30 Questions

For lack of anything better to do this morning (and because my SOA book is difficult to read while Mickey Mouse Playhouse is in the background), I'm going to steal She Say's 30 questions. It's been a while since I did anything meme-y.

1. In two words, explain what ended your last relationship?
I've been married for so long, it's difficult to remember relationships before my wife, so I'm going to embrace the wider picture and assume this refers to all interpersonal relationships that might have been terminated. So...on the surface, an argument about a non-existent board game (bolded not for emphasis, but because those are the two applicable words).

2. When was the last time you shaved?
Back or face? Yesterday morning - face.

3. What were you doing this morning at 8 a.m.?
That was only fifteen minutes ago. Making coffee and cleaning the kitchen while the aggregator loaded feeds for me to read via dial up.

4. What were you doing 15 minutes ago?
See question number 3.

5. Are you any good at math?
Yes, and if it's the sort of math that involves logic, I'm even better. I scored a perfect on my GRE for logic(al analysis) - presumably that's why I make a good programmer and have yet to write a book.

6. What did you do on your prom night?
Danced with the Swedish foreign exchange student whose date stood her up. Perhaps didn't dance enough with my date. Went to prom with my next door neighbor (as close as it comes where I used to live) who made her own prom dress and who might still hold records for the breast stroke at a college level.

7. Do you have any famous ancestors?
I believe we might be related to Nathan Hale. I think we also have an ancestor who might have walked back from Russian to Sweden after the Battle of Poltava. I'm related to Sacagawea via Charbonneau (whose children were adopted by Clark, of Lewis and Clark). I've never seen proof of that one, however. And if you look back in my posts, you'll find I'm related to famous racists.

8. Have you ever taken out a loan to pay for school?
To pay for Pooteewheet's graduate degree in Social Work. However, I paid it back in full within the year while paying off my car 2 years early and collecting enough for 10% down on a new house at the same time, so I don't deserve any sympathy. I was working as a contractor then and doing about 150%+ billed hourly (60 hour weeks were almost the norm) , 3-4 technical interviews a night (on a per-interview payment schedule) for affiliates nation wide, contractor managing between 6 and 10 contractors, and recruiting contractors in-bulk as one of my prior companies had gone out of business, all while living in a $600 a month duplex. My income has still never caught up to those days, though sometimes my time at work seems to be catching up to that 60 hour a week mark.

9. Do you know the words to the song on your myspace profile?
I don't have a song, and I only have a MySpace account so I can search for people I know and music by my friends (the original intent of MySpace - and I do have friends with music posted out there).

10. Last thing received in the mail?
A copy of Bicycling magazine, a letter from the DNC, an offer for car insurance, and some flyers for social work conferences, one of which was about reestablishing intimacy in your marriage/relationship, regarding which I made a snide/rude comment to Pooteewheet.

11. How many different beverages have you drank today?
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. But each cup is different, so I'm sure they all count.

12. Do you ever leave messages on people's answering machines?
Sure, but not as often as I used to as it's easier just to try their other phone. I do leave messages on voice mail at work all the time. Same thing.

13. Who did you lose your concert virginity to?
This is so freaking embarassing - Olivia Newton John. I did go to see Bozo the Clown live as a kid - can I claim that supercedes?

14. Do you draw your name in the sand when you go to the beach?
No, but when Eryn and I went to Mexico last year I taught her to use small pointy shells as "sand pencils" and drew 100 numbers in the sand for her to follow by counting.

15. What's the most painful dental procedure you've had?
Between the extra tooth below the gumline that created more toothy bits (dentist used an citrus punch and left a bruise on my chest yanking it) and the root canal that I waited for a few months before having (while imbibing constant Advil and Tylennol - when they drilled and it geysered goop, the dental assistant turned a little green), you'd think one of them would have hurt, but for the most part they were pain free. But I hated my childhood dentist, so I'll go with "six month checkup".

16. What is out your back door?
Opportunity. No no...there's no opportunity, I joke. A quarter acre of weeds. Hey...in a sick sort of way, that's an opportunity to mow, fertilize, and de-weed.

17. Any plans for Friday night?
That was last night, and I did have plans. Dad was in town and we went to MF Snakes on a Plane!

18. Do you like what the ocean does to your hair?
It's sparkly and smells like the ocean afterwards, what's not to like?

19. Have you ever received one of those big tins of 3 different kinds of popcorn?
Yes. Ick. I'll eat caramel corn, but cheesy corn makes me ill.

20. Have you ever been to a planetarium?
Many times, for star shows and Pink Floyd laser shows, though not since I've been married. My parents used to take me to the planetarium in Minneapolis and afterwards, when we walked through the black light area, we could appreciate my Dad glowing where the bacteria he picked up overseas (Nam, but not really - he was on a sub) lives under his skin.

21. Do you re-use towels after you shower?
Sometimes. I hate wasting water and energy. But it's on a towel by towel basis and partially determined by ambient humidity.

22. Some things you are excited about?
A bike ride, new programming languages and technology (seriously), the possibility of a good breakfast (hashbrowns), a new board game, my daughter getting old enough to go biking and hiking (without the Burley).

23. What is your favorite flavor of JELLO?
I don't really eat Jello. But I bet they have a grape flavor, and I really like artificial grape flavor (like in purple popsicles), so if I'd eat anything, I'd eat that.

24. Are any of your great-grandparents still alive?
No. But my daughter still has great-grandparents alive.

25. Describe your key chain.
Salvation Army, Northern Division in brass with the motto "Blood and Fire". A relic of my days working for the nurses.

26. Where do you keep your change?
Big plastic tupperware container and in my cast iron bank collection. Recently I bundled it all up so Eryn could use it to pay for Dance Dance Revolution.

27. When was the last time you spoke in front of a large group of people?
2004 I gave a presentation on MS SQL Server Reporting Services to one group and Biztalk 2004 to another. I did make a toast for my friends', Dan and Katie's, wedding. That was the last group larger than 40.

28. What kind of winter coat do you have?
I have a few. I used to wear a traditional ski-type coat to work, but weather in Minnesota has been mild lately, so I'm more likely to wear a leather jacket or sometimes (if I'm feeling dapper) my trench coat.

29. What was the weather like on your high school graduation day?
I think it was raining. I was giving the valedictorian address, so I was one of the few people directly aligned with the gymnasium doors, which I think were open...which would imply it was raining, so they were cooling it off - but I also think we walked in from outside, so that would be at odds with the raining theory. Maybe it was somewhere inbetween.

30. Do you sleep with the door to your room open or closed?
Closed, otherwise the damn cat sneaks in and crawls into the bed.