Cross Blog: 25 Things Reprint from Facebook

I wrote this for Facebook about a month or so ago. Since I haven't blogged in forever and Facebook buries this stuff pretty deep, I thought it fit well here. I am also procrastinating so some real writing I should be doing at this exact moment.

Enjoy,
Dan

OK. I have been tagged six times by the 25 things virus. I decided to only tag people that have already tagged me in attempt to decrease the exponential abuse of Facebook as a navel-gazing device.

1. The older I get the more I dislike “fiction” in almost all of its forms and, conversely, I appreciate “history” more and more. Fiction makes me think, "Well that's a nice little idea you came up with on your laptop while scarfing down baguettes at Panera Bread."

2. Lately, I am bothered by the fact that John Adams does not have a monument on the National Mall.

3. I have never lost my deep affinity for the "geek" social tribe. You're shocked by that, I know. News at 11:00.

4. I don't shine my shoes nearly as much as I should. I am convinced that I have paid for this dearly, but I can't point to any specific instance.

5. When I tell colleagues that I want to have lunch with them sometime, I genuinely mean it. This often surprises them because in D.C. "Let's have lunch" is often a form of idle flattery.

6. Though I was born in raised in Las Vegas, last night I told my wife I feel like a Virginian and not a Nevadan. High VA state income taxes probably have a lot to do with my sense of investment in the Commonwealth.

7. I have been called "ma'am" enough times on the phone that it makes me go ballistic. Telemarketers beware.

8. I have too many remote controls in my home theater and I am too cheap to by a Logitech Harmony remote to solve that.

9. Right now my favorite non-religious text is Pure Drivel by Steve Martin.

10. I find silent movies terrifying. I have "Metropolis" in my DVD collection and I have never finished watching it. Don't tell me how it ends. I hate it when people want to spoil the ending of movies that are 82 years old (the nerve!).

11. I never read a book if I know the movie is coming out soon. I did not read the Lord of the Rings trilogy until after I had seen the third movie. Watching a movie is always better than reading the book. The people who complain about movies never being as good as the book need to spend a weekend churning their own butter. I'm currently waiting for the last Harry Potter film to come out before I start watching the entire series. If it they hold up I might read one of the books.

12. I have way too many things in common with Dwight Schrute from the Office and its starting to make me more than a little uncomfortable. This includes a deep and abiding appreciation for the latest version of Battlestar Galactica currently seen on the Sci-fi channel.

13. I used to enjoy dancing until Sharon (my wife) told me how stupid I look when I dance. For those who are curious, she refers to the seen in "Hitch" where Will Smith explains to Kevin James about his lame "white guy" dancing as the perfect illustration of everything I do wrong when I dance. Upon deep reflection, I have to agree with her. However, she has now been punished by being stuck with a husband who refuses to take her dancing for the duration of our lives.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py5qAH7wELY

14. Not a day goes by that I don't think about the 2 years I spent in New Zealand. However, I actively try to forget the 8 months I spent working for the Republican National Committee.

15. I'm very glad I never went into medicine.

16. I don't even watch the Super bowl for the commercials.

17. I know exactly which model of Blu-ray player I want to get even though it has not been released to the public yet. Is that weird?

18. Being called a "bureaucrat" does not offend me. This is mostly because I have discovered that the average American does not know the definition of the word.

19. When typing the word "because" I always invert the position of the letter "s" and the letter "u". This is becasue the "s" is adjacent to the letter "a" on the keyboard and my left ring finger gets into a huge hurry and actually thinks its helping me by jumping the gun and prematurely plunking the "s" right after it hits the letter "a". It does this way before my right index finger has a chance to hunt-a-peck the "u". I have known about this problem for well over a decade and it troubles me greatly. I have considered programming MS Word to automatically correct this error for me without me ever noticing that I am doing anything wrong, but somehow that just seems like a very lazy solution to a systemic problem.

20. I have never seriously considered training myself to type properly.

21. No matter how much George Lucas messes up Star Wars, I always forgive him. Every time. This is unconditional love is, people. Unconditional love.

22. Reality TV shows I'm ashamed that I used to watch regularly: Celebrity Mole, My Life on the D List, the Apprentice, Beauty and the Geek, My Fair Brady, Project Runway, Design Star, Last Comic Standing, Kid's Nation and the Surreal Life Season Four when Vern Troyer (Mini-Me from Austin Powers) was caught on camera in a drunken stupor urinating on the floor. Yeah...I'm not proud of those hours of my life lost forever.

23. Last November I cancelled cable and now get over-the-air digital TV. I watch much less TV now.

24. I know a very effective cure for the hiccups that requires a large bowl of water. You think I'm kidding, don't you? I'm completely serious. It works every time. Let me know if you want more details.

25. I think a list of 25 things is much too long. 10 would have been fine.