Convention WTFery



  • I'm at a computer conference this week.  It's been a long time since the last one I was able to attend, so it's great to get myself refreshed and edumacated.  ;-)  The conference hosts handed out free gifts to everybody.  Backpacks.  Nice backpacks.  But still....  I know lots of people like them and use them, but the last time I used a backpack was when I was in college.  I'm forty-something now.  I think the last time I went to a conference they handed out backpacks too.  I guess they never go out of style.

    But here's the real WTF:   someone is handing out red beanie hats with silver propellers on them.  Wait for it.... some guys are walking around the place wearing these propeller beanies.  Is there a secret joke that I don't get or are these guys as retarded as I think they are?

    Non-WTF:  as one of my fellow female attendees pointed out to me over the bathroom sinks, finally a venue where we DON'T have to stand in a long line for the bathroom!  Hooray!



  • @jetcitywoman said:

    But here's the real WTF:   someone is handing out red beanie hats with silver propellers on them.  Wait for it.... some guys are walking around the place wearing these propeller beanies.  Is there a secret joke that I don't get or are these guys as retarded as I think they are?

    Oh come on now, you know the answer. Boys never grow up. 

    Especially in IT.



  • @jetcitywoman said:

    But here's the real WTF:   someone is handing out red beanie hats with silver propellers on them.  Wait for it.... some guys are walking around the place wearing these propeller beanies.  Is there a secret joke that I don't get or are these guys as retarded as I think they are?

    YES.

    and YES.

    *dons propeller hat* 

     =============

    I still have a backpack. I find it handy to have both my hands free and not having to lean over to one side lest the shoulder-strap fall off.
     



  • @kirchhoff said:

    Oh come on now, you know the answer. Boys never grow up. 

    Especially in IT.


    You got that right! XD



  • I carry a laptop backpack. I agree with jetcitywoman. I spent plenty of time carrying laptop bags around, and I finally brought one made by the same people who make the swiss army knife. Kinda pricy at around 80 bucks at the time, but definitely worth it. If you need to work and carry your computer, you don't have to worry about the strap falling off your shoulder since its snug in the backpack.



  • Ok, so is it even explainable?  The appeal of the propeller beanie, I mean.

    Another view of the computer conference from a female perspective:  the booth babe dressed up like Marilyn Monroe in the vendor area left me cold.  On the other hand, the fully loaded storage array cabinets...  it was all I could do not to walk up and lick one. 



  • @jetcitywoman said:

    But here's the real WTF:   someone is handing out red beanie hats with silver propellers on them.  Wait for it.... some guys are walking around the place wearing these propeller beanies.  Is there a secret joke that I don't get or are these guys as retarded as I think they are?

    Didn't you hear? It's a new sign of virility. Like a cod piece for your brain... heh 



  • @jetcitywoman said:

    But here's the real WTF:   someone is handing out red beanie hats with silver propellers on them.  Wait for it.... some guys are walking around the place wearing these propeller beanies.  Is there a secret joke that I don't get or are these guys as retarded as I think they are?

    Some people consider propeller beanies very geeky. 

     



  • @jetcitywoman said:

    But here's the real WTF:   someone is handing out red beanie hats with silver propellers on them.  Wait for it.... some guys are walking around the place wearing these propeller beanies.  Is there a secret joke that I don't get or are these guys as retarded as I think they are?

    The former. It's a joke. It's funny.

    Real people wearing real propeller beanies is sure to make me laugh, at least. I would even wear one in a restaurant or other public venue, knowing it will make other people laugh. Eventually it would get old and then I'd put it away and maybe wear it every April 1.

    There's probably a few Trigger Happy TV moments to be had with it. Wear it at a basketball game. Or at an opera. Or in a Denny's.

    Or just leave it on your desk and tell people it's the department's backup cooling system.



  • @grrr said:

    @jetcitywoman said:

    But here's the real WTF:   someone is handing out red beanie hats with silver propellers on them.  Wait for it.... some guys are walking around the place wearing these propeller beanies.  Is there a secret joke that I don't get or are these guys as retarded as I think they are?

    Didn't you hear? It's a new sign of virility. Like a cod piece for your brain... heh 

    LOL!  At least in my case a better sign of virility is a man with an HP NX-series Superdome.   And knows how to use it.  ;-)



  • @jetcitywoman said:

    Another view of the computer conference from a female perspective:  the booth babe dressed up like Marilyn Monroe in the vendor area left me cold.  On the other hand, the fully loaded storage array cabinets...  it was all I could do not to walk up and lick one. 

    They still do that? How quaint! Are you sure you weren't at CES by accident?

    Frankly I don't see why people need to go to conferences anymore other than to abuse corporate travel. I can't remember the last time I didn't know about some upcoming whatever before it had at display at CEBIT. You see, there's this thing called the Internet... 



  • @kirchhoff said:

    @jetcitywoman said:

    Another view of the computer conference from a female perspective:  the booth babe dressed up like Marilyn Monroe in the vendor area left me cold.  On the other hand, the fully loaded storage array cabinets...  it was all I could do not to walk up and lick one. 

    They still do that? How quaint! Are you sure you weren't at CES by accident?

    Frankly I don't see why people need to go to conferences anymore other than to abuse corporate travel. I can't remember the last time I didn't know about some upcoming whatever before it had at display at CEBIT. You see, there's this thing called the Internet... 

     Not so much, but occasionally.  Maybe some old fart from the sales department who still thinks it's okay to offend some potential customers in favor of appealing to other customer's baser desires.  I remember when I got into computers in the mid-80's and reading trade rags.  I loved how virtually none of the advertisements resorted to blatant sex appeal but instead highlighted the product.  The industry was a a wide open frontier then, and very egalitarian.  Later, in the late 90's I picked up a mag and was disgusted to see bikini bimbos draped across alot of the hardware in the ads.  Sheesh.  Somewhere along the way the industry devolved back to oil-rag-garage days.



  • @jetcitywoman said:

    @kirchhoff said:
    @jetcitywoman said:

    Another view of the computer conference from a female perspective:  the booth babe dressed up like Marilyn Monroe in the vendor area left me cold.  On the other hand, the fully loaded storage array cabinets...  it was all I could do not to walk up and lick one. 

    They still do that? How quaint! Are you sure you weren't at CES by accident?

    Frankly I don't see why people need to go to conferences anymore other than to abuse corporate travel. I can't remember the last time I didn't know about some upcoming whatever before it had at display at CEBIT. You see, there's this thing called the Internet... 

     Not so much, but occasionally.  Maybe some old fart from the sales department who still thinks it's okay to offend some potential customers in favor of appealing to other customer's baser desires.  I remember when I got into computers in the mid-80's and reading trade rags.  I loved how virtually none of the advertisements resorted to blatant sex appeal but instead highlighted the product.  The industry was a a wide open frontier then, and very egalitarian.  Later, in the late 90's I picked up a mag and was disgusted to see bikini bimbos draped across alot of the hardware in the ads.  Sheesh.  Somewhere along the way the industry devolved back to oil-rag-garage days.


    What did you expect?  The entire industry has always been about marketting "bigger, faster, and harder."  They've just refined that same concept over the years.


  • @pitchingchris said:

    I carry a laptop backpack. I agree with jetcitywoman. I spent plenty of time carrying laptop bags around, and I finally brought one made by the same people who make the swiss army knife. Kinda pricy at around 80 bucks at the time, but definitely worth it. If you need to work and carry your computer, you don't have to worry about the strap falling off your shoulder since its snug in the backpack.


    I've got the same one and would buy another were some tragedy to befall it.



  • @Rotary Jihad said:


    I've got the same one and would buy another were some tragedy to befall it.

    You mean like a death in the family or somesuch? 



  • @dhromed said:

    @Rotary Jihad said:


    I've got the same one and would buy another were some tragedy to befall it.

    You mean like a death in the family or somesuch? 



    Exactly.


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