Sorry if this caused you any consternation or inconvenience.  Most of you comment directly to me anyway

Five things you didn’t know about me:

1. I have a Commercial Driver’s License. It was for my first job after college, and probably the most enjoyable job I ever had — as a tour bus driver. I took groups (from church youth groups to space center VIPs to basketball teams to tourists) all over and got to do whatever they did. Perhaps my most memorable trip included a historical tour of D.C. Philadelphia, Gettysburg, Niagara Falls, and New York City.
2. I majored in Aerospace Engineering and then Applied Math in graduate school. I never worked a day in the commercial sector of either after graduating. I worked for McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Company Space Systems Division for all three summers during college at the Kennedy Space Center. There I got to see some awesome stuff first hand (including an up close tour of the Shuttle and launch pads), but mostly just got turned off at the incredible bureaucracy of the space program and ended up wanting to (and did) teach high school.
3. During college I worked for the NCSU Sports172 Information Department, which meant I was in the press box for football games and on press row for basketball games. I never stood in line for a ticket a single time in college and got to see some of the best teams and players play up close and personal. I worked for NCSU radio during and after grad school carrying the parabolic microphone on the sidelines so that the folks listening at home could hear the pops and grunts (and likely some cursing).
4. I was the youngest of three kids, and we hosted exchange students for a year two times (Germany and Spain). While we still are in regular contact with one of those adopted brothers, the other went back, sent us a cordial thank-you note, and we never heard from him again.
5. I was probably one of the first kids in America to take a computer programming class in public schools.  My middle school science teacher (who we riddled mercilessly) had two homebuilt computers (no case – bare wires hanging out the side) that ran BASIC.  A few short years later my dad bought an Osborne and then a Commodore 64 (which launched at least one computer nerd’s career when we donated it a few years later).   In college I had a PC-AT 12MHz clone (with a whopping 40MB hard drive).  I’ve used and abused computers ever since and consider myself an advanced user/hobbyist, but took only one formal computer class in college (FORTRAN).  I’ve since progressed through a Gateway 486-33, Gateway P2-133, P3-800 (homebuilt), Dell P3-1000 (laptop), Dell P4-2.4 (current laptop), and have only threatened to kick the Windoze machines out of my life, but will likely make that a reality at the next purchase.

This exercise has caused me to notice that almost almost none of my (personal) friends blog. Which leaves me a little short in the tag department. But I’ll reach out and tag Jeff173, Joe174, Andy175, and Matthew176. And soon, Wyck177 (dad) — when I show him how to do it.

Start blogging!

Rest assured I will not delete real comments that add value to a discussion (or are even about the discussion, but random comments about human physical behavior do not apply, methinks).

Thanks for reading, and again, sorry if you had to catch an eyeful of that *%!@.

If you publish it, you’re responsible for it.