A number of my facebook friends have sent me their entries of "25 things about me" and I’ve found them very nice to read. I’m posting mine here so I’ll have access to it in the future. I took me about two hour
1) I’ve lived in six cities
a) Frankfurt Germany (8 years)
b) Los Angeles (Lennox, LA and Inglewood) (10 years)
c) Boston 4 years
d) Santa Clara/Mountain View CA (5 years)
e) Haifa, Israel (2 years 8 months)
f) Portland, OR (8 years and counting)
2) I speak three languages
a) English is my strongest, but it’s actually my 2nd
b) German is my first language, but I used it so little for a while that I had to relearn it.
c) Hebrew. I like to tease some of my American Jewish friends about this.
3) I’ve only had one employer since graduating from MIT. I lived in three cities for Intel however, so it’s not entirely one job.
4) I considered going to grad school after getting my BS, but decided I was sick of being poor.
5) The main ways I spend my time are:
a) reading
b) building stuff/tinkering in my wood shop.
c) hanging out with Robie.
d) Gardening (in season)
e) photography (shots of friends, mostly. I want to expand to video)
6) the magazines I subscribe to are (in no particular order)
a) Fine Woodworking
b) Fine Homebuilding
c) Mother Earth News (I’m a hippy)
d) The New Yorker
e) The Atlantic Monthly
f) Economist (just added it)
g) Wired
h) Technology Review (Even though I get it for free because I’m an MIT alumn, I do read it)
7) in addition to the magazines I read, there are a couple radio shows that I download and listen to in the car:
a) Talk of the nation. The host can be a bit arrogant and a jerk to the callers
b) Fresh Air. I like to call it Fres Hair. I wish she were a bit more probing with liberals. She leaves a lot of good questions unasked.
c) Think Out Load. A local Oregon show.
My oldest friends are:
a) Mishi. She and I used to play in the sandbox when we were 3.
b) Nicole. She was the girl next door in grades 2-5
c) Monique. In high school, we saw each other on most days.
9) Until 5 or 6 years ago, most of my close friends were women. I now have largely male close friends. The difference is the men’s group I was a part of as an offshoot of couples counseling. Friendship is a skill.
10) Girls
a) My first crush was a girl named Marianne in 5th grade.
b) first "going with" was Isabel, though it was only for a week or two. We still laugh about that today.
c) the first woman I had sex with doesn’t know she was my first. I’ve googled her a coule times, wanting to tell her, but have not succeeded. Most people are surprised to learn how old I was at the time (feel free to ask, if you’re curious)
d) The first woman I loved was Cathy. She will always have a special place.
e) The first woman I wanted to marry is Michal. Unfortunately, I play for the wrong team.
f) The first woman I’ve lived with is Shlomit. Taught me a lot about family and home life.
g) The first woman I did marry is Kelli. She challenged me in many ways.
h) I consider myself honored for every woman I’ve ever dated. None of them are mistakes
i) I am very happy to be with Robie today.
11) I don’t have kids, but I got a glimpse of it when I dated Shlomit in Israel. She had (and still has) a son. I learned a lot from him including much of the Hebrew I know. I find it interesting that single mom’s have difficulty dating. I consider kids a plus.
a) Robie and I talk about kids all the time.
12) I take the train to work 3 times a week (that’s where I am now). It takes 1.5-1.75 hours each way. My mom thinks I’m nuts for it. Driving takes 35mins. The time I spend on the train is the reason why I can keep up with my magazines.
13) when I was a kid, I was a little fish. I spent lots and lots of time in the water. When I lived in Israel, my job was a 15 min walk from the sea and I only went every couple months.
14) I have two sisters and a brother. My sisters are 18 years apart. They’re half-siblings actually, so my brother could marry my sisters. What we have is more of a family hedge.
a) I’m very happy that my brother Rich is with Alma.
15) I’m multi-racial. My mom’s German and dad’s American black. I am not half and half. "Which half?" as mom would put it.
16) I did very poorly in first and second grade.
a) I went to the American school for kindergarten and 1st on the Air Force base. My English was so poor that I was about to flunk 1st grade. I didn’t realize at the time why I always felt so lost in class.
b) I didn’t do much better in German school for the latter part of 1st grade and 2nd. They wanted to put me with the special needs kids. Mostly behavior stuff.
c) My first teacher in the US was Rhoda Hart. She was very kind to me, a great teacher, and worked closely with my step-mom Silvia. She was my teacher for 2nd and 3rd.
d) I skipped 4th.
17) I was kidnapped as a kid. My dad decided he didn’t want to leave me behind in Germany and took me with him. In the end it may have a blessing. Difficult to say though.
18) I ran a marathon at age 17. It took 4.5 hours and was the hardest physical thing I’ve ever done.
19) When I graduated high school, I was about the same height as today. I weighed 155 then. I weigh a little over 200 today.
20) I once spent a summer lifting weights for 1.5-2.5 hours two out of three days. I always had food in front of me. At the end of three months I had gained 5 lbs.
21) There was a time that West Point was my first choice for a college. It was a college I knew I could pay for. I got in but went to MIT on faith.
22) I do not have any tatoos, but I want to get a couple on the sides of my legs. They would be small ~1.5"x3" panels telling a history of me.
23) my favorites ever
a) movie: Forrest Gump. He’s my example of the perfect person. Maybe not so smart, but he’s kinda, loyal, loving, and willing to sacrifice
b)tv show: west wing. Every episode is a mini-civics lesson
c)book omnivore’s dilema. IF you eat food or feed those that do, you should read it. It equips you with some questions to ask about the stuff you put in your mouth.
d) science fiction: enders game
e) fiction: roots. (historic fiction)
24) While living in Israel, there was a period of eight months when I went to church every Saturday (Sunday is a working day in Israel). In the end, I like the idea of church but I don’t like church people. Too much hypocrisy
25) as I’m writing this on the train, there was a guy sitting next to me. I got the sense that he was reading what I was wrinting and I didn’t like that. So I stopped until I switched trains. Funny, considering that I’m planning on posting this on "the internet"
One of the big lessons from the other stove is that airflow is key. I recently had the furnace in my house replaced and I had the guys leave the old one behing so I could scavenge for parts. One of these parts is a blower fan.
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