- I drive way too fast; always and no matter where I'm going.
- I have zero food dislikes. None. I like everything.
- I have a reoccurring dream where I fall to my death.
- In high school, I was blackballed from the National Honor Society because of an incident involving alcohol, togas, and fighting at Year Book camp the summer before my junior year.
- The most valuable thing I learned in high school was how to type.
- I have one tattoo and two piercings.However, since TLC started airing the docu-reality show Miami Ink, I've been jonesing for another tattoo.
- I'm always really good at any sport that I try, but seldom great at any one of them.
- I watch way too much TV.
- Machu Picchu is the most remarkable and extraordinary place I have ever seen.
- I once sold books door-to-door for a summer internship.
- I am a die-hard Astros, Texans, Rockets, and Longhorns fan.
- I once ate 26 whole jalapenos in 60 seconds in a contest…and only came in 2nd place.
- I usually drink beer, but when I drink liquor, I drink scotch on the rocks. I prefer blends to single malts.
- I was an EMT and a combat medic in the US Army.
- I met my father for the first and only time when I was 17 years old.
- I hate new baseball caps, and will wear the same old hat until it falls apart.
- I believe in the death penalty and a woman's right to make her own decisions about her body.
- I met my wife in a bar where I was a bartender.
- I once won the Westheimer Street Festival's Rollerblade Jousting competition (in Houston, 1998)
- The best night of my life was spent sitting on the porch of a cabin overlooking Lake Arenal and the Arenal volcano in Costa Rica. We drank cold Imperial beer and watched the volcano erupt, spewing lava against the night sky.
- I have always slept in the nude.
- I have been in jail four times; my longest stint was 12 hours.
- I had reconstructive knee surgery on the ACL in each of my knees within one year of each other.
- I have been to every state in the US except Hawaii, Montana, Main, and Idaho.
- Over the course of 5 days last summer, I peddled my bike 182 miles (Houston to Austin) and paddled a canoe 262 miles (San Marcos to Sea Drift, TX) — 444 miles, which is more than half way across Texas.
- I don't hunt, but my wife does.
- I love board games, especially Cranium and Scrabble.
- I think that PETA and the ACLU are run by a bunch of idiots that do more harm than good.
- I started smoking as a new year's resolution, with the intention of making quitting my resolution for the following year. It took me 6 years to finally quit.
- I got kicked off the football team in high school because I wanted to go to an after school career fair instead of football practice.
- I have smoked marijuana no more than 4 times in my entire life. I have never used any other illegal drug.
- I have always believed that I could have been successful as either a NASCAR driver or an NHL hockey player, despite having never played hockey nor raced a car.
- I am terrified of ever being poor again.
- I think the most beautiful and talented woman in Hollywood is Natalie Portman.
- The only person I ever met who knows more arcane sports trivia than I do was my good friend Rick Pierce, whom I still miss dearly.
- My first concert was Cheap Trick, Aldo Nova, and Uriah Heap at the El Paso Civic Center when I was 12 years old.
- I hate hippies.
- I once did three reps with 405 lbs on the bench press.
- I hate wearing shoes.
- I love the water—being on it or in it, whether it be oceans, rivers, lakes, or creeks—and feel more and more drawn to it the older that I get.
- I always sing aloud when the Star Spangled Banner is played at public events, and it infuriates me to see people talk during it or when men don't remove their hats.
- I love the United States enough to have volunteered to fight and possibly die for her. Be careful what you say about this country in my presence.
- I believe that the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and the entire NAACP have done more to divide and segregate this country than they have done to bring it together.
- I'll miss Dave Letterman more than anybody on TV once he's gone.
- I am hardly ever politically correct. I won’t accept race, gender, age, religion, or political ideology as an excuse for stupidity. I’ll call a spade a spade every time.
- I hit a deer on my motorcycle (while doing 50 mph on a busy road). 85% of all deer/motorcycle collisions result in a human fatality. I walked away with a broken wrist.
- I had more fun at Baylor, but learned much more at the University of Houston-Downtown, where I eventually graduated.
- I breathed a huge sigh of relief and thanks after GWB won his second term as our President.
- If I could be 17 again, I would have joined the Army right out of high school instead of waiting until I was 23; I would have gone to the University of Texas instead of Baylor, where I would have majored in Sports Management instead of Professional Writing; I would have purchased a house as soon as I graduated. I would have never gotten a credit card; and I would have started contributing to a 401K starting with my first job.
- I might still get a graduated degree in Sports Management.
- My grandfather was a brilliant storyteller, taught me how to make arrowheads from flint using deer antlers, and might have been a serial killer.
- I have never lost a fistfight.
- I have been in a lot of fights.
- I ran the quarter mile in track in 7th – 9th grade. My best time was 55.1 seconds (in the 9th grade).
- I applied to be a Police Officer, but was ineligible because of a suspended drivers license.
- I applied to be a Federal Air Marshal in the wake of the 9/11 tragedy. My application was approved, but I was not selected.
- In my life I have held the following jobs: grocery store stock boy and cashier, brick mason's day-laborer, waiter, bartender, Merchant Marine (Deck hand and Tankerman), purchasing agent, Combat Medic and EMT, and technical writer.
- I have lived in: Denver, CO; El Paso, Spring, Waco, Conroe, Houston, and Austin, TX; Eau Claire and Antigo, WI; and Ft. Riley, KS.
- I have hitchhiked twice in my life. Once from Waco to Houston, and once from Nashville, TN to St. Louis, MO.
- When I was a kid, I played the following sports at school or in an organized league: soccer, football, track, boxing, and baseball.
- Between 1995 and 1998 I was an out-of-control alcoholic.
- If we have a daughter I want to name her Rowena. My wife said no. However, we will name a son after my step-father (Travis) and her father (Lowell)…two of the most upstanding and honorable men I have ever met.
- I have better than 20/20 vision.
- I am fiercely loyal.
- I am fiercely competitive.
- I have a photographic memory.
- My siblings and I are stepladder children-our current ages are: 36, 37, 38, 39, and 40. I am the middle child.
- Unlike "violence never solved any thing" pacifists who don't believe anything is worth fighting for, I believe that there are many things worth fighting, killing, or dieing for. Such as my home, my wife, my family, my personal property, and my country. Threaten any one one of those things, and I'ma get medieval on your ass.
- I average about 6.5 hours of sleep per night.
- I'm a procrastinator in the worst way.
- I think most people who identify as 'liberals' whine too much, are too thin-skinned, and take too little personal responsibility for their own actions.
- I think that sometimes might does make right.
- Even though I'm an agnostic, I think that the lessons of the Bible and of Christianity are a good way to model your life.
- I hate talking on the phone.
- There are at least 4 things on this list that my wife will learn for the first time when she reads it.
- I don't like Christmas.
- I hate all cartoons except for King of the Hill, The Simpsons, and South Park. Even as a kid, I hated cartoons. [edited to add: Family Guy and American Dad]
- I've never been on a blind date.
- I'm a horrible singer, but I sing best when I'm singing along with Jeffrey Foucault.
- Pretentiousness is my biggest pet peeve.
- With very few exceptions I hate the music of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan. I just don't get what all the fuss was about.
- My signature is impossibly illegible.
- I have a large brown birthmark on my right butt cheek. It is dark brown, and about the size and shape of a nickel.
- My mother deserves much more credit than she gives herself for how well she raised us and how well we all turned out.
- If I won the lottery, I would buy a large Winnebago and drive around the country and play every disc golf and ball golf course I came across. My wife doesn't like this plan.
- The longest I have ever lived in the same home is 3 years**.
- I hit a hole-in-one the first time I played golf. Twenty years later, I have yet to hit another.
- My mom will live her entire life without ever once using a computer.
- My wife and I were married on News Years Eve at the foot of a 200' waterfall on the side of an active volcano, deep in the rainforest of Costa Rica.
- During our wedding vows, I misheard the lawyer who was officiating our ceremony and said "and frequent partners" instead of "and equal partners".
- Our current golf foursome — which is really a fivesome — Kemo, Sly, Milan, Roberts, and myself, will still be playing golf together when we're 70 years old. None of us will have improved much (if any) by then.
- I can't sleep if I'm the passenger in a car, no matter how tired I am.
- One item on this list is a complete lie.
- I think that Michael Moore and Pat Robertson are utterly insipid and equally dangerous.
- I have owned 6 cars in my life: a 1972 VW Beetle, a 1974 Dodge Aspen, a 1984 Chevy S-10 pickup truck, a 1986 Nissan 300zx, a 1993 Jeep Cherokee, and a 1999 Land Rover Discovery II. I have also owned
twothree motorcycles (on Sept 6, 2005, I purchased my third motorcycle). - I will not vote for a Presidential candidate who has not served on active duty in the US military. If you're going to have the power to send our men and women to war, then you had better have been willing to go yourself.
- I would make a great sports commentator.
- I'm an excellent cook.
- I miss being a soldier in the Army more than I miss any thing else.
- I've figured out that life is about enjoying the ride, and I live mine with oftentimes-reckless abandon.
**UPDATE: On November 11th, 2004, my wife and I have been in our home for 4 years. Finally, I'm home.
where is #100? is that the lie?
I guess it is right now.
I was editing the list, and ended up deleting and adding a few items. I guess I deleted one more than I added.
But no, that’s not the answer to which one is a lie.
I just wanted to give you your props for getting OUT of Antigo!!!!
I didn’t think anyone left!!
[...] I’m not a big fan of either the NAACP (more accurately, with some of the NAACP’s current leadership and mouthpieces) nor of PETA. In fact, in this list, I wrote: [...]
You get mad at people who don’t salute or reverence our Star Spangled Banner too? I wrote a whole blog post about the time I went to a baseball game and no one was saluting (needless to say, they’re probably all illegal out here in LA)
Lauren — do you have a link to that post? I’d like to read it.
#90 is hilarious.
I breathed a huge sigh of relief and thanks after GWB won his second term as our President.
I will not vote for a Presidential candidate who has not served on active duty in the US military. If you’re going to have the power to send our men and women to war, then you had better have been willing to go yourself.
One of these must be the lie, right?
Welcomed — all of you! Thanks!
Hey Robbie,
I am taking a break from painting a room in our house for my wife (I hate painting) and while checking mail and the net, came across your blog about those killers of the two young girls. While we would probably disagree on many or most things, I am in complete agreement with you concerning the death penalty. By the way, contrary to all sorts of expensive sociological studies–it has been proven to be an effective deterrent. Not one murderer executed has ever taken another life–period. Anyway, it’s nice to have a little sanity in my day. Keep up your efforts. A fellow veteran.
Jim (in liberal Asheville, NC)
Hey Robbie!
, I really think you have a lot of personnality and you’re right to express it. I like visiting your blog, it’s very interesting and well built, even if I don’t agree with everything written.
Just wanted to tell you that even if I hardly agree with you on the half of your opinions (I’m a French conservative, that’s to say a texan liberal
Best regards from Paris.
[Editor --- Thanks for the kind words. I don't write this blog so much for the people who agree with me on everything, as I do for those who don't.]
Stumbled across your blog today and damned if I haven’t enjoyed it! Wish we had crossed paths during my years in Kyle. (Maybe we did and didn’t know it at The Broken Spoke, Gruene Hall or somewhere more eclectic) We SHOULD have met at the Barber Shop since we obviously use the same one!
While we agree on a lot, I still have to root for my Aggies, though there hasn’t been a hell of a lot to enjoy since The Bear went to Alabama. (Speaking on that; We sent THEM Bear Bryant and they finally sent us Franchione!? How was THAT fair?) We expect better of Sherman.
Anyway, sorry to have left you marooned as possibly the very last conservative in the sea of Austin marxists by moving away. From your photos, it looks as if you can handle it however. Hope you don’t mind me dropping by your blog from time to time.
10 things about myself.
- free school lunch, Gov. cheese, powder milk saved me.
- at 41 I have seen everything.
- 13 years in Army.
- I dream every night about Army life.
- short fuse, road rage.
- terrified with death.
- married at 40.
-Vice President of Industrial Service Repair/wife president.
-13 years old found $200 dollars at camp/gave it back.
-come from boxing family/younger bro went pro in 88/Do not street or club fight.
Hey Robbie (and Shannon, Angus and Jersey),
Stumbled across your blogging site and was amazed to see all your laundry out here! ha!!
Anway, wondered if you wanted to write a book about me in trade for some Danes sometime…. Im serious! Its actually captivating stuff, I just dont know how to format it myself.
Hope all the family is well
Dana