Collection of useful, relevant or inane places on the the Internets for 18th Jan:

• Rands In Repose: The Nerd Handbook – "The joy your nerd finds in his project is one of problem solving and discovery. As each part of the project is completed, your nerd receives an adrenaline rush that we’re going to call The High. Every profession has this — the moment when you’ve moved significantly closer to done. In many jobs, it’s easy to discern when progress is being made: “Look, now we have a door”. But in nerds’ bit-based work, progress is measured mentally and invisibly in code, algorithms, efficiency, and small mental victories that don’t exist in a world of atoms."

  Rands gets it right, of course. The Nerd Handbook is a classic and should be immediately printed out and shown to the wife, partners, significant others of CCIE Mendicants. Give your partner a chance to understand the 'not so visible' urge to learn, to know, and to MASTER the topic at hand.