Nearly everyone has at least one “geek” in the family. You know who I’m talking about – the person who loves computers, video games, and any type of electronic gadget that hits the market. Geeks are kind of hard to buy for; I know, because I’m the “family geek”.

This article is dedicated to those of you who are looking for the perfect gift for the nerdy person who has everything. You need to find a “different” kind of gift for these folks, and it can be hard to find something really special in local stores. Fortunately, the internet opens a world of unique possibilities for unusual and interesting gifts for unusual and interesting people – at all price points.

My most favorite geeky thing is my internet phone service, and I highly recommend this for any geek who has a broadband internet connection and still uses a traditional “land line” phone. With an unlimited internet phone service plan, (aka “VoIP”) you can make all the local and long distance calls you want for one low price per month. Most people who have residential VoIP service cancel their land line service and use internet phone service as their primary home phone. Unlimited VoIP plans range from $199 a year (paid up front) to $24.99 per month. This is less than the price of a dial tone with most “land line” services, and you can make all the long distance calls you want for no extra charge.

Another great gift that any geek would love is a wireless keyboard and mouse. This is a perfect addition to any computer, and makes an especially nice “add on” if purchasing a new computer. I love the thought of using wireless computer accessories, and the wireless keyboard/mouse combination is great because I can lean back in my favorite chair and surf the internet all night long with my keyboard in my lap and my mouse on the armrest. A good wireless keyboard/mouse combo costs around $75 and will provide many years of “freedom” from cables.

Last but not least, every geek loves geeky and unusual T-shirts, mouse pads, coffee mugs, and other novelty items. It’s hard to find “computer-related” accessories and gifts in retail stores but thanks to Cafepress.com, you can search for “geek” or “computer” and find thousands of interesting and unique products to choose from. I look on cafepress any time I need to find a really special gift for just about any occasion. If you don’t find what you want and have a bit of creativity, you can sign up for a free account and design your own shirt, mug, mousepad, or whatever…

Here are some links to the items mentioned above:

Tiger Direct - My favorite place to buy computer and electronic items. Check out their huge selection of wireless keyboard and mouse kits, among other things.

Long-Distance-Savings.com- This is my internet phone service website. Learn about internet phone service and order the VoIP plan that is right for you.

CafePress – Search for any topic you can think of. For geeky gifts, enter a search term like “computer”, “nerd”, “blogger”, “computer shopper”, etc…. and you’ll find hundreds (if not thousands) of interesting gift ideas. CafePress ships really fast too!

About the Author

Debbie is an information technology professional and author ofantivirus-firewall-spyware.com andlong-distance-savings.com. She is also Virus and Spam editor at BellaOnline.com.

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When one says, yeah, I collect comic books, what is the general public response? Oh no, a slightly off the wall geek. Here is someone who has lost touch with reality. Or someone that is in his or her own little world. I think not. Yes, comic book collectors may sometimes march to the beat of a different drummer, but who says we all have to be cut from the same mold. Comic books are big business.

Back in the days of my youth (what, several millennia ago?), I loved reading comic books. And so did a lot of my friends. Whenever we had an extra dime or sometimes a quarter, we could run up to the local small town grocery and spend some very happy times at the comic book rack.

We would even go out and find small odds jobs for pocket change, which was enough then to purchase 2 or 3 good flights of adventure and fantasy. I can even remember crawling under our house to retrieve a cat that had the misfortune of dying there. My Dad couldn’t stomach the smell and enticed my friend and I to accomplish the chore for ample pocket change. We braved the spiders and other crawly creatures to retrieve and bury the unfortunate cat. Not long after that, we were the proud owners of yet, several more intriguing comic books. Even the local bully (who was really a pretty good guy) would purchase our worn out or unwanted magazines for far more than they were worth, so we could purchase new ones.

I didn’t know much about collecting then. I just liked saving what I enjoyed. I had a large cardboard box that I kept under my bed, filled with all my little treasures. I didn’t realize that I had the beginnings of what could have been something very lucrative. In later years when I headed off to college, I dragged my large cardboard box with me. At one point in time, I left most of my belongings in the charge of what I thought were trusted friends. When I returned from my forest firefighting adventures, my box full of magazines were no where to be found. And needless to say, were my trusted friends either. Others had seen the value in what I had and wanted it for themselves. Oh well, live and learn. That limited collection of comic books and other magazines would have been worth a small fortune today.

Are there big bucks in the comic book genre? Just look at what Hollywood has been up to for the last few decades. As far as I can tell, the really big blockbusters started back in 1978 with the release of Superman, The Movie. And since then there has been comic book hero after comic book hero to hit the silver screen. And they all make tons of money. The Hollywood moguls may or may not be “into” the genre, but the can smell large profits. And these kinds of profits aren’t harvested from a small out of touch with reality niche. It take large numbers of individuals forking out 5 to 10 dollars a pop, to accumulate the astronomical profits that Hollywood is seeing these days. Individuals who may or may not want to admit their avid interest in comic book characters. I will stand up and say, I enjoy watching these movies and have even started my own collection of comic book character DVDs. Who knows, maybe some day my DVDs will become as valuable as comic books. Probably not.

Although, not every individual’s collection has magazines worth thousands of dollars, there are a sizable amount of collections that can be worth hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. These are not people that have lost touch with reality. A while back, the actor, Nicholas Cage, put his comic book collection of about 400 magazines up for auction. Word was that he might have realized a value into seven figures. That ain’t chicken feed.

It is not uncommon for single additions to be worth several hundred to several thousand dollars. Some comic books can enter the realm of several hundred thousand dollars for one magazine. Now the owners have to be some pretty rich economically savvy geeks. Are these the types of small niche individuals who have lost touch with reality or don’t want to confess they like comic books? So the next time you hear someone profess, yeah I collect comic books, you may want to look inside yourself and say, how do I release my hidden passion and start collecting myself?

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