toting, socially challenged individuals in one place at one time in all my life.  I loved it.  I felt like I was home!  The best part - everyone was really super nice.  The kind of nice "where you don't feel stupid after asking a really stupid question," kind of nice.  The kind of nice where "as they're kicking you out of the exibit hall because your early and aren't associated with any booth you still feel welcome" kind of nice (sorry about that SCALE I was just really bored waiting). 
 
I had a chance to see lots of really great open-source projects that will probably help me in ways that I haven't even thought of yet, and I met a lot of great people willing to help along the way.  One of the favorite demonstrations was on using Drupal.  I had loaded Drupal on my laptop (following Chad's tutorials) and was excited by what I was able to do even with my limited knowlege and skill set... then I saw what this Drupal guru could produce in just a matter of minutes from scratch and I was sold.  I cannot wait to further explore this wonderful open source project and swim within the waters of the Drupal community.
 
I have to admit I have never experienced anything like SCALE where so many people wanted you to use their free and open source projects and were so willing to be the free and open re-source to help you succeed.  No lock-ins, no hidden cost, just openess.  This openess, this community (like the Linux Basement Community) is the real "product" being offered up in Linux Geek-dom.  All I can say is, if you haven't yet taken the plunge into the waters of Geek, come on in...the water is great!