Gosh darn it, Kate!

There's fandom, there's geekdom, and then there's the ultimate convergence of the two when Joe Howard (George Frankly from "Mathnet") answers questions on a "Square One TV" message board!

Five highlights:

- On getting the role: "Since the creators of Mathnet were the creators of 'Sesame Street,' my wife thinks I had an edge getting hired for Mathnet because I look like a Muppet when I grin."

- While James Earl Jones was on the set for a week, Joe Howard quoted one of Jones' obscure movies to Jones, who was pleased and "lovely to have on the set."

- He organized a Mathnet reunion about seven years ago.

- His most amusing fan encounter: "I was walking down the street and three people in black leather, chains, green spiked hair, and piercings gathered round me, and I thought I had trouble on my hands. Turned out they all were Mathnet fans and they could not have been sweeter."

- Since the late 70's, he has known Dennis Haskins, the actor who played Mr. Belding on "Saved By The Bell."

Want a REALLY geeky admission to top this all off? I found this in a Google search to try to find out if Weird Al has any geographical connection to my newspaper's coverage area, so I could ask him Six Stupid Questions.

(Adjusting my calculator holster.)