As posted on my Facebook tonight ...
1: My life revolves around music. I remember religiously taping Casey Kasem's American Top 40 way back in the day (and this was before I discovered he was the voice of Shaggy in "Scooby-Doo"), and eventually I worked at the Bloomfield Hills Lahser/Andover radio station for 2 1/2 years in high school. That led to college radio, wedding DJ gigs, and having more than 1,600 CDs and vinyl albums to my name right now.
2: I'll take the open road over an airline flight in a heartbeat. I've traveled between Florida and Michigan 20 times the past 10 years (starting with the initial teaching job hunt in June/July of that year), and half have been via my 1997 RAV-4. My most recent of those trips was a 21-day, 4,000-mile drive that allowed me to sightsee and visit friends/family in South Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Washington DC, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Definitely worth it!
3: I have a difficult time tolerating narrow-minded people who think they are always right and that various opinions other than theirs are irrelevant. Especially when it's with a staunch "religious" or "political" (or both) agenda. Listen, having a belief system is good, and if you truly hold it to your heart and use it in a positive way, then that's cool by me. But don't try to push a dogmatic position down my throat. Give me some credit as a living, breathing adult capable of critically thinking on my own.
4: I lean slightly left of center politically, but don't mistake that for supporting every Democratic party cause that exists. All political parties and many politicians have proven very capable of forgetting who they represent and abusing our tax dollars in ways unimaginable.
5: I support Israel wholeheartedly, and while I'd like to believe "peace" can exist in the Middle East during my lifetime, I'm not about to throw money down on that in Las Vegas any time soon.
6: In the late 1970s, our family went on a vacation to Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and before we left, I bought what appeared to be an interesting book (about a secret post-WWII Nazi organization) for the drive north. That book ended up becoming one of my favorites of all time, and the author is one of my two favorites. The novel I bought at Perry's Drugs: The Odessa File by Frederick Forsyth. (My other favorite author is George Orwell ... and yes, that is quite a contrast in writing styles!)
7: I am a night owl, which probably explains why (a) I write so many of these things when I should be asleep and (b) why i am so friggin' tired in the morning when I go to work.
8: My mailbox fills with between 250-300 "spam" emails a day. Every day. About 95 percent are filtered into the spam folder automatically. I review the folder on occasion (since sometimes an email lands there that shouldn't), and am always amazed at both the NAMES these spammers come up with and the SUBJECT LINES that are types. For the life of me, I cannot fathom ever writing an email to anyone that announces in the subject line, "It's very possible to get a larger organ!" or "Be the hottest man around with a long shaft." I mean, how the hell do they know all this about me? Did I fill out some sort of survey when I first set up an email account years ago?
9: Years ago, I watched Plan 9 From Outer Space. Well, I watched about 10 minutes of it after renting it from Blockbuster. And it's as bad as everyone says. Maybe even worse. I think I had headaches for five days.
10: Most of the time I like my job, but I've said that about virtually every job or position i've ever held. As a teacher, though, I think I could get a lot more actual work done if one of the following two things were absent: either (1) political bureaucrats and their mandates (unfunded class size reduction; FCAT testing), or (2) students. Yeah, i could get more actual work done.
11: I'm holding out hope that President Obama is successful and makes positive changes in the US.
12: FARK.com is the funniest web site I go to daily. My brother Charles introduced it to me a few years ago, and instead of trying to explain it to you, I instead encourage you to check it out yourself. You won't look at news (or purported news) the same way again.
13: I'd rather have substance over style.
14: Almost every night, I go to sleep with the sounds of George Winston's December CD playing on my computer. It is guaranteed to knock me out within 45 minutes.
15: I think online dating sites suck eggs. All of them. Worthless. (Do I sound bitter?)
16: I wear my heart on my sleeve way too often, and that tends to intimidate some people.
17: Along with music, following sports is a passion of mine. I am a HUGE Detroit Tigers and Red Wings fan, and had a perfect professional football season this year when Bubbles the Lioness went 0-16.
18: I am the West Palm Beach area alumni coordinator for Central Michigan University. I am also the Vice President of Individual Events for the Palm Beach Catholic Forensic League. These two titles are not related.
19: My debate program has afforded me the opportunity to do much traveling within the continental US. In the past seven years, I have visited Washington DC, Boston, Raleigh-Durham, Atlanta, Houston, Milwaukee, Chicago, and a few other places for tournaments.
20: However, my passport has yet to be stamped. (When I lived in Detroit, in the pre-9/11 days, we didn't need a passport to cross the border into Canada.)
21: Debate students are continually devising new nicknames for me. The most recent one is "The Notorious PLG." Sounds like I'll have to put together a movie about being a white rapper from the Detroit suburbs who ... what do you mean it's been done already?
22: I have worked at a local weekly newspaper the past four years part-time (and full-time during the summers). I'm also a photographer on the side.
23: I am lactose-intolerant, yet still eat pizza.
24: Stupid people and idiot drivers need to be put out of their misery. That way, they are out of my misery, too.
25: Despite living in Florida for nearly 10 years, I still bleed Detroit.
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