Celebrating 100 Posts

According to Blogger, this post will be the 100th on my blog.  It's been a little while since my first post, in which I wrote mainly a training log entry about an easy 20 minute run.  My, how things have changed.

Well, in order to celebrate the Big 100, here is 100 things you probably won't read facts about yours truly:

1. My original due date was the 4th of July, but I was born 2 weeks early.
2. I won a "Most Beautiful Baby" contest at KMart.  I think I got a $20 savings bond for the win.
3. I don't eat oatmeal because it already looks digested.
4. Similar reasoning as #3 as to why I won't eat cream of wheat, farina, or grits.
5. I hate coconut more than oatmeal.
6. I got a real coconut from a tree in Florida, then opened it to see and drink the milk inside.
7. I spilled the coconut milk on my way to show it to my Grandma.
8. One of my biggest pet peeves is nervous tapping/shaking/rocking and the like.
9. My first dog was a Doberman named Ernie.
10. He had a brother named Bert.
11. I like things to be straight and even.
12. Not coincidentally, my favorite television show is Monk.
13. I'm the type of person who will straighten pictures and stacks of magazines in places other than my own home.
14. I can accept that my ears are uneven so long as I don't look in the mirror for too long.
15. More often than not, I communicate with Katie using words like "Whatzit", "Doodad", and "Thingamabob".
16. Katie and I rarely have trouble communicating.
17. I'd rather have all 4 windows down in the car than having the A/C on.
18. When I spent a summer in Georgia with a car that had broken A/C, I wished my car had more than 2 windows that could open.
19. I'm left-handed and proud of it.
20. I golf right handed because those were the clubs I learned on.
21. I used to consider myself a far-right-wing Republican, and supported Pat Buchanan in the 1996 presidential primaries.
22. Yes, I cared about national politics as a 10 year old.
23. I eventually grew up, and realized that being a moderate is much better than being to either extreme politically.
24. I still hold a grudge against Nike for not making a version of their Triax running watch for lefties (such that it would go on the right wrist).
25. I did track in 5th grade, and my event was the shotput.
26. I didn't have a long career in shotput.
27. I think the true measure of a friend is whether they are willing to stand up for you when it brings bad things for them.
28. I wanted to be a car designer when I grew up.
29. In high school, I accepted the fact that I wasn't an artist, and decided to become an engineer.
30. I played a British womanizer who wore a cape in a dinner theater my sophomore year of high school.
31. If the "alcohol" I drank during that dinner theater wasn't actually sparkling grape juice, I probably would have died of alcohol poisoning.
32. Half of one of my front teeth is fake because someone pushed me from behind in gym class in 7th grade and my tooth broke my fall.
33. My fall also broke my arm.
34. When I was a kid, I was usually the last person awake on Christmas morning, and sometimes my parents would have to wake me up so that it was still morning.
35. My normal wake-up time is now 5:30am, and my body won't let me sleep later than 6am.
36. I believe that if you're on time, you're late, and being 5 minutes early is on time.
37. Another pet peeve of mine is when, after I made sacrifices such that I could arrive to a meeting on time, the other person is late.  I'll be gracious about it and say it's no big deal, but it really does bother me.
38. I hate buying bottles of water because I just can't help but think of all the waste they cause.
39. Ever since Mrs. Hanyok bought us Nalgenes in Colorado, I'm rarely without polycarb water bottle somewhere close by.
40. Canada was due south from where I grew up.
41. I think there is no better state than Michigan, even if it's had a tough decade.
42. I may say that Ohio is one level above Hell, but it can't be that bad of a place if it gave us Katie.
43. My preferred method of eating muffins is with a spoon.
44. I also eat cake with a spoon.  It creates a nice well of frosting as a treat for later.
45. I generally don't use vulgar language—mainly because I think the English language is a rich and vast language, and to resort to using the same words all the time to express anger is just boring.
46. I'm pretty sure that I have iced tea in my veins instead of blood.
47. I judge a restaurant based on the quality of their iced tea.
48. I'm very good at talking myself out of buying things.
49. I learned to drive a stick when I worked for a summer at a car dealership.  I haven't driven one since.
50. In college, I gave blood regularly (every 56 days).  Since then, I haven't been so good.
51. Epcot is my favorite Disney park--mainly because of the Test Track ride.
52. The Waffle House at I-4 and US-27 is one of my favorite restaurants.
53. I used to be scared of roller coasters.
54. I've now ridden all the big coasters at Cedar Point--with the exception of the Dragster.
55. I played Euchre with my best friends from high school every day at lunch during junior and senior years.
56. I'm offended if no one does the "milk the cow" at the end of a Euchre game.
57. I hate having to wear glasses or contacts, but don't think I would get laser eye surgery.
58. I came dead last in a number of cross country races my first year on the team.
59. My first time coming in second-to-last was one of the best running experiences I've ever had.
60. I would have qualified for the state cross-country meet had I been more willing to run through mud puddles.
61. I always double-knot my shoes.
62. Every time I race, I still say "Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme, let's go Eagles, it's cross country time!" to myself.
63. I move the mouse to the left side of the keyboard when I use a public computer.
64. I don't feel the least bit guilty for not putting it back.
65. I successfully completed "Book-It", and got the free personal pan pizza coupon from Pizza Hut every month.
66. Most of the coupons came during the time in my life when I wouldn't eat pizza.
67. When the school supplies list would come out each year in grade school, I couldn't wait until I got to 8th grade because it required an X-acto knife.
68. When I got the X-acto knife, it wasn't nearly exciting as I had hoped.
69. I enjoyed the Belgian waffles at Berg, but preferred Jester's brunch because it was less crowded and they had whole milk.
70. I think that any milk less than whole is just cloudy water.
71. I have an impeccable sense of direction.
72. I made my first friend at Valpo during orientation because we both brought our graphing calculators for the placement exams.
73. I wouldn't have joined Christ College if Dean Franson didn't notice me turning in my forms during FOCUS and persuade me to reconsider.
74. One of the most exciting things for me as a kid was when my dad would take me to the car lot to look at all the cars.  Not to buy--just to look.
75. I get semi-emotional when I or my family gets rid of a car.
76. I don't like getting messy while eating, but have no problem getting dirty while gardening or doing other household chores.
77. I get the burrito bowl at Chipotle because of #76.
78. I wrote 90% of my undergraduate honor's thesis at the Valpo Panera.  I spent 3-4 hours there every evening for 3 weeks.
79. My grandma was my best friend growing up, and I spent every morning at her house when I wasn't at school until my mom got home from work.
80. I loved going "bumming" (aka, garage sales) with my grandma because that meant there was a chance we'd go to Sveden House for lunch.
81. When I first started eating pierogis, I ate half of one.
82. Now, I can down 15-20 pierogis without much effort.
83. I hated having a last name that started with "M" because when we switched the order we lined up in to go to lunch in grade school, Z-A was no better than A-Z.
84. I'm proud that I can parallel park very skillfully.
85. After reading Michael Pollan's books, I find myself regularly checking labels in the grocery store.
86. I shopped at a Publix 20 minutes from my apartment in Georgia instead of the Kroger 3 minutes away for the sole reason that Publix carried Vernors.
87. I haven't been to a Wal-mart in over 2 years.
88. I was eating solid food within 6 hours of getting my wisdom teeth removed. 
89. I once "modeled" an orange knit hat at a community center where our NHS chapter was serving Christmas dinner to senior citizens.
90. At one point I was getting 8 car magazines per month.
91. Now, I only subscribe to Automobile because Ezra Dyer's columns and features are a hoot.
92. I have neither given or received, nor have I tolerated others' use of unauthorized aid.
93. I prefer the window seat on an airplane.
94. My favorite thing to get from the ice cream truck was the chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich.
95. I put 2 spaces between sentences while typing.
96. Top Gear is my second favorite TV show, and James "Captain Slow" May is my favorite presenter.
97. I enjoy wearing sweater vests.
98. Advent is my favorite liturgical season.
99. I spent 1 year as a polliwog, two years as a guppy, and never made it to minnow in the YMCA swim classes I took as a kid.
100. I was born and raised in Detroit.  Not a suburb of Detroit.  Detroit proper.