Don’t be here today. (Image via Creative Commons)
We admit it’s something of a stereotype that geeks are less likely to be watching the Super Bowl this weekend. We’re sure there are plenty of geeks who love football, especially the fans of the respective teams taking part. However, geeks are also smart enough to take advantage of the fact that while the rest of the country is watching the spectacle live, the streets, stores, and other normally-crowded weekend venues will be pretty much empty. So, whether you could give a toss about the old pigskin, or are DVR-ing it to skip through (or to) the commercials, here are some ideas for places to go and things to do while the rest of the country is glued to their screens.
Don’t forget to look for honorary GeekDad Wil Wheaton’s Super Bowl ad afterwards, though.
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- Get some serious shopping done. The malls, Coscto, Sam’s Club, and so forth will be like ghost towns. Go to Target and have the stock person pull every bike down for a test drive in the parking lot.
- Do some post-apocalyptic LARPing. Or hold a Zombie Run.
- Take your kids to dinner at Olive Garden and keep looking around suspiciously at the empty restaurant and ask the waiter to see their health inspection certificate.
- Hit the slopes! Ski resorts (those with snow, at least), will be well-nigh abandoned, and those skiers who are there will be the hard-core, double-diamond types, so the easier hills will be wide-open.
- Book an hour long appointment at the Apple Genius Bar and complain about how things were better when Steve was running the company.
- Visit your local science museum that’s usually packed on the weekends, and do all the cool stuff you usually can’t get close to.
- Have dinner at the posh restaurant where you usually can’t get reservations. Of course, this assumes they don’t have a TV at the bar playing the game.
- Hold an all-day game-fest (board games, card games, or video games, depending upon your preferences).
- Get some serious (but legal) internet downloading/uploading done. Since everyone will be watching TV, your local nodes will be empty; it’ll be like transferring files at 3am!
- Go to Disneyland/Walt Disney World!
Have some ideas of your own? Feel free to include them in the comments. (Hat-tip to Jason Cranford Teague and Jenny Williams for some of these ideas.)
