43 weird facts about myself

16. I’m a sucker for a love story. Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, South Pacific.

17. Though I studied French for six years, grades 4-5-6 and 9-10-11 but can only say a few phrases in that beautiful language. I think I could pick it up again if I was in France.

18. I pick cars that suit me and drive them a very long time. I don’t change my mind easily … about cars. I’ve been driving 40 years and have only owned a Fiat, an Audi, a Porsche, a VolksWagen van, and a Jeep. I still have two of those.

19. I am determined to fix the things that are broken in my life, and I got the courage for that from friends on 43T. There are a lot fewer things than before I started.

20. I like Spam, the meat product. I like it fried. With eggs that are fried, too. I like it on bread, especially if you fry the bread, too.

11. I worked for the same company after college for 31 years, and I’m still working there.

12. I was a scoutmaster of a Boy Scout Troop for a decade, well before I had my own kids. I wanted to “pay it forward” for those kids.

13. In the Navy, I was a ship driver, and used to say things like “Right Standard Rudder, All Ahead Flank” ... well, only during special excercises, when I was supposed to do that.

14. I went on a secret mission once.

15. I didn’t own a car (the Fiat 124 Sport Coupe) until I graduated from college and had been in the Navy for six months.

(photo: Sept 2007 driving from IL to DC. Taken in Pittsburgh)

6. I went to a Quaker (Society of Friends) school as a child, even though my parents had no religious beliefs. That school would take me a year earlier.

7. I have very fond memories of the graham cracker snack with milk in my early school years.

8. I didn’t care for the Primanti sandwich as much as I thought I would.

9. I flew a plane alone, by myself, without a pilots license, with less than 8 hours of practice.

10. I don’t rest my eyes by taking my contacts out as often as I should.

1. I photograph my food at restaurants. I say it’s because I want to be a food critic some day, but really, I just like taking photos of food.

2. My life is kind of compartmented. 43T people know about YouTube, but YouTubers don’t know about 43T. It’s a one way street.

3. I thought smoking looked cool, so I tried it when I was 8. Not so much. And, again, when a freshman in college (a pipe this time). Again, not so much.

4. I was really hurt when my parents divorced when I was 12, and my sisters were 10 and 9. I became the glue that held parts of the family together. Well, talking, if not together.

5. I learned to drive in a six-cylinder, boxer-engine, rear-engine car. No, not a Porsche, a Chevrolet Corvair.

(photo is a meal on the plane… I used to fly a lot)