100 things about me

Previously on the Apr 28, 2004 page, now here for a more permanent location.

Updated Oct 2004; Jun 2005; Jul 2006; Jun 2007.

1. I was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Sun 12/05/71.
2. I lived in Salt Lake City until I was 30.
3. I lived in Bothell, Washington from April 2002 to April 2004.
4. I lived in Glendale, Arizona from April 17 to June 3, 2004.
5. As of Jun 05, 2004, I’m back in Salt Lake City.
   Update 09/29/04: I may be returning to the Seattle area in Dec 2004 or thereabouts.
   Update 11/27/04: I’m moving to Mill Creek, Washington, on/about Jan 05, 2005.
   Update Apr 2007: Moved to Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood (ZIP 98109) Apr 15.
6. Even though I was born and grew up in its headquarters city, I’m not a member of the LDS Church (the Mormons).
7. I was raised in the Episcopal Church but stopped attending services when I was about 12. I’m not religious now.
8. My middle name is Lynn.
9. I’m named for my maternal grandfather, who died a couple of years before I was born.
10. I have one sibling. She’s 2 years and 3 days older than I.
11. I’m 6ft 3in (1.905 m) tall.
12. My hair and eyes are brown.
13. My pediatrician predicted I’d be 6ft 3in when I was about two years old.
14. I’m diagnosed fully color-blind but have little difficulty distinguishing colors once they’ve been pointed out to me.
15. I write and hold a single eating utensil (fork, spoon, whatever) with my left hand.
16. I do everything else (bat, throw, cut food, etc.) right-handed.
17. I type accurately at about 80 words per minute.
18. I’ve been typing for the majority of my life so my handwriting is nearly illegible. My handwriting was never all that legible to begin with.
19. My first glasses—I got them in 6th grade—were tortoise-shell frames with round lenses that were way too big for my face.
20. I’ve considered laser surgery to correct my vision, but I haven’t done anything about it because I look strange to myself without glasses.
21. I have an irrational fear that when I’m alone in swimming pools, I’m going to be attacked by sharks. This started after I was pushed into the deep end of a swimming pool when I was 5 or 6 years old, before I could swim.
22. I’ve been within 7 yards of lightning strikes four times in my life.
23. Since 1991 when I moved out of my parents’ house, I’ve moved a total of 12 times (as of this list’s original date).
24. I had roommates for the first three of those moves.
25. After I gave up on living with roommates, I lived with my then-fiancée for just under three years.
26. Since my ex and I split in 2000, I’ve lived alone.
    And I’ve moved five times.
27. I value my solitude more than anything else.
28. I like both cats and dogs, but I like dogs a little better.
29. I want to get a cat but I’m really reluctant actually to do it.
    UPDATE 09/11/04: I now have two cats. Feast or famine, that’s me.
30. I strongly believe apartments are too small for even the smallest dogs. I won’t get a dog until I have a house of my own (or I live in a rental property where I can install a pet door to allow free access to a fenced yard).
31. Favorite dog breeds: German shepherd and yellow Labrador.
32. Favorite cat breeds: Tabby and all-black, short-hairs only. (Yes, I know those aren’t necessarily breeds.)
    UPDATE 09/11/04: My two new cats are a black and a tabby.
33. I give damned good massages.
34. I graduated from East High School in Salt Lake City in 1990.
35. I attended USC for one year, the 1990-91 school year.
36. I attended Westminster College in Salt Lake City from 1992-1993.
37. I worked at Kmart for 7 years and change starting in 1988.
38. I did most of the Blue-Light Special and similar announcements whenever I was on shift.
39. My favorite duties at Kmart were working in the garden shop each spring and summer, and working as a checkout service supervisor and a service-desk employee.
40. I liked those duties mainly because I got to make a lot of overhead pages.
41. I like the sound of my own voice in my head, but it sounds strange to me when I hear my voice recorded.
42. I’ve been told hundreds of times that I have a pleasant speaking voice, and should be on the radio.
43. My left ear is pierced.
44. I haven’t worn an earring for about 3 years now.
45. In Salt Lake I donated platelets regularly at the Red Cross, which used double-needle collection machines.
46. In Seattle I donated for several months but stopped because the Puget Sound Blood Center technicians didn’t know how to do the sticks for the single-needle collection machines.
47. All that said, needles don’t bother me.
48. I’m an ardent fan of The West Wing.
49. I’m a good example of the TiVo will change the way you watch TV mantra. I haven’t seen any new commercials in months because I skip over them in the few shows I record, and I rarely watch live TV.
50. I like autumn and winter because I prefer cold-weather clothing.
51. I was in Downers Grove, IL, on business the week of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
52. My grandmother died four days later and I couldn’t get back to Salt Lake City to be there for her death.
53. I was Master Councilor of Salt Lake Chapter, Order of DeMolay, from Jun-Dec 1988.
54. In Oct 1988 I presided over the memorial service for Art Fairclough, another Chapter member who died in a car crash that summer. Art’s was the only death in Salt Lake Chapter during my active membership in DeMolay.
55. I spent several days memorizing the presiding-officer part in the DeMolay Memorial Service, and promptly forgot the part the moment the ceremony began.
56. I tend to avoid in-person contact with people from my past. Which is strange because I’m usually very happy to see such people when I do encounter them.
57. I didn’t attend my 10-year high school reunion because I didn’t care about seeing anyone from high school. The friends I had in my high-school and college years were all people I met through Masonic youth groups.
58. The only bone I’ve ever broken: 5th middle phalanx bone of my left hand, during a game of fly’s-up in elementary school.
59. I’ve never had major surgery.
60. I’ve never been under general anesthesia.
61. I’ve been on nitrous oxide twice under medically necessary circumstances, when I had my wisdom teeth removed.
62. It’s been 7 years or more since I went to the dentist.
63. I’ve been on nitrous a few dozen times under non-medical circumstances.
64. I was 19 the first time I had sex.
65. The only jewelry I wear is a Swiss Army watch. I wear it only occasionally.
66. I prefer silver for any jewelry I ever do own.
67. I hate having my picture taken.
68. There are just three photos of myself that I’ve ever liked.
69. My favorite arcade game of all time is Discs of Tron.
70. Close second: R-Type.
71. I’m an avid reader and I typically read two or three books at the same time, skipping around among them. Gets confusing sometimes.
72. It generally takes me a week to read three books.
73. I’ve never read the Bible all the way through; just parts here and there when I was a churchgoer.
74. I have scars on my right arm from an over-the-handlebars spill on my bike when I was 15 or so.
75. I have scars on my left arm from a hike in 1995 during which I slid down a snow field and ripped my arm on some rocks.
76. I have a scar on my forehead just above my hairline from a spill off a tricycle when I was about 3 or 4 years old. I hit my head on the flat metal handle of a coal-hopper door of the house next door to mine.
77. I utterly despise horror movies—the tension gets to me too well.
78. I’m a news junkie of the first order. Most web surfing I do is to keep up on current events.
79. I’m a stickler for correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
80. I’m seen as reticent or shy by many friends and coworkers because I rarely say anything I haven’t considered carefully. So I’m silent a lot.
81. I joined AOL in 1989, when it was a Mac-only service.
82. I worked as a Guide for AOL from 1994-1998.
83. I’ve been to New Orleans only once, in 1995 to attend a gathering of AOL Guides.
84. I’ve met close to 800 people through AOL over the years.
85. I keep in touch regularly with just four of those AOL folks now.
86. Music is the biggest pleasure of my life, in large part because I can listen while I do other things.
87. All-time favorite album: Twist, by The Fat Lady Sings.
    Close seconds: Johnson, also The Fat Lady Sings; Warm Strangers and Waking Hour, both Vienna Teng
88. Current (April-May 2004) favorite: Warm Strangers, Vienna Teng.
89. Current guilty-pleasure favorite: Underneath, Hanson.
90. The first CD I ever owned: Roll With It, Steve Winwood.
    The last CD I bought: American Idiot, Green Day. For a year or so I’ve been buying my music through the iTunes Store.
91. Artists whose CDs I’ll buy just because it’s their music: Steve Winwood, October Project, Vienna Teng, Indigo Girls, The Sundays, Sarah McLachlan.
92. The first concert I attended: Sting’s Ten Summoner’s Tales tour at ParkWest (near Park City, UT) in 1991.
    The last concert I attended: Eastmountainsouth and Brian Webb at Tractor Tavern in Ballard, 03/22/04.
93. I can proudly proclaim that I’ve never seen a single episode of any of the reality TV shows that are so common nowadays.
94. My iTunes music library includes over 7,000 songs.
    UPDATE 10/30/04: Now 8700+ songs.
    UPDATE 05/22/05: Now over 10,000 songs.
    UPDATE 07/14/05: I filtered out duplicates and junk recordings; now around 9900 songs.
95. My car’s a 2002 Saturn L200, deep red. It hit 40,000 miles on I-5 near Los Angeles on the drive between Bothell and Phoenix on 04/17/04.
    UPDATE 06/11/05: Now a 2005 Ford Escape XLT.
96. I often sing along with the stereo at top volume in my car but tend to hum or sing quietly in my home.
97. The idea of skydiving appeals to me greatly. The reality of skydiving scares the hell out of me.
98. I’ve experienced motion sickness one time, on a highly turbulent flight from Boston to Salt Lake City via Denver. I didn’t puke but felt incredibly nauseated.
99. Whose Line Is It Anyway? kills me every time, even in repeats. Especially the Scenes from a Hat, Questions Only, and Props games.
100. I utterly despise Wal-Mart and will go there only under extreme duress if the price is right for something I desperately need.