Ten Interesting Facts about Me

Continuing on with the "blogging challenge" the next category is "Ten interesting facts about you."

Not sure I can come up with ten interesting facts about me. I'm pretty boring.

1) I have owned at least one computer since 1981. I still kick myself for not going into computer science in college in the early '80s. I could be a Microsoft millionaire by now. But the math intimidated me.

2) I have a BS in Forest Resources earned from the College of Forest Resources at the University of Washington (go Dawgs!). Side note: the College of Forest Resources is now the School of Forest Resources in the College of the Environment, a change I did not support. My major was Pulp and Paper Engineering. I know more than I want to know about how paper is made. Ironically, I had almost as much math earning this degree as I would have had in computer science.

3) I was in the U.S. Army for four years. My job (or MOS) was linguist. I learned Korean at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. But that was nearly 30 years ago and I can barely speak a word of Korean now.

4) I was in Military Intelligence in the Army. I still know secrets although I Googled one a while back and found the "secret" all over the internet.

5) Some of my earliest memories involve politics. My mother was very active in local politics and took me to all sorts of events. To this day, I'm very interested in politics and enjoy watching the tactics and strategies of various campaigns.

6) I like to drive fast. I have even driven on a race track.

7) I worked as a disk jockey at a country music station for two years between high school and college. When the ratings came out, I beat Paul Harvey in our local market. I felt kind of bad about that.

8) I have what dermatologist call "type one skin." I sunburn in less than 15 minutes without

protection. I have never had a tan in my life (my freckles get darker and the skin around them burns). If I am forced to be outside in the sun for any length of time, I use the highest SPF sunscreen I can find (usually 75). Even then I can burn in a few hours. This is partially why I took to wearing hats (that, and they are classy).

9) I taught myself to type at age 12. I knew if I wanted to be a writer I'd have to know how to type. My older sister was taking typing in high school, so I borrowed her instruction book and used it to learn how to type. Yes, at age 12, I wanted to be a writer.

10) I am diagnosed ADD and am pretty sure I'm dyslexic. I am on drugs to help the ADD (and they do help) but the dyslexia has meant I've always been a poor speller and not a very good reader, either. I tend to "whole word" read which can have hilarious results as I assume a word is something it's not. Since I'm a poor speller who has trouble concentrating, I decided to become a writer.