25 Random Things About Me

For those on Facebook, you may have already seen these, but for those not, I thought I would share with you what the rest of the world has learned about me this past weekend. For more information about the goal of the list, read details below the list.

1. My current car is 6 years old and has 137,000 miles (22,800 mi/year). Over half of those miles (78,000) were put on within a two year span. The car currently sits in great neglect lucky to move more than once a week, but it still has great adventures to see family and friends. Most friends say I am never in one place maybe that is true, maybe it is not. I do enjoy a nice drive through the countryside.

2. The trunk of my car contains a large blue Rubbermaid container (contents: a matte black Snell certified helmet, tarp and blanket, jumper cables, air compressor, window cleaner, paper towels, de-icer, sunscreen, Sahara Sombrero, blue chalk, flashlight), two folding chairs, magnetic numbers and letters (during the summer), spare tire, and spare tire tool kit.

3. From the age of 3 through 7th grade (10 years), I took dance lessons (tap & ballet with a few years of jazz, toe, and summer acrobatics/trampoline). I know this is shocking to those who have ever seen me attempt to dance or keep a beat/rhythm because I can’t.

4. My current job is the start of my second professional career. After spending six years as a web developer, application programmer, and database administrator, I left the technology field to pursue my desires to work with young people and help develop strong leaders in all aspects of our community.

5. I over analyze everything including the creation of this list.

6. While spending two months in Western Australia (Perth), I played basketball for the Lakeside women (Western Australian State Basketball League, second-tiered semi-professional basketball league), coached an under-9 boys basketball team, learned to kick a footy, had a kangaroo eating out of my hand, worked with the youth of the church and local schools, fell in love with Tim Tams, and much more.

7. One of the weirdest/strangest things I have ever eaten was fried cow’s blood in Puerto Rico.

8. August 1993 included a 24+ hour bus ride to Denver, Colorado for World Youth Day. I saw Pope John Paul II and still have the bandana that a kind soul gave me on the sick bus.

9. Photography is a great passion of mine. I stopped taking as many pictures years ago because I always felt like people were looking at me funny. A camera use to be attached to my every move and everything was documented. To give you an idea of my crazy picture taking: Australia 600 plus film pictures in 2 months and Ghana 2,100 plus digital pictures plus several rolls of film pictures in 2 weeks.

10. A dream of mine since freshman year of college is to have my own black & white dark room. I received honorable mention for an experimental black & white photograph in undergrad.

11. I am a pack rat rarely ever throwing anything away. That is why there are boxes and boxes of items waiting to go into scrapbooks from college years to friends’ weddings and baby showers.

12. Current collections include shot glasses, postcards, key chains, porcelain dolls, UK basketball posters, bibles, and money (state quarters, pennies, foreign currency). Collections not as frequently added to these days include pencils, pens, unicorns, stamps, baseball cards, NASCAR collectibles, and books (most have not been read).

13. Christmas is my favorite holiday and winter my favorite season. (I love the beautiful white snow outside.)

14. Often times, my first experience at events will never be topped by future experiences.
First NCAA basketball game 1994 SEC Championship game in the Pyramid, Memphis, TN, Kentucky defeated Florida. We had seats about 10 rows up from the floor across from the UK bench.
First NCAA football game UK vs #1 LSU 2007 in Commonwealth Stadium, Lexington, KY. I had seats in the end zone right in the middle of the LSU Indianapolis Alumni section. (Very nice fans to those of us wearing Wildcat blue.)

15. Would you like to catch me on IM? You probably can from any medium (ICQ, AIM, Yahoo, MSN, GMail, Facebook) you use and some may have never known of their existence. Am I missing any?

16. Summer of 1998 included the creation of my own personal website and unlike today, I had to actually figure out HTML and design the site. There was also a cool little chat feature (at the time) that I added to the site to talk back and forth with friends.

17. The one thing you will always find in my refrigerator is cheese. Yes, I am 100% addicted to cheese and working very hard to reduce the intake. There is a crisis when the refrigerator is without cheese.

18. Snooze once upon a time was not in my vocabulary or in arms reach. I truly was a morning person except on Saturday’s. Then summer of 1998 happened and 12 hour shifts at campus safety on weekends. Life has never been the same and snooze has turned into two alarm clocks.

19. I have partaken in homecoming festivities at Georgetown College every year since I started in 1996, only missing the last two Songfests.

20. So the second of the 25 in this list still has you perplexed as why I have a helmet, magnetic numbers and letters, and blue chalk in my trunk. These are all necessary things in order to autocross or solo on a Sunday afternoon. Quick: Cones are setup in a pattern in a parking lot and cars are individually timed.

21. Besides autocross, I also love to road rally and am one mean navigator. Quick: Each team is given a set of directions to navigate through the countryside at or below speed. The goal is to hit hidden controls exactly on time based on speed and distance.

22. The first thing that pops in my mind when someone talks about skiing is water skiing not snow skiing. I spent my entire childhood on the lake water skiing and finally learned how to slalom ski in college before going on hiatus for the past 9 years.

23. The conclusion and beginning of a new year of life must be celebrated to its full extent no matter the year. Therefore I love to celebrate and wish others a Happy Birthday.

24. Many are scared of the dentist but I am not as the worst thing to happen to me at the dentist was getting my four wisdom teeth cut out. (Knock on wood) I have never had a cavity.

25. If you like to play cards, board games, and other logic/analytic games, you have found a friend who will play about anytime, anywhere. But if you are interested in video games, charades, trivia, and related games, then definitely do not call me. Also I should warn you that I am a competitive individual.

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Apparently, you're supposed to write a note of 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. Then, tag 25 people. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people - in the right hand corner of the app - then click publish.)
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I'm Drained

Wow, this has been one crazy and insane day. It began by being awakened at 7:45 am with the cleaning crew in the dorm. I am so glad that the cleaning crew did not start before eight while I was in college. Even though I was usually up by 8, it would have been nightmarish. Today was worse because they were cleaning all the rooms to prepare for the beginning of the school year, including the other room attached to my bathroom and the bathroom. So I gave up trying to sleep anymore and got up.

Then the rest of the day included accomplishing a dozed things, none of which were really related to the other.

:-( Paid a credit card bill from savings, except I couldn't do it online and I didn't have 75% of the info I needed to take care of it. Thankfully the credit card company was very helpful and actually contacted the back to get the necessary info, plus he waived the fee for paying via phone. It was a nice jester especially since I couldn't pay via savings online.

:-) Scheduled for internet and TV hookup for Aug 18 back in Bloomington. :-( I will be in town a couple days prior to getting internet access, so that is what happened if I forget to mention it again next week.

Hoping that the internet and TV service is of good quality. I don't know how many of you have heard about the new AT&T U-Verse, but its basically a TV and internet package through AT&T. It actually is a pretty nice deal compared to Insight. I get a DVR receiver and a regular receiver for my 2 TVs, plus internet hookup. 190 channels, I believe, which includes the new Big Ten Network (I am pretty sure). Insight is not carrying that channel yet. All for $74 plus taxes and such I am sure.

I was paying right around that last year for Insight with one receiver, no DVR, and fewer channels. Not that I necessarily need that many channels but still. I will report later on the service and setup. Supposedly a 5 to 8 hr setup, but thats probably quote for a house. I just have a 2-bedroom apt.

Straightened up the room and tried to get things organized for the very soon approaching departure back to Indiana.

Had the key lock on my room door changed so I had to figure out about getting a new key to my room. Thankfully, I was hear when the guy changed it and so I new that it happened. It would have been quite fun to come in this evening to a door that I couldn't get into.

Trying to get details about helping with IU orientation and registration upon returning next week. I was asked to go fill out papers on campus asap :-|. We will see what happens with that.

The rest of the day was working on my internship project. The final project is putting together a resource guide for Bellarmine and all of the universities in Kentucky. It is coming quite along but still needs some work. We will see the status of the summer hopefully tomorrow.

Also been trying to figure out how to attend additional autocross events this fall, not having a ton of luck at that one.

Well that is the random happenings of my life today.

Where are you on the web? Do you really know?

Yes, I have Google myself on numerous occasions to see what might be found on me. Shockingly, I have a fairly uncommon name and the majority of the first items are truly me.

But today I had a new experience, which I was not quite expecting. Minding my own business preforming research on leadership associations and organizations, I ran across an article on the International Leadership Associations website about Omicron Delta Kappa's Campus Leaders Today Community Leaders Tomorrow (CLT2) program. Interested to see what the article had to say, having been apart of the Alpha CLT2 class, I checked out the link. Low and behold it was not just an article but an article with pictures. There I was.

Now do you really know where you are on the web? Answer is probably not because some things are hidden (i.e. unlabeled), but still present. Who knows where you might run across a picture of yourself?

Facebook???

Is it time to join Facebook? Those who have, what has been your experience? I keep learning about more and more ways to communicate and find others and am strongly complicating taking the plunge and joining.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Price is Right

Another sign of the times and change in history, Bob Barker has taped his last Price is Right. I don't know about you, but I definitely watched a many Price is Right shows as a child and some thereafter. He will definitely be a missed icon in the game show world.

Speaking of game shows: What were some of your favorite TV game shows over the years? Don't be afraid to admit you watched a many of them. I remember racing to turn on the TV at my grandparents as a young child to catch some of our favorite shows after school. Well, the actual racing to the television set was to see who got control of the TV for that afternoon, but it often landed on USA Today (I believe is what aired most of the shows back then.)

Press Your Luck (No Whammies!!)
Price Is Right
Let's Make a Deal
Family Feud
Wheel of Fortune

I might come up with some more later, but there is the start of my list.

Pac-Man Receives Face Lift

After 26 years, Pac-Man has a new set of mazes. What are your reactions?

Did you know that Pac-Man was created in 1981? Pac-Man seems like such an ancient game and one that I thought was around prior to me though maybe not by much. I guess I was wrong it I was actually around before it though not by much.

Poll: Your Opinion Appreciated

Over the past month or so, I have been contemplating cutting my hair short again for varying reasons, including that it just seems to be in bad shape. Granted that is my opinion and probably not the opinion of others. I guess maybe after 2.5 years of letting it grow long, I feel the need for a change. It seems to refuse to get any longer therefore cutting it shorter seems the only other option. Plus the other day a friend of the family's thought that I would look nice with short hair, which has gotten me to really think about this more in depth.

Since the majority of you have seen me in the last few weeks, I am interested in your opinions about should I leave my hair long, cut it shorter, and if so how much shorter.

Leave Long
Cut Shorter
- Shoulder length
- Between shoulder and ear
- Ear length
Other thoughts and opinions

And yes, I will wait until winter to cut it short because shorter hair in the winter is what everyone does, or is it longer hair in the winter for warmth. Oh well.

For Basketball Fans

Apparently, I have found a new sports columnist (that is according to my father). But I will have to say here is another great article by Gregg Doyel, CBS Sportsline.

Ten for Tuesday: Best of the Best --- and Worst

Enjoy! I promise to catch everyone up on life soon especially tonight, but after a slight incident, I am home a lot later than expected and have a paper to write, one to revise, and one to peer review for tomorrow :-(

Super Bowl - What is that?

I believe that I am about the only person that I have encountered today that watched pretty much none of the Super Bowl game last night. Yes, a lot of people reading this are probably ready to 100% disown me, and at times today, I have asked myself why I didn't find it important to watch the game. Here is my synopsis of that:

Firstly I am so sick of hearing about the Super Bowl and the fact that its the only thing people can talk about. I would say that the IU vs Iowa game was a big deal in Hoosier land this weekend. This is partially due to my basketball bias and the fact that the Hoosiers played a very critical game on Saturday, which I thought deserved more attention than it received. Yes, I did spend my Saturday watching basketball and getting a play by play report from my father of the UK vs Arkansas game (another story) because it was not on tv here.

Secondly, I have no strong affection to either team that played in the Super Bowl and really did not care who won the game. This will probably get me totally mauled in my current location, but those are my feelings. And from what I read in full news reportings, Indiana especially Bloomington fans, really couldn't lose in the game last night. Of course the Indianapolis Colts being the State team but at the same time a Bloomington HS native and a IU football player both were part of the Chicago Bears team. So it was a win win for all around.

Thirdly, I had slacked off and watched too much basketball on Saturday and so I had to get a bit of studies done on Sunday in order to make it through the week. I know a lame excuse but still.

Did I see any of it? Yes, two commercials and maybe 2 secs of play to find out the score during the early part of the 4th quarter. The next time I remember to turn the TV on the game was over and the Colts were celebrating.

I hope everyone had a wonderful time at their Super Bowl parties and I will be glad when the state of Indiana gets back to the important sport of the day basketball. Oh wait, Hoosier basketball spirit is very lacking, but might be on the up and up.

1957 Plymouth Belvedere

Have you ever buried something in a time capsule? If so, I bet you never buried an entire car inside of your time capsule. Check out the link in the title to read the full story about the 1957 Plymouth Belvedere that was buried in Tulsa in 1957. During the upcoming centennial festivities, the city plans to dig up the car and see whats awaiting them. Definitely an interesting story and one to stay posted to.

Fire Activity - Not Personally Affected

In my lifetime, I have seen very little real fire activity but in the past week, I have experienced two actual fire activities within close proximity to my family's house, neither of which currently have directly effected us.

The first came on Friday evening after my arrival home. We had a street full of fire trucks and police cars for at least a good hour. A neighbor down the streets house was the focus of attention and fire hoses actually attached to the nearby fire hydrant. Luckily according to information from a neighbor, the damage was mainly smoke because an aquarium which started the fire also ended up busting and putting the fire out before too much damage was done.

This evening as I was soundly sleeping I was nicely awakened by my brother and parents discussing something which sounded like another fire. This is no small fire but instead what seems to be a decent size fire back in the wooded area across the street, where fire trucks cannot get to nor fire hydrants located. Cops and fire trucks are placed at the very end of the street though. The clear night sky is full of smoke now.