25 Random Things About Me

I have been using 'facebook' pretty religiously to stay in touch with family and friends over the last year. It's really been great. For those of you not familiar with it, it's a social media website (much like myspace) that allows you to stay connected with family and friends. There is a 'chain letter' of sorts that is going around where someone sends you a note (or more accurately posts a note to their own site) with 25 random things about themselves... they then ask you to complete the same list and include 25 more people.

Anyhow, I was asked to participate, and I did. I figured I had not posted to my blog in a while, so I would put the list here for your viewing pleasure... and yes, I am pretty sure the only viewing is still being done by mom!

25 Random Things About Me

25) I am long winded.

24) I have too many hobbies. I am mediocre to good at enough things that I enjoy doing that I want to try to do them all. What I end up doing is continuing the mediocrity and running out of money! Golf, Basketball and Bird Hunting are the primary diversions. There are plenty of other things I would love to pick up, but can't: Tennis, Deer Hunting, Softball, Shooting Clay Pigeons/Trap/Skeet are just some examples of things I don't have the time/money/energy to do, but would like to do more of.

23) My perfect day: make waffles for the girls in the morning (someone else does the dishes) -> mid-morning tee time with golfing buddies -> lunch is a 'dog at the turn -> dinner with good friends -> poker with the usual suspects -> Steph is miraculously still awake when I get home so we can lay in bed and talk as we fall asleep (rated G version)...

22) I know the names of far too many Barbie movies for a grown man... Mermaidia, Fairytopia, Barbie and the Diamond Castle... you get the idea...

21) I do not know the difference between a mandarin orange and a cumquat. Steph sent me to the grocery store the other day, and mandarin oranges were on the list. No problem, I thought... the little oranges. I came home and a little while later, Steph explains to me that I did not get mandarin oranges, rather I brought home an entire bag of cumquats.

20) I may be addicted to the internet. Between espn.com, cnn.com, nyt.com, facebook and e-mail... I might spend an unhealthy amount of time in front of the computer and on line... What is 'an unhealthy amount of time'?

19) I am in the land of cheap massages and I don't like massages. Full body massage in China is about $20 USD for 1 hour... Which evidently is a super deal. I am OK with a foot masssage, and LOVE a head massage... but below the neck and above the calf is not enjoyable to me. Friends came in from the US and we went out for massages... They all got full body chinese massage, and I got 2 people assigned to me so I could get a head massage and foot massage... still only ~$20 USD! :)

18) One of the things I love about Intel is that they allow me to teach and mentor people, even if they don't work for me and it's not technically part of my job.

17) I can't sing... Well, I can physically make words come out of my mouth in a manner that makes it clear I think I am singing... the unfortunate part of this is that I love to sing... I love music (all kinds), and love to sing... but it's clearly very bad... Don't get near me with too much alcohol and a karaoke microphone... It's bad for all involved!

16) I learned being in China for the Olympics how nationalistic the Chinese are... How much they love their country and how much of their personal pride is wrapped up in being Chinese. I admire it greatly. I feel like you ask a Chinese person to tell you 10 things about their country, or what they think about their country and 9 of them would be positive... I felt like I took for granted how great the United States of America is, and I feel like others do too... That our list of 10 things would get to about #5 or #6 before we 'go negative'... Maybe I am wrong... I hope I am.

15) Did I mention I am long winded?

14) My two oldest friends are Rodney Nelson and Valerie Armbrust - Rodney lived across from my grandparents when I was growing up and Valerie is the daughter of one of my mom's high school classmates. He lives in Iowa and she lives in Boston. I regret that I am no longer close to either of them.

13) After voting Republican in every election since I was eligible to vote, I voted Democratic in this election. My wife claims I have been 'in the closet' for years, really a Democrat in Republican clothing... but I think I am really very fiscally conservative and socially liberal... I believe in my right to own and operate firearms, but also believe that right can be subject to resonable restrictions... I believe in smaller and less government, but also believe you can judge a country, to some extent, on how they treat their citizens who have the least... What box would you put me in?

12) I did not go to Ohio State... many people assume I did based on my somewhat fanatical devotion to Ohio State sports. I was born in Columbus, Ohio. I was raised mostly in Ohio. And I went to a small college in Oregon... so when it comes to big college sports affiliations, I bleed Scarlet and Grey. O-H-I-O!

11) I went to Linfield College where 3 of the most important things in my life happened to me. In reverse order of importance: I was given the opportunity to coach basketball as contracted employee of Linfield College and member of the Linfield College Wildcat basktball coaching staff; I joined the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity; I met my wife.

10) If I didn't have a mortgage, 3 kids to put through college, 2 (and maybe a 3rd) wedding to pay for, and an expensive golf habit, I would be a high school basketball coach someplace... teaching personal finance and/or business and trying to win state championships... Maybe small college...

9) When people ask 'where are you from?' I don't know how to answer. I live in China. I own a home in Oregon. I was born and raised in Ohio, which is where all my family is at!

8) I wanted to become a single digit handicap before we had kids. I knew that once we had kids, it was not going to happen, as I would not play golf enough. I didn't make it. I bottomed out at about an 11 or 12 handicap. Then for my birthday about 6 months after Olivia was born, Steph gave me the gift of time to play golf more - she said I was a different person when I got to play golf consistently, that is was a great stress reliever for me. So I finally broke through and made it - a 9 handicap - AFTER we had kids! She rocks!

7) I am planning the trip of a lifetime... I am headed to Scotland for 1 month to play golf. Intel gives employees a sabbatical every 7 years - it's 8 weeks paid vacation in addition to your standard allotment. Stephanie and I agreed early in our marriage and Intel careers that we each got to do whatever we wanted with our first sabbatical. She went to Italy for ~5-6 weeks, and we always planned that I would go to Scotland to play golf. Of course now we have a 6 year old, a 4 year old, and at the time of my trip a 4 month old... But Steph is still supportive of my once in a lifetime trip to Scotland! Yet again - she rocks!

6) There are two things that I do that are total stress relief, that seem to be the only things I can do that allow me to forget about everything else... Golf and Basketball. I don't know what it is, but on the court and on the course, there seems to be no room in my head for anything else.

5) After 3 months in China, I wanted to come home. Work was tough, China was tough, I missed my friends, I missed my family... Funny enough, it was a trip back to the states that got me over it... I went home for a set of business meetings in October and couldn't wait to get back... Now we are looking at coming home in June and are dissapointed we can't stay longer.

4) My mom raised me on her own... and as some of you might imagine, I was not an easy kid! I don't tell her enough how thankful I am for all she did.

3) I am the oldest of 10 grandkids, meaning I have 9 cousins that all live in Columbus, Ohio. I am not as close to them as I wish I was... I mean we are family, so we all love each other, but I wish we lived closer so we could be better friends. I admire the relationship Stephanie has with her cousins.

2) I am constantly wondering if I am screwing up my kids... Am I too strict? Am I patient enough? Do I raise my voice too much? Do I expect too much from a 6 year old? Do I expect too much from a 4 year old? Do I joke and rough house too much and love and encourage too little?

1) My dad died when I was very young, so my grandfather became my male role model. I spent every Christmas, summer, Easter, Spring Break... (you get the idea) with my grandparents, and what I loved more than anything was my granddad making waffles for me in the mornings... I don't know why it was so special to me, but this is why I make waffles for my girls every weekend... It's what I think dads are supposed to do.

Mass in Portugal

It's Sunday, January 4th in Portugal, which is where I find myself sitting in my room overlooking Praca de Ribiera and the Douro river. I am preparing to teach a set of master teachers on how to use Intel's Classmate PC in the classroom. The government of Portugal has worked with companies in the country to buy a large number of these small, ruggedized notebook computers, specialized for use in classrooms and with kids. Their ultimate goal is to put a PC in the hands of all their kids!

A small group of Intel folks have volunteered to spend a week in Portugal teaching the 'master trainers' how to get the most out of the Classmate PC and how to best implement it in the classroom. I feel fortunate to have gotten this opportunity for a couple reasons. One, I continue to enjoy teaching at Intel. I have been teaching a management/leadership class while I am in PRC, and am looking forward to the next few days. Also, this has given me something to focus on while I am looking for the next job at Intel as we ramp down my last business group and products.

The flight here was better than it could have been. I got lucky and my coach seat had no one next to me and no one in front of me... this meant i could at least rest, although not really sleep on the 12 hour flight from Shanghai to Frankfurt, before connecting to Porto, Portugal.

I checked into the hotel at about midnight last night, and was able to get right to sleep, thanks to the Ambien prescribed by my doctor in Shanghai last week!

This morning, I got moving earlier than I expected, not being able to get back to sleep after about 7am. So after checking in on the situation in the middle east on CNN, I got some breakfast (included with the tariff for the room), and then headed out to explore Porto. I grabbed a map from the hotel just to get my bearings, and more or less just headed off to explore with no real direction or agenda.

There are a number of very beautiful churches here in Porto, but what I didn't think about was the fact that it's Sunday, so all of these churches are in use! This is what lead me to going to Mass for the first time in years... I stumbled into a beautiful little church just as Mass was beginning. Having no real plans for the morning, I decided to stay. Having grown up Catholic, it was very easy to follow the service... Although this church did finish the service with some odd ritual that involved everyone coming to the front of the church and kissing a baby Jesus figure that was held by the priest... I can't say if this was a normal part of weekly services or just for the holidays.

I continued to wander around the old part of Porto, and it is truly a beautiful old city. Although on a Sunday morning, it was still pretty sleepy! A colleague and I are about to head out to lunch, then a little more walking around this afternoon, maybe even checking out a 'winery' to see how Port is made - turns out as you might expect, Port was first made, and continues to be made in Porto, Portugal.

Hope all is well with you, and that you had a safe and happy New Year celebration!

Cheers,
Joe