Tagged

I got tagged, thanks Snakebite. For those that don't know, blog tagging is the blog comments equivalent of a chain letter. Once tagged you post five things about yourself and then tag five more. I'm not a big fan of this sort of game, but it's been in my head all day so I'm going to play along. I will not however be tagging anyone else, if you're reading this and wish you had been tagged than go for it, if not you won't get any flak from me.

Five things you may not know about me(including one that I'm sure will surprise even Michele):

1. I was ranked 198 out of 199 in my high school graduating class. I made a decision at some point during high school that homework was pointless and just stopped doing it. I've done very well on nearly every test I've ever taken and I used that ability to to scrape past, just barely. By the way, #199 didn't graduate.

2. After high school I moved to Denver to join a program called Americorps National Civilian Community Corps. During the two years I was in the Corps I traveled all over the country and preformed many different tasks in the name of public service. The Corps is where I got my real start in construction, sheds in Lubbock, Habitat in Denver, and building with bales in Colorado Springs. I also met Michele, who would later become my wife, while in the Corps. It was a life changing experience for me and many others and I would highly recommend it to any young person in search of direction.

3. I grew up without a TV in the house until I was 14. In retrospect I think it was the worst parenting decision my parents ever made. TV was my crack as a kid. Any time I was around a TV in those days I was totally fixated. When we finally did get a TV, I spent at least a year solid(maybe more) doing nothing more than watching the box. Even now I tend to fall into the watch whatever the fuck is on trap.

4. When I was still very young and living in Portland my parents volunteered to provide emergency transitional housing to Vietnamese refugees. We had a lot of families come through our house for a few days to couple weeks before moving on to more permanent digs. I figure I was four or five when Tung came to stay for just two weeks and ended up staying for the next six years. He quickly became "Uncle" Tung and was an integral part of our family. I haven't seen him in maybe eight years but my parents still get Christmas cards from him every few years. He goes by Peter these days and worked R&D at Intel not too long ago, if you happen to know him, tell him to drop a line.

5. I count everything. Ok, not everything, but I count a whole lot of things. So far your confused so let me explain. Say I'm bored while waiting for someone and see a phone number on the side of a delivery van. Now lets say that number is 888-987-2913. First I'll add up the numbers, 8+8+8+9+8+7+2+9+1+3=63. Break it into primes, 63=7x3x3. Add the primes, 7+3+3=13. 13 is double digit prime and that what I'm usually after. Sometimes I'll mix it up by doing this: 888+987+2913=4788, 4+7+8+8=27, 2+7=9. There are all sorts of other ways that I play with the numbers and this was just a small sample. So far this is not really counting but I do that too, ceiling tiles for example. It's not a compulsion, just something I do when I need something to occupy my mind. It's the reason I'm so good at lumber calculations, figuring board foot numbers and minimizing waste often faster than anyone else onsite even with the help of a calculator. Of course, even though I'm rarely wrong I always second guess myself ultimately making the calculator faster.

Well that's it. So I'm a little crazy, you got a problem with that?