Damon, Carlton and a Polar Bear Meet Sundeep, Myrna and Betty Jean McBricker

Once upon a time, in a galaxy not so far away, there was a young single mother who worked at a brokerage firm. She worked hard, and one day, an entire department fell into her lap. She suddenly found herself responsible for the wire room which is the central communication point for information between the brokerage firm and the financial markets. It was a pretty important department to have fallen in anyone’s lap. Luckily for J.C. Bradford & Company, I am a TV nerd, a movie geek, and a music and comic book groupie from way back. This is not a story about big business, or high finance. This is a story about losing bets, finding love, obscure goose hunts, and my husband.

In 1995 the internet, computer technology and data communication were not what we have today. Orders to buy and sell stock, instructions and executions still printed on little 3x8 slips of paper, and information still flowed over dial-up circuits. My new department was responsible for the information and for the circuits carrying it. If a circuit failed, the staff at our vendor would get my call. I spent a fair chunk of the day on the phone with people in New Jersey. They clicked and clacked on a keyboard while I yelled about the importance of this or that circuit work. After a few weeks of this, I became bored with yelling at these nameless, faceless people. I decided to talk to them during the mind-numbing silence interrupted by clicks and clacks. This new strategy worked far better than yelling! My main contacts were John and Sundeep. I hadn’t met them, but they seemed to be about my age. We talked about and liked the same music, movies and comics. We fixed a lot of circuits.
As the months passed, circuit problems were corrected long before our conversations ended. We traded stories and got to know each other. Sundeep and I would try to stump each other with obscure trivia. It was a pastime that bordered on flirting (yes, you are a geek if trivia=flirt). I amazed everyone. Somehow, I knew everything! There are things I still don’t know how I knew. I spent a lot of time explaining that I “just know things.” I could tell Sundeep didn’t believe me, and he tired of hearing me say “I know everything”. I had a little help from my geeky friends at the local comic/gamer shop, but mainly it was an Unexplained Mystery! I was a walking WikiGoogapedia waiting to pounce on any question or incorrect answer.

The gauntlet of obscurity was thrown one day when I allotted 24 hours to come up with Betty Rubble’s maiden name.  Now, just imagine that. Giving someone 24 hours to come up with such a widely documented and rapidly accessible piece of useless information! That’s how we rolled in the 90s, pal! The next day Sundeep didn’t have the answer. I had won! As payment, Sundeep sent a beautiful floral birthday cake to my daughter on her birthday. Our fates were sealed by Betty Jean McBricker.

So many years, and two more children later, we don’t have much time for anything, each other or certainly not for being Geeks. But we still had one night a week. We could get LOST! I thought ABC’s Lost was the perfect answer for our frazzled, sleep-deprived, formerly nerdy-capable brains.  In the off-seasons, Sundeep has kept up with the virtual Lost world. He even attended ComicCon, the ultimate in Nerddom, to be part of the Lost-mania. I have been half-heartedly listening for the last two years during the summer and fall when he tells me about this internet-based game, or that Podcast. His eyes twinkle as he goes on in his animated way about the games, promotions and all of the theories, but I’m mad at Lost and I’ve had enough! All I wanted was a story! A beginning, middle and end delivered over the span of a few seasons. So I wander from room to room nodding and picking up toys while he gives me all of the details. I mutter curses at ABC for changing the rules of how many episodes make a season, pick up more toys and mutter curses at myself for getting involved in the show in the first place.

No matter how I nod and smile while he gives me the Lost skinny, Sundeep knew that my inner-geek was miffed and getting restless. Tonight, as only he can, Sundeep started a long, convoluted story with a couple dozen twists and turns, involving limited edition Lost-sponsored prints, internet based wild goose-chases, cup-cakeries, and skateboards. Then, as if to prove that all those years ago he had known all along, he dropped a polar bear on Betty Jean McBricker. In the night, my super-geek had puzzled together the pieces of the latest Lost summer hiatus promotional campaign. So, Losties, Promo-Spoiler Alert: the following is the full and complete list of the yet-to-be-announced, crazy, show-related one liner website addresses for the Lost Ronie Midfew Arts Poster Promotion ARG (alternate reality game). Outside of spoiling the chase itself, there’s not much you can do with the information, unless you have a bet to win! Be careful, you could just win yourself a spouse.
***The list has been deleted in a attempt to foil non-Lost fans who seem to buying up the prints within minutes of each print sale. If an actual, established Lost fan would like to obtain the list, you can contact me via my link. Be prepared to identify yourself as an established fan from one of the Lost community sites, not some guy that wasn't on the manifest! Thanks and Good Luck! -Mib***