Charlynn Schmiedt

Living the Dream! (well, mine)

I’ve been a nerd all my life. I love technology and learning how things work. I love many things sci-fi, but particularly Star Trek and Babylon 5. I’m also old enough to remember a day when being a nerd wasn’t hip.

Thank goodness for the internet of the 1990s, where nerds like me set newsgroups and message boards ablaze with other folks who loved the same things we did. The internet was new, fun, full of wonder, and it took computer know-how to access it. If my teenage self could see me now, she would realize how everything she was doing back then set me up for how I spend my time today.

I still love computers, the internet, and all things tech. I work as as web developer and designer. In other words, I still play with websites just like I did when I learned HTML as a teenager, but now people pay me to play with their websites.

Alongside that, my affinity for techy toys and sci-fi converged when I discovered podcasts. I guested on my first podcast near the end of 2011, and I haven’t shut up since. Podcasts — and the bonds of friendship they forge in the communities they create — are among the things I cherish most. That’s what keeps me going, more than ever.

I hope my teenage self is proud, because living this life is all her fault. 🙂