Me, Myself and I

Some meaningless trivia about myself…

• I love a good lightning storm. The louder and brighter the better
• I love the smell of JP-5 and Diesel engines
• I’ve been stabbed and shot (at separate times, thankfully) both times by accident by people I knew very well
• I’ve been bitten by Brown Recluse spiders on 4 occasions (I thought 5, but my doctor corrected me)
• I’ve had acute Salmonella
• I stood atop the World Trade Center towers in 1986, and again in 1990
• I saw Fred Gwynn in a bar in lower East side of Manhattan
• I remember certain numbers forever:
  • Every phone number my parents had from 1970 to 1997
  • The serial number of my first bicycle in 1972 (N457110113)
  • I still remember my dad’s SSN (he passed away in 1987)
• I can recite certain things from memory that have zero value:
  • The chemical formula for Agent Orange
  • The Greek alphabet
• The first programming language I experienced was QBASIC
• The first programming language I was paid to use was LISP
• I don’t have a favorite food, color, musician, music style, movie or author
• I can roll my tongue, move my ears and my nostrils (without my hands)
• I saw two extra-large women with shaved heads walking through a Wal-Mart at midnight, attached to each other by a small chain connected to their nose piercings
• I was in the delivery room for the births of all four of our children
• My favorite beers are Ales, Bocks, Stouts, IPAs
• I don’t like Pilsners, Lagers or any “Lite” beers
• I once watched a man perform “I love Mickey Mouse” in the Times Square subway station at 1:00 AM wearing pajamas and playing a Casio organ with jingle bells on his feet
• I saw a car explode with a man inside and the firemen could only wait until it finished burning
• I saw a tail engine fall off a passenger jet as it rolled down the runway (nobody was hurt)
• I was knocked down in an airport by a runaway St. Bernard when I was 10
• I’ve been “run over” by a moped
• I’ve been hit by a speeding limo on 7th Avenue in NYC (only scratched up a bit)
• I saw a judge laugh at a cop in the court room after seeing the evidence she carried in
• A dog I once had fell over while trying to urinate
• I had a cat that used to crawl up on top of a bush and sleep there all day
• I’ve watched a snake eat a frog
• I’m a carrier for Group “A” Streptococcus.  I rarely show symptoms when I have it, even while those around me don’t appreciate that very much.  If anyone in my family gets Strep Throat, I also get treated.
• I’ve watched a Hawk carry away a rabbit
• My childhood friend Mark and I were the first in line to see the first Star Wars movie on opening day at the old Newmarket North mall in Newport News.  We cashed-in aluminum cans to pay for the tickets.
• I pronounce “S” sounds incorrectly due to a combination of years of boxing and a nasty car accident in 1981.  I’ve been trying to correct it ever since.
• I held the high score on Defenders at the “Time Out” arcade in Newmarket North Mall for an entire week back in 1978
• I once puked all over a Navy officer in full uniform and he didn’t get mad
• I’ve had 16 cavities filled in my dental history.  The first 8 were without Novocain (because at the time I was afraid of needles.  now I love them)
• I’ve had my genitals handled and examined by four female medical professionals in the same day.  None of them laughed. None of them offered up phone numbers either.
• I’ve done courses of the following antibiotics in my lifetime (many were more than once): Penicillin, Amoxicillin, Tetracycline, Erythromycin, Azithromycin, Keflex, Ampicillin, Augmentin, Doxycycline, Ciprofloxacin, and Clarithromycin
• I was part of the original drug trial for Accutane®
• Up until the 2nd grade, I wrote with both hands.  Then my teacher harassed me to pick one side and forget the other, saying that continuing on ambidextrous would cause learning problems later on.  I had learning problems anyway.

• Aside from boxing and martial arts, I’ve been punched in the face at least three times in the past 30 years.

• I was once interrogated by three police officers who repeatedly asked me: “Tell us about the candy canes!” to which I kept laughing (I had no clue what it was about).  Luckily, they didn’t beat me up, they let me go.