tag (for bk)

here are the rules:

-post who tagged you with a link to their blog
-post these rules on your blog
-write 10 random things about yourself!
-tag some friends!

my lovely wife, elizabeth kirkby, tagged me.

10 random things about me

1. people are surprised when they find out i'm a native texan. most people guess i'm from new york or chicago with mob connections. not sure why since there are plenty of mob connections to be had in texas. /shrug.

2. i plan on starting a world-wide cause to abolish capitalization. capitals are evil creations meant to supress creativity and exacerbate repetitive stress conditions. it's a well known fact that saddam hussein, benito musolini and adolph hitler all used capitals frequently. join my cause and FIGHT THE POWAH!!!11!one!

3. i sometimes make up causes just to be hypocritical.

4. i've recently gotten interested in getting fit. i stumbled across a secret, simple and effective fitness program that the sherpa in the mountains of tibet have been using for centuries. it's a two step program: 1) eat less! and 2) exercise!. i've lost weight, but my main goal is to compete in the olympics. i read that michael phelps eats up to 20,000 calories a day and i figured that's the kind of program i could get behind!

seriously tho, a long-term goal of entering a challenging physical competition is the only motivation that would really work for me since i'm not vain enough to consistently work out just to look good. (or maybe i'm so vain that i think i look good no matter what, i can't decide).

5. i'm a geek. i've been trying to share some of the richness of geek culture via this blog with my much acclaimed and award winning series "internet cultural studies". i first realized i was a geek back in jr. high school when i would read "lord of the rings" yearly and even joined a science fiction/fantasy book club trying to find stories as good as tolkien's (which i never did, btw). my geekhood was fully exposed, however, when we got our first computer and my brother and i would amuse ourselves by teaching ourselves how to program it.

we used to tell each other that we were going to "make geek cool". i'd say mission accomplished! our next goal is to tackle whirled peas (think "world peace" only easier to manage). i'll keep you updated on the progress.

6. i love my wife's smile. i also love her ability to cut through crap and get to the heart of the matter. i wouldn't say my wife is without tact, because tactless people aren't aware of their tactless nature, but my wife will often choose to forgoe tact in situations where others might deem it prudent.

my wife's smile and straight forward manner one time combined to create an embarrassing moment that's kinda funny.

our stake president (president draper) was speaking at our ward one time. he began his remarks, as he often does, by expressing his love for our ward and ward members. he personalized his devotion a bit by calling out people by name. he mentioned something about "sister kirkby's smiling face". i leaned over to my wife and said "is he hitting on you?!" and laughed at my slightly irreverent joke. my wife half-smiled and rolled her eyes at me (something i see a lot of).

later i was walking down the hall past president draper and he slaps me on the arm and says "HEY!" i greeted him "hullo president" and he looks me in the eye and sternly says "i was NOT hitting on your wife!"

i'm all "um.. wha? cha.. er..." then i composed myself and said "how did you HEAR that?!"

with a firm grip on my arm, he smiled and said "your wife told me." i stammered for a bit longer then sheepishly apologized while he was laughing the whole time at my discomfort.

so, yah, i love my wife's smile.

7. i'm very interested in economics. i realized my interest here was abnormal when i found myself, still in high school, reading college economic text books for fun. i sometimes wonder if i should have gone to school and studied economics instead of stumbling into the software development arena. anyone else who is interested in the subject, i recommend starting with "the road to serfdom" by f.a. hayek or anything by milton friedman.

8. i love kids. being the youngest of two, i was never around kids growing up and i was frankly more afraid of them than they were of me. especially babies. they seem so fragile and i was always afraid i was gonna break them. when i had kids of my own, i realized how bouncy they are and how much fun they can be. i love trying to figure out ways to make kids think and explore.

9. i like dogs even though i once had my earlobe bitten off by a german shepard.

10. i have a deep respect for people serving in the military. that respect is deepened by the fact that these people are serving in the military of the United States of America. our military, plainly and simply, is a force for good around the world.

anyone who tries to sell a line that America uses it's military for imperialist aims shows an appalling ignorance of history. if someone tries to get you to buy that bs, do them a favor and slap them upside the head while encouraging them to read up on the roman empire, portuguese empire, ottoman empire or even the british empire.

the overly paranoid argue that america uses it's military to further our interests around the globe and therefore this is "imperialistic." that's the beauty of america! our interests around the globe are furthered by spreading democracy and freedom into the dark places that reject these basic human rights. when your own interests are served by making sure the interests of others are served, i believe that's what we call a win-win scenario.

and while we are on this note, let me say a word or two about the iraq war. if someone tells you that we never should have gone into iraq, ask them what they thought about our military conquering of kosovo. more often than not, the same people who kvetch about iraq were enthusiastically supporting kosovo. we went into kosovo ONLY for humanitarian reasons while we went into iraq for three reasons: a) humanitarian, b) violation of un sanctions and c) saddam's iraq supported terrorism.

most opposition to the iraq war is simply partisan politics. the mantra is "say NO to war (unless my guy is in office)" and it's really not worth listening to.

now see what you've done? you got me rambling and now people are getting bored and wondering if i'm going to ever write about bella and edward again. so let that be the last random thought about me.

um, now i guess i'm supposed to tag some other people.

k, so i choose my wife's cousin mitzi mcbride cause hers is one of the few mom blogs in my reader and her husband runs(ran a?) marathons (which is cool).

and #2, i choose my sister-in-law katherine kenney because we have the same birthday (may 27th for those that want to send gifts) and i think she's training for a marathon (which is cool) but i'm not sure cause she won't answer my facebook questions.