Friday, October 3, 2008

Know Your Blogger, the Inaugural Edition

Back in Fayetteville, we used to this thing where we'd ask an executive five questions - only we called it "Five Minutes with a Manager" or something. But I got to thinking last night - with the plethora of bloggers out there in the Dallas area, wouldn't it be kinda cool to get to know some of them? So we shall start - and hopefully they'll cooperate. It'll be the same five questions for everyone. Smartassedness is encouraged. So is sarcasm, and the occasional tall-tale. And to demonstrate, I shall interview myself. 1. In what general region of Dallas do you live? I live near a Starbucks, and down the road from a Half Price Books, and within walking distance of a Subway. 2. Before blogging, what the heck did you do with yourself? What are you doing now? I was an editor at a paper in Leonard, Texas. After surviving that, I spent time in Prosper, Anna, Melissa and Van Alstyne. Then the DMN. Then I covered the stock market for a while, but the dirty underbelly where I learned terms like "naked short selling," "donkey punch," and "reverse merger." Now I'm writing stuff some people read while they're supposed to be working. And I blog. 3. Two things people don't know about you ... I taught myself to knit. At first, it was a lot of what looked like wool condoms (my friends called them penis cozies). Now I knit anything in a square or rectangle shape. It mostly keeps me occupied while I watch TV because, as a multitasker from way back, I need something to do with my hands while I watch TV. I'm also addicted to tests. I've taken the SAT five times, the PSAT three and the ACT twice. Now I log on to the TEA website and take the TAKS test. A lot. 4. Last five books you read, what you're reading now, and what you'll read next: Last three: "The Great Derangement," by Matt Taibbi, "Live from New York," by James A. Miller and Tom Shales, "11 Practice Tests for the SAT and PSAT," by the College Board, "Marie Antoinette: The Journey," by Antonia Fraser, "Great Harry," by Carolly Erickson. Reading Now: "John Adams," by David McCullough Reading next: "Boys Will Be Boys," Jeff Pearlman 5. Best piece of advice ever given to you: Don't explain your decisions. It's a woman thing - men rarely do it. So if you want to be taken seriously, make a decision, but don't feel like you have to back it up with a justification.