25 Things (You probably don't really care to know) About Me

1. I am an inveterate collector of geek toys, most of which I use on a daily basis; a few of which turned out to be less ideal investments. I love my iPod Touch, my netbook, my latte maker, and my scooter. I almost never use my handheld GPS unit, and I probably would have never missed the convection feature of my oven.
2. I get addicted to TV dramas far too easily. I wish the networks would just release the DVD box set once a year, rather than dragging the seasons out for months at a time. As an added bonus, this would leave more time on TV for reruns of the aforementioned series, awards shows, 'reality' programming, March Madness, and maybe even the Super Bowl.
   
3. I'm an intensely private person. I engage in plenty of introspection, and don't object too strongly to extroversion, I just can't stand it when the two start to converge.
   
4. I'm not as good of a programmer as I should be, or as some people seem to think I am. I have lots of good ideas, and usually don't have a problem with the technical aspects of coding them, but seem to struggle with the ability to follow through.
5. I've always thought that the ultimate challenge in my life would be to run for a seat in the U.S. Senate. My inability to identify closely with either major political party makes that a highly unlikely scenario. There are other factors which make it pretty far-fetched as well, of course.
6. I don't think it's likely that I'll be working at my current job in a year. I like my boss (and his boss, for that matter) and I'm fairly sure I'm well liked in return. With that said, I can see the handwriting on the wall, and in this poor economic climate combined with a state government that's suddenly hostile to educational spending, I'm not sure I'll even have the option of working here next year.
7. My favorite food groups are pizza, beer, ice cream, and Dr. Pepper. Unfortunately, I can't seem to lose weight when I keep any of them in the house.
8. I like hiphop and pop music more than I like to let on in general company. As proof, I own at least two Britney Spears albums, and I bought a Fountains of Wayne album on iTunes once.
9. I'm amused by people who think Twitter is useful. 
10. I'm not ashamed to say that I have a Twitter account, or that I update it fairly often. Not all internet phenomena need to be useful. 
11. I absolutely love big words, puns, and humor complex or obscure enough that research is required to even begin to 'get' it.
12. I waste far too much time on social internet applications. Facebook, Fark, and World of Warcraft probably top the list, but there's a long tail of others as well.
13. I drink at least one triple-shot latte just about every day. Fortunately, I've learned how to do a decent job of making my own in the last few months, which is how this habit became economically feasible.
14. I enjoy cooking, but I have extremely high standards for my own food, so I don't always enjoy actually eating the food that I cook. I understand the concept of chewing a steak then spitting it out to avoid the calories, because I'd love to apply the same logic to my cooking; if I could make a dish then toss it in the garbage disposal (without feeling both guilty and wasteful), I probably would.
15. I don't make friends quickly, but I don't lose them easily either. Unfortunately, this is not a particularly good model for relationships when working for either the military or a University, which is where I've spent my entire adult life; about the time you start liking someone, it's time for one or both of you to move on.
16. I wouldn't want to have been born at any other time in history; while I'd love to visit other times, the fact of the matter is that for better or worse, we live in an exciting era.
17. I have an incorrigible crush on Scarlett Johansson.
18. I'm very fortunate to have a wife who seems more amused than irritated by #17.
19. I almost always prefer planning to spontaneity. This document will have been through at least three revisions by the time it makes it to Facebook.
20. I always wanted to get a pistol qualification in the military but never had an opportunity to. I now own a Glock and enjoy casual shooting, but the first time I got ready to fire one, I nearly broke my thumb because I was holding it incorrectly. 
21. One of my favorite pastimes when I'm alone is watching online collections of speeches and presentations by extremely smart people; the TED talks and Google Tech Talks are easily my favorite such collections.
22. My favorite exercise equipment is my ancient Cannondale road bike, especially during springtime here in Tucson. More often than not my bike sits idle every winter.
23. I'm a big fan of prime numbers. I did not -- in all seriousness -- intentionally wait until #23 to put this on the list; it just happened that way.
24. I have a personal policy of trying not to encourage the proliferation of pointless Facebook apps. If you get an invitation to install one from me, I probably mistakenly thought you already were using it. In that vein, my intent is to only tag in this note people who've already done the "25 things" meme.
25. I didn't actually expect to make it to 25 things on this list. My original plan was to post a couple of generic things, then mark the remaining items REDACTED. It didn't turn out to be as funny as it seemed at the time.