100 Things About Me

In honor of reaching a blogging milestone (my 500th post), I am following in the footsteps of many of my fellow bloggers and posting a list of 100 things about me.

Enjoy!

  1. I'm 31 years old.
  2. My b'day is in January.
  3. I am the oldest child in my family.
  4. I got my degree in communications with an emphasis in journalism from the University of Tennesee.
  5. I am a huge fan of all things University of Tennessee. In fact, if the Vols are playing Florida, Alabama or Georgia in anything, including pick-up sticks I will watch and root for the Vols to win.
  6. My father was career military so I grew up all over our great land. I have lived in Hawaii, Virginia, Tenenssee, Alabama, California to name a few.
  7. With moving, change schools, etc, I went to 12 schools before going to college.
  8. I am an uncle to a great niece and nephew, who I spoil at every opportunity.
  9. I am a huge fan of Star Trek, esp. the original series with Captain Kirk. I have the entire original series on DVD. In fact, I got a DVD player specifically so I could collect the entire series commercially released. (Do not get me started about how edited the shows are in syndication!)
  10. I am such a Star Trek fan that I didn't miss a new epiosde of any Trek show for 12 years. My streak was only broken when the local station stopped showing Voyager and a friend's Dish got broken. I started a new streak when a local affiliate picked up Voyager that January and I caught up.
  11. My father introduced me to Star Trek and some of the episodes that are my favorites to this day are ones that we watched together and he recommended to me. I'm not sure if he doesnt' regret sending me down the path to obsession.
  12. As much as I love all things Star Trek, I a bigger fan of the BBC sci-fi series Doctor Who. It was on the air for 26 seasons and is coming back in 2005. (You will see my post about it a lot in my blog).
  13. In the mid-70s, the BBC decided that the repeat value of Doctor Who had run out and so they scrapped a lot of the early years. Hence, some stories only have one or two episodes avaiable and some only have clips. I have seen every avaliable clip and/or episode of Doctor Who that is out there today. I have every complete episode and snippet of footage available on DVD or VHS.
  14. My dad also introduced me to Doctor Who, simply because he was tired of seeing the same 79 episodes of Star Trek over and over again…somehow that didn't quite work out like he'd thought it would.
  15. Other shows I am big fans of: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Farscape, Babylon Five, The Simpsons, Futurama, Monty Python's Flying Circus, 24.
  16. Shows that I'm currently obsessing…er, I mean watching: Smalville, Stargate SG1, Monk, The Dead Zone, Lost, Vernoica Mars, Scrubs, 24, Alias.

  17. Shows that I have been way too into in the past: Party of Five, The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Quantum Leap.

  18. I love to read. I cannot remember a time in my life when I didn't know how to read.
  19. Some of my favorite authors are: Stephen King, Elizabeth George, Peter David, Robert Whitlow.
  20. I love reading sci-fi books and murder mysteries.
  21. I will read just about anything that catches my interest. Hence why bookstores are dangerous for me.
  22. I read fairly quickly.
  23. This is because when I lived in California, one of the classes I took in middle school taught us how to pick up ou reading speed.
  24. I love exploring used book stores.
  25. I love exploring used CD and DVD stores.
  26. I always have a list in my head of books, CDs or DVDs/VHS movies that I am looking for at used prices.
  27. I had heart surgery when I was three. This is why I am not a big fan of going to the doctor to this day. (Ironic since my favorite TV show is Doctor Who and the hero is called The Doctor).
  28. I have "needle phobia" which means I tend to pass out when I get a shot or give blood, unless I'm very careful after said shot.
  29. I am a big fan of the Washington Redskins. Again, my father was career military so we lived near D.C. when they first won the SuperBowl and I got the fever. I've seen the Redskins play in person three times.
  30. I love the Tennesee Titans. I've been to three games to see them play. Only time I pull against them is when they play the Redskins.
  31. I hate the following teams: Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, Jacksonville Jaguars, San Francisco 49ers, Alabama Crimson Tide, Florida Gators, Georgia Bulldogs.
  32. I love football and can sit down and enjoy just about any game that's on TV.
  33. If I flip past a football game and it's snowing/raining/sleeting/foggy/muddy, I will watch the rest of the game.
  34. I cannot flip past Back to the Future and not start watching that movie from whatever point I've started watching.
  35. My mother was a teacher before she and my dad had me. I was named Michael because they liked the name.
  36. I was the first grandchild on either side of my parent's family (they were both only children) so my grandparents thought I could do no wrong. (And they were mostly right).
  37. I am a professionally published writer.
  38. I am always reading a book. Sometimes I will be in the middle of reading two or three. I have a huge pile of books I want to read and then an even longer list of books I would like to read. So, I'm not going to run out any time soon, I hope.
  39. I'm a Christian who goes to a Methodist church.
  40. I've read the entire Bible all the way through.
  41. I work with the youth at the church I attend now.
  42. I play handbells. I play in high school in a group that played at the Kennedy Center. We were on national TV. We've still got it on videotape. (Must transfer that to DVD).
  43. I am a big user of the library system. I think I always have a book or DVD on reserve. (Hey, they're free from the library!)
  44. The first movie I saw in a movie theater was The Shaggy D.A. for my third birthday.
  45. I bite my fingernails. I have no idea why.
  46. I like to swim laps for excericse. I generally try to swim at least a mile every time I swim, which is about five times a week.
  47. I am into the spinning, which I do twice a week if possible.
  48. Through diet and excercise I lost 50 pounds in 2002. I've managed to keep it off, which is a good thing.
  49. I'm a pretty good cook.
  50. My favorite fast food restaurant is Sonic. I could eat Sonic three meals a day for the rest of my life and never get tired of it. Of course, I'd be as big as a house, but I'd be happy…
  51. Some of my favorite foods are lasagna, homemade fried chicken, chicken and dumplings, taco soup, banana pudding, dump cake. Pretty much if it's bad for you, I like it.
  52. I love peanut butter. Seriously–you could put peanut butter on rocks and I'd eat it.
  53. Chocolate plus peanut butter is enough proof for me of a higher power. In close second, peanut butter and jelly.
  54. I love Stauffer's Animal Crackers. I could eat an entire one pound bag sitting around watching TV if I'm not careful.
  55. The chocolate animal crackers are even better…thankfully for my waist line, these are hard to come by.
  56. I'm allergic to evergreens. Hence, I've never had a live Christmas tree.
  57. My family always puts up the Christmas tree on Thanksgiving weekend. We started this when I went away to college so we could do it as a family, but now we've continued it as we like having the tree up. Also, we have an artifical tree, so it doesn't matter when we put it up.
  58. I had a dog named McTavish growing up. He was a Carrin Terrier (think Toto in The Wizard of Oz).
  59. In college, a story I wrote was plagerized. Unfortunately, I was too poor to sue or really do anything much about it, though it was lifted word for word. My writing credit was dropped from it.
  60. I lived at the Wesley Foundation at UTK for three years during my college stint.
  61. Growing up, I always wanted to go to UT. Once I got accepted there, I could have cared less that I got into James Madison University and Virginia Tech.
  62. I'm glad I went to UT. (Gee, does the name of the blog give that away?)
  63. I have never lived outside of the United States.
  64. I'd love to tour England and see the old castles. Also, I want to go on a tour of the rock quarries of Doctor Who. (A lot of times, rock quarries are used for alien planets on Doctor Who).
  65. My family is very important to me and we're all very close.
  66. I remember a time before e-mail..it was a sad, empty time.
  67. I have a very sarcastic sense of humor.
  68. I think Seinfeld is the greatest comedy of all time.

  69. My grandfather was one of seven children and I have a lot of cousins on my mom's side. We get together once a year for a family reunion.
  70. I love old time radio shows, especially the comedies. Some of my favorites are Burns and Allen, Jack Benny and the Great Gildersleeve.
  71. My favorite superhero is Spider-Man.
  72. I discovered him on the old Electric Company shows. I used to go around and embarass the stuffing out of family and friends by shooting webs at people when I was younger.
  73. Before I discovered Spider-Man, my favorite superhero was Batman.
  74. I had an usually large collection of comic books growing up. A lot of them featuring Spider-Man.
  75. My first gaming system was the Atari 2600. It's probably still one of my favorites to this day.
  76. My favorite videogame for the Atari was PacMan. I remember buying a copy of it at Sears and wasting way too much free time playing it. Ms. PacMan was good, but never quite the same as PacMan.
  77. My favorite PC videogame is probably Duke Nukem 3-D. I wasted way too much time playing it and the multiplayer gaming was the best.
  78. I had braces in high school. I was also "lucky" enough to wear a headgear for a time. Ugh!
  79. To me, there's no such thing as a bad free t-shirt.
  80. I shop at Wal-Mart way too much. My motto: If they don't have it at Wal-Mart, you probably don't need it.
  81. I enjoy old John Wayne movies. My favorite is The Searchers.
  82. I don't particularily like coffee.
  83. I used to be a soda drinker, but I gave it up for my diet. The only time I've had liquid caffeine in the past three years was when I passed out at the doctor's office and they made me drink some Coke.
  84. I broke my arm when I was six years old.
  85. I broke the middle finger on my left hand over the summer of 2004.
  86. When I in the fifth grade, I'd been out sick of school for a couple of days and was catching up on homework. I feel asleep at the desk and poked by eye with a pencil. Don't ask me how this happened.
  87. I drive a blue Chevy Cavalier.
  88. I keep my hair cut short. (Growing up with military barbers will do that to you).
  89. Also, I have way too many cowlicks so most days my hair seems to have a mind of its own.
  90. I used to listen to Mancow on the radio. We don't have a station that plays him where I live now, so I listen to Rick and Bubba, who I admit I like a lot more.
  91. My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. How can you go wrong with a holiday that combines family, food and football games?
  92. The first girl I "went" with was named Alicia. We "went" together for three weeks in middle school. Later we became better friends and I developed a crush on her twin sister.
  93. The first girl I ever felt like I was "in love" with was named Elizabeth. She was a year older than I was.
  94. All my HTML knowledge is self taught.
  95. I used to not like wearing blue jeans. Now I love wearing them.
  96. I listen to a lot of talk radio while driving around.
  97. When Reagan was shot, I sent him a get well note. He sent back a card to me. I kept it for a long time in a scrap book.
  98. I've driven cross country with my parents as part of moving about with the Air Force.
  99. I've been to both DisneyWorld and DisneyLand.
  100. One of my earliest memories is hiking up the base exchange in the snow with my dad. I think we lived in Kansas City, Missouri at the time.


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