The requisite 7 things meme

1. I’m a Buckeye ( that’s THE Ohio State University) to the very depths of my soul. Out here in Washington State, I am constantly having to educate people as to the true meaning of the acronym OSU.

2. My first computer experience was writing code on a Radio Shack TRS80 in TRS-DOS. It was a program for use with a lab analysis of a farmer’s crops to design a supplement pack for dairy cows in various stages of lactation. I have since graduated to my 4th Mac - a MacBook Pro.

3. I have 2 grown sons. My older son designed and produced the official campaign paraphernalia ( buttons, bumper stickers, signs, etc.) for the Obama campaign. My younger son is an design engineer in the auto industry, an Iraq war veteran, and a new father. I have no sense of design whatsoever as you will see from my blog and website ( www.chemistar.com ). Their father and I have been married for 31 years.

4. My hobby is vacuuming shark poo from the South Pacific tank at the local aquarium. Yes, I clean the North Pacific tank too. Yes, I work while the sharks are still in the tank. We do not remove them and place them in buckets. Yes, I also dive the Sound regularly and the rest of the world when I can.

5. I like gummy bears better than chocolate.

6. I once worked at an air force base as a contracted researcher in computational chemistry, using virtual reality, to design stuff for planes. If I tell you any more I’ll have to ask the AF to come shoot you.

7. The story of how I came to be a NBCT goes something like this:

Curriculum Director, in 1988: Here is some information on this new national certification thing. Call them and get registered. It costs $2500 but the state is paying and then you get a raise.
Me: Ok.
(I call, they send packet, I xerox driver’s license, verify experience, get administrator support, etc. I buff my nails and delight in the fact that I will get a pay raise from the state. Flash ahead a few weeks.......... )
Me (dropping large box with a few hundred pages of directions on CD’s desk): L______, what the (deleted expletive) is this?
CD: Well, I guess now you have to fill that out, too. (brief pause while any NBCT reading this laughs hysterically)
Me: Did you READ this? I'm not doing this!
CD: Well then, I think you have to pay the state back the $2500.
The rest is history.

I have no clue who to tag because I'm probably the last person alive to do this.