day 9 & 50 things
2004-08-31, 4:00 p.m.

Day 9 8/31/04

Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head. This not smoking thing is going pretty well. Every now & then I just have to remind myself that I don't smoke anymore. Opportunities that used to be good for getting a quick smoke can now be used for something a little more constructive (like even work related stuff). Spent 20 some years building up all the habits of smoking. Now I'm trying to tear down all those habits and replace them with the rituals of a non-smoker. Need to keep that in mind.

In the spirit of what I read in so many of these on-line journals, blogs, diary things - how about a quick (ha! no one has ever called one of these quick and lived to tell about it) 50 things list:

1. I am 45

2. Married for 23 years (to the same person, no less)

3. Have 2 sons, 18 & 20, both college students

4. Live in the wilds of upstate NY, in the 'burbs of Rochester

5. Like to hunt & fish

6. Yes, I eat what I kill

7. Except the woodchucks I've eliminated from the veggie garden (4 total, 2 this year alone. Ask me how - I have a couple of methods)

8. I work for a large company that you no doubt have heard of.

9. You probably never knew my company is involved in what I design, but odds are it's had an effect on your life.

10. I can't stand bananas - smell, taste, texture. Yuch.

11. Ditto for strawberries

12. Most all other berries are eaten on sight.

13. I am also quite fond of hot peppers. Very hot peppers. Ask my niece.

14. Oh yeah, I have kind of a geeky job. Lectricical kinda stuff, wires & chips sometimes a little smoke. Never would have figured that when I was a kid.

15. Speaking of smoke, I had smoked cigarettes from the age of 18 until just 9 days ago - almost 26 years.

16. I have a moustache. Had it for over 1/2 my life. My wife wants me to lose the moustache. Ain't happening.

17. I have worn glasses since the 3rd grade. Just got my first pair of bifocals. Gonna take some getting used to.

18. I love to play softball.

19. I can throw a softball hard enough to break your hand. Really.

20. Too bad, cuz I mostly pitch now. Slow pitch at at that.

21. I can throw a mean bowling ball too. Usually too hard. Very theraputic, but I'll probably never average over 200.

22. I'm a pretty decent cook. Not going to open a restaraunt or anything, but I can put together a very nice meal.

23. I learned to cook things other than breakfast when I was 12. My mom broke her ankle and couldn't reach the stove top from her wheelchair. I was the oldest kid, I learned how to do dinners. Good thing I liked it. Good thing my Dad liked it.

24. I love me some cajun food. Ask me to cook you up a batch of gumbo. Please.

25. Jambalaya would be fine too.

26. I really like doing the landscaping around my house. Apparently, my neighbors like the results. Maybe I'll show you pictures sometime.

27. I like growing veggies too. Hot peppers, tomatoes (for salsa), green beans, winter squash, garlic, herbs.

28 Helped the kids build a potato gun this spring.

29. I can not believe how far that thing shot a potato - 200 yards plus!! The flames are really neat at night too.

30. Had a couple of duds too - now the garden is growing spuds. Really.

31. I played trombone in high school. Was in 6 different bands my senior year. (Concert, jazz, stage, pit, Rhapsody and marching). Yes we had a separate band to play Rhapsody in Blue. With a great local pianist.

32. I was in choir too. Only one.

33. I did 3 years in the Army. 2.5 years out at Ft. Lewis Wa.

34. If I have to move someplace, I want to go to the Pacific Northwest.

35. The army is where I learned to drive really big trucks. While I was a hospital lab technician. Didn't make sense to me either.

36. The army is also where I learned a few other things. I don't do those anymore.

37. I just found out parts of my family can be traced to upstate NY as early as 1779. Somewhere around Hornby.

38. I have dunked my feet in the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean & Gulf of Mexico. Oh - Lake Ontario too.

39. Have traveled in Europe. One heckuva senior class trip.

40. Been to Canada many times. Never to Mexico.

41. I'm a tongue curler.

42. If you forced me to pick a favorite color, it would most likely be blue.

43. Top 10 (or so) favorite bands - Rush, Skynyrd, Chicago, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Ted Nugent, old ZZ Top (well before the superbowl debacle), Jethro Tull, Thin Lizzy, Yes, The Who.

44. Best concert seen live - toss up between Supertramp "Breakfast in America" and Heart on New Years 1980 in Seattle.

45. Worst concert seen live - Bob Dylan during his Gospel phase (1979 or 1980). I thought Sister Sledge was singing back up. Sorry, it's true.

46. Yes, I'm a Buffalo Bills fan. 4 in a row. Man, that's tough.

47. 47 - that's the name of my Army unit - 47th Combat Support Hospital. We were like a MASH unit.

48. I slept through Mt. St. Helens blowing up. I was at Ft. Lewis at the time. Maybe 60 miles away??

49. I'm not what you'd call religious. Not atheist, more like agnostic.

50. I'm really glad this is done. People come up with lists of 100?!?

9 days down.

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