Hey, everyone. Thought I’d give you a little bit of myself here. If I have a self confessed fault. It seems like I’m all business all the time. Everyone knows that all work and no play makes Chris a dull boy. But those that know me know different. So other than an old stale About Me page I thought I’d do one of those “Whatever you call it’s”, and answer some questions so you can learn what makes me tick. In this case I get to make up the questions too, so you’ll have some insight into my thoughts and maybe you’ll even read something that is shockingly funny or avant-garde.

1. What kind of music do you like?
Well, I like all kinds of music. There’s also a lot I don’t. I love jazz guitar but when it gets brassy, I hate it. I play guitar but didn’t take it up till after I graduated from high school. In college I used to play for beer and broads. I’m still very partial to improvising blues, especially in the key of E. There is some new music I like but I would prefer to listen to something I already know I like. Same with going out to eat. When I find something that I like at a restaurant I order the next 50 times I eat there. There are several restaurants where the staff already knows exactly what I want. I even know exactly what the bill will end up being including tip. I digress. I like the guitar playing of Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Pat Methany, BB King, Luther Alison, Carlos Santana, Richie Blackmore, Jimi Page, Pete Townshend, Steve Howe, and Frank Zappa. So there’s a lot of 70’s influence there and boy bands need not apply.

2. Do you like sports?
Today, I like watching sports that I’ve participated in. I’ve always been a fan of the underdog. As a kid I remember watching the Midwest brand of All Star Wrestling. It was a group started by Olympian wrestler Vern Gagne. Of course my grandfather, Adam was a Minnesota Twins fan, even though we grew up in North Dakota. So as a kid as far back as I can remember, the only toys I ever needed was a bat, ball, and glove. There was a group of 8-10 of us who had a vacant lot in our neighborhood. We played from sun up to sun down. As I approached middle school there were organized sports at school so I played football and wrestled. I wrestled for over 8 years through high school. I was pretty good to. I ended up winning around 80% of my matches throughout my career. Then after I got married I had a son, Andrew, who finally reached the age of 8, and he wanted to participate in some kind of martial arts. So he started taking Tae-Kwon Do lessons. I eventually joined. I had my knee reconstructed 15 years prior so I said I’d do it till my knee couldn’t do it any more. My knee never did give out and I became a black belt at the age of 40 around 4 years later. I even did competitive Olympic sparring and was Minnesota state champ one year. I’ve had some health issues, mostly orthopedic in nature and haven’t practiced in about 8 years or so. I would love to start up again. So now I’m vicariously living my life through another 40 something name Brett Farve. Didn’t I say I like to pull for the underdog. Doing what he is at age 40 is something! I just love that it bothers some of the Packer fans as well.

3. If you could do anything you want?
I really like going to visit places that no one else in their right mind would think of going. I would love to go through Europe on roads where the speed limit is not faster than 30 mph. I’d like to stop at every little town and village and meet with the people. I’ve spent a lot of time in eastern Europe in places there are no tourists. I got to sample the culture, the people, and experience things most tourist don’t. I remember one morning I was staying at a flat in Kishinev Moldova and thought I’d get up early to go to the market. All the bread is cooked fresh every day and I just love the bread over there. Anyways, it was not even 6:00 am yet and I went to the bazaar market to the kiosk where I could get bread. I sat there for a while and another gentlemen sat down and nodded to me and spoke to me in Russian. It was small talk so I understood it so I just answered, “Da”, yes. Well we were there for 10-15 minutes and he started talking up a storm. I understood a few words here and there so I could get the gist of what he was talking about. I just didn’t know how to answer. All of a sudden he squinted his eyes and looked at me funny as if expecting me to answer a question. All I could say, and I do say this very well in Russian, is “I do not understand the Russian language very well. I am an American tourist.” He looked at me, slapped his forehead with his palm and we just laughed. Those types of moments are priceless. The bakery did open. I then realized that I had no idea how much something would cost and they had no prices on any of their stuff. I didn’t want to be taken advantage of. I had to wait till someone got up who could help me at the market. It ended up being a 7 year old who knew how much bread cost. She also knew how much a quart of Chisinau beer costs as well. I could go on about my experiences in foreign countries, Amsterdam, Bucharest, and Prague. That’s what I’d like to do.

4. Do you like to fly?
It depends on what your definition of what the word “fly” is. My mother used to teach flying. She was the first female flight instructor in the state of North Dakota. My father used to build and rebuild aircraft. He would disassemble every nut and washer from aircraft, recondition them, including rebuilding the engines, or powerhouses as they call them. Needless to say, I got to spend quite a bit of time in the air. That’s real flying. Sitting in an old Piper Cub or Tri-pacer following the river barely above the river was a blast. Those small aircraft were at the mercy of any winds. I remember coming in for landings with a strong cross wind. It felt like you were flying sideways to land and at the last second pushing the rudder pedal hard down to straighten out so your wheels were facing in the same direction you were moving. I also got to ride in some small aircraft literally falling out of the sky on the back of the plane upside down. There’s no amusement ride that can match that. As to flying in a modern passenger jet, you can have it. I’ve felt much safer in a small aircraft.

5. What is your favorite color and why?
I like blue and I’m not sure why.

6. Why are man hole covers round?
I was once asked this in a job interview. Another question in the same interview was if you could be an ingredient on a pizza, what would it be and why? Strange interview. I never did get the job either. Well the reason man hole covers are round is because you never wanted them to fall in because it could hit someone and they would be hard to get out. You see the edges of a manhole cover have a lip on them that is always wider than the opening it had to cover. It could fit on the hole but never fall into.

7. Do you know who Illya Kuryakin is?
Now, I’m dating myself. There used to be this show on NBC called Man From UNCLE. One of the characters in the show was played by David McCallum. He was supposedly from Russia and his name was Illya Kuryakin. I liked his character, well actually the show. It was at a time when where there was espionage, spies, and international intrigue surrounding these really cool characters, so I thought. You can read more about him here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illya_Kuryakin

8. What is your favorite cartoon?
Well it comes down to two. I watched cartoons religiously every Saturday morning starting at 7:00 till 10:30 or so. My favorite cartoons today, were not ones I watched back then. I like Daffy Duck and Foghorn Leghorn. Both of these characters had a penchant for mischief. I still do. I may one day do a Youtube video of my impression of Daffy duck. You’ll be rolling on the floor.

9. What kind of movies do you like?
I like movies that are historically based. Some of my favorites are Empire of the Sun, The Patriot, The Last Emperor, 300, Apocalypto, Braveheart, and some older ones, and Hercules Meets the Three Stooges. I also like any movie dealing with time travel. It so intrigues me. So those movies would be The Time Machine and any of the Back to the Future series. Those will be forever classics in my mind. Another movie based on going back in time I could watch over and over and over is Ground Hog day with Bill Murray. Wouldn’t that be cool if you could live a day of your life over and over like he did. He had time to become a piano player, ice sculptor, he knew everything about everybody. There’s a teaching moment here that I can’t pass up. We can do those things because it’s never too late to learn something. Like sports, I like characters that are underdogs and prevail over something. So those are the kinds of movies I like.

10. What’s your favorite food?
It starts with a P and has 2 Z’s in it. Yes Pizza! I don’t mean pizza that you buy. No Dominos or Papa Murphy’s for me. I like pizza that I make. I remember as a kid I always hated having to wait for my mother to get home to cook something to eat. I learned at an early age how to cook. My mother would teach me how to make things or I’d figure it out myself and I would start preparing many days prior to here getting home so we could eat soon after she arrived home. So my mother used to cook a lot of things from scratch. So I remember always having pizza. Over the years I have refined and modified slightly the recipes she taught me but today there is nothing like a home made pizza made by me. My wife loves it and anyone who has it does as well. I use flour, water, eggs, salt, tomato paste, tomatoes, chives, onions, garlic, green peppers, hot spicy Italian sausage, pepperoni, dried hot peppers, mozzarella cheese, and sometimes mushrooms. My mouth is watering writing about it. Hmmm

So… I’d like to hear a little quip from you answering one of these questions. I’m not going to send this around or put anyone on the spot or anything. But if you have an answer or maybe even your own question, I’d love to hear it.

I’d also appreciate a click of the Facebook or Tweetmeme button above. Time to go. I have to run to the market and get some pepperoni.