8 Things you didn’t know about me

I often visit blogs and wish there was more information about the blogger there. Some blogs don’t even have a picture of the person writing! (hint: you can’t go wrong with a picture of yourself smiling). Even so, I don’t have much about myself here on Bokardo. So in the spirit of making up for that, I’m picking up on a meme sent to me by Leisa. Here are 8 things you didn’t know about me. I’m going to add them to my about page when I’m done.

So here they are:

1. I’m a twin. I have a twin sister named Jessica. I have a hard time making friends. She makes friends daily.
2. I designed my first web site in 1997 during a computer science class in college. It had those animated eyeball gifs on it and a wavy blue background. It was, in a word, gross.
3. My buddy Bill and I formed a start-up company in 2000 doing online wedding albums. We wrote the app in PHP. We completely fell into the “if you build it, they will come” trap. We built it. Nobody came.
4. I used to study and write a lot of poetry. It was my way of dealing with what I didn’t understand (like failed relationships). Now that I’m in a healthy relationship, I don’t have the urge to write poetry anymore. My favorite poem is Keats’ The Eve of St. Agnes. It is one of the finest sets of words in the English language. Oh, and the name of this site comes from a poem.
5. I have a relatively bad memory, so writing is important way for me to remember things. My favorite book is the Great Gatsby.
6. I’m a sucker for brunettes. So much so that I married one.
7. I can only remember two times that I’ve ever cried. The last time was when my dog Moose died.
8. The most amazing things I’ve ever seen are Michelangelo’s David and the Na Pali coast in Kauai, Hawaii.

Since this was so fun, I added a few more:

9. I don’t watch TV.
10. I’ve never agreed to one of these meme things before. I’m not going to tag specific people…but I will say that if you have a blog and not much personal info on it, then consider doing this.
11. The best thing about life is my daughter Tessa. Every day she makes me smile many times over. I can’t imagine life without her.
12. I usually root for the underdog.
13. There are three quotes that I live by. The first is “If you love what you do, it’s not work”. The 2nd is “There is always room at the top”. The third is the following classic by Teddy Roosevelt:

“It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.”