I battled through a mental flashback of Randy complaining about the taste of his Budweiser and forced myself to return her smile.  “That’s good to hear.  I noticed Taylor’s truck is parked in your driveway.”

What?  You expected profundity on a Monday?

The man was called Calvin Fritz and the helicopter was a Bell 222.  They give you greater flexibility and skill as a journal writer.  You can set the locale identifier for your script’s content using the LCID property of the Session object.  Likewise, whenever a line proceeds in an even, fluid manner and then becomes frenetic and energetic, it demands more attention.  If possible, activate new extensions in the php.ini file.

Wow.  How totally random and bizarre!  Using books of the same genre make for a more logical (though often equally bizarre) paragraph, but since most of the books surrounding me at the moment are computer-related, I thought a geek paragraph might be a bit much… and would probably only be amusing to a fellow geek.

Today’s books are:

1. Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child
2. Creative Journal Writing by Stephanie Dowrick
3. PHP Cookbook by David Sklar and Adam Trachtenberg
4. Expressive Drawing by Steven Aimone
5. ASP by A. Keyton Weissinger

1. What color is your toothbrush?
The one here at home is purple and white; the one I keep at the office is a different shade of purple and white.

2. Name one person who made you smile today.
It’s too early to have smiled.

3. What were you doing at 8 am this morning?
It’s not 8 am yet… but I’ll be just about leaving for work at 8 am.

5. What is your favorite candy bar?
I don’t really have a favorite candy bar.

6. Have you ever been to a strip club?
Nope.

7. What is the last thing you said aloud
“Good morning, kitties.”  What?  I talk to my cats.  You got a problem with that?

8. What is your favorite ice cream?
Don’t eat ice cream anymore, but when I did, Stewart’s Sweet Black Cherry was my absolute favorite.

9. What was the last thing you had to drink?
Water.

10. Do you like your wallet?
I don’t have a wallet.

11. What was the last thing you ate?
A hummus and veggie wrap.

12, Have you bought any new clothing items this week?
Nope.

13, The last sporting event you watched?
I have no idea.  I don’t watch sports.

14. What is your favorite flavor of popcorn?
If I’m going to eat popcorn, it’s got to be plain.  With salt.

15. Who is the last person you sent a text message to?
Megan.

16. Ever go camping?
Not any more.  I’m not keen on sleeping on the ground.

17. Do you take vitamins daily?
Oh yes!

18. Do you go to church every Sunday?
Hahahahaha.  Ahem.  No.  Every Sunday I go to the Honest Weight Food Co-op and inventory the bread.  And sometimes do a bit of computer work for them.

19. Do you have a tan?
I’m Irish.  I don’t tan.

20. Do you prefer Chinese food over pizza?
No, I prefer pizza.  I could eat it every day.

21. Do you drink your soda with a straw?
I don’t drink soda.

22. What did your last text message say?
I asked Meg if she was going to need a ride to work yesterday.

23. What are you doing tomorrow?
Working.  And then probably going to my consulting gig.

25. Look to your left, what do you see?
A table that desperately needs to be cleaned off.

26. What color is your watch?
I don’t wear a watch.

27. What do you think of when you hear Australia?
Like Ron, I think “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert”!

29. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive thru?
Ugh.  I don’t eat fast food.

30. What is your favorite number?
13.

31. Who’s the last person you talked to on the phone?
Probably Megan.

32. Any plans today?
Work.  Then the consulting gig.  Getting some reading squeezed in there someplace.

33. How many states have you lived in?
Three: Illinois, Colorado, New York.

34. Biggest annoyance right now?
I am annoyance-free at the moment.  But that could change without notice.

35, Last song listened to?
“Where Is Love” from Oliver!

36. Can you say the alphabet backwards?
Why would I want to?

37. Do you have a maid service clean your house?
I have a cleaning service… every other week.

38. Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time?
My Earth Shoes Pacific style.  But I’m about to switch to the Vata style for the summer.  Because the Pacifics are black and the Vatas are white (and purple).  These are the only shoes I own.

39. Are you jealous of anyone?
Nope.

40. Is anyone jealous of you?
I would know this… how?

41. Do you love anyone?
Yes!  I love my family, and my friends.

42. Do any of your friends have children?
Yeah, most of my friends have children.  Some of them even have grandchildren.

43. What do you usually do during the day?
I mess around with computers all day.  And I read books whenever I can squeeze it in.  Sometimes I even sing.

44, Do you hate anyone that you know right now?
Nope.

45. Do you use the word ‘hello’ daily?
Not really.  I usually go with ‘hola’ or ‘dia duit’ or ‘hiya’ or some other variation of ‘hello’.

46. What color is your car?
A metallic greenish gray.

47. Do you like cats?
Totally!

48. Are you thinking about someone right now?
Nope.

49. Have you ever been to Six Flags?
Yes, many of them… the first one I visited was Six Flags Over Texas.  The latest one was the one up in Lake George, NY.

50. How did you get your worst scar?
I’ve got two that fall in the category of ‘worst’.  They’re both c-section scars from bringing my daughters into this world.  So I don’t mind them at all, at all.

I HAVE…

1. Started my own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightening at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi concentration camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Rode an elephant

1.  Your Porn Star Name (first pet + current street name): Wobbles Manning

2.  Your Movie Star Name (maternal grandmother/grandfather + favorite candy):  Ruth Smarties

3.  Your Fly Girl/Guy Name (first letter of first name + first two or three letters of middle name):  K-Co

4.  Your Detective Name (favorite color + favorite animal):  Purple Cat

5.  Your Soap Opera Name (middle name + city where you where born):  Coleen Chicago

6.  Your Star Wars Name (first three letters of your last name + first two letters of your first name + first two letters of mother’s (I used her mother’s for security reasons) maiden name + first three letters of town where you grew up):  Naykespchi

7.  Your Terrorist Name (first name spelled backwards + mother’s (I used her mother’s for security reasons) maiden name spelled backwards):  Yllek Nhaps

8.  Your Superhero Name (”The” + another favorite color + favorite alcoholic drink):  The Blue Margarita

Go forth and share your secret identities with the world!

The rules (ha ha… we all know how much I care about rules!):

1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Mention the rules on your blog
3. Tell about six unspectacular quirks of yours
4. Tag six bloggers by linking them
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged

And now, my six unspectacular quirks:

1. I always put my left sock and shoe on before the right.
2. I am almost always in the middle of reading at least two or three books.
3. I am not, and never have been, a fan of roses. Carnations (or lilacs in a pinch) are the flower for me!
4. I would rather read than watch television.
5. I am ambidextrous because my best friend in grade school was left handed and I learned to write (and bat and bowl and play darts and blah blah blah) with my left hand because it pissed me off that the nuns picked on her.
6. I almost always fall asleep curled up on my right side.

And as for tagging other people… yeah, well, that’s the rule I usually don’t bother with. However, if you’re interested in sharing a wee bit about yourself, consider yourself tagged.

What high school did you go to? Roald Amundsen High School

What year did you graduate? 1976

What were your favorite band(s) or artist(s)? The Carpenters, Chicago, Rolling Stones, Beethoven and Mozart

What was your favorite outfit? I don’t recall that I had one… I mostly wore jeans and some wild ’70s style blouse

What was up with your hair? Long and straight… then I got it cut short and permed it… and when the perm wore out, I kept it about shoulder length

Who were your best friends? Maria, Rudy and Dean

What did you do after school? Did homework (yeah, I know… I was a nerd) or hung out at Maria’s house or went to work (junior and senior years)

Where did you work? Hild Regional Branch of the Chicago Public Library (aka heaven on earth)

Did you take the bus? Nope… except for that one day it was so bitterly cold I couldn’t get more than two blocks without weeping

Who did you have a crush on? A kid in my Spanish class in freshman year and a couple of guys I eventually dated… I don’t remember too many crushes from back then

Did you have a boyfriend? Yeah, for a while… for years after we decided to break up, my mother continued to ask about him and wonder if we would ever marry (we did… but not each other)

Did you fight with your parents? Not a whole lot… I was more the passive-aggressive type

Did you ever get detention? No… perish the thought!

Favorite subject? Speech (because Mrs. Sparks was awesome) or Physics (because Mr. Vanderburg was so cool) or Biology (because it was fascinating) or Computer Science (because even then I was a geek)

Did you get into any major trouble? No… if I had, I might not be alive to tell the tale today

Who did you have a CELEBRITY crush on? Alan Alda and George Takai

Did you smoke cigarettes? Ew, no!

Did you carry around all your books in your backpack all day? No, I left most of them in my locker

Best event ever? Trek Con ‘75… I actually got to MEET George Takai!!! <swoon>

Did you have a clique? Not really… a bunch of us Trekkie geeky types hung out together, but I don’t know that I would have called us a “clique”

Where was your senior prom? No idea… I didn’t go

Did you have a hangout? Maria’s basement

Admit it, were you popular? Ahhh… no

Who did you want to be just like? Mr. Spock… nothing ever ruffled his feathers

What did you want to be when you grew up? A doctor

Where did you think you’d be at the age you are now? When you’re in high school, you don’t think about life at 50

What was the color of your yearbook? Red

What were the colors of your school? Red and white

What was your school mascot? The Viking

Do you miss your senior year? No

Favorite time of day?
Early in the morning, after the sun rises but before most people are up and about.

Favorite day of the week?
Saturday

Favorite month of the year?
July

Favorite type of weather?
Hot and dry

Appetizer: If you could be any current celebrity for one whole week, who would you want to be?
J Lo… because spending time with your newborns is the greatest thing ever.

Soup: On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being the highest), how much do you enjoy talking on the phone?
-18

Salad: Name a charitable organization to which you have donated (or would like to).
Children International… I sponsor an adorable Filipina girl named Monica.

Main Course: What is a food you like so much you could eat it every single day for a month?
Pizza!

Dessert: Have you or anyone in your family had the flu this year?
No. And we’re not going to either, dagnamit!

What smell reminds you of your childhood? Ivory soap… it reminds me of my grandmother

Would you ever consider getting laser eye surgery? I’d consider it, I’m not just sure I’m brave enough to go through with it

What food do you love now, that took you a long time to develop a taste for? Asparagus

Do you have sensitive skin? Is there any material that you don’t like touching your skin? Yes, and I don’t like wool

Whose speaking voice is your favorite to listen to? It’s a tough choice between Sean Connery and Patrick Stewart