The Smug Baldy Speaks

Les Jenkins over at The Stupid Evil Bastard tagged me, so I must needs out this damn spot by upholding my end of the bargain.

First, the rules:

• We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
• Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
• People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
• At the end of your blog post, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
• Don’t forget to leave them each a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

So here are 8 more or less random things about me:

1. Fact: I’m celebrating my 22nd wedding anniversary next month. At 44, this will mean that I will have been married for one half of my life. I find married life is a lot more fun than unmarried life, but that may be because my unmarried life occurred when I was young and stupid. It’s true what George Bernard Shaw said: Youth is wasted on the young.
2. Fact: I had 2 near-death experiences before age 10, both of which were my fault. At age 7, I fell through some thin ice that covered a pool of water at a residential construction site near my home. OK - I wouldn’t have fallen through if it weren’t for my arch nemesis and his older brother who threw rocks at the ice while I was standing on it. Damn you to mediocrity, Michael Fallon! At age 8 I was playing near the edge of the cliff with some friends when part of the edge gave way. I clung to the edge about 50 feet from the rocks below before my older sister was able to help me up. Bless you, Theresa!
3. Fact: I’m an avid gamer. I have been since playing Lunar Lander on an old programmable calculator that spat out your lander’s status on paper tape. Nowadays, I’m pretty much an XBOX 360 whore, and I prefer FPS games like Halo and Gears of War, and tactical shooters like the Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six franchises.
4. Fact: I’m ABD in experimental cognitive psychology, meaning I completed all my coursework and qualifying exams for my PhD, but never finished my dissertation. I was somewhat disappointed at first about missing out on being called doctor, but with handwriting like mine, you’d think I was a doctor for sure
5. Fact: While not a chef, I’m a very good cook. I think my best dishes are breakfasts (Pain Perdu or Eggs Sardou anyone?), although I’ve been complimented by many friends and family on several dinner menus. I do a pretty nice blackened steak served with a gorgonzola cream sauce, and my crab and corn bisque isn’t bad either.
6. Fact: I’m much more liberal than conservative politically. One of the main reasons that I put this blog together is to help me figure out what I really felt about various issues, since I think that the act of writing about something forces one to gain a level of clarity that might otherwise remain vague. As an Alabamian, I find it tough to remain silent while surrounded by well-intentioned though naive conservatives that are constantly voting against their own interests.
7. Habit: I often fail to close the kitchen cabinet doors whenever I get things out. Over time, this leads to most of the cabinets being left open, much to the dismay of my wife.
8. Habit: I hover over my wife when she cooks. She thinks it’s because I want to criticize, but it’s really just that I fear for her safety. I think she’s dangerous with knives.

Here are the links - enjoy!

1. My baby sister Tina, who’s cooler than just about anyone else. Yes. She’s cooler than you.
2. Matt, my wee little brother, at Anonymous Productions. An absolute magician at Photoshop. If you need a new site designed, check his company out.
3. Dave Weber, of Forked River Records. He sings, he plays, he makes my sister happy. What else is there?
4. Ray Peacock, my Dad, over at Temperatures.com and Tempsensor.net. He’s way too into temperature measurement, but I hope that I write as much as he does.
5. Alex Shaffer, AKA Mr. Nosuch, at NoSuch.org. Together, we have killed many a virtual terrorist.
6. Rickey at Rickey’s Idol Blog. If you’re an American Idol Fan, you must read this one. He’ll always be KidFlashX to me.
7. Mooncat from LeftInAlabama.com. Connecting progressives in the south is hard enough. Connecting with Alabama progressives is damn near impossible.
8. Phil Plait at The Bad Astronomy Blog. The best science blog in my opinion. No. Squid. Ever.