5 Things About…
Posted on January 8, 2007
Filed Under /dev/null/ | 578 views |
Alrighty, both Reg and Collin have tagged me for the 5 Things Most People Don’t Know about me meme and as Jonathan Schwartz is playing along too, far be it from me to not to jump in so here goes:
1. I used to work at Science City in Toronto, selling binoculars and telescopes to parents eager to push their little Galileo’s down the right path. It was a mind-numbingly boring job at times (lots of standing about), fascinating when I could sneak time to read one of the copious science books available, and thoroughly entertaining thanks to many of the people that I worked with (Paula and Rebecca in particular - thanks!). The store is still there, down in the lower level of the Holt Renfrew centre. If you like science, drop in.
2. I have a needle phobia. It’s not a fear, it’s a full-fledged phobia. The sight, nay the thought, of them makes me light-headed, giggly, and eventually, time to sit down. On that note….
3. Back to Toronto. Cummer Ave. in the north of Toronto was originally built by one of my ancestors who had a farm and sawmills up there before Toronto was a city (and before Canada was a country). Headstones for my family can still be found in a small cemetery in North York.
4. I wrote my first software on an Atari 600, copied from the back of a Compute! magazine. I may have been 11 at the time. If I recall correctly the program drew a multi-coloured line on the screen that bounced back and forth. It was stored on a cassette tape (90% of you reading this probably had no idea that software used to be stored, and sold, on audio cassettes. Those were the days…). Thanks dad! Best present ever.
5. I’m going to riff off of Collin’s Mackerel theme and bash it together with my computer programming theme to let you know that the reason I’m doing what I’m doing today (which is writing software for the aviation industry, strangely enough) is because Mackerel hired a wet-nosed punk with a couple semesters of HyperCard experience straight out of school to create the french version of a project they’d created in SuperCard for the Ontario government. After I called their project manager, Ollie, every morning for two weeks asking if they had anything available. It was his fault, he kept saying “no, but call me tomorrow” those days he’d bother to take the call at all. More than that though, it was collectively all their fault’s, for they’d created the Mackerel Stack, the first program I saw that actually blew me away and made me think this whole new “multimedia” thing could actually be something. The year was 1994.
And here we are today, tagging Jonathan, Andre, Mike, and Jay. Tag, you’re it gents. (Adina and Kat you two already share more than anyone else I know but if you’re game, tag too).
Comments
5 Responses to “5 Things About…”
Consider myself tagged! I’ll work on this list now.
Oh, remember when I first started at CHUM and I had just met you, and you were in the elevator after I got the flu shot? I was telling you about it, and you were gripping the rails in the elevator and turning white. LOL!
Oh I remember. That was a fun week, that was, with everyone asking “did you get the flu shot?” and then describing theirs to me each time I said “no, I’d rather get the flu.” Oh how we laughed and laughed!
You know, all the stuff people don’t know about me is probably private for a reason;)
I’d like to take this opportunity to recommend a movie: Saw 2. It’ll knock you out, I promise.
he he he…
I don’t mind needles much except for in my mouth. I’ve never experienced dental freezing for my front teeth (no need, thankfully) - the very idea is a source of anxiety… I can relate. Eek!
Thanks for sharing Chris, I love the Cummer Ave. business, very cool.
Adina, you can’t blame a guy for trying
Lilly, I saw Saw 2. When watching movies like that I just have to remind myself “It’s just special effects….” Shows like House are a bit tougher, since every episode seems to involve someone getting a whole whack of needles in really unpleasant places.