Ten

Yes, I'm a copycat.

Megan and Cathy and Sarah, I stole this idea from y'all. But it was a good idea, so it's worth stealing!

OK, here goes: 10 Things You May Not Know About Me

1. When NBA pro basketball player Grant Hill was a kid, he was in "my" class. I was in 9th grade, and got a summer job working as a teacher's assistant for a summer computer class (around 1980). Grant Hill was in 3rd grade, and a student in the class. All I remember is that he refused to do his work, and would frequently say "My dad is Calvin Hill, he's on the Redskins!"
2. I've only been taken to hospital once. Second grade, broke my arm falling from a tree. The only other times I've been to the hospital were when Cathy went, and I almost passed out from that!
   
3. My favorite color is blue. My favorite color combo is blue and yellow.
   
4. When I was a kid, I wanted to name my future kid "Murphy". (Maybe this is why God organized it to where I never got to name anyone!!!) You see, one of my favorite books as a kid was Richard Scarry's "What Do People Do All Day" (see picture), and in that book there was a dog policeman named Murphy, which is where I got the idea. When Cathy and I got married, and lived in a rental house in Spartanburg, we bought a yellow lab puppy and I named him Murphy. (No, he didn't become a policeman).
5. When I was a kid, I wanted to be either a helicopter pilot or an NFL TV cameraman.
6. My first summer jobs were: soccer referree (FIFA-certified!), McDonald's (10th grade...1982, the year Chicken McNuggets came out), drugstore clerk (Dart Drug), highway paving crew inspector (I was the the guy with no asphalt on his boots).
7. I once saved a man's life. Sort of. As a kid, we vacationed in Wisconsin every other summer. The family and relatives went to a man-made lake (no ocean nearby!), and I went in the water with Uncle Albert. We got into about 3-ft deep water, and ole Uncle Albert started splashing around alot. I figured he was just a bad swimmer, but after a bit he looked at me and said "Grab my arm and pull me out!". I shrugged, took his hand, and hauled him back out onto shore. Turns out he had vertigo due to an inner ear problem, and the whole family raved about how "Brian saved Uncle Albert! He could have drowned!" Have mercy... I didn't know what all the fuss was about, I just thought Uncle Al was about the worst swimmer I'd ever seen.
8. OK, this one's embarrassing. My brother David and I used to play Dungeons and Dragons. We were in junior high school, and rather geeky I might add. No, I will NOT post pictures from that era.
9. Most ball caps don't fit me because I have a ridiculously huge dome. When I was a kid, I would try and take turtlenecks off and they would get stuck on my head. Cathy, stop laughing!
10. Right after I accepted Christ, I went to a Billy Mayo crusade. He convinced my that all my rock albums (I had two wooden crates full) were of Satan. So, I went home and threw them all out. Do I regret it? Yes, and no. I gotta admit I'd love to have some of them back, but I think God was putting me through a cleansing process, and I don't regret having obeyed what I felt was His leading...
    

OK, there you have it! Hope you learned something, or at least had a good laugh!

Update

Greetings, earthlings. Sorry I haven't posted for so long. Busy busy, I suppose.

Here are some of the things that have happened since I last posted...

• Family vacation to a cabin in the mountains near Saluda...
  
  
• On the first day of the vacation, did the Bakery Ride with Zach and Heath. Hit a muddy patch and crashed my "new" road bike. Bruised a rib and got a pancake-sized bruise on my hip. No pain, no gain.
  
  
• Every time I have laughed for the past few weeks, I have had to hold my rib to reduce the pain. But that looks ridiculous, and makes me laugh all the harder.
  
  
• Helped get Brandon and Megan packed up and sent off to their new home in Ohio. It is cool to see them following God's leading (but we'll miss them!!!).
  
  
• Got Zach packed up and sent off to NGU for his senior year. Cathy, you're my only bike buddy now...get that Townie dusted off!
  
  
• Went to Cherokee Bluegrass Festival this past Saturday with a friend. We've been going every year in August since 1994. Good stuff.
  
  
• Been watching a lot of Olympics lately. Likes: cycling, soccer, swimming, track events, sychronized diving. Dislikes: synchronized swimming (sorry, this has got to be the cheesiest sport ever).
  
  
• Cathy and I are digging Craigslist...sorta like eBay but MUCH more convenient. It's fun converting junk into cashola. Attic, here I come.
  
  
• We've been visiting First Baptist Simpsonville a lot lately. This church is doing a lot of things well, but in particular they have a thriving Sunday School. There are those who might turn their nose up at Sunday School as being old-fashioned, but to me it is an effective discipleship mechanism that guarantees that the majority of attendees are getting solid, deep, structured Bible teaching on a weekly basis. I realize now that I've really missed that.

Well, that's all for now. Hope to have more posts soon. Ciao.