ServerBeach Bowls for Kid’s Sake

Last month a team of Beachers traded in their geeky glasses for some super stylin’ shoes and headed down to the bowling alley to take part in the annual Bowl For Kids’ Sake Fundraiser.

The event is the largest annual fundraiser for Big Brothers and Big Sisters of South Texas, and very close to our own Alyssa Vargas‘ heart, as she was involved as a Big Sister back when she was in High School & College. She coordinated our participation in the event, and was thrilled to see that we were able to fill not one, not two but three teams to represent the SeverBeach family.

“Participating in the Bowl for Kids Sake fundraiser was a great experience” said Business Analyst Matt Valdes. “It’s always rewarding to help raise money for a good cause, especially one that helps children. To be able to play a game while doing it makes it a win-win situation!”

Congratulations go out to our Assistant Data Center Manager Brad Pearson for bowling  the game of his life, knocking down a 7-10 split. Apparently our team was defeated during the hula hoop contest, but I hear guarantees of redemption being promised for next year.

I’ve also been told there’s video of IT Support Guru Jim Park and our very own Big Kahuna Dax Moreno dancing the YMCA circulating on Facebook, but this has yet to be confirmed by the author.

Special thanks goes out to all of our friends and families who supported our efforts. In total we were able to raise almost $2000, all of which will go toward making a positive, long-lasting impact on children in our community.

Geek Pride Day Contest Winners

Congratulations to our five Geek Pride Day contest winners!

1. Jason enjoyed towel day by reading some Douglas Adams and playing some minecraft
2. Alex hangs out at work with his friend little Cthulhu
3. Jot shows off his customized Nintendo DS project
4. Jennifer is an indisputable Queen of the Geeks (check her full submission here)
5. Chris keeps a reminder from Marvin the paranoid android close at all times: Don’t Panic!

We had a lot of great entries to the contest, you can check out the rest of them here if you’d like, and let us know your favorites!

Winners will receive an awesome $100 credit at ThinkGeek.com, and we will be sending a free copy of our Map of the Internet poster to all participants. If you submitted a photo please forward your address to me (sboten at serverbeach dot com) so I can get your poster on it’s way as soon as possible.

Thanks again to everyone who entered from all of us at ServerBeach – we definitely got a kick out of all your photos. Until next year – Stay Geeky!

Pebkacs, Cthulhu and Stormtroopers, Oh My! Last chance to show us your Geek Pride!

Canucks/StarWars/Geek pride!

Geek Pride Day is tomorrow –  Have you entered our contest yet?  Take a look at all the entries so far and let us know which is your favourite. So far we’ve had appearances from an astronaught, Darth Vader, Gordon Freeman and even the Queen of the Geeks herself!

You have until 5pm PST tomorrow to get over to facebook and post your geeky photos on our wall to get your free Map of the Internet poster and a your chance to win one of five $100 credits at Thinkgeek.com.

Show Us Your Geek Pride to Win $100 at Thinkgeek.com

May 25th is Geek Pride Day – An entire day dedicated to embracing your inner geek! This year we’re celebrating by offering FIVE $100 gift certificates for ThinkGeek.com. To enter all you have to do is like us on facebook and post a picture or video on our wall showing us your geek pride. Entries can be anything that you think is awesome but other people might not all understand – maybe it’s your mint condition original issue Millennium Falcon model, that Cthulhu costume you wore last year for Halloween, that light sensitive midi controller you built out of a an old Nintendo or even your ‘There’s no place like 127.0.0.1’ door mat. Anything that says I’m a Geek – and Proud of it!

And just because we love you, every entry get will get a free copy of our full sized Map of the Internet poster! Click facebook.com/WeHeartGeeks today and post your entry before May 25th to win.

What Makes A Geek and Why Do We Love Them?

When you think of the word Geek, what comes to mind? Pocket protectors? Glasses? An insatiable love for 20 sided die? Skillful mastery of quantum mechanics and an affinity for Renaissance fairs? Or maybe it’s the the guy or girl who rescues your computer at work, or the friend who comes over and sets up your TiVO for you?

Whatever your internal geek stereotype may be, I think there is a common thread between them, and it isn’t necessarily just mouth breathing and social awkwardness.

For example, I have a friend with an extensive record collection. He used to run a record store, and now has an entire room devoted to his vinyl. It’s meticulously organized, incredibly thorough and properly cataloged. In short, it’s awesome. But you get this guy talking about music… he’ll just keep talking. Forever. Add another music buff to the conversation and you’ve got yourself a pair of music geeks, who will proceed to talk your ear off for hours, which can get pretty boring if you’ve never heard any of the music they are talking about. (Thankfully the giant room of records really helps with that.)

So I don’t think being a geek really has anything to do specifically with technology these days, but moreso that geeks are people who are just really into something that other people don’t understand. So under this definition, anyone who knows a lot about something you don’t know about can potentially be a geek – and that’s what we love about them.

Geeks are passionate. Geeks are knowledgeable. Geeks are dedicated. Geeks come correct – and aren’t afraid to go off on a tangent to defend their point of view.

Like just the other day I was at a restaurant and overheard two men having a fairly intense Lord of the Rings discussion. I wasn’t really paying too much attention because I’m not a huge fan, but out of nowhere the sassy looking blonde lady behind the bar walks over and says;

“Um ACTUALLY that’s movie canon which is highly fallacious. Faramir is the true hero of men and foil for Boromir as in the book he not only resisted the ring and sent Frodo on his waybut is the only man to do so. Aragorn is a member of the Dunedain, descendants of the ancient race of kings, and has a small amount of elf blood. It’s shown many times that due to their wisdom, inherent magical characteristics, and race knowledge, elves are far more successful at resisting a Ring of Power. Faramir’s accomplishment is therefore more significant than Aragorn’s, even though Aragorn’s story arc is more central.”

The two gentlemen put their drinks down and looked somewhat taken aback. Lord of the Rings trivia may seem like stereotypical geek fodder, but the fact that this tangent had come from the bright red lips of a pin-up looking barkeep was enough to prove to anyone that geeks can be as much awesome as they are awkward!

ServerBeach Hearts SXSW 2011

Hello SXSW! It’s crazy over here at the Serverbeach Booth! We’ve got Maps of the internet, brand new I [heart] geeks shirts, VIP passes to tomorrow night’s GeekyBeach Bash and a big surprise at 3pm – the first taste tests of our new Surf Lager – custom brewed by the Big Kahuna Brewing Company. Don’t miss it!

 

 

Serra’s Seven SXSW Session Suggestions

Music Mavens, Film Fanatics and Techie Types of all persuasion will decend upon Austin, TX today to kick off yet another year of great shows, movies and new media at South by South West 2011.

If you haven’t heard of the festival (often referred to as SXSW), you’re likely not very into music. Or film. O r the Internet. What started off in 1987 as a small music festival has morphed into one of the largest festivals of it’s kind in the world. Taking a look through the schedule is almost overwhelming – so many sessions, speakers and shows to attend, it’s hard to decide where to start.

Personally, I say the place to be is at SXSWi – Interactive is where it’s at. Five days of presentations from the brightest minds in technology, covering topics from design, development, emerging technologies, digital lifestyle, gaming, social media, robotics, business, health, politics, comedy… and parties. LOTS OF PARTIES.

The most important, of course, being ServerBeach’s infamous GeekyBeach Party – Have you RSVP‘d yet?  We’ve got all kinds of surprises ready for the party and The Beach is buzzing with excitement. We can’t wait to get out and let loose with all our favorite geeks. We’ve also got a whole new booth design and a TON of new SWAG we’ll be giving away at the Trade Show, so make sure you stop by and say hi!

Get your Geek on with SB@SXSW!

Check out more pics from last years party here. In the meantime I give you:

Serra’s Seven SXSWi Session Suggestions
(Otherwise known as “where I’ll be if I manage to sneak out of the ServerBeach booth”) 😉

Bike Hugger’s Built: A Series of Talks by People Who Create
Tuesday March 15 12:00 PM
Various, Bikehugger.com
Built is our flavor of a maker, hacker, DIY Ignite-style event, with the bike as a backdrop. A Series of Talks by People Who Create, covering topics such as “Hackable: Light Communication Kits for Bikers” and “How to Build A BBQ Smoker from a Trash Can.”

Non-Visual Augmented Reality and the Evaporation of the Interface
Sunday March 13 12:30PM
Aaron Parecki & Amber Case, Geoloqi.com
This presentation will highlight the advantages and disadvantages of visual and non-visual augmented reality, covering alternate types of augmented reality techniques and how they have been saving us time in the past few months. Amber Case is a Cyborg Anthropologist! (#3 on my “what I want to be when I grow up” list.)

The Nerdist LIVE Monday
Monday March 14th 6:00PM
Chris Hardwick, Nerdist.com
The Nerdist Podcast is an excellent source of geeky hilariousness, infused with witty banter and guests like Sarah Silverman, Will Wheaton and Kevin Smith.

Keynote Speaker: Christopher Pool
Sunday March 13 2:00PM
Christopher Pool, 4Chan
Christopher “moot” Poole is the founder of 4chan.org, which has grown from a niche site targeting anime fans to one of the most influential communities on the ‘Net. With over 12 million unique visitors per month, many popular viral videos, Internet phenomena, and memes get their start on 4chan.

Hacking Space Exploration: Robots, the Universe and Everything
Monday March 14 5:00PM
Ariel Waldman, Spacehack.org
On launching robots into space to discovering distant galaxies: how the public is hacking into open source space exploration. As technology shifts from a means of passive consumption to active creation, people are collaborating on a massive scale.

Know Your Meme
Saturday March 12 3:30PM
Andrew Baron, RocketBoom.com
This session will examine the entire lifecycle of a  meme.  Touching on subjects such as how a viral video becomes a meme, how to qualify the value of transmitters as well as examining the boundaries of legal gray areas, and the psychological effects of exposure to a global audience. Tactics vs. Strategies for extinguishing memes. Aggregating realtime statistics for predicting memes and memes in the future. Memes memes memes!

The Sexual Survival Guide for Geeks
Friday March 11, 5:00PM
Violet Blue, Open Source Sex
We may be hot and nerdy – and could all use a little “booty call boot camp”. When you’re faced with real-life situations and the nuances of quirky geeks who are smarter than the average hottie, and have that irresistible OCD, you’ll need to know more than how to Google a pickup line. Topics will include: Do’s and Don’ts of picking up geeks, Sex etiquette and social media, Why geeks are better lovers, how to attract a geek and Geek-specific suggestions for seeing each other.

For a complete list of sessions and speakers check out the SXSW Website – See you there!

Game on, Game Developers!

Happy Friday everyone! Today is the last day of GDC here in San Fran. We’ve been having a blast here at the ServerBeach booth – chatting, tattooing and swagifying all our favourite geeks. I even managed to get a couple guys to let me tattoo their forehead!

Check out some of the pics we’ve taken so far and leave a comment if you see yourself!

Did you get a shirt? We’d love to see a shot of it in action. Send pics to me (sboten@serverbeach.com) and we’ll make you famous on the internets!

The Geek (Of The Week) is That-a-Way

The beach is That-A-Way

Calling all geeks. Looking for your 15 seconds of fame on the intertubes? Look no further – we want to tell the world your story!

Serverbeach’s GEEK of the WEEK features the stories of our awesome clients alongside those of our own beloved in house geeks. Sarcastic sysadmins, dynamic developers, network macguyvers, wicked webmasters, ethical hackers, obsessive bloggers, gadget fanatics, power gamers and everyone in between. No matter what color hat you wear – as long as you hang out at the beach with a passion for technology, we want your face here.

Convinced? Send us your story! If you’re selected we’ll contact you via email and ask for a mugshot so the world can see exactly what we love about our geeks.

See past Geeks of the Week
Send us your story