This “meme” has taken over Facebook, and at first I said I would not do it.  After seeing it make the front page of USA Today’s life section this week, here I am doing it anyway.  But I won’t tag 25 other people — I’ll only tag people that have either tagged me or have already done the list.  This has to die at some point, right?  :-)I’ll post it to my blog and it will show up as a note on Facebook.

1. I feel that I the most blessed man in the world!  I have an amazing, wonderful wife, great kids, and a job that I love.
2. Kelly and I have been together since high school, when I was senior (age 17) and she was  a sophomore (age 15).   It has been an amazing time and I would not have done it any other way.  I am a better person because of her, and I am looking forward to the rest of our lives together.  It just keeps getting better and better!
3. I love our two kids unconditionally and without question, though they are at times trying.  🙂   I am beginning to understand the phrase “kids raise their parents.”  It is incredible how different they are, even at ages 3 and 6 (and really how different they have been since they day they were born)!
4. I am 70% optimist, 30% realist (or thereabouts depending on the situation).
5. I love to be outdoors (and moving!) — hiking, trail running, orienteering, paddling, mountain biking, backpacking, camping, etc..  I see the beauty of the world as God’s natural revelation to us (Romans 1:19-20).
6. I am sectional thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail.  At my current pace of 60-80 miles per year, it will only take 30 more years to finish.  I would love to do a true thru-hike (start to finish in one go, typically 4-6 months), but don’t see that happening anytime soon.
7. I am a descriptive grammarian, not a prescriptive grammarian. That comes from my minor in linguistics.  (If that annoys you, see #9.)  I also minored in Japanese and have a B.S. in Computer Science from NC State and an M.S. in Telecommunications RIT.
8. I have become a “reluctant leader.”  If you are too, read the book “Leading with a Limp” by Dan Allender.
9. I like to annoy certain people, but always in a playful way.  If you chuckled at that, you probably know you are one of them.
10. I love bamboo forests.
11. I am CCIE #3897 (Cisco Certified Internetwork Engineer).  Ten years ago when I received the certification, there were less than 3000 of us, but now there are more than 20,000.
12. I am more Libertarian than anything else.  I would like to see government reduced “to law enforcement, national defense, a system of courts to adjudicate interstate disputes, national infrastructure and the costs associated with running the legislative, judicial and executive branches of government” as stated by a famous Libertarian.
13. I skied off the side of  a mountain when I was 8 or 9. I still think Donna (one of my 3 older sisters) forced me to go over, but it was PROBABLY an accident.  At least that is what she keeps saying.
14. I shattered my wrist snowboarding when I was 27.  Colliers fracture (wrist slid on top of the ulna and radius, not quite breaking through the skin), ulna split in half, radius had several hair bone fractures going different directions.  It hurt.  Bad.  Really bad.  But Kelly says it could not have hurt as bad as child birth.
15. I have battled knee problems for many years, and have tried just about everything — physical therapy, rolfing, chiropractic, electro stim, surgery.  I love to be active, and love to go long — the longer the better when running, mountain biking, etc.  So I have learned to manage the problem, and am lucky enough to still be quite active.  I may not do 2-3 day adventure races or run marathons anymore, and I miss it, but I can’t complain with what I am able to do.
16. I love music, especially when the lyrics tell a story.  Preferably the type of story that you have to listen to many times to really understand all the nuances of a song.  That is why I like Leonard Cohen, Dar Williams, the Avett Brothers, Jon Foreman (Switchfoot), Bob Dylan, Eddie Vedder, and the like.   Beyond that, though, I love all kinds of music — rock, opera, rock opera, musicals, country, classical, blue grass, etc.  You can usually find at least one kind of each genre in my current play list.
17. I do not like TV other than sports and the news.  I have not watched any TV shows regularly since Seinfeld.  Kelly and I did watch the 1st season of 24 on DVD, and may someday watch the 2nd season.  I have recently watched House a few times and like that too.  However, I do love movies.
18. I like spreadsheets.  Seriously. I find them fun and powerful (as long as they are working they way I want them to 🙂 ).  I use them for business models, analyzing profit and loss, margin, tracking things such as workouts and workout goals, growth models, etc.
19. I once held my breath for 2 minutes and 20 seconds.  These days I would probably struggle to reach 90 seconds.
20. Recently, Theology has become a new “hobby.” I have always found philosophy and theology engrossing.
21. My Life Verse is “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”  2 Timothy 4:7…  It has come at me several times in my life and in several diverse ways, so I it must be.  If you don’t have a life verse, you should find one.
22. I have been fortunate to travel to:  Australia (twice), Japan (twice), England (3 times), Ireland, Hawaii (3 times), BVI (twice), Mexico, and many places in the US.  I lived in Turkey when I was very young, and don’t remember much, but we have pictures of me sitting in the ruins at Ephesus.  I still hope to see Iceland, Alaska, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and many other places.
23. I am strongly against people forwarding me emails, and I usually ask them to stop (nicely!).  If necessary, I will ask a second time.  If they still don’t stop, I take drastic measures to ensure I don’t get them anymore.  But it rarely gets to that — most people stop when asked nicely.  (It is ok to be discriminate when forwarding… I.e. if you take the time to read the email, and you really think that I (me, personally) would like to see it, and forward it to me (and perhaps two or there others), it is ok.  It is NOT ok to forward any email to everyone in your address book.)
24. I have been blogging before it was called blogging.  Back then it was manually editing html pages to post my book “reviews” and travel photos.  Blogging makes it much simpler.  I love to write about the books I’ve read — not true reviews — but a quote or two, and perhaps a thought or concept.  And I come back to these posts as reference fairly often.  Maybe because I can’t remember what I’ve wanted to remember about the book.
25. I love to cook, but rarely find the time these days to do it.  I miss our cooking club days, when we would gather together with close friends for a night of gourmet cooking and great conversation.  Good times!