I tend to be party pooper when it comes to blog tagging games, but when Scott Monty tapped me for the “Eight Things” meme a few days ago, I decided I should play along. I needed a good excuse to rouse myself from my blogging holiday slumber, and this was it.
Here goes:
1. My wife and I were married in Brisbane, Australia in September, 2003 and nobody from either of our families attended. I don’t think it’s because they didn’t want to; we just didn’t really give ‘em the chance. We organized the ceremony in short order, and it simply wasn’t practical — or affordable — for them to make the journey from the US (my fam) or Kenya (hers). But rest assured they made up for it by throwing us impressive receptions when we went back home.
2. I learned to speak Portuguese in June 1998 in order to impress my then Cape Verdean girlfriend. It turned out to be a fortuitous decision for my career development as well, because a couple of months later I was able to shoot the bull on a job interview with a university professor who had lived in Portugal. I got the job!
3. When I was a kid, I turned the kitchen floor and adjacent hallway into a playground for baseball, hokcey, and nurf basketball and football. I dreamed up the games, announced them out loud, and amazingly performed the roles of all the players from both terms. It might have helped prepare me for my days calling Syracuse University women’s basketball games in college, but, alas, it did nothing for my athletic prowess.
4. I smother waffles, pancakes, or french toast with molasses instead of syrup.
5. I’ve been in Belgium ever so briefly — even though I can’t prove it. In early January 2000 I jumped on a last-minute European travel discount and flew to Europe for a five-day long weekend. I landed in Paris, and then took an express train to Amsterdam (the answer is “yes”). Along the way, we stopped in Brussels, and I hopped out of the train and snapped a quick photo, just so that I might one day say, “Heck, yeah, I’ve been to Belgium. Great place.” Unfortunately — and this was in my pre-digital days — my camera self-destructed a few days later when I was back in Paris, and the negatives couldn’t be recovered. You’ll just have to take my word for it.
6. I’ve visited 32 of the 50 United States and hope to hit all 50 before I kick the bucket.
7. While I can boil water (c’mon, Mitch Joel!) I’m otherwise pretty much hopeless in the kitchen. The lone exception: I can cook a mean chicken noodle casserole dish.
8. My daughter and I have just started our third annual reading competition, where we compete to see who can finish more books in a year. She kicked my ass in years 1 and 2, but I have a good feeling about 2008. The kid’s going down.
I think I’m meant to tag eight others as well, but I’m breaking the rules and picking just three: mdy, Simon Young, and Kyle Flaherty.
