The recent fad about Facebook these days is for someone to get thrown a number, and they have to reveal facts that they might not think other people might not know.  The downside is that if you like what someone wrote (like as in ‘click the like button’) you get stuck with a number and you have to return the deal.  I liked the idea, so I jumped on it – but then when I clicked that ‘like’ button I got stuck with more numbers.  In total, I was given 7, 8, and 10 — making my number 25. Sure, I could have cheated — its facebook, not something that is important, but it got me thinking that I wouldn’t mind making in a blog post.

So the Bear Feed Rule is — Read these, comment on them, like them, but you have NO Obligation to do anything like it on your own.  Bear Feed Rules, Facebook Drools.  Let’s begin:

1. While I am notorious for going through hobbies like some people go through clothing, only hobby has stuck with me since I was 10 years old and it is the one I typically am reluctant to talk about because of it’s personal / introverted nature — fiction writing.  Probably not hard to believe, because the whole of this blog is lies I make up (Kidding!!!).

2. In 2006, I visited the Great Wall of China, scaling a steep section of the wall up the side of a hill. The whole time, I was horribly hung-over from a night singing “Living Next Door to Alice” in a hotel bar.

3. In 2005, I was on the subways in London when a failed copycat bombing took place 2 weeks after the 7/7 bombings.  If I would have missed one of connections I took, I would have been on the same subway train as one of the bombers.

4. The furthest south I have been was in Singapore, where next to a beach I stood on the Southern Most Tip of Asia, it was just 1° north of the Equator.  The furthest north I have ever been is Prudhoe Bay, AK – which is still another 1200 miles to the North Pole (or  approximately the distance from New York City to Kansas City).

5. The most memorable and life changing vacation I have ever been on was in 1995 when I drove from Saginaw, MI to see my brother in Las Vegas, NV.  I spent 20 days on that vacation, only 3 in Las Vegas, and spent the rest of it living off of $40/day (including gas money, meals, places to sleep), seeing multiple National Parks, visiting the Dakotas, Montana, Colorado, Kansas, watching baseball, and many many many other experiences.  As much as I enjoyed countless Denny’s Grand Slam Breakfasts ($7), finding a state park that only charges $4 for a campsite, and going days without a shower — it is one night in Rifle, CO where a radio talking head said the words “No Matter what you do in your life, do what you love to do” that made me rethink every step I took the rest of my days.

6. In Late November 1991, I totaled my car on Staten Island, 1000 miles from anyone I knew, after an audition with the Cadets in New Jersey. The accident didn’t physically hurt me, but going through it all, staying in contact with my parents to help get me home, and dealing with the aftermath was the most traumatic experience in my life. I didn’t drive a car for two months after that.

7. I have been to all 50 states at least once, but I didn’t stop there. To count my “second lap” I started using Geocaching as a way of measuring a re-visit to all 50 states again. Since I started this “second lap” in 2006, I have been to 49 states – leaving only Michigan (the state I lived in for 5-1/2 years in college).

8. In 2011, Queen Elizabeth II was less than two feet from me as I stood in a median and her car drove by me.  As she passed, she looked me directly in the eye.  And on that subject:

9. QE2  was not, however, the closest I came to meeting a celebrity because I did meet Drew Carey (before he was famous) as we chatted before his stand-up set.  Thankfully the closest I DIDN’T come to touching a celebrity was when Brian Denehey warned me on a train that the bathroom had no toilet paper; you can guess for yourself why I didn’t ask to shake his hand.

10. Because Eric Lee Olson (who gave me 7) left out something on Monty Python, I will add something — In my opinion, the most awesome thing that could ever happen to me to make my life complete would be if Micheal Palin stood outside of a door in a red frock, big floppy hat, fake beard; while I stood inside the room reciting the line: “I was told to come in here and say there was trouble at the mill. I didn’t expect the Spanish Inquisition.”

11. Top five favorite movies (in no particular order, and probably needing some kind of explanation – even if there is consistency between them):  Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; Joe vs. the Volcano; The Fifth Element; The Fisher King; Brazil

12. From 1990 to 1992, I was a College Radio DJ (my tag line was: “Serving the Greater Metropolitan Houghton and Hancock Area, this is WMTU”)

13.  The first time I was ever drunk was the summer of 1989.  I was on drum corps tour, and we stopped in New Orleans for a free day.   Knowing back then they would serve you if you could see over the bar, some friends and I decieded to spend the day sober while seeing what we could see.  Then within an hour before getting on the bus, we talked ourselves into “just one” … that would be ‘just one hurricane’.  One became two, and honestly, two was all I could handle at 18 years old.  That walk back to the bus was an adventure though.

14. I am a Green Bay Packers Shareholder and they are the only team I have remained committed to whole life (I did cheat on them with the Bills in the ’90s but did you see how sexy they looked back then?).  I have been a New Jersey Devils fan since the 1980s mostly because I thought their uniforms looked the coolest; but became on and off for most the last 15 years (or reverse band wagon – I typically follow them when they suck, and completely missed two of their Stanley Cup years).

15. I have a bucket list in theory, and much of it is around sports.  I want to attend a Soccer World Cup, an Olympics, an Outdoor NHL Game (coming in Jan ’14), an Aussie Rules Football Match, and a Green Bay Football game at Lambeau Field (life long fan, never seen an NFL game live, most recently because I want my first game to be at Lambeau during a regular season or playoff game).

16. I maintain in my head a number of “Theories” including: The Pillow Theory, The Ketchup Theory, The 50-Mile Radius Theory, The “Everything’s Applicable” Theory, “Coming Off the Mountain”, The Law of Anecdotal Value (that was stolen), The Old Bull/Young Bull Theory, and of course the ‘Achey Breaky 8 Mile.” Comparative Hypothesis.

17. Of all my theories – “The Unicorn” is one that haunts me.  It is the theory that a nearly unobtainable goal is possible if I work really hard and commit to giving up an awful lot in the process, while knowing ‘capturing the unicorn’ is greater than any pain it takes to get there.  Currently, there is one unicorn that seems to get further and further from reach – but if I hadn’t captured one over 20 years ago, I would have given up on this one already.

18.  I love computer games, but rarely am all that good at it.  For instance, I love the Sid Meier Civilization games, but rarely do I play above a ‘beginner’ level of settings and almost never finish/win a game.

19. I am an on-again, off-again internet gaming/program addict; including a four-year period where I spent most of my free time on Second Life.  What you learn about the internet is that best part about it is the people you meet (and the worst part of it is the people you meet).  Some of my best people, and at times some of my closest friends, have been people I have only known through avatars, screen names, or player IDs.

20. I am a classic (though not stereotypical) introvert.  I hate parties, I hate social gatherings where networking is going on, I rarely like to have group discussions that don’t focus on me; yet I love to listen in on interesting subjects, I am a great public speaker, and I love telling stories to people around me making me a bit of the life of the party at times.  As all introverts are, I need my space, need to be away from people recharge, and need know what I am going to say before I say it.

21.  My job is a Supplier Quality Engineer – meaning I work with my companies’ suppliers to comply & improve on our expectations.  I love the field because it is like being a consultant to these suppliers; and spending a couple days with them makes them better.  It’s a theory of mine that we are put on this earth to leave it better than when we left it – and I believe my job is the easiest for me to succeed in that way.  That is the same reason I chose to work for BP, because with all that was wrong with them, they have the ability to make the world a better place.

22. I trust Wikipedia way more than I should, but tell me where else I can easily search to learn anything about anything.

23.  I have been in emergency landings in an airplane, twice.  At no time was my life in danger, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t a real emergency landing.  One required me to miss my cousin’s wedding.  The other resulted in our pilot being detained by Italian Authorities for 2 hours.

24. If money was no object, nor a job was no factor, I would live in London, UK.  Conversely, it would take an awful compelling reason (like go there or you are fired … and still than maybe) to get me to ever go back to China.

25.  Someday, I plan to retire to Gettysburg, PA.  I want a nice place along or near Baltimore St walking distance to downtown and the battlefield.  Maybe open a little coffee shop (had the name picked out: “Boiled Beans & Hardtack”), maybe just find a nice quiet porch to sit and let time flow.

 

Thanks for your attention, we now return you to your regularly scheduled blogs about Alaskan weather and my puppy.