But what can I blog about?

Originally published on 11/07/09

Someone asked me this question the other day. She said she wanted to blog but didn’t have anything interesting to say. I suggested that she make a list of 50 things about herself, pick the 3 most interesting and take a whirl at them.

We parted ways and that night I started thinking that perhaps a list of 50 possibly interesting topics might be too difficult to come up with. So, I did what any good teacher does. Don’t ask your students to do something that you can’t or are not willing to do. <Deep breath> Here goes.

1. I am an only child. Before you say it, that explains nothing.
2. I was born in Hazard, Kentucky. Nothing to do with the Dukes.
3. I joined the Air Force in 1959 as an enlisted man. Slightly more polished than Gomer Pyle.
4. I ‘retired’ from the Air Force in 1981 as an officer. But not a gentleman.
5. I am a recovering alcoholic since 1980. I’m a true friend of Bill’s.
6. I quit smoking in 1983. But I’m still warm. And this was much tougher than number 5.
7. I like to cook and have had many lessons at Central Market. I’m still strongest at ‘take-out’ and ‘dine-out’.
8. I have 3 children. My wife helped some.
9. I have 2 grandchildren – one named Lindsay. Note the ‘a’. That’s the way it’s ’sposed to be spelled for a girl.
10. I play World of Warcraft (WoW) excessively. That’s one woman’s opinion.
11. I have conducted meetups for the Internet, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Digital Photography, Web Site Creation, ASP,PHP and MySQL.
12. I earned a BS degree from the University of Tennessee in 1971. That’s Bachelor of Science. Not what you just said.
13. I was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1971. Can you imagine that?
14. No one in my immediate family was born in the same state but all 3 of my kids graduated from the same high school.Think about it.
15. I have taught at Austin Community College and at the University of Texas. Standards were lower then.
16. I have been out of the Air Force longer than I was in it. I could tell you the years of both but I’d have to violently silence your laughter.
17. I can say bad words in 6 languages. I could do it in 9 languages when I still drank.
18. I was the lowest ranking commander in the Strategic Air Command in 1972. Say thanks that we had no significant foreign threats in that year.
19. My wife and I have been married to each other for 48 consecutive years. She’s to blame.
20. I was a DJ on the island of Okinawa for 3 years. Broadcasting from coast-to-coast.Literally. Okinawa is about a mile wide where I was.
21. I was 7 years old before I could spell my name even though I spelled apple when I was 3. Now I can spell antidisestablishmentarianism but no one thinks it’s cute anymore.
22. I graduated from high school on Friday night and left home the following Monday morning. After all, I was still in Hazard, Ky.
23. I have attended 8 colleges and universities and have passed all courses taken. I have enough credits for at least 3 more degrees but see number 5.
24. I love books and own way too many. Wait. Can that be true? Can you own too many book?.
25. I eat popcorn nearly every night of my life and have since about age 14. Mmmm, fiber.
26. I have visited 25 of the United States and lived in 8.
27. I have only lived in one foreign country but have visited 4.
28. My wife and I attended a PC User Group Meeting on our 32nd wedding anniversary.
29. I have read the science fiction book “Stranger in a Strange Land” 9 times.
30. I have never made it through the Bible.
31. Every night, I read at least one chapter of fiction. Unless I fall asleep. In which case, I read it the next night.
32. Sometimes during the night when I get up for a bathroom trip, I check my email or the Auction House in WoW.
33. My best friends don’t understand me but they accept me. Or I fire them.
34. I enjoy being before a crowd talking about something I am passionate about.
35. I can be passionate without being sexually excited…usually
36. I have a sense of humor and above all, I can laugh at myself…usually.
37. I read about 6 fiction books a month. Not classics but I do like me a good mystery.
38. I love cartooning but am not very good at it because I don’t practice.
39. Ditto for the guitar.
40. I love to write and have enjoyed a certain amount of success because of it. I once wrote a hillbilly version of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Got an A+. What the hell has happened since?
41. I would like to be a professional writer but see numbers 38 & 39.
42. I am an excellent speller and I like to use words above my grade level.
43. My hair was long, blond, and curly until I got to be about 5. By age 7, it was black. Now it is blond again. And sparse.
44. I can do 4 pushups. Hush!! I don’t have to excel in EVERYTHING.
45. I quit my well paying job as a Systems Administrator of Sun computers at AMD when I was 58 to start a new career as a contract webmaster at IBM with pretty good success.
46. I quit my very well paying job as contractor at IBM to become a full time teacher with a lot less success. Can you say DOT COM bust? Can you say waaaaaah?
47. I owned a 2000 bright red Mustang convertible. I was much too old to be having a midlife crisis.
48. I own 2 dogs – Lucy a lovable faithful overweight Corgi, aka Chunky Butt and Susie of indeterminate origins, aka The Wild Thang
49. I feed the squirrels in my backyard, not intentionally, but they think the growing tomatoes are for them.
50. The first time I had pizza was in Dayton,Ohio. The second, and best time was in Syracuse, NY. Thank God, for persistence.

Tagged as: blog, Blogs