The List

I have been a big fan of Facebook since I first signed onto it last spring. It is an incredible social media tool that honestly, I don't think anyone could have fathomed even 6 or 7 years ago... By signing up and using the Facebook search engine, you can find virtually every person you've ever known - as long as they've signed up as well.

I would imagine Facebook has different uses and meanings for different ages. My son and his friends mostly use their FB pages to complain about school or to share stupid pictures they've taken on their cell phones. For my generation - or at least my own social circle, it has become an almost never-ending elementary school-through-college reunion... and the party never stops because new "old friends" are constantly finding the party and signing up! Suffice it to say that if you want to forget your past, DON'T sign up for Facebook!

The hottest latest thing on Facebook that is spreading like wildfire is what is known as the "25 Random Things About Me" list. Users are encouraged - by their own friends - to come up with a list of 25 random things about themselves and to post it to Facebook for all the world to see. Interestingly, you might be surprised how reflectful and honest people are about their own lives.

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know that my life is a relatively open book, so I'm going to post my list here. Enjoy!

1. I dated my wife off and on (mostly off) for 8 years before she finally took me seriously. I had previously been guilty of not being Jewish, but when Robin got burned badly by a Jewish boyfriend, my future mother-in-law told her she'd rather see her happy with me than unhappy with someone Jewish. 19 years of marriage later, the rest is history.

2. I almost always have a song bouncing around in my head.

3. My favorite part-time job of all time - department store Santa! Syracuse, New York - Xmas, 1981

4. I always split Aces and Eights. Always.

5. Both of my sons have a mild form of autism, called Aspergers Syndrome. That only makes them more interesting people - the older one is a brainiac, and the younger one takes after Dad... He's a ham!

6. I have three Tivos - Excessive? Yes. But it also makes for a peaceful home.

7. My job was eliminated last March, after 25 years with one company.

8. If I had not lost my job, I never would have started a blog, which is one of the most cathartic things I've ever done. I never would have learned how to build my own website. (I now have two of them), and I would never have taken the time to join Facebook.

9. I have been to Walt Disney World 52 times, and to Disneyland at least 20 times.

10. I would like to find a choir to join.

11. I wish I had the attention span I had 20 years ago.

12. I tend to ignore problems and hope they go away, but they never do, dammit!

13. I wish people didn't get so angry at each other - or judge each other - over politics.

14. I have the hots for Kate Winslet. And my wife says she's OK with that. And that makes me love my wife even more.

15. In a similar vein, I have always maintained that if Robert Redford wanted to bed my wife and give us two million dollars like he did to Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson in "Indecent Proposal", I'd happily oblige - and so would she!

16. I wish I was smarter about investing money.

17. I know "Gopher" from "The Love Boat" on a first-name basis. Now THAT'S random!

18. I once accepted a news award on a nationally-televised broadcast.

19. I share a birthday (August 9) with Richard Nixon's resignation, the atom bomb drop on Nagasaki and the second set of Manson murders!

20. My mother died when I was a junior in high school. If I knew then what I know now, I would have gone to see a shrink.

21. I fear that the radio industry, which is the only industry I've ever worked in and ever WANTED to work in, is dead.

22. My first on-air "radio" job was hosting "On Key", a show that Walter Gottlieb and I did over the P.A. system in 9th grade at Key Jr. High School.

23. My boyhood heroes were Elliot and Woodside, the morning team on WPGC. By the time I made it to WMAL, they were working at Q107, and they were among the very first people I met!

24. I am world renowned for my chili recipe... Or at least renowned among my friends.

25. For a guy my size, I can't hold my liquor worth a damn. Two beers, and I'm toast.