For a few weeks, I’ve had a blog post planned about some funny book signing run-ins, poking gentle fun at all the trivia know-it-alls I’ve loved before, who wandered in and out my door. I emphasize “gentle fun,” because hey, they bought a book. They can be as weird as they like in line.

I could very easily write that post today–after all, last night’s Portland signing was the first time I’ve ever tried to pee at a urinal while the trivia fan who followed me into the men’s room explained at length why the “K” in “J. K. Rowling” doesn’t really stand for Kathleen.

But this will be about the less-creepy kind of book-signing encounter. Jeers to urinal celebrity-initial guy, for example, but cheers to Eric Snider, beloved Provo humorist of my BYU days (and now a fairly widely-read Internet movie critic) who grabbed a bite to eat with me after the event and gave me a copy of his humor CD, in which the Killers’ “Mr. Brightside” is reimagined as “Mr. Bright Guy,” a tribute to me on Jeopardy! Thanks, Eric!

But even bigger cheers to Matt, a Portland computer engineer who showed up at the signing with a USB flash drive full of device drivers, whisked my laptop away to a corner table, and spent half an hour repairing my XP install while I signed books for the line. He handed me back the computer, now fully functional, and then, in a flash, he was gone, with a tip of his hat and the thunder of hooves, off into the sunset.

I never got his full name, but he sure did clean up this hard drive.