Shelly's Tag

I have been tagged to share 10 bits of information about myself.

1) Four jobs I've had in my life: car smasher, DJ, stock boy, architect.

2) Four places I've lived: Concord, CA; Berkeley, CA; Walnut Creek, CA; Martinez, CA

3) Four TV Shows I Love to Watch: Giants baseball, uhmmm... that's it.

4) Four Blogs I Read Regularly: John Armstrong, Independent Country by James Leroy Wilson, St. George Blog by Vache Folle, Blessed Economist by Ron McKenzie.

5) Four Favorite Foods: Mrs. Scott's oven fry chicken, La Tapatia's chicken enchiladas, Barney's ribs, a good Caesar salad.

6) Four Places I've Been: Haiti; Wrigley Field; The Bronx alone at night; Laramie, Wyoming alone at night.

7) Four Places I'd Rather Be Right Now: Fenway Park, Mission Beach in San Diego, Puget Sound, Guinness Brewery.

8) Four Friends Who Will Respond and/or Add to Blog: I'm not sure how this differs from #10.

9) Four Things I Look Forward to In This Next Year: staying alive, keeping my family alive, having a job, Giants games.

10) Four People I Tag To Add This To Their Blog: Gene, Keith, Jason and Jason (honorable mention: Richmond Roadie)

Tagged For The First Time In A While

My friend Shelly tagged me on her blog. It's way too late at night to answer now, so I'll do it later sometime.

Book Meme

Things have been slow in my blogging world for a few weeks now. I've been going to work earlier, working longer days, going to bed earlier, working not only on the kitchen but the back yard too. We've gone to a few more Giants games than normal. Just busier. If this keeps up, my blog will turn mainly to answering tags. But they are usually fun and Mrs. Scott likes to know what I'm thinking.

This time Vache Folle tagged me with a meme about books. I'm not much of a book reader, as my reading tends to be more technical and short article oriented, but I have read a few in my life. Here's my feeble attempt:

One book that changed my life:
Other than the Bible, I can't say that one book has changed my life. Sure there have been some changes in my life as a result of what I read in books, but that is different from having my life changed.

One book I have read more than once:
George Orwell's "1984."

One book I would like to have on a desert island:
"Swimming for Dummies."

One book that made me laugh:
"Baseball Confidential" by Bruce Nash and Allan Zullo. They surveyed baseball players on many subjects and got their opinions. My favorite was Detroit Tigers player Kirk Gibson quoting yours truly as a heckling bleacher bum. Read about it here.

One book that made me cry:
I usually don't cry, and reading a book isn't likely to start that.

One book I wish I’d written:
I think this means any book written by somebody else that I would rather have authored myself than them. But I'm going to change the grammatical emphasis to: any of a number of books I've intended to write myself but never made time. I've started writing books before and have had numerous ideas for writing books but none have progressed past about 30 pages. Most are ideas. From being a bleacher bum to theological topics to the Giants/Dodgers rivalry.

One book I wish had never been written:
Harold Camping's "1994?". The religious radio station president predicted the end of the world and it didn't happen. It did much harm to many lives.

One book I’m currently reading:
I'm not currently reading a book.

One book I have been meaning to read:
John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress." It's the second best selling book in history (if you count the Bible as the first best). I've read the first 40 pages about five times. I need to get those last 260 in sometime soon.

Five bloggers to tag with this meme:
I don't know if I have five readers of my blog, and two that I know do read it have already been tagged. So here's a try. Apologies in advance for my bloggemarketing.

Gene Redlin http://northerngleaner.blogspot.com/
Bruce Gerenscer http://www.hungarian-luddite.net/
James Leroy Wilson http://www.independentcountry.blogspot.com/
The Billy Goat http://hirotao.blogspot.com/
"Uncle Dale" http://www.blogger.com/profile/8304495

A Lazy, Slow Tag Reply

Meme of Fourz: The Mutant

Vache Folle indirectly tagged me by his blog vicariously tagging anybody who came upon it. Well, I did, and here's my belated half-hearted reply.

Here’s the “Meme of Fourz”:

4 jobs I have pretended to have when out of town and talking to strangers:
(1) Entrepreneur
(2) The job I had just prior to being unemployed
(3) Architect
(4) sorry, only three

4 movies that I wish I had never seen:
(1) Pink Floyd Plays Pompeii
(2) whatever that Andrew Sandler movie is about golf. Happy Gilmore?
(3) It Came From Outer Space
(4) Top Gun, a thousand times

4 places where I lived but wish I had not:
(1) Massolo Drive
(2) Room 402, Davidson Hall, UC Berkeley dorms.
(3) My parents' house the third time
(4) Wouldn't you like to know?

4 TV shows that I deny that I ever watched but which I actually watched regularly:
(1) Desperate Housewives
(2) Gilmore Girls
Can't think of any more

4 popular TV shows that I just don’t get the appeal of:
(1) Friends
(2) That 70's Show
(3) The View
(4) Fear Factor

4 godawful vacations I have endured:
(1) Coronado Island, San Diego
I usually enjoy my vacations.

4 dishes that make me want to retch:
(1) Meatloaf
(2) Any fast food
(3) Quiche
(4) Candied yams

4 web sites that I avoid at all costs:
(1) Right Wing radio talk show host websites
(2) Anything porn
All else is fair

4 places where I am glad I am not:
(1) An AA meeting (or other AA affiliated groups)
(2) Tony Robbins seminar
(3) Guantanamo Bay
(4) Fundamentalist church

I tag you only if you want to be tagged.

Newly Tagged Blogger

I'm deciding to "tag" Bruce Gerencser (aka the Hungarian Luddite) with the blog chain because of his comment (and because I only tagged two of my four). In a positive way, of course. Bruce, you're under no obligation, especially in tagging others, but it would be interesting to see your answers to this list. If I'm out of line in my electing you, please let me know.

Tag, You're It!

James Wilson at Independent Country has tagged me with a chain-post, "Memes of Fours." I'm not familiar with this in a blog setting, but since this chain is free of the usual "pass this along and you'll have some great thing happen; failure to do so will result in everybody you know dying" or some such nonsense, I think it'll be fun. Here goes next-to-nothing:

Four jobs I’ve had:

1. car smasher at a wrecking yard (by far the most fun job I've ever had!)
2. department store stockroom temp (where I met my wife the first time)
3. pizza delivery dude
4. architect

Four movies I can watch over and over:

1. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
2. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
3. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
4. Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Four places I’ve lived: (yawn)

1. Concord, CA
2. Berkeley, CA
3. Pleasant Hill, CA
4. Walnut Creek, CA

Four (screw it...FIVE) TV shows I love [the fifth slot was Wally Conger's addition]:

It doesn't say whether these are current or all-time. I don't watch much TV on my own anymore, but usually only watch what my wife watches when I'm in the room., so I'll answer with my all-time faves.

1. Monty Python's Flying Circus
2. Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show
3. Barney Miller
4. Carol Burnett Show
5. Cheers

Four highly regarded and recommended TV shows I haven’t seen (much of):

1. Friends
2. Will and Grace
3. 24
4. Lost

Four places I’ve vacationed:

1. San Diego, CA
2. Denver, CO
3. Phoenix, AZ
4. my wife's kitchen (remodel)

Four of my favorite dishes:

1. my wife's lemon chicken
2. my mom's cornish pasties
3. chicken enchilada special from El Tapatio/La Tapatia
4. lamb vindaloo

Four sites I visit daily:

1. Independent Country
2. St George Blog
3. Center for Cultural Leadership
4. John H Armstrong

Four places I’d rather be right now:

1. Little Italy district of downtown San Diego with my wife
2. ballgame at Fenway Park in Boston (I've never been there)
3. Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, NY
4. wouldn't you like to know?

Four new bloggers I’m tagging:

(I don't think four even read my blog to know they're tagged) Is this blogspam lite?

1. Vache Folle
2. KDNY
3. Bruce Gerencser (Hungarian Luddite) - added March 7th
4.