100 Things About Me

Seems like a lot of blogs I've stumbled across have done this, and if I want to be a Real Blogger©, I figure that I need to do one as well.

Last edited 04/15/2006

History
1. I was born at Bethesda Naval Hospital in 1968.
2. I was conceived in October 1967 when my Bostonian parents celebrated the Red Sox winning the American League pennant -- they considered naming me Yastrzemski.
3. At birth on July 7 (7/7), I weighed seven pounds and seven ounces.
4. My parents gave me the middle name Russell, in case I didn't like Aaron.
5. I don't like the name Russell.
6. I am the oldest of four children.
7. When I was three I called my Dad at work (in the days before re-dial or speed dial), and I have no idea how I did it.
8. I grew up in Orange Park, Florida, just outside of Jacksonville.
9. My first job that didn't involve yard work or babysitting was as an operator for a telephone answering service when I was 15 (and yes, I worked at an old-fashioned switchboard).
10. I was valedictorian of my high school class of 39.
11. Being a high school valedictorian means diddly within one year of graduation.
12. I was a math major in college.
13. I once woke up 20 minutes after a final exam started, and still finished the exam in time.
14. Between college and law school, a college friend and I did a two-month cross-country road trip that included Canada.
15. Entering Montana from Canada, we were made to wait inside border patrol for a half hour while they did a complete search of our car -- apparently, two long-haired 21-year olds, one from Florida and one from Tennessee, looked suspicious.
16. I lost my virginity at 21.
17. When my childhood dog Puddle died when I was in law school, I couldn't help but think that I'd known her longer than I had my youngest sister.
18. An ex-girlfriend who didn''t want to have anything to do with me moved in next door to where I was living with my then fiancee.
19. I never pulled an all-nighter in college or law school.
20. I have lived in the suburbs of Jacksonville, Florida, the suburbs of Washington, DC, Ithaca, NY, Tallahassee, FL, and Washington, DC proper.

Married and Living in DC
21. I hadn't ever lived in a major city until 1998, when I moved into DC.
22. Within one week of moving into the city, I had met my future wife Kathy at the dog park.
23. I write acrostic poetry to Kathy, where the first letter of each line spells "I love you."
24. I proposed to Kathy reading an acrostic sonnet, in iambic pentameter, where the first letter of each line spelled out "Will You Marry Me," then handing it to her, the question being in enlarged bold.
25. She didn't notice the proposal.
26. Kathy and I got married in 1999.
27. I never want to live in suburbs again.
28. Kathy and I have two dogs, Nora and Junebug.
29. When I met Kathy, my dog was Rosie -- after she died of cancer in 2000, we got Junebug from the pound.
30. For my commute, I either Metro or walk.
31. At our wedding, my cousin Jeff was both the best man and maid of honor.
32. We live on Capitol Hill in a house we bought one month before we got married.
33. Despite living on Capitol Hill, I've never been inside the U.S. Capitol.
34. We would like to have children, but have been unable to conceive.
35. The best present Kathy has ever given me is a digital jukebox.
36. My wife is my best friend.
37. We don't have cable TV.
38. I need more sleep than Kathy does.
39. Together, my wife and I only own one car. We didn't own any car until November 2001, after Kathy had gotten somewhat panicked by 9/11.
40. The thing I most dislike about living in DC is that we have no voting representation in Congress.

Interests
41. I love good beer, and if you give me a chance, I can talk your ear off about it.
42. I have tried over 4000 different beers -- you can see the ones I've rated (and how I've rated them) here.
43. The only beer I've ever given a perfect score to is Three Floyd's Dark Lord Imperial Stout, which is not available where I live.
44. I don't think Sam Adams is a particularly good beer, but I'd still be polite if you said you like it.
45. I'd be polite even if you said you liked Budweiser.
46. For the last nine years I've hosted a holiday beer party, where I ask guests to bring a six-pack of seasonal beer.
47. I have taken many trips for the express purpose of trying beers or meeting up with fellow beer geeks.
48. I'm very good at Boggle, and have played a non-copyrighted version of it regularly on this site for over 10 years.
49. I have hosted a Bogathon and attended a few others.
50. As part of our first date (which started at noon and went until midnight), I played Boggle against Kathy.
51. During the first game, I started laughing because I had found the word "inebriate."
52. Kathy no longer likes playing Boggle with me.
53. I have met over 120 people in person whom I first met through the beer or the boggle site I frequent.
54. My favorite professional sports team is DC United, and I have been a full-season ticket holder since 1998.
55. I have been to five of the ten MLS Cups, including three of DC United's four championships.

Likes and Dislikes, Bests and Worsts, Mosts and Leasts
56. My favorite flavor of ice cream is coffee.
57. I don't drink coffee.
58. I don't drink any other caffeinated beverages, or any type of soda.
59. I don't like asparagus, I don't eat beef, and I'm allergic to shrimp.
60. My favorite ethnic dish is Vietnamese vegetable spring rolls (with peanut sauce).
61. I love sushi.
62. I couldn't possibly pick a favorite band (though I have identified several of my favorites on my profile page), but I do my darnedest to keep up with current music despite not having a decent radio station to listen to in DC.
63. My favorite foreign films are Life is Beautiful and Amelie.
64. While one of my favorite albums of the 1990s is the Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs, my favorite love song of theirs comes from a different album ("It's Only Time," on i).
65. The "loneliest" day in my life was my 21st birthday, when I saw only one other person (while hiking in the Canadian Rockies).
66. The most beautiful moment at a wedding (not my own) that I've attended was when my brother exchanged vows with his then-four-year-old stepson.
67. The most regret I've ever experienced was at my grandmother's funeral (when I was 17), when I discovered how much she had cared for me that I had taken for granted.
68. I love getting a massage.
69. The strangest place I've had sex was in the breakdown lane of an interstate.
70. My favorite season is spring, but I find winter the most beautiful.

Travel
71. My favorite place I've never lived is Portland, Oregon.
72. I have been to every state except Arkansas, Hawaii, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Idaho.
73. I have been to Las Vegas four separate times.
74. I never get tired of vacationing at the Outer Banks in North Carolina.
75. I have no particular desire to visit Hawaii.
76. I have been to Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Russia, Belgium, Israel and Jordan.
77. When I visited Prague, I left after four days, afraid that if I didn't leave right then I never would.
78. The country I've not visited that I'd most like to is Turkey.
79. Or maybe it's Thailand.
80. I don't speak any language other than English.

More of What Makes Me Me
81. I am both a cultural Jew and an atheist.
82. I feel that I have lived a very fortunate life.
83. I am very opinionated.
84. I'm only 94.7% as arrogant about my opinions as I used to be.
85. I'm a shade under 6 feet tall, weigh about 165 pounds, and have green eyes.
86. My parents are still married, and live in Clearwater, Florida.
87. My brother Josh and sister Shari live outside of Phoenix, and my sister Rebecca lives outside of Atlanta.
88. I have never smoked tobacco or pot, or done any illicit drugs.
89. I favor legalizing pot.
90. I have way too many things.
91. My best friend from high school lives 25 miles from me and I haven't seen him since my wedding. I was first runner up in a Style Invitational contest for writing a poem that used only the first row of letters on a keyboard.
92. I wouldn't want to live forever.
93. I saw the Grateful Dead three times.
94. I have never been to an NFL game, and I haven't been to a Major League Baseball game since the strike of 1994.
95. I use puns way too much.
96. I cry on occasion.
97. Ive stood naked on my roof before.
98. I cut my own hair.
99. For me, work is a means to an end rather than an end unto itself.
100. I envy people who love their work, but I don't know what I'd love to do.