Because I’m a fan of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, I saw great significance to my 42nd birthday. I thought this would be a great excuse to put up a sign on my cube at work with “42” in large friendly numerals.

Actually, the “42” seemed kinda obvious, so I made up a sign that was filled with “101010” instead. Granted, most folks aren’t expected to know that “101010” is 42 in binary, but I was in an IT cube farm. I expected my neighbors to think that this was clever and funny.

This turned out not to be the case. As I worked at my desk, I heard folks on the other side on my wall discussing the sign. “What is that?” “Is that binary?” “What does this mean?”

<sigh>

C’mon guys! We’re supposed to be math nerds. Any of us should be able to look at that sign and think “32 + 8 + 2 is 42 – the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything!”

Apparently there are some Hitchhiker’s Guide fans amongst my neighbors and even fewer math nerds. I seemed to be the only one who was both. Maybe I am too geeky for IT.

<deep thought>Or is IT not geeky enough for me?</deep thought>