100 Things About Me

1. I believe that Jesus Christ died for my sins and by his wounds I have been healed.
2. I used to be a Roman Catholic, but now I’m a Christian. I’ve come to learn that there’s a big difference between the two.
3. I am married to a wonderful creative woman and have a 15-year-old son who is a tremendous baseball player.
4. I always wanted to be an astronaut but I ended up as a lawyer. That’s what happens when you listen to people who advise you to do the “practical thing.”
5. I hate being a lawyer.
6. In spite of the Columbia disaster, if I had $20 million lying around I would hitch a ride to the International Space Station in a New York minute.
7. I live in the Northeast United States, but would rather live in either Southern California or Hawaii.
8. I grew up in a middle class family and have been rich, then poor and now I’m on my way back up. Rich is easier than poor.
9. When I was rich I was married to an absolutely miserable person and was very unhappy.
10. Divorce changes your finances; don’t let anybody tell you otherwise.
11.  I planned on making a pile of money so I could get out of the legal profession to “do what I wanted.”
12.  I made a pile of money and lost it in my divorce.
13.  I know what it’s like to be betrayed by people you thought were your friends.
14.  It always took me a long time to make real friends. Now it takes me even longer.
15.  I used to stay home sick from school as a kid whenever there was a space launch. My Mom knew I was faking it but she let me stay home anyway.
16.  I once helped tear the goalposts down at a Division I college football game before the game was over. The game ended in a tie because the other team couldn’t kick the extra point and their two-point attempt failed. The NCAA changed the rules because of that game.
17.  I drank way too much in college. I guess you could figure that out from #16.
18.  If I ever had a reason to drink, it was during my first marriage. I pretty much stayed sober though.
19.  I know from personal experience how black the world can look when you suffer from clinical depression.
20.  I don’t trust most lawyers. Neither should you.
21.  I’ve been a lawyer and a client. Even though I hate being a lawyer, being a client is worse.
22.  I am a certified advanced open water scuba diver.
23.  When I’m underwater I feel like I don’t ever want to surface.
24.  I know what it’s like to stare down the barrel of a revolver (the receiving end that is).
25.  My favorite songwriters are Graham Parker, Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel, Elvis Costello, Paul Simon and Bob Dylan.
26.  I love to go fishing. Take that PETA (don’t think you’ll get a link here).
27.  I once caught a 200-pound mako shark. I’ve got the newspaper article to prove it.
28.  I tagged it for the National Marine Fisheries Service and released it.
29.  I took the name Hondonius Aurelius after Marcus Aurelius since I think the perfect job for me would be Philosopher-King.
30.  I lived in New York City for four years and had a view of the World Trade Center out my bedroom window and the Empire State Building out my living room window.
31.  I once spent a summer in Italy on a scholarship. I played basketball every day and still managed to gain 15 pounds.
32.  I am an avid amateur astronomer.
33.  I think stamp collecting is almost as boring as watching golf on TV.
34.  I don’t watch much TV because most of it sucks.
35.  I am a fantastic cook.
36.  I have been stalked. It’s not fun and the police and the courts do not take it seriously, especially if you are a man.
37.  I’ve moved way too many times since my divorce (see #37 above).
38.  I am a gadget freak.
39.  The day I married my first wife I knew I was making a mistake but I went through with it anyway.
40.  I always wanted to own a boat.
41.  Now I know it’s better to have a friend who owns a boat.
42.  I first learned about blogging from Biz Stone’s book, “Blogging, Genius Strategies For Instant Web Content.”
43.  My favorite restaurant is “La Vie En Rose” in St. Martin.
44.  I really believed we’d all be flying that Pan Am spaceplane to that big-wheeled space station by now.
45.  I still believe that could’ve been the way the future looked if we wanted it to back in the 70’s.
46.  My favorite work of fiction is “The Sun Also Rises” by Ernest Hemingway.
47.  Even so, I’ve been to Paris and I didn’t like it.
48.  I’ve always wanted to go to Spain, but I’ve never been there.
49.  I’ve learned the hard way that you can’t put your dreams in a lockbox and invest years in a day job for the wad you expect to have at the end.
50.  I am not a morning person.
51.  I am an introvert in a job where I have to appear to be an extrovert.
52.  I love to sit and just read, but I never seem to have the time anymore.
53.  I’ve never looked at things the same way since 9/11.
54.  I want to have one meaningful conversation every day.
55.  I think war is hell, but some kinds of “peace” can be worse.
56.  I am a procrastinator.
57.  I don’t trust Big Government, but I trust Big Business even less.
58.  My favorite movie is Casablanca.
59.  My favorite current network TV show is Scrubs.
60.  My favorite mini-series of all time is I Claudius. Honorable mentions go to Cosmos and Twin Peaks. Go figure.
61.  I believe in Feng Shu: don’t put stuff blocking the door or you’ll trip over it.
62.  I can kick anyone’s ass at Trivial Pursuit. Or at least I think I can. Nobody wants to play me anymore.
63.  I refused to join Mensa. I don’t need anybody to tell me I’m smart.
64.  My sense of humor tends toward the sarcastic. OK, I’m an asshole, get over it.
65.  I believe that robots are stealing my luggage.
66.  I have seen a UFO. All that means is I could not identify a flying object.
67.  I believe that extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.
68.  I don’t believe that alien beings would travel 100,000 light years across the galaxy just to make some circles in a wheat field, have sex with us and otherwise screw with our heads.
69.  What are you lookin’ at?
70.  I believe that any man who hits a woman is not a man.
71.  I believe that any man who hits a child is not a man.
72.  I am definitely a dog person not a cat person. We had a Border Collie but had to give it away because my wife was severely allergic to it.
73.  The two most impressive sights I’ve ever seen were a total solar eclipse and a Humpback Whale (up close and personal).
74.  Superman could beat the crap out of the Incredible Hulk. Any day, any time.
75.  Hey, you’re on the last lap!
76.  Ginger or Mary Ann? Definitely Mary Ann.
77.  If there was one type of food I could definitely not give up it would be seafood.
78.  I absolutely despise playing golf.
79.  I cried the day Mickey Mantle retired.
80.  I didn’t the day Mickey Mantle died. I felt like he wasted his life and his talent. That was the loss I felt.
81.  My favorite ice cream is Ben & Jerry’s Heath Bar Crunch.
82.  I love long walks on a moonlit night on the beach with my wife.
83.  I also love long walks in the woods by myself.
84.  I want to write a book someday.
85.  If I do, I’ll have to use my remote car starter all the time.
86.  I want to do one thing that really makes a difference in the world.
87.  I have no relationship with my father.
88.  I used to be a pretty damn good trumpet player. I put the instrument down years ago and haven’t picked it up since.
89.  I am not my own worst enemy, but nobody beats me up like I beat up myself.
90.  I think greed has destroyed the legal profession. It should now be called the legal business.
91.  I think one of the problems in this country is that we don’t make any thing anymore. We just make deals.
92.  I used to live in a very big house in an expensive neighborhood.
93.  Now I live in a two bedroom duplex condo.
94.  I still believe that New York is the greatest city in the world.
95.  I think that astrology, numerology and all of that other New Age stuff is the biggest bunch of crap.
96.  I use the “f-word” way too much.
97.  I know God forgives me for it, as well as many other things.
98.  My ideal romantic getaway with my wife is to a Victorian Bed and Breakfast in a seaside town. Of course, if I had the money, I’d fly off with my wife to Bermuda for the weekend.
99.  I don’t believe that file sharing is killing the “music industry.” I think that the music industry is with its pandering to the lowest common denominator and incessant desire to clone the last successful act, hit record, etc, while marginalizing some truly fabulous artists.
100. Hey, you made it!