So I’m out in the yard mowing my lawn, when from across the street I spot an older lady waving at me and trying to get my attention. I recognize her as the cleaning person who comes to my neighbor Sonny’s house every week–a very nice person, though she doesn’t speak much English, and since my Russian is a little rusty I haven’t really spoken with her much. I shut off the engine and she walks over, presenting me with her cell phone which has apparently stopped working. After popping the battery and restarting it, all is well and she thanks me for my help. A good deed is done, the lawn is almost finished, and my day is off to a pretty good start.

But the mystery remains: Why me?

I’d understand if she thought I was a teenager (kids seem to be born with a texting gene nowadays), but I ain’t exactly a spring chicken. And I might even chalk it up to circumstance, if this had been an isolated incident. But it seems like almost everywhere I go, whenever spontaneous technical assistance is needed, total strangers turn to yours truly to see if I might be able to help. The other day it was at Office Depot, where some dude asked me the difference between PATA and SATA. At Disney World, another person had me check out her video camera. And at Best Buy, even though I wasn’t wearing a blue shirt, someone asked for buying advice on a PC.

Is it just me, or am I giving off a serious geek vibe?

I guess it could be worse. Nobody’s asked me to fix their Zune yet, and I still don’t know anything about Linux, which keeps me on this side of the mortal divide. But it is kind of funny when people find out you know a little something about technology. Suddenly you’re getting cornered at parties and asked for advice, like a doctor or a lawyer. Then before you know it, you’re hooking up your neighbor’s new LCD big screen. I guess those “Will Work for Beer” signs don’t help–but on the other hand, I’ve cleared a lot of free six-packs from my endeavors.