A high school friend was a total nerd, from his slide rule, to his ordinary clothes, to his "Radar"-like naivete. He was a engineering student at college, and wound up at a California aeronautical research company. Life was good, then great; he got married and his family grew over the years. Then California suffered through a high tech downturn. He was let go and now had to find a job to support his family and home mortgage. This went on for years, but nothing panned out. He sold the house and the family moved to the "Silicon Prarie" in Texas. The last time I heard from him, he was working at Home Depot, "Keeping his sunny side up."