Hippies, Atari, and Tequila aka 8 Things You May Not Know About Dawn

I was just tagged by Fred on the 8 things you may not know about me meme. Hmmmm, I live most of my life online, but I’ll try to come up with a few things you may not know.

  1. I was raised by hippie parents (Hi Mom!) and grew up in rural Ohio on a tiny organic farm with chickens, ducks, rabbits, goats, a variety of other animals, and lots of organic vegetables. We even had a goat named Sausage for a few years, but that’s a long story 🙂
  2. In college, I got pretty good at playing pool and even won a few tournaments. I still have my own pool cue (a Meucci), but I haven’t used it in many years.
  3. I played the clarinet from 5th grade all the way through high school in various capacities, including marching bands and various wind ensembles. I even played a the flute and classical guitar very badly and for very short periods of time.
  4. I love to cook vegan food (stir fry, pizza with homemade cornmeal crust, pasta, etc.), but I never make dessert. I can make a decent apple crisp, but beyond that I’m better off buying something from a vegan bakery, like Sweet Pea.
  5. My first computer was an Atari 400 (later Atari 800XL), and I loved writing stupid little programs in Basic that did something cool, but had no practical use whatsoever.
  6. In college (many, many years ago), I carried a flask of tequila and a lime in my pocket most of the time and knew where all of my friends kept their knives and salt shakers.
  7. I have a real weakness for questionable music. My most recently played iTunes list includes Rammstein, Godsmack, Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Madonna, The Go-Go’s, Rob Zombie, Blondie, The Offspring, INXS, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kajagoogoo, David Bowie, Rancid, the Kinks, the Prodigy, and more.
  8. At the end of my senior year in high school, I held the records for the 100m and 300m hurdles.

Now the hard part … tagging another 8 people: Todd Kenefsky, Justin Kistner, Paul Biggs, Adam Duvander, Scott Kveton, Josh Bancroft, Selena Deckleman, and Aaron Hockley.