100 Things About Me

Saw a “100 things about me” list somewhere and thought “what a great way to share a bunch of useless but interesting stuff about one self”. So, my blog, my rules. Here’s 100 things about me you probably didn’t know.

1. I once weighed 475 pounds
2. I once worked at 7-11
3. I was a telephone solicitor for 1 week
4. I delivered and took photos for the Auto Trader
5. I’ve never delivered a baby
6. I won 1st place in a chess tournament in grade 9 and had the match published in my hometown paper
7. I ran over myself with my own car and nobody was driving (I had been drinking, but I was not driving the car – nobody was – long story)
8. I’m a Red Belt in Taekwondo
9. I’ve broken 6 bricks with my hand in a single chop
10. In my first Judo class, I put the 3rd degree Black Belt instructor on his back during an exercise
11. I’ve bungee jumped 6 times
12. I’ve skydived 40 times with the highest jump being from 15,000 feet
13. I had to cut away my main chute and release my reserve parachute once
14. I’ve whitewater rafted in Alberta and BC Canada as well as Costa Rica
15. I’ve climbed Mt Kilimanjaro to Uhuru peak
16. I’ve climbed to Mt Everest Base camp
17. I’ve been on Nepalese television
18. I have flown first class
19. I’ve driven a Porsche 911
20. I’ve driven a Dodge Viper
21. I’ve driven a Ford Mustang convertible
22. I’ve driven a go-cart
23. I’ve gone 150 mph on a Yamaha FJ1200
24. I’ve eaten fire
25. I’ve walked on fire for 50 feet
26. I’ve had a cinder block broken over my chest with a sledge hammer while laying on a bed of nails
27. I once snorted salt
28. I’ve been in Mens Health Magazine
29. I’ve been in the Edmonton Sun, twice, as a featured story in the Lifestyle section
30. I’ve been quoted in the New York Times
31. I’ve been on 34 cruises and didn’t pay for any of them
32. I’ve been to Disney World and Disney Land
33. I’ve been to the Panama Canal
34. I’ve been to Zanzibar
35. I’ve been inside one of the pyramids of Giza
36. I have touched the Great Pyramid
37. I’ve ridden a camel (… and his name was Mike Tyson)
38. I’ve ridden an elephant
39. I took my first and only balloon ride in Kenya
40. I was at the top of the Empire State Building on the day of it’s 75th anniversary
41. I’ve held and kissed a stingray in the Cayman Islands
42. I’ve had a Singapore Sling at the Rafters Hotel in Singapore where they were invented
43. I’ve been to the observation deck of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
44. I have snorkeled in the Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Canada and in the Indian Ocean
45. Scuba diving kinda freaks me out a little
46. I have hiked the West Coast Trail
47. I own 3 backpacks
48. I’ve been on 5 continents – North America, Europe, Asia, South America and Africa
49. I’ve been to 26 countries
50. I’ve written the RCMP entrance exam
51. I’ve driven OVER 500,000 kilometers as a taxi driver
52. I’m a level 2 collision investigator
53. I’ve investigated over 550 traffic collisions, 3 of which were fatalities
54. I had a cat named “Fuzz Nuts”
55. I once lived with 2 Cayman alligators
56. I was lead trumpet for 3 years in junior high school
57. I own a Jeep
58. I played paintball twice a month for the better part of a year on a team called Law and Order
59. I was vegetarian for 12 years and vegan for 2 of that
60. I once quit drinking for a period of 12 years
61. I look better with a tan
62. I have trouble remembering people’s names and I’ve surrendered to that fact
63. Was voted “the grad who has changed the most” at my 10 year high school reunion
64. I’ve shot a handgun, a shotgun, and a rifle
65. I used to own a compound bow and know how to use one
66. I love red wine
67. My favorite beers are Corona, Heineken and Alexander Keiths
68. I drink between 8 and 10 litres of water a day
69. I once went 40 days without eating
70. I do at least one day of cleansing a month, more often two days in a row
71. I am a former smoker
72. I had a talk radio show for 3 months
73. I had the privilege of interviewing 5 time Mr Universe, Bill Pearl
74. I have Monica Brandt’s cell phone number (Tom Venuto’s too for that matter)
75. I trust my intuition
76. I am responsible for Paulette’s first hangover
77. I compost
78. I recycle – but more important, I reuse and reduce. I HATE single use plastic bags.
79. I talk in my sleep
80. I learned to program in BASIC on an Apple II+ computer in the early 80’s
81. I am a hot sauce connoisseur
82. I use only mustard and hot sauces as condiments
83. I LOVE fresh ground organic pepper
84. I can type over 80 words a minute
85. I’ve seen Black Hawk Down over 20 times
86. I’ve seen the entire series Band of Brothers over 10 times
87. My #1 pet peeve is cyclists that don’t dismount when crossing in a cross walk
88. My #2 pet peeve is motorists who stop for cyclists who have NOT dismounted
89. My #3 pet peeve is cyclist who get mad at motorists who don’t stop for them when they’re sitting on their bikes
90. I have a personal best of 60 consecutive push ups. My goal is 100 consecutive
91. I have used Stevia as a sweetener for over 15 25 years
92. I have never bought sugar or white flour in my entire life: no longer true. I bought white sugar for Kombucha.
93. I think the bible is just a book, edited many times, by many different people, for many different reasons
94. I have read all but one of the Harry Potter books
95. I have two cats, Pumpkin and Boo: Pump and Boo passed in 2013 after 18 and 19 years.
96. I have two cats, Munch and Fuzz
97. I never used pet names as answers in security questions.
98. I proposed to my girlfriend after climbing up the side of Mt Yamnuska in the Canadian Rockies
99. I proposed on 8-8-8 and we’re getting married on 9-9-9
100. I couldn’t care less if my whites and my darks are washed together
101. I can quote the definition of a “hiccup” upon request
102. I used to eat up to 40 egg whites a day including 16 of those raw

Stopping at 100 is dumb. I’ve been to lots more interesting places, done more interesting things and so I’m going to keep going with this list. Here are a bunch more interesting things about me, because why not?

1. I’ve been bitten by an ostrich
2. I’ve seen the sun rise from the top of the Rock of Gibraltar.
3. I’ve stood on the corner in Winslow Arizona.
4. I’ve smoked a cigar in Cuba
5. I’ve seen 3 sloth in the wild
6. I’ve seen penguins in the wild