a camera, a passport, a ukulele

Meet the Nerd

Siem RiepFreelance technical writing pays my bills. In between tech gigs, I submit articles to travel, culture, and outdoors publications. I recently finished a guidebook about Hawaii, a new title where I’ll get my name on the cover and everything. This is the second guidebook I’ve worked on; the first was an update to a BC/Vancouver book. I blog twice weekly about travel for BlogHer, the women’s blogging network and you’ll find my weekly posts about travel on Divine Caroline. I’ve written for a handful of food, travel, and in-flight magazines and I recently recorded my second story for an NPR station. I love to write about travel - from local field trips to big adventures - with my whole heart.

I travel as much as possible with my Austrian husband. We’ve refined the car camping road trip in to an art form and hit the highway every chance we get. Husband takes many of the pictures you’ll see on the site, he’s got an excellent eye and deserves credit. Plus, he can pitch the tightest tent you’ve ever seen. Our last big trip was to Southeast Asia and wow, did it blow our collective minds. You should go.

I play the ukulele, am an avid XC skier and snowshoer, cook fish every Wednesday, and sometimes I make some art. I speak passable yet twangy German, love to eat dessert, and am trying to decide if I should dye my gray hair.

I used to divide my time between Seattle and a small town in Austria, but recently, we bought a place in West Seattle where we live the dream of home in a beach community with the city just…over…there. Sometimes, if the weather is right, I can smell the ocean while standing in my back yard.

About the “nerd” thing

The word “nerd’ has completely changed it’s connotations over the last few years. No longer the dorky sport-challenged awkward teenagers of the planet, nerds are the people with the cool jobs. They’re nerdtastic. They’re nerdalicious. They’re, to paraphrase the nerdiest of bands, They Might Be Giants, “flying their freak flags higher and higher.”

I’m not even sure if I’m a nerd anymore. But I was once. And it’s from the wondering sense, the idea that just about everyone and everything is way cooler than I am, that I try to write Nerd’s Eye View.

Can I write for you?

I’m always looking to pick up writing gigs. If you’re hiring writers - freelance and/or contract only - and would like to see a resume or some samples, drop me a line at pam (at) nerdseyeview (dot) com. You’ll find some web content in the links below - but if you’d like to see more technical stuff I do that too. I’m well versed in online help, functional specs, and making sense of technical issues for consumers. I’ve done lots of work with digital media, from DJ software to HDTV to digital photography, and I’ve worked on documenting mobile applications, CRM solutions, yadda, yadda, yadda. I’m happy to provide samples and references, just ask.

Content samples

Technical notes

I use WordPress and the Blog Oh Blog template. The font is Georgia, just an old sweet song keeps her on my mind. My hosting service is GoDaddy. Their website sucks but their pricing is cheap cheap cheap and I’ve always had great service from them on the phone. I have a handful of plug-ins installed - Akismet, Feedburner FeedSmith, PodPress, Simple Tags, Do Follow, Popularity Contest, and WP Text Ads. I get help with my WordPress installation issues, but I manage every thing else, including upgrades and regularly breaking the design, on my own. I use Flickr for my photostream - I stripped most of the graphics out of the badge. I use CafePress for selling t-shirts, and Lulu for my book. We have three cameras, an older Canon Rebel and I have a not that great but I’d die without it 35-200mm Sigma lens that I do most of my shooting with, (broken in Bangkok), a Nikon D200, and a Panasonic Lumix. Oh, and a five dollar tripod that I got at a garage sale. I have a whole mess of ukuleles, but my favorite one is still the Flea, Georges. He’s always at my side and yeah, I can play Georgia but not without a chord sheet.

More questions?

Email me at pam (at) nerdseyeview (dot) com. And hey, I’m on Twitter - nerdseyeview, of course.