1. Early 20s
2. Dirty blonde
3. Dumb as a rock
4. Doesn’t know the word “No”
5. Strong distaste for clothing
6. Adventurous
7. Doesn’t know where I live
8. Has a twin sister

Ok. Now the real answer:

1. A listening ear
2. A smile and a giggle
3. Trust
4. Spontaneity
5. Self-confidence
6. Hugs and hand holding
7. Honesty
8. Everything Cathy

Is that sufficient to get me in trouble until the summer?

Four jobs you’ve had in your life:

1. Sold plants and flowers at an Amish market;
2. dormitory Resident Assistant (Clement Hall & Reese Hall);
3. Manager of 60 people testing software;
4. Owner of an Internet service provider (dialup connections)

Four movies you could watch over and over:

1. Das Boot;
2. Hunt for Red October;
3. Monty Python and the Holy Grail;
4. Life As A House

[hard to list only 4]Four places you’ve lived:

1. Cary, NC (3 years 76-79);
2. Kenner, LA (New Orleans) – roughly 1/2 mile east of the west levee break (4.5 years 79-83);
3. Medford, NJ (3 years 83-86);
4. Germantown, TN (2 years 86-88)

Four TV shows you love(d) to watch:

1. Lost!;
2. Boston Legal;
3. anything on the History Channel;
4. Futurama (Note the 2007 date on the “in production” episodes!)

Four places you’ve been on vacation:

1. Jamaica;
2. Lake Tahoe;
3. Chattanooga;
4. Ocean Isle, NC

Four websites you visit daily:

1. Rocketboom;
2. Domestic Psychology;
3. No Silence Here;
4. KristyK

Four of your favorite foods:

1. Gumbo;
2. Jambalaya;
3. Pork Ribs;
4. French Toast

Four places you’d rather be:

1. Ocean Isle;
2. backcountry in the Smokies;
3. at a park with my wife and kids;
4. in a larger house

National Delurking Week

Pocket Rules:

1. If at all possible, I must carry two quarters, a nickle and a dime so that if I become bored I can balance the nickle vertically on a horizontal quarter; then the dimehorizontally on the edge of the nickle; and finally the remaining quarter horizontally on the dime. (click picture to enlarge)
2. Minimal “pocket stuff”: 2 pocket knives, 1 American Red Cross breathing dam for CPR, 2 sets of keys (1 for each car plus store discount cards etc), loose change (see #1), 1 handkerchief, 1 pen, 1 cell phone and 1 wallet. [I frequently make an effort to leave with only 1 pocket knife, wallet, cell phone and 1 set of keys. I rarely succeed.]
3. The pocket knives and ARC equipment go in the front left pocket. If the cell phone cannot clip to a belt it also goes in the front left pocket. Loose change and keys in the front right. Handkerchief and pen in the back right. Wallet in the back left except in crowds when it is moved to the front left. Wallet and keys are removed when sitting down for long periods of time. Wallet and keys are always kept together because when I removed only the wallet I kept leaving the house without it.
4. I prefer to have empty pockets so I used to carry a purse (a “man bag!”) which allowed me to carry more stuff including juggling balls, lock picks, kleenex, eye glasses, sunglasses, a pda, and a journal (just to name a few things). My wife didn’t like my man bag. I don’t have a purse anymore. Once I was denied service at K-Mart because I wouldn’t leave my purse at the customer service counter despite it being far smaller than most of the luggage the female customers were carrying. During the scene that ensued more than one woman approached customer service, unprompted, to offer their purses in order to point out the ridiculousness.
5. I always pat down my pockets before leaving the house. Two pats to the front pockets; one pat to the back pockets. I can usually tell by feel and jingling if everything is in its place. I’ve been mistaken before and been uncomfortable without the missing item (usually the cell phone) even if it wasn’t needed.

There. Ammunition for my wife to decry OCD.

The “rules” indicate that I should add this portion of text so here you go; enjoy.

The first player of this game starts with the topic “five weird habits of yourself,” and people who get tagged need to write an entry about their five weird habits as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose the next five people to be tagged and link to their web journals. Don’t forget to leave a comment in their blog or journal that says “You have been tagged” (assuming they take comments) and tell them to read yours.

My wife thought I may find this one rather challenging. She wondered how I could possibly choose only 5. I agree that I could list far more than 5 so I’m going to focus on the morning habits.

1. I wake up chastising myself for sleeping [to long]. I used to wake by jolting from the bed to the center of the room into a fighting stance, often still not fully awake. My roommate in my first apartment found this quite amusing. I wake without an alarm clock usually within minutes of the time I told myself to wake up as I fell asleep. I can fall asleep within seconds of my head hitting the pillow.
2. I blow my nose first thing after waking whether I need to or not.
3. After blowing my nose, I wipe my right nostril twice; then my left nostril twice; then my right nostril once. Despite my wife mimicing me I can’t stop the habit.
4. I drink a half a pot of coffee everyday even if I don’t want the coffee. It used to be two pots a day then I quit cold turkey for a while. I only brew half a pot so that I can’t drink more without concerted effort. I choose my coffee mugs very particularly based on mood and the activity I’ll be doing while drinking.
5. I put my right shoe on first. When I was 10 or 11 living in New Orleans with voodoo and superstition, I became convinced that it was bad luck to put your left shoe on before your right. Since then I have laughed off the superstition but never kicked the habit. Occasionally I put the left shoe on first but it is very intentionally going against the grain and often with the inner dialog of “I’m putting on my left shoe first just to show that it doesn’t always have to be the right shoe first.”

Ah! Now comes the tagging. I see there is a “5 weird things about me” meme going around that is similar to this habits meme. So KristyK is absolved.

And I tag: Mackee at Appalachistan, James of Puerilis, Philip of The Blue Sloth, (going on a limb here) Amanda Congdon of RocketBoom, and Juliepatchoulie.