Back on March 27th, my sister tagged me. This is a blogging activity where you write ten things about yourself and then “tag” someone else - asking them to do the same thing. I am terrible at this particular version of tag. No joke, I keep stalling at point number 10 and felt the overall list was quite lame - so I put off the entire exercise up and until now. The only problem is that this prolonged inaction and apparent refusal to participate in blogging tag undoubtedly led my sister to the conclusion that I am a SNOB. This is not a good thing.
So here’s my list:
- I have excellent handwriting/script. Maybe it’s because of that fourth-grade teacher who was very strict and never seemed to smile. Or maybe it’s a genetic thing - I’ve noticed my parents have unique handwriting styles (that may have contributed to mine) somehow. Please note: This skill is for the most part meaningless in today’s world. One related anecdote: when we were dating, Diane said to me “you have good handwriting for a guy.” My immediate response: “You drive well for a girl.”
- My favorite colors: blue and green.
- In relation to food - in general, I favor sweet and salty foods but not so much the sour/pickled kinds of foods. I don’t like cilantro. I recently (in the past month or so) discovered that I’m okay with mustard. Previously I would have told you otherwise. I like raisins. I like black licorice.
- I have a soft spot for most dogs, cats, pets - but we don’t have any at our place. We just don’t have time to take proper care of a pet. Maybe someday …
- Nicknames I’ve had: Marco, Wump. The first nickname came because a friend saw me reading a book about Marco Polo. The second nickname had something to do with an 8th grade sleepover and a game called “Hunt the Wumpus.” In high school, other kids would usually yell out “Wump” just to see if I would turn around or respond. I usually did.
- My favorite toys: Macbook, prismacolor markers, WordPress, a frisbee, an acoustic guitar. I’d like to add ‘bicycle’ to this list - it’s just not in the cards right now.
- Diane and I are reading through the Old Testament together. One chapter a day, usually. We are currently in the book of Job.
- Chores I like: washing dishes, laundry. A chore I don’t like: ironing clothes.
- I like to experiment with line and color and am a fan of artists like Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Saul Steinberg, Helen Hardin, Jean Dubuffet, Hundertwasser, Keith Haring, Alexander Calder, Yaacov Agam and other similar artists.
- I am a fan of the open-source movement, free sharing and innovation communities. I am excited about the internet and the opportunity it offers for sharing projects and collaboration. Unfortunately I am not much of a computer programmer. Still, with the help of some others, I am working on a project that I will eventually make available for download. And if you think that actually typing that out makes me dorky, you are probably right.
I have no idea who to tag at this point. I’m just content to have completed this list. If you made it this far, then I think it’s time for some “Manah Manah.” Enjoy.
FAIR (the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research) has posted many videos links to YouTube. You can find them here.
A Daniel C. Peterson lecture about “Evidences of the Book of Mormon” is among them. I really enjoy listening to him speak on the subject and maybe you will as well.
There are nine installments and I’ve embedded the code for them all here below.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
At this futureofMuslimworld.com site one will find the Center on Islam, Democracy and the Future of the Muslim World. There are many interesting articles to read there and it seems to be a particularly good source for information and discussion in regards to the Muslim Brotherhood as well as other Muslim/Islamist groups.
The Pope is in NYC today and the fact that he was in the proximate area to our apartment was signaled by the sound of helicopters overhead. The sound was ongoing for awhile and when I went outside I saw four helicopters hovering in the sky right above our street. They were spaced evenly in relation to each other and were mostly staying in place. Due to their spacing, at most I was able to get two into one picture.

These are some experiments I’m working on with one drawing in a draft stage. In one of the sketches below I’ve isolated specific elements to see how they look by themselves.
The final piece isn’t actually done yet but I have basically figured out the colors I want to use. As usual I’m also looking at negatives to see how the colors change.



