If you're new around these parts, I just want to say how much I appreciate your dropping by! Oh, and you may want to subscribe to my feed. Thanks, and a tip o' the hat to ya!

It’s always gratifying when someone tags you for a meme, isn’t it? It means somebody “out there” is thinking of you (they like me – they really like me!) I don’t know about you, but it always gives me a quick boost of energy. This time, Chip Sterling is the culprit.

Unfortunately, getting tagged again (along with opening my big mouth and volunteering to write for a few group projects) has just about overextended little ol’ me! Besides, I was poked (ouch – hey, that hurts!) by this one a while back.

But what the hey, I’ve got a few minutes to kill (sound of gunshot); let’s grab a flashlight and sneak on down to the basement (sound of creaky door opening) and see what we can rustle up here…

(Sound of tentative footsteps descending rickety wooden stairs. Slight rustle of unseen creatures hiding from the light. Ominous flapping sounds – possibly a bat. Suddenly – a tremendous crashing noise as years of accumulated junk comes crashing down! The flashlight goes out. Then – silence…)

Ah! Here we are:

• I have a personal library of almost exclusively science-fiction paperbacks, most of which I’ve read many, many… uh, many times. When I find one I really enjoy, it stays in the library pretty much forever.
• In my lifetime, I’ve had three dogs as pets – all dachshunds. I dunno; there’s just something about the cute little guys I really enjoy.
• My shortest commute ever – I once spent three months working for the Department of Homeland Security (now, don’t you feel safer knowing that?) at the Las Vegas airport DoubleTree Hotel. Upon leaving my room each morning, I walked down the hall to our working suites (about 100 steps, tops).
• I remember a kid in elementary school named Larry Martin, mainly because he was the fastest runner I’d ever seen. Once, during a race, I watched him actually stumble and miss the starting gun, and still beat the heck out of everyone else! It was truly inspiring; a lot like watching Eric Liddell in the movie Chariots of Fire.
• I have a thing about ants. I’d rather not talk about it.
• One of my clearest childhood memories is of me lying on my back in a large green field, watching a kite I had built float lightly in an April breeze. I particularly remember the clear blue sky, and the smell of the grass. To tell you the truth, I have no idea if it really happened or if I’m imagining it. I don’t care – it’s too wonderful an image to give up.
• If I could have any car in the world, money no object, I’d get a brand new silver Mustang GT. I think Ford did a great job redesigning it without losing the original look.
• When I was very little, I remember going to my grandparent’s farm in Louisiana. When Grammy needed some potatoes for dinner, Grandpa grabbed a shovel, went out to a nearby field, and dug some up! I was astonished! I mean, who knew? So I went home and dug up every plant in Mom’s garden. No potatoes.

OK, here’s where I’m supposed to tag eight more folks. But I think I’ll just open it up to whoever wants to jump in.

I mean, it’s not like the Meme Police will show up and cite me for “Failure to perpetrate a meme”, right? (Sudden sounds of pounding on door and shouts of “Police! Come out with your hands up!”)

Whoops! Gotta go!

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!