Okay, I’ll play

Posted by Tara C. Smith on April 28, 2006
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Oooh, fun. I have a stack of smelly plates waiting for me in the incubator…but Janet’s ABC meme is more interesting. Answers below the fold.

Accent: Midwest, so what most people think of when they say “American accent.” Did start saying “waaa-ter” and “cawww-fee” a bit too much after waitressing for several years in Connecticut, but have long shaken that.

Booze: Not much of a drinker. Tried to develop a taste for beer but still hate the stuff. On the rare occasions I actually go out, it’s usually something with a vodka base.

Chore I Hate: Vacuuming.

Dog or Cat: Have a dog right now, but it’s a chihuahua so according to some, it doesn’t count toward that species at all.

Essential Electronics: Computer and any kind of radio/CD player/digital music gadget. Music is essential.

Favorite Cologne: I don’t think I’ve owned any perfume since junior high.

Gold or Silver: Meh. I wear some of both.

Hometown: Technically Findlay, Ohio, but I grew up in the country outside of town.

Insomnia: Never.

Job Title: Assistant professor/microbiologist/epidemiologist/lab rat/mom.

Kids: 2, ages 6 and 4.

Living arrangements: Old farmhouse out in the sticks.

Most admirable traits: I don’t give up easily.

Not going to cop to: I don’t think much can be worse than the country music thing.

Overnight hospital stays: Just for the kiddos.

Phobias: None I can think of.

Quote: I suck at remembering good quotes. –Tara Smith

Religion: Not so much.

Siblings: Sister and brother, both younger.

Time I wake up: Depends on the day. 5-6AM weekdays, 7-9AM weekends (essentially, whenever the dog or the rugrats start a-callin’).

Unusual talent or skill: I can juggle. Badly.

Vegetable I love: I’m such a bad vegetable-eater. Anything but corn I have to mix with other stuff to eat.

Worst habit: Procrastination (which should be obvious by the mere fact that I’m filling this out).

X-rays: Hand, wrist, and finger at different times. Midsection from a bout with kidney stones in high school.

Yummy foods I make: Chicken alfredo. Lasagna. Lemon chicken with rice pilaf. Casseroles. Cookies. Pies. I’m a pretty good cook.

Zodiac sign: Pisces.

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Comments

  1. #1 MarkCC
    April 28, 2006

    Holy cow, you’re from findlay?

    My family lived in findlay from 1972-76; first through fourth grade for me at Wilson Vance. My father worked at the RCA plant.

    It was such a hellhole that we moved out as fast as possible :-)

    (My family is Jewish; Findlay is quite a hostile place if you’re not WASP. I’ll be 40 this year, and I still have vivid memories groups of kids on the playground at that miserable school cornering me and my brother asking us why we killed jesus. We didn’t know anything about X-inanity, so we didn’t have any idea what they were talking about.)

  2. #2 Dave S.
    April 28, 2006

    Me too…me too!!

    Accent: Standard Canadian, ‘oot’ and ‘aboot’.

    Booze: Very rarely, the occasional glass of wine or liqueur.

    Chore I Hate: Anything to do with the lawn.

    Dog or Cat: A cat, but he’s larger than many dogs.

    Essential Electronics: Computer, DVD player.

    Favorite Cologne: Hi-Karate!

    Gold or Silver: I’ll take either, and even settle for Bronze.

    Hometown: Halifax, Nova Scotia.

    Insomnia: Only when the cat mentioned above walks over me to get to the window.

    Job Title: Technical Whiz and Grand Potentate, geology.

    Kids: None, despite what that woman from Decatur tells you.

    Living arrangements: Split-entry in the burbs.

    Most admirable traits: Modesty!

    Not going to cop to: I like to sing along with Shania Twain in the car.

    Overnight hospital stays: Never overnight. Been to outpatients once when I got a cinder in my eye, and again when a fish-hook impaled my finger.

    Phobias: SPIDERS!

    Quote: Hurry up boys before all the indians get away! — Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer.

    Religion: Not really. Your typical C&E type.

    Siblings: 5 siblings of assorted ages.

    Time I wake up: 5 AM when the wife goes to work, otherwise 7-8 AM.

    Unusual talent or skill: Can burp at will, and will burp when I can.

    Vegetable I love: Wheat!

    Worst habit: Procrastination (which should be obvious by the mere fact that I’m also filling this out).

    X-rays: Dental X-Rays. Chest when I joined the army for a brief stint.

    Yummy foods I make: Assorted Italian pasta dishes. And my Beef Stroganoff is very good if I do say so myself.

    Zodiac sign: Aquarius or Capricorn, I’m never sure which. My psychic told me astrology is bunk.

  3. #3 wheatdogg
    April 28, 2006

    Since we’re sharing …

    Accent: Mixed. I grew up on the North Shore of Long Island, so it’s mostly New York/New Englandish, but since 1978 I’ve lived in Wyoming, Chicago and Kentucky. So I can say cawwwfee and y’all in the same sentence!

    Booze: Mostly beer, sometimes wine, rarely the harder stuff. I do like the occasional single-malt scotch, though, if anyone here’s buying.

    Chore I hate: Emptying the litter box, followed by grading papers.

    Dog or cat: At the moment, neither. We’ve had both.

    Essential electronics: A PC, a PDA and some kind of musical emission device.

    Favorite Cologne: The one in Germany.

    Gold or silver: Gold wedding band. That’s about it.

    Hometown: Roslyn, NY, but I grew up in Huntington, NY (My high school is in Cold Spring Harbor, BTW. I went to school with Hershey’s son.)

    Insomnia: Only if I drink cawwwfee aftuh 8 pm

    Job title: Physics teacher/technology coordinator/summer school director

    Kids: Son, 16, daughter, 20, two stepsons, aged 31 and 26.

    Living arrangements: Downtown apartment adjacent to workplace.

    Most admirable traits: Patience and optimism

    Not going to cop to: Sigh. Country-western music

    Phobias: None that I know of.

    Quote: The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself. — FDR, 1941

    Religion: Quaker

    Siblings: None — I’m an only child.

    Time I wake up: 7 am most weekdays, 8 or 9 am most weekends

    Unusual talent or skill: I can whistle in tune, and do a mean impression of a chimpanzee.

    Vegetable I love: green peas

    Worst habit: Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday — archy the cockroach, 1927

    X-rays: Dentals only

    Yummy foods I make: Choc chip cookies, pancakes, chili, curries

    Zodiac sign: Eww. I teach astronomy. My astrological sign is ostensibly Aquarius, but because of precession, it’s really Capricorn.

  4. #4 David Harmon
    April 29, 2006

    “…epidemiologist/lab rat…”

    Umm, that juxtaposition is a little alarming… Also, my cat would lick your dog… ‘s ears. ;-)

  5. #5 chezjake
    April 29, 2006

    OK, me too. Since I love Tara’s blog and am likely to comment now and again.

    (BTW, this asks for my TypeKey identity, but TypeKey says you haven’t signed up for it. Strange!)

    Accent: Educated northeastern American.

    Booze: Good beer (which excludes all major US brewers) and the occasional single malt.

    Chore I Hate: Dusting/Vaccuuming

    Dog or Cat: Currently neither, but have had several cats, mainly Siamese.

    Essential Electronics: Macintosh computer.

    Favorite Cologne: Bay rum.

    Gold or Silver: Silver

    Hometown: Born in Pittsburgh, PA, grew up in rural eastern PA and urban North Jersey.

    Insomnia: Seldom, easily curable with a glass of red wine.

    Job Title: Retired medical librarian and database designer/analyst, dad, incipient grandfather.

    Kids: One brilliant daughter, age 30.

    Living arrangements: Old farmhouse in northeast NY, fighting encroaching suburbia.

    Most admirable traits: A good listener.

    Not going to cop to: I’m not religious, but I love singing gospel harmony.

    Overnight hospital stays: None. Numerous out-patient experiences.

    Phobias: None that come to mind.

    Quote: “I’m old enough to know better, too old to care.” — song lyric by Brian Bedford of Artisan

    Religion: Brought up liberal protestant, don’t see much sense in any religion now.

    Siblings: 1 brother, 4 1/2 years younger, who looks and acts older than I do.

    Time I wake up: 6 1/2 hours after I go to bed, whenever that may be.

    Unusual talent or skill: Flavor imagination — I can quite accurately imagine what a new combination of ingredients will taste like, and invent new recipes all the time.

    Vegetable I love: Onions of all kinds, asparagus.

    Worst habit: Procrastination (which should be obvious by the mere fact that I too am filling this out).

    X-rays: Dental, chest, elbow, wrist, finger, toes.

    Yummy foods I make: Famous for my soups and stews. My chili, which contains no tomato, won the “people’s choice” award in a cookoff.

    Zodiac sign: Scorpio

  6. #6 Tara C. Smith
    April 29, 2006

    My family lived in findlay from 1972-76; first through fourth grade for me at Wilson Vance. My father worked at the RCA plant.

    It was such a hellhole that we moved out as fast as possible :-)

    A friend of mine currently teaches 4th grade at Wilson Vance. And the RCA plant is actually the one I describe working at in this post (when it was Harris; not sure if it went directly from RCA–>Harris or if there were other owners in the interim).

    Obviously I can’t speak of how Findlay was in ’72-’76, but it’s definitely more diverse nowadays. Definitely still WASP-dominated, but diversity is increasing.

    (BTW, this asks for my TypeKey identity, but TypeKey says you haven’t signed up for it. Strange!)

    Thanks–I’ll check that out. Should be signed up…

    Funny how several of you mention country music too. :)

  7. #7 MarkCC
    April 30, 2006

    Harris was part of a multi-step mess. First it was RCA; then GE bought RCA and gutted it. The remnants were mostly sold to Harris; and then fairly recently, most of what remained of the old RCA operations in NJ and Ohio was spun off into an operation called Intersil. Not sure, but I think the Harris plan in Findlay is now Intersil.

    Back when I lived in Findlay, my family was the *only* Jewish family in town. (Although everyone insisted that there was another one – they knew them because they went to their church. Apparently, they had a Jewish grandparent, so to the Findlay-ites of the time, that made them Jewish.) There were *no* black people in town; one family with adopted Korean kids moved there the same time we did, and left within a year. It was by far the most homogeneous place I’ve ever been.

    Just an amusing example of what it was like. This is absolutely true – to this day, I don’t know whether the person in the story was being stupid but honest, or maliciously playing dumb: the first time my mother had her hair cut in Findlay, the woman who did it told her, after she was done “They did a great job removing your horns, I can barely see the scars.”