25 Things About Me

1. I have a near photographic memory when it comes to useless and mundane trivia. You don't want to play me in Trivial Pursuit.

2. I can sight read almost any song for piano as long as it isn't crazy hard, but I can't play by ear to save my life.

3. I love show choir. The people and the performing....not the rehearsing. I especially love our show choir bands. They completely rock and are one of the reasons our groups have been so successful for the past decade or so.

4. I've been in high school for 27 years now thanks to Urbandale show choir. If you're in high school and need relationship advice or just generally need to know how to survive, ask me. I've seen all the drama over and over again.

5. I attended Wartburg College for one year and had a lot of fun. Unfortunately I didn't learn that much and received a letter suggesting I take a semester off to re-evaulate my academic goals. I never went back.

6. I have two dogs. One we adopted from a rescue league and she is one of the best dogs ever. The other I was tricked into adopting from my in-laws. She is not one of the best dogs ever.  (Addendum: Old dog died of old age, but I still don't like her any more than before.)

7. THIS is the Cubs' year. No seriously, this time I mean it.

8. I love Hawkeye football. There is almost nothing better than Kinnick Stadium on a fall Saturday filled with screaming rabid Hawkeye fans.

9. I'm a video game addict. I used to be a TV addict, but then I discovered Xbox 360.

10. I have a love-hate relationship with computers and gadgets. I can repair them and make a living doing so, but I hate repairing the mistakes of stupid people who shouldn't be allowed to operate them.

11. I want to move to Las Vegas and earn a living taking money from tourists at the poker tables. I would probably be living under a bridge in short order, but I'd have a blast getting there.

12. I believe that Diet Mt. Dew is the nectar of the gods.

13. I want to write a novel about a year in the life of a show choir. Most people have no idea how much work it is to put together a really good competition show. Of course the names will be changed to protect the innocent and not so innocent.

14. I can eat two burritos from Pancheros and still have room for more. I think I could be a professional eater, but it would probably kill me in under a year.

15. I used to be an EMT and firefighter for the Urbandale Fire Department. I have lots of good stories from that...ask me the next time you see me.

16. I once was nearly shot by my best friend's dad when we were trying to wake him up in the middle of the night. He thought we were burglars or something.

17. I really badly want to take a trip somewhere tropical. I think Tahiti and Fiji look like the most beautiful and relaxing places on the planet.

18. (Stolen from Darrin Dowell's 25 random things) If you're the person that sees the lane closed markers, but thinks you can just drive up in front of the 30 other cars that had the foresight to get into the lane that isn't closed and then just cut in front, I'm not the guy that's going to let you. I will do everything I have to including risking a rear-end collision at 70 mph to keep you from merging (to the dismay and terror of my wife). I get very angry at the people in front of me who just cave and let the person in.

19. I secretly wish that I had moved to New York City when I was in my twenties and started a career as a rehearsal and audition accompanist for aspiring Broadway stars. I think I could have been very good at that and I hear they make decent money.

20. My dream job is either sports writer or PA announcer for a major league baseball team.

21. I used to be a waiter in a fine dining restaurant that did tableside cooking. I was good at cooking the tableside dishes, but I never understood why somebody would come to a fancy expensive restaurant and then order something that was prepared at their table by some 20-year old with no culinary experience when there was a kitchen full of very talented chefs just yards away.

22. I like to talk. I can spend hours and hours just sitting around trading stories and jokes with friends. I think I could have made a decent stand up comic because of this.

23. I can quote almost any movie that I have seen more than once (see number 1).

24. Even though I've attended church regularly for my entire life, I don't know the words to most hymns and praise songs because I'm usually playing the piano accompanying them and rarely sing them.

25. I think I would make a really good doctor. Too bad I didn't take that whole post-secondary school thing seriously.