_Special guest post by LeAnn Boucher, Ranch Public Relations.
_

It’s been a big week at Big Nerd Ranch: moving into a shiny new building AND crowning our August Big Nerd of the Month.

Without further ado I present your Liege Nerd for the Month of August in the year of our Nerd 2012.

BNR Blog: Step! It’s great to sit down and get to know you a little better. I like to call this the rapid-ask segment of the Big Nerd Blog. What is the best phrase to describe you?

Step: I am so serious. Or short, white, and sort of good looking in a quirky way. No wait. How about Ninja of niceness?

BNR Blog: That makes sense! Nice, always smiling and calm in chaos are just a few ways you were described by your nominating peers.

That actually leads me to my next question. What drew you to Big Nerd Ranch?

Step: One day last fall Aaron tweeted something like “We’re looking to hire smart, kind, hard-working people.” To me that was the perfect job description for where I wanted to be and what I wanted to do. The clincher was the combination of those three traits.

So I started sprinting through the iOS book (canceling my novel-writing plans for November), and then whipped up a crazy introduction letter. My plan was to pester Aaron all of 2012 until he hired me, but fortunately that proved unnecessary.

BNR Blog: What was your first job?

Step: First full-time job was Reactor Operator in the U.S. Navy, on a submarine. But I was a paperboy in Michigan very early, as well as washing dishes at Ponderosa and then being a surveying assistant at a little civil engineering company.

BNR Blog: The July Big Nerd of the Month was Alex Silverman. What do you most admire about him?

Step: Where to start? I love how he embraces new technologies, and digs in to learn them by building something new and awesome. He’s quiet, but the more I look around the more things I find that he has created around here. Someone mentioned he’s like the silent pillar of Big Nerd Ranch.

BNR Blog: I was chatting with a few Nerds the other day and we started talking books. It was an eclectic smattering of technical guides, non-fiction and even a young adult throwback here and there. (Phantom Tollbooth was on more than one list!) What are you reading right now?

Step: Bringing Up Girls by Dr. Dobson. Mastering OpenLDAP. And thinking about re-reading A Wrinkle In Time again.

BNR Blog: Okay, final question before I let you get back to your lengthy to-do list. What future piece of technology do you most look forward to? Flying cars, teleporting or phasers?

Step: Easy – flying cars. Teleporting would be more useful, but anything that involves flying is my dream. I’d even take the ability to jump really high or far. Moving through the air above the earth is just amazing.

The only hitch with flying cars? People are terrible drivers. Those vehicles are going to have to be autonomous for us to have half a chance of surviving with those things buzzing around.

BNR Blog: Thanks Step! And, dear reader, if you’re checking out the latest photos of the Big Nerd of the Month trophy, have you seen that it’s got a few enhancements? There’s a new Big Nerd of the Month tradition: each honoree adds their own piece of flair. Can’t wait to see what Step adds! Maybe a tiny submarine?