Random Facts about me

I see the facebook lists people make where you do 30 days of pictures or list a fact for every letter of the alphabet, or whatever, and I think those are fun but basically sort of arbitrarily defined. So I'm going to make my own list of facts, most of which are actually indeed true facts about yours truly.

- I wear size 11 1/2 shoes from basically any manufacturer, but I have always had wide feet.

- I can gain 6 pounds in one day without hardly eating. I re-did the 10k time trial lactate test last night out in Springfield and when I got home I had a couple baked chicken legs, and a finger of peanut butter. Got on the scale at the end of the night, and I was up 6 pounds for the day. 3 pounds were gone this morning, but a hard workout and some extra fluids can sure throw off the weight loss numbers pretty easily.

- I love broccoli, like cauliflower, and will eat either cooked or raw. I mostly do not like carrots, though I like them cooked when they're soft. I also developed a love of spinach later in the past few years,

- May favorite movie of all time is Return of the Jedi (I like it when the good guys win). Runners up are all other Star Wars Movies, Indiana Jones, When Harry Met Sally, Notting Hill, The newer James Bonds (Brosnan or the new guy), Mystery Alaska and Miracle.

- I do not like onions in any situation except on McDonalds cheeseburgers, and only flaked or slivered.

- I like peas, and green beans (why is this list mostly about food?)

- I like apple juice, but not apples. The skin gets in my teeth, which is just gross.

- My favorite fruit is Blueberry but I also like strawberry, bananas, Kiwi, and grape.

- I was very interested in flying jets for the Navy as a kid. I went so far as to meet with a recruiter about Naval ROTC following my ACT. I would have had to retake the test raise my math score, and I was too tall to fly the jets I wanted to anyways. (I did however just recently get 7 kills in a flight simulator at the Mall of America, so I feel like I got my revenge).

- The accomplishment I am most proud of is being lucky enough to have gotten Rachelle to be my wife.

- My biggest regret is not taking my health seriously until my mid 30's; all this weight never had to be put on in the first place.

- I someday want to race an actual road bike race. I mean it can't be any harder than a mountain bike race or an Ironman, I just need to get skinnier.

- I loved to read as a kid and I still do, but I feel like there are things I'd rather do. I love to read short articles and the occasional short story.

- My favorite books of all time are The Lord of the Rings and associated books, The Dragonlance Chronicles, and Half Nelson, Full Nelson. No grown up books have captured my imagination the way the books of my youth did.

- If I could do anything I want without worrying about money, I'd volunteer a lot and probably run a hobby shop. I volunteered at a food bank as a kid, and it's one of the things that really made me see how much we as a people should be willing to help each other.

- I love model trains and sports cards. I have a tendency to spend too much in the stores related to those hobbies so I have to be careful with them. I'm slowly building my train layout that I plan to be the layout of my lifetime.

- I used to be a computer programmer before I do what I do now, and I miss it sometimes. There are times when I've thought of writing a computer game or creating software for a task I need to do. The amount of time it would take to do that is something I just don't have these days.

- I really love the upper peninsula of Michigan and if I had my druthers we would already live there. Probably on the southern side, close to Mackinac.

- I want to do a really long bike ride, over 100 miles, and I'm getting that wish fulfilled this fall.

Notes:

- I'm going on my annual casino trip with my buddy Dan for the next 3 days. I may or may not blog this time depending on how busy we are. We're definitely planning some new things for this trip, and I'll be working out each day.