Eight random things

Chanson tagged me. I think Wry may have tagged me as well, but it's still hard to tell - and since I don't know much about Sideon, I'll write about myself.

Here are the rules:

1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
2. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

Well, I'll play but I won't tag anyone else. I think of it like chain letters (yes, from back in the day when you would receive chain letters) and now email forwards. If you would like to tag yourself, please say so in the comments.

1. I drink at least one cup of coffee each day. Otherwise I get amazing headaches. I've loved coffee since I started college, so about thirteen years now. I just recently went from drinking one or more diet cokes per day to drinking iced tea. And yes, I am one of those amazing people that marketers love who could tell the difference between name brand diet coke and diet pepsi. I'm not proud - I didn't set out to crave diet coke. It just happened.

2. I worked in the children's library in my home town for 4 years in high school. I spent way too much time actually reading the picture books I was supposed to be shelving. I'm pretty good at alphabetizing (I could shelve books fairly quickly, hence all the time I could spend reading).

3. I took rock climbing as a class in P.E. in high school. My high school had a great gym program - cross country skiing, swimming, yoga, rock climbing. And the typical football, soccer, tennis, baseball. Most people I explain this to either think my public high school had way too much money or react with disbelief.

4. I don't mind driving long distances. A few years ago, I drove with my dad out to Montana (around 22-26 hours) with no stops. I like the open road (although I'm glad I'm not a trucker). I'm grateful for in car dvd players so that I can put my kids in our van and drive. It was important to me that they be able to drive and eat out - then my life wouldn't change drastically with kids.

5. I'm fairly good at reading maps and finding out how to get somewhere on public transportation (if I have a map available). When in Moscow and St. Petersburg Russia, I could figure out which stop to take. Surprisingly, I think due to group dynamics, no one would listen to my directions. Somehow they always listened to me or someone else in the end, as we never got too lost to not make it back to the hostel. This is before the advent of google earth and mapquest. Now no one has the excuse to get horribly lost.


6. I worked for an internet start up for 2 years around the year 2000. It was a strange, surreal experience. I actually had business cards (I'm not sure what happened to them). It was bought out and I found a job with my current company, which I've been at for five years now. It feels like it's been that long, and yet it doesn't. Most everyone who worked there was my age - or much younger than I thought they were. It was much more laissez-faire - there was a pool table in the basement, beer in the vending machines. :)

7. I typically remember birthdays. I remember the birthday of my first boyfriend in high school, two or three friends from that time, and a whole host of others. I think this is also why I was a fairly decent history major - remembering dates. Some of the birthdays are just a fluke thing - there are other people (like my ukrainian grandmother or my friend Laura) whose birthdays I forget each year. I have a general idea of when their birthdays are - but I typically get the date one or two days wrong.