It occurred to me that I've had this blog going for over two years, but yet readers don't know all that much about the man behind the typing. Just a few things about me...

First of all, I always respond to personal e-mails. Always. If ever I don't, it simply means there was some kind of technical problem -- either my e-mail isn't working, my DSL is down, or I just don't feel like turning on a computer.

Second...I hate politics. I think all politicians are evil, and a Democrat is just as bad as a Republican or Green Party candidate or a Libertarian or even a Federalist or Whig. I don't get involved in political discussions. Do I vote? Oh yeah. I always vote for the candidate for whom I can find the least corruption. And although I vote, I strongly disagree with those people who say, "Well, if you don't vote, you have no right to complain." Who has more right to complain? Someone who didn't vote out of extreme apprehension of all candidates and ergo didn't elect a complete tool, or someone who voted because it's "our duty to vote" and votes in someone who needs to have a vasectomy performed on him using nothing but the edge of paper and no anesthetic?

Abortion?? Well...I honestly don't know where I stand on that. On one hand, it kind of disturbs me that it's easily possible to, as it was described to me the first time I ever heard that term as a small child, "kill the baby before it's born," and I frown on abortion as a method of birth control, but on the other hand, I can understand why someone wouldn't be opposed to it, and I'm all in favor of abortion if it means literally saving someone's life. What I don't agree with are the people who feel it necessary to picket outside of a Planned Parenthood clinic because they think Planned Parenthood is just an abortion clinic. (That's an odd way to plan parenthood, isn't it?) Instead of marching around these places, why don't these people do something to help those who are making these places a seeming necessity in the first place? Why not try to encourage those with unplanned pregnancies to look for alternate routes? Oh, yeah, that's right; that's something Planned Parenthood would do.

Religion? I'm technically Catholic -- that is, I was baptized and confirmed Catholic, but...well...let's just say I don't go to church as often as I should. Then again, a friend of mine who's a much better Christian than I ever was once said that being in a church makes you no more Christian than being in a garage makes you a car. I don't agree with everything my church leaders tell me I'm supposed to. I've got nothing against non-heterosexuals and in fact am in favor of same-sex marriage. I don't shun people I'm supposed to shun. I hardly call abstaining from meat for a few Fridays during the Spring "fasting;" so instead of a hot dog, I'll have a lobster tail! Yeah! Spirituality, here I come! It is said that Jesus Christ is the founder of the Roman Catholic Church, yet it seems my religion is so judgmental and hateful of a lot of things. Do my fellow Catholics not realize that our founder very happily broke bread with prostitutes and thieves and chose a murderer to be one of his followers?

Food? My tastes are somewhere between open-minded and pain-in-the-ass. I like a variety of food -- standard US cuisine, fast food, Chinese food, Spanish food, Mexican food, Indian food, Italian food...but I get really picky when it comes to what's IN the food. I find onions disgusting -- so disgusting that I bit into a piece of onion once and I actually threw up upon tasting it. Anything from the leek family disgusts me. I don't like tomatoes or chunks of tomato, but I eat tomato sauce and ketchup. Under no circumstances will I eat mushrooms -- hel-LOooooo, a mushroom is a fungus! Mushrooms sometimes grow on people's bathroom floors! Athlete's foot is also a fungus; ergo, eating a mushroom is analogous to eating athlete's foot. Do you really want to eat that?

Dream vacation? Vegas. Did that several times already, and I can't wait to (afford to) go back.

Favorite movie? The Blues Brothers, hands down.

Worst movie, IMHO? "Manos" The Hands Of Fate?? no. Plan 9 From Outer Space? No way. Gigli? Oh, come on. It has to be a tie between Viva Las Vegas and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Just as a way to encourage you to never watch either of these movies, I'll give away the endings. In Viva Las Vegas Elvis Presley plays a race car driver named Lucky Jackson, and only about five minutes of the movie actually is set in Las Vegas. There's a woman played by Ann-Margaret (movie sucked too badly for me to remember her character's name or purpose in the movie), and the two characters hate each other and bicker throughout the entire movie. Near the end of the movie there's a talent contest, and both characters perform in it. The last scene in the movie cuts to a wedding -- Lucky and the Ann-Margaret character get married. In Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, there's no dialogue because none of the cast could act, so George Burns narrates the whole thing and sings "Fixing A Hole." At the end of the movie, Billy Shears, played by Peter Frampton, is mourning over his girlfriend's death, and her casket is carried as the cast sings "Carry That Weight." Depressed, Billy jumps off the roof of a tall building in a suicide attempt, but in mid-fall, Billy Preston as Sgt. Pepper comes dancing down the street singing "Get Back," and he points at things and zaps them back (to where they once belonged, I guess) -- Billy is put back on the roof, and the girlfriend is raised from the dead, and all assumedly live happily ever after. (I swear to God, I am not making this up.)

Occupation? Well...I have two jobs, both at the same company, both in the education industry. That's all I have to say about that without rambling even more.

Dream job? Driving the little pickup truck at the airport that tows the huge planes.

Favorite TV shows? The Office. Scrubs. 30 Rock. Family Guy. The Simpsons pre-Season 10.

Favorite music? The Beatles. Brian Wilson. Logan Whitehurst. Tom Lehrer. Wondermints.

Hobbies? Computers, of course. Music as well...I play guitar and bass for fun and a little bit of piano, and I'm a frequent student at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago.

Ehhh, I'll just leave it at that for now.