Friday Fives

Random batch

1. How often do you doodle? Do you doodle the same things? What do they look like?
I doodle on pads of paper all day long. I usually draw 3-D cubes and triangles.

2. What room in your house best reflects your personality?
My bedroom is extremely unkempt. And, alas, so am I.

3. What do you do if you can’t sleep at night? Count sheep? Get up and do something productive?
I take agbout 10 real deep breaths and then count my imaginary $300 million lottery winnings.

>4. Do you save old greeting cards?
Nope – well sort of. I keep them around for a few months but then eventually toss them.

5. What are you a natural at doing.
Sleeping – an making inappropriate jokes. It’s a gift.

Friday Fives

1. Have you ever ridden a camel?
No. Although the family ranch hosts a few Llamas. They are distant cousins. However, I haven’t ridden one of thos either, so I don’t know why I bring it up.

2. When you are outside, what does the horizon look like?
Blue sky and a warehouse district for as far as the eye can see.

3. Who is the last person to leave you a message?
Toni Romero at work and the Disabled American Veterans at home.

4. How many hours did you sleep last night?
10 or so. I took today off and slept in. Good for me!

5. Peanut Butter: take it or leave it?
Take it. Generally.

Friday Fives

1. Do you like chicken?
Yep. Chicken breasts, quickly broiled. Yummy.

2. What is 1 food you can’t live without?
Raspberries. Raspberries and probably Lasagna

3. Are you an early bird or a night owl?
I work late, up to 11 pm each night, so at work, I guess I am a night owl. But my internal clock is that of an early bird. I am up early each morning.

4. Chocolate or vanilla?
Vanilla. It is a more sophisticated flavor than chocolate.

5. Are you more of a cat person or a dog person?
I used to be a dog person. But now, on year five of my sweet cat, I have come around to calling myself a cat person.

Friday Fives

1. What is your lineage? Where are your ancestors from?
English, mostly. My family on the Nall side arrived here in 1702. There are also roots in Germany, Ireland and Wales.

2. Of those countries, which would you most like to visit?
I loved living in Germany and would go back in a heartbeat. I have never been to Ireland or Wales and would love to go there.

3. Which would you least like to visit? Why?
England, at least my whirlwind tour one long weekend while in the army, was kind of a bore. I may return, but only if I am afforded the opportunity to do it right.

4. Do you do anything during the year to celebrate or recognize your heritage?
St. Patricks Day? Thanksgiving? The Super Bowl? These are all holidays of my people.

5. Who were the first ancestors to move to your present country (parents, grandparents, etc)?
See number one. Martine Nalle, an indentured servant born in Esse, England in 1975 travelled to Virginia in 1702 and married Mary Alden, born in Virginia in 1681 or so. Her mother was born in Virginia in 1655. Little is know of the birth of her father, but thought to be born in Virginia in about 1640 – 1650. That is about as old of a familly tree on these shores as you are liable to find. (There are several Alden families listed on the Mayflower passage, but I am not certain this family is one of them.)

The Friday Fives

1. When is the last time you became unraveled?
July 30, 2001.

2. When is the last time you accepted a dare?
I am certain there is a booze related challenge in the recent past that fulfills this question. But perhaps because of the booze, I cannot recall it. As an adult, I generally don’t live a life full of dares. Maybe that is part of the problem. Back to therapy, I go.

3. What’s one language you wish you knew fluently?
Living on the northern fringes of the American Soutwest, it is just stupid that I don’t speak Spanish.

4 If you were to design a new condiment, what would it be?
Mayo, Mustard, Ketchup, various jams, sure they all have their place, but I think a nice pepper spread, something that has a consistency of mayo but the flavor of a Tobasco like product. So instead of litte drops of red hot sauce, you could spread across toast, for instance, with a knife.

5. If a tape or CD were stuck in your car stereo, what would it be?
Springsteen, Born to Run. There is generally always some Bruce available for listening audiences in my car.

The Friday Fives

1. Are ya Irish? Or do you play one on St. Patrick’s Day?
I am perhaps 1/8th or 1/16th Irish. My grandfather, Hank Mathis was Irish, but as an orphan, we don’t know his full past very well to tell just how Irish he was.

2. Which TV character is most like you?
I would like to thnk Chandler Bing, the funny guy.

3. What’s your favorite song these days?
Kevin recently crafted part of Jackie Wilson by Van Morrison into a ring tone. Ever since, I keep singing that song – “I’m in heavan, when you’re smilin’.” And he is Irish (Van, that is. How appropriate.)

4. What is the craziest/wildest/weirdest thing you (or someone you know) ever did at school?
I used to host our annual Spring Extravaganza show for the High School band (two seasons! I had a return engagement!.) it was a wild time as we changed the way the hosting went and sort established a new standard for ‘the funny” for the audience.

5. Is there a job you would do for free, and is it your current job?
I have volunteered, several times, to bath Andie McDowell. That would be a great job and I would do it for free.

Friday Fives

A look back. Originally posted March, 2003.

1. What is one thing you don’t like about your body?
Fatness. But I am addressing the issue. Me eat salad and oats. Mmm, good.

2. What are two things you love about your body?
My eyes and my smile. I smile a lot. I am always laughing on the inside.

3. What are three things you want to change about your home?
I’d like to paint a wall or two. I want a home with a spiral staircase. And a better entertainment system. HDTV beckons.

4. What are four books you want to read this year?
Pale Fire by Nabokov (about halfway finished.); You Remind Me of Me by Dan Chaon; Drop City by T.C. Boyle; Lost In The Fun House by Barth

5. What are five promises you have kept to yourself?
To finish college; To floss regularly; To surround my self with funny, creative friends; To be courageous at work and speak up; To never lose my wallet or keys.

The Friday Fives

Who will win?:

1. Best performance by an actor in a leading role:
Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Capote”
Terrence Howard in “Hustle & Flow”
Heath Ledger in “Brokeback Mountain”
Joaquin Phoenix in “Walk the Line”
David Strathairn in “Good Night, and Good Luck”

My guess, Hoffman, but you can put good money on Srathairn as well. He is considered an actors actor and everyone in Hollywood loves him.

2. Best performance by an actress in a leading role:
Judi Dench in “Mrs. Henderson Presents”
Felicity Huffman in “Transamerica”
Keira Knightley in “Pride & Prejudice”
Charlize Theron in “North Country”
Reese Witherspoon in “Walk the Line”

Lets give it up for Judy.

3. Best animated feature film of the year:
“Howl’s Moving Castle”
“Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride”
“Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit”

I have only seem Wallace and Gromit, so there is my vote.

4. Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score):
“Brokeback Mountain”
“The Constant Gardener”
“Memoirs of a Geisha”
“Munich”
“Pride & Prejudice”

Sorry, this one is just for Mark. Tossing a coin in the air, I vote for Munich.

5. Best motion picture of the year:
“Brokeback Mountain”
“Capote”
“Crash”
“Good Night, and Good Luck”
“Munich”

Capote or Crash. I go with Capote. What a manipulative littel film.

The Friday Fives

1. Who is your favorite black actor
Mos Def and Don Cheadle are currently tied in my calculations.

2. Who is your favorite black politician
Well, the who isn’t is a better list: Former Colorado Lt. Governor Joe Rogers. He can’t compare to US. Rep. John Lewis.

3. What do you think about Al Sharpton?
Loud mouthed, headline grabber. Although during his brief run for president, he had some powerful things to say and perhaps helped guide the national political conversation to include frank discussions of racism, classism and poverty. That said, he would be a terrible elected official.

4. What black actor is over-rated?
Some folks think Denzel Washington is overrated. He does tend to play the same character over and over again. But so does Pacino. So does Dennis Hopper. That isn’t a crime. I think the overrated black actor award goes to Whoppie Goldberg. An Oscar? Oscar? For Ghost? Gimme a break.

5. What are your thoughts on the Bill Cosby comments controversy?
Wow, Kevin, that is an old link. I don’t have too many thoughtson the controversy, as it has certainly died down. I love Ray Suarez though. He used to be on NPR on Talk of the Nation. He rocks. Here is McGruder’s take on Cosby.

Friday Fives

1. If you could go back and relive one moment or day from your life, without changing anything, what would you re-experience?
I tend to walk through life in a “not paying attention” haze. That said, I think it would have to be my attendance of the Burl Ives concert at the Boy Scout Jamboree in 1980. What a life changing night. Burl rocked my world.

2. If you could witness a moment in history, again without changing anything, what would you want to see?
When Prince Charles and Princess Di consumated their love. With their love, the world began to heal a little bit. We are weaker in the absence of that love. (Plus, I like to watch. )

3. If you could talk to a younger version of yourself, what age would you visit and what message would you give?
Roy, 1981 – A strong talking to about managing money and using Mr. Sherman’s Way Back machine, I would also advise to invest in Microsoft, no matter what it took to get the money into the stock.

4. If you could choose one moment that would be guaranteed to happen in your future, what would it be and when would it happen?
When I was about seven years old, playing in the garage, I was fighting some supervillians. Travel across the rafters, monkey bar style, I was supposed to get past them in order to have super powers. I fell to the gravel floor and was never granted the powers. If I could go back in time, i would complete that task. Then, your friend R-Dub that you know and love would also be your personal super hero.

5. Pretend you left a time capsule for yourself 5, 10, 15, 20 or more years ago. You just opened it. What three things from your past are you now holding and what age were you when you buried them?

20 years ago – Army camo clothes and Army boots
15 years ago – A bottle of scotch and a sode can bent, folded and punctured to smoke pot in the alley at the newspaper during a coffee break.
10 years ago – Bad shoes, ill fitting ties and a reporters notebook.
5 years ago – A captured realization that I am corporate wonk – the dream is over.