Ego List--Part II

OK, we’re back. I just moved a load of clothes into the dryer, and completed my grocery shopping earlier this morning. I’ve decided to just kind of riff on different things with 1 thing in common. They’re all about ME. Some of this will be useless information to you. That’s OK. Some things have been mentioned elsewhere. That’s OK, too. The nice thing about having your own blog is you get to make up the freakin’ rules. So back to the show.

31. I became a Yankees fan while living in Maryland. This is partially because one of the kids who carpooled with us played Little League and his team was the Yankees. The other is that one of my earliest TV sports memories is watching the Yankees and Dodgers in the ’77 World Series.

32. Being a Yankees fan came in handy after we moved to Connecticut, mainly because we didn’t pick teams for kickball much. We split up between Yankees and Red Sux fans a lot. I wouldn’t have had a team if I was an Orioles fan.

33. Some people who know me from high school will refer to me as “Math god”, a title that I have to admit I like. This is due to winning the Math award as a senior, an award I didn’t bother to pick up until the following day. I think Mom’s still a little mad that I decided to bypass that award ceremony.

34. Other nicknames include “D” and “Stretch”. “D” came from BC in college. I have no plans to explain “Stretch.”

35. I once corrected my Pre-calculus teacher without even picking my head off of my desk and looking at the board. Rob will vouch for this.

36. I wish I had more time for statistical baseball analysis.

37. I took the SAT 3 times, but two of those were before I got to high school. Based on my 7th grade score, I would have been eligible to play for a Division I college.

38. I have a ham sandwich nearly every day for lunch. And if I don’t have one for lunch, that’s probably what dinner is.

39. If anyone comes to visit me, you’re almost guaranteed of being taken out for som barbeque at some point during your visit.

40. I graduated from the University of Evansville in 3-1/2 years. I was really tired of doing homework.

41. While at UE, I served as Sports Director of WUEV, 91.5 FM, the school’s radio station, for 2-1/2 years. I was also the one responsible for bringing sports back to the station after about a 5 or 6 year hiatus by begging the station manager to let us do 4 baseball games during my freshman year. Of course, my broadcast partner (who had been my freshman roommate for a month) and I nearly got suspended for some of our comments made at the end of our first test game. Whole separate story there.

42. My first job was working in the stock department of a drug store in Rochester, Michigan. I think I spent about 1/3 of what I made on baseball cards, which they sold to me basically at cost.

43. That job was one of the main reasons I decided to get contacts. I got tired of walking out the walk-in cooler and having my glasses fog up.

44. During a biology lab in college, we played a game called “Extinction”. I don’t remember exactly how it worked, but I remember our group getting to leave early when I eliminated all of the other species to win the game. However, I don’t think that was necessarily the object of the game.

45. I’ve broken two bones that I know of, and possibly a third. The first was my middle toe on my left foot in 6th grade. The second was my left thumb just before basketball tryouts in 8th grade. That last one basically ended my hoops career until I got to college, where I played a lot more. I may have broken a bone in my right pinky playing pickup games at Wake Forest in 1997 when that same finger was dislocated. I popped it back in place and finished the game. Only when the thing was still swelled up 6 weeks later did I have it x-rayed. The doctor said if there was a small break, it had been set correctly and healed.

46. Many people at TNG still remember me running into a chain link fence while playing softball about 6 years ago and the resulting damage that caused. Despite the fact that NONE of my teammates yelled to warn me about the fence, at least they did get the ball back into the infield before checking to see if I was OK.

47. I absolutely love long distance freeway driving. I’ve done so many trips without anyone else in the car, I actually prefer it that way. I also usually finish my trips hoarse from my attempts at singing.

48. I was publicly served my first alcoholic beverage at Chili’s at age 20. Greg was with me for that one, and we both nearly blew our chance at getting served.

49. I think I’ve been wrong about 20 times since I moved to North Carolina almost 10 years ago. It seems to happen about once every 6 months or so. I still harbor this belief that while I’m not perfect, I can be going forward.

50. I can still sing all the words to “Jam On It” by Newcleus.

More next time. I think I may go take a nap.