8 Random Facts About Me

Michele Martin of The Bamboo Project has tagged me for the 8 Random Facts About me meme.

My very first meme participation -- does this mean I've arrived as a blogger?

First, the Rules:

1) Post these rules before you give your facts

2) List 8 random facts about yourself

3) At the end of your post, choose (tag) 8 people and list their names, linking to them

4) Leave a comment on their blog, letting them know they've been tagged

And here's my random facts:

1) My dad was the captain of a nuclear submarine in the U.S. Navy.

2) My family moved to Hawaii when I was nine. My parents still live there and although I've been away for more than 20 years, I still think of it as home.

3) I went to the same high school as presidential candidate Oback Barama (although I'm 7 years younger and have never laid eyes on him in person). My oldest brother was a class behind him and has observed that he was a "big man on campus."

4) I speak German. I used to speak it fluently; these days I'm pretty rusty. Yesterday I read an e-Learning blog auf Deutsch and I was surprised at how much I could actually understand.

5) I moved to Cambridge, MA after college and thought I'd stay east for a couple of years and then move back to a warmer coast. I've now been in Massachusetts for 17 years. I still haven't gotten used to the winters.

6) I was a competitive swimmer for 11 years (ages 9-20). I swam two years in college and then decided I was done with swimming and instead went to study in Germany for a year (Hamburg) where I proceeded to gain a lot of weight. I still love to swim and feel most at ease under the water, although I don't get the opportunity to swim much these days without a child hanging on my neck.

7) I made a vow when I was in college to never work at a job where I would have to wear panty hose. Except for the occasional sales call, I've managed to get away without wearing nylons. Luckily, women's fashions have also changed.

8) I play a lot of "Godzilla-Lincoln-Log-House-Wreck" these days. My 4-year old gets to be Godzilla while I narrate the scene of mass destruction.

And so I tag:

Janet Clarey
Christy Tucker
Clive Shepherd
Dan Roddy
Brent Schlenker
Tracy Hamilton (who's on holiday this week, but I bet will respond nonetheless!)
Wendy Wickham
Ray Sims

Apologies if you've been tagged previously or have done something similar, I'm just playing the game!