Okay okay

So I was a bit delayed. What can I say, I was so swept up with last night's festivities that I just lost track of time. Which is code meaning that I fell asleep at 12:30pm. Oy.
Anyways, on to the XKCD event. First thing, Nucci brought a Nerf gun. It only led to good times. Secondly, they passed out ballpit balls at the door, a la those you would jump around in when you were a kid. So first we gave Randall Munroe a round of applause. Then we pelted him with ballpit balls, which as he agreed is a step up from expletives. Oh, and then he was Nerf'ed (I have NO idea who did that) twice which almost caused him to fall off of the stage in surprise.
That was the first few minutes. What followed was a lot of fun. Some thoughts:
- The dude is really young. I didn't realize he was in college until 2006, so good for him.
- He's one of those somewhat nervous speakers who has the gift to channel said nervousness into hilarious comments and equal hilarious awkwardness.
- He really does have a phobia of raptors. Seriously. Some kids rigged up an R/C car with a little dinosaur on it and he damn near jumped on the desk. That or he fakes it really well.
- Lots of cute nerdy girls at Dartmouth. Wish I realized that when I was a wee undergrad.

In the end, it was mostly question and answer. I think that approach worked best, as all assembled were really nerdy/geeky and didn't want to be talked at the entire time.


So I'll leave you with this gem of an exchange:
Guy in Crowd: So how has your education armed you in your battle against the velicoraptor?
Randall: Hm. Good question. I suppose I do know Fourier Transforms really well. But they take a ton of time.
Guy in Crowd: How about a Fast Fourier Transform?
Randall: Damn you! You stole my punch line. That's it, you write the next strip now.
Guy: It'll be about utensils.
Randall: Um, wow. Nevermind.

I love getting nerdy jokes.