Blog Tag – I’m it!

Alec Saunders just tagged me as part of a game of blog tag, methinks started by Jeff Pulver.

Here are 5 little known facts about me:

1. When I was in high school (an activity I didn’t take very seriously), I was late for French class one day, so I sucked in some helium and burst through the door squeeling “hello everybody!” Everyone laughed, but for some reason they weren’t looking at my face, but a little lower. I looked down to discover that not only was my fly wide open, but a good portion of my shirt was sticking out through it. If I was smart, I’d have played along that it was intentional.
2. I used to practice Taekwondo competitively. I’ve fought in several different cities and have been lucky enough to go up against provincial and national champs. One fight, the referee actually stopped the fight to congratulate me on having a very hard head. Apparently, she was surprised that last blow hadn’t knocked me out. See, being hard-headed has some advantages…
3. I was once sky-diving and had a “streamer” (tangled parachute). Looking up at the thing flopping in the wind, I spent about 20 seconds trying to remember which pull-handle released my main chute and which handle opened the reserve chute. One was a metal ring and the other was a bean bag-like handle. This is a glaring example of bad user interface design! Couldn’t they have been labeled or included an icon or something?!
4. I drove motorcycles for many years and the only time I’ve ever dropped one was in the store .
5. I once rear-ended a police cruiser parked on the side of the highway, doing 80km/h. The cop was shockingly good natured and said, “You better have a real good reason for crashing into my brand new cruiser.” Believe it or not, the accident was declared not my fault.

Tag! You’re next! Scott Lake, Mark Stephenson, Zachary Houle, Mike McDerment, Paul Ouderkirk.