Good morning. I am Chris. 53, happily married to my best friend, never divorced (although I have only had 1 wife, I have gone through 3 wedding rings - and reserve the right to not answer any question that may lead to a divorce if my wonderful wife sees it!). Unfortunately, we met fairly late and we were only able to have 1 child. She starts high school next September. Would have loved to have another. Also an early riser as I am starting to write this at 6:40 AM - and this is after checking and addressing some work issues first.
Born just across the river from NYC in northern NJ. You could clearly see the Manhattan skyline from the top of the hill. Don't know if it is because of growing up in the NYC metro area or in spite of it, but I can't stand big cities with all the crowds and noise. One of the reasons why I picked VT was because Blacksburg had such a small town feel back when I was there.
Was in northern NJ until moving out to the St. Louis area. Had 5 brothers and I was, far-and-away, the youngest. Unfortunately, dad died quite young and my mom thought I should have an adult male figure in my life, so went out to live with 1 of my much older brothers. He was a mechanical engineer with McDonnell Douglas at the time and I had just finished 5th grade.
Growing up, I was the most boring kid in the world who was not into much of anything beyond watching TV and dreaming of playing for the NY Mets or Minnesota Vikings (purple is my favorite color, and yes, that is why they were my favorite team). Of course I was also a scrawny pipsqueak with no athletic ability and the social skills of a tree slug. Think the most short and goofy kid in Cobra Kai before they took up karate. Add in being reasonably smart and you end up with the ultimate loser dweeb up until about 11th grade. Helped a lot that I kept growing after most kids stopped and I took a job that physically built me up the summer after 11th grade. No one will ever confuse me with a big burly dude, but not being super short and bulking up at 15-16 really changed my life for the better.
Was eager to go back east and considered being a veterinarian, so VT made sense. Started out in Animal Science, but quickly switched to Biochemistry and dropped the vet goal. Graduated in 1991 and worked for a year as a lab tech. Ostensibly, that was to get more practical experience before graduate school, but the real reason is that I liked it so much that I did not want to leave. Got a Ph.D. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale, hated it there, and then learned how horrific the job market was for Ph.D. scientists. Took 18 months to find a real job but, thankfully, I escaped (err, I mean transitioned out of) academic bench science and into market research business consulting for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. 1 of the 3 best decisions I ever consciously made in my adult life. Others are calling off the wedding/not marrying the first person I was engaged to and looking in the rear view mirror, which allowed me to take evasive action and avoid getting rear-ended at a high rate of speed on a highway in Ohio when I was (unknowingly) driving without insurance.
Now living in southern NJ and just switched over from the Pharmaceutical Division at work to the Medical Technologies Division. Hoping to retire or semi-retire in ~4 years when our daughter finishes high school. Live below our means and I had no trouble making ends meet while earning $14,500 as a grad student. Don't waste your life chasing the accumulation of "things" that won't make you happy even if you get them.
Oh, and as mentioned on here before, I did die a few years ago. Thankfully, they brought me back. Guess when people say what they have done, I can say, 'oh yeah, I've been dead.'
Interests: used to run a lot, marathon finisher, but knee problems ended that. Also played volleyball well enough to be in the advanced league in grad school and not embarrass myself, although I would be one of the worst people on the court. Try and stay fit even though I have no athletic talent outside of running and volleyball. Like to hike and walk (my wife and I met hiking). Also like to canoe/kayak, cycle and, of course, did some dog sledding. Polar regions, history and exploration fascinate me. Enjoy cooking, especially Indian food or grilling. Wife is 50% Indian and I learned Indian cooking from an Indian girlfriend in grad school.
And honestly, I don't follow sports outside of a few things VT football and the Iditarod. Learned that the less I pay attention to sports and the less emotionally invested I get in them, the better off I am. Across the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA, I could not name 10 current players.
That is it for now. Anything I can answer that won't incriminate me?
Comments
Who's Frosty?
In addition to the famous snowman, Frosty is a polar bear stuffy that my girlfriend at the time had. This is the Indian woman that I learned to cook from. She had a lot of stuffed animals.
New Haven, CT is not a real nice place. She had one bear, Binky, that was a banker bear. She put infant clothes on some of them and Binky had money tucked in his vest or shirt or whatever he had. The reasoning is that if someone broke in, they would not think to look inside the clothes of a teddy bear for money.
She had a polar bear named Petey and I started calling him Frosty Pete. Eventually, it just got shortened to Frosty. She was in a Master's of Public Health program and when she finished, she went to John's Hopkins for her Ph.D. I still had years to go at Yale. She gave me Frosty when she left and he became my banker bear. He has money in his shirt, which he uses to invest in the stock market so that he can make money and buy fish. Being a bear, he knows what stocks are going to drop ahead of time and can avoid them. If he examines a stock and does not get a feel for it, then it's not a bear stock, so it must be a bull stock, so he can buy it. I have 30 years of goofy stories with my old girlfriend through bedtime stories with my daughter and I could go on for days about Frosty, but don't want too many people contacting the insane asylum people on me!
Sheila and I did the long distance thing for at least a year or two, but it did not work. And I liked her greatly, but never felt like I loved her.
2 other girlfriends tolerated Frosty, including my ex-fiancé, but my wife is another big stuffed animal lady and she wholeheartedly adopted him.
Frosty likes fish, the cold, stock trading, money management, the Baylor Bears (he is originally from Texas), the UCLA Bruins, Chicago Bears (and, of course, Bulls), Boston Bruins ... He also likes to tell me how fat and old and stupid I am to help me try and keep my weight down. Hey, I said I had 30+ years of stories.
Great story, I'm glad I asked.
Does Frosty have any small-cap biopharm stock picks he'd recommend?
It's more like gambling than investing, but from 2017-2020, day trading things like AUPH were a ton of fun and could be lucrative.
Now remember, I have almost 30 years of goofy stories, including years of bedtime stories for my daughter, so ...
Unfortunately, Teddy Bear banker bears are covered by strict rules from TBSEC - The Teddy Bear Securities and Exchange Commission, pronounced "Teb-sec" - and are strictly prohibited from sharing investment advice with humans. If he told me anything, he would lose his trading license. And TBSEC worked out a deal where their traders don't have to pay taxes as long as they don't share info with humans. This is big as they are active day traders since they can sense when a stock is going to go down. They are also not allowed to short stocks.
Again, I've had decades of goofy stories, so TBSEC one was one of them. In fact, Binky is on the board there.
I may have missed the previous story on this. Can you possibly detail again? That's quite the accomplishment.
Have a family history of heart disease. Dad died in his 40s. I eat pretty well, exercise probably more than 90% or maybe even 95% of people my age, did not have diabetes or hypertension, thinner than most, did not smoke and have never taken any illegal drugs in my entire life, was taking low-dose aspirin ... and still had a massive heart attack in my 40s. Even earlier than dad. Doctor told me that, I'd had "several" heart attacks before that too. Just did not realize what they were, but now, after the fact, I think I can pick at least 2 of them out from memory of the symptoms. Fuzzy head, rapid heart rate, sweating.
Had taken the car in for maintenance and went out for a walk. Collapsed by the road. A physician supposedly witnessed it and got started on me. And I was gone. No respirations or pulse with ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia at different times when I was able to look back at my chart. I, of course, remember none of this. Just what my wife said and my chart had written in it. Looked up what I had on the American Heart Association website and it had a 12% survival rate with survival defined as being discharged from the hospital alive.
Wife took our daughter to dance practice. So if this had happened at home, I would have been alone and they would have just found me dead when they got home. Blind luck plays a huge role in living.
My memory of about a week was wiped clean. Last thing I remember was being in church on Sunday as mass was ending. Think it happened on Thursday. Next thing I remember was a couple days later when I was in the ambulance getting transferred from the first hospital where they revived me, cooled me down and had me in a drug-induced coma. I was sent to another for bypass surgery. Ended up being quadruple bypass and then a second surgery later to put in a defibrillator. Also saw the bills sent to insurance. Want to say it was ~$1,500,000 and that is not everything. I hope I can do something useful to pay back the cost to society and that it was a good trade and not a waste of money.
I just started reading Endurance by Alfred Lansing. Have you read it and what did you think?
Oh I think I did read that one. There was that and The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition. I am having a hard time keeping track of which was which. What I remember most was the mind-blowing pictures of the ship in the ice at night where the photographer set out the lamps to light it up in the dark as well as the open boat journey. It was a fascinating story and I absolutely loved it. Just afraid I am mixing up the 2 books as I'm pretty sure I read both and they were a while back.
A First Rate Tragedy about Scott's Antarctic trip where they were beaten by Amundson to the South Pole and all died on the way back and In the Land of White Death about the Russian commercial expedition that was stranded were also great. And The Cruelest Miles about the serum run to Nome that the Iditarod commemorates.
What is the best frozen snack item? (bowl of ice cream, drumstick, Klondike bar, flintstone's push pop, etc.)
For me, the best tasting thing I have ever eaten - not just frozen treats, but of anything ever - was the apricot sorbet at Le Bec-Fin in Philadelphia. No exaggeration and no hyperbole here. A tiny bit, no bigger than a pea, placed on the tip of the tongue filled your entire mouth with the most wonderful intense apricot flavor. Unfortunately, Le Bec-Fin no longer exists. And it was over $100 a person 20 years ago too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Bec-Fin
In general, I'd say fruity sorbets are my favorites. Apricot, mango, coconut ... I have never been a huge chocolate fan. Not even as a kid. Always preferred things like Twizzlers and Starburst over chocolate. So after sorbet, would go with things like strawberry ice cream.
Do you like music? If so, what's the album you've listened to the most?
What song(s) do you absolutely loathe and despise?
What movie have you seen the most times?
Not hugely into music. When people talk about groups on here, I don't recognize most of them. Listen in the car, but that is about it.
In terms of albums, are we excluding greatest hits? Guessing yes. But if we are including that, it might be either The Eagles' Greatest Hits (first one with Take it Easy, Already Gone ...) or Ultimate Survivor by, duh, Survivor. If you don't count greatest hits, I'm really just guessing. Maybe Yourself or Someone Like You by Matchbox20 or Tigerlilly by Natalie Merchant. No 1 thing stands out, so I'm thinking of just what did I get a long time ago.
Songs I loathe are anything that gets massive overplay. On 2 of the 3 Philly area stations I listen to, that includes anything by Michael Jackson or anything by the Rolling Stones. People whining like in Unchained Melody and When a Man Loves a Woman. Anything where the person just screams obscenities. Anything where some rich musician bitches how people (other than them, of course) need to do more and pay for things (the awful John Lennon Christmas song - dude, you were rich, why don't you do something instead of bitching about what people making 2% of what you have done). The Take Another Selfie (or whatever that was called) song.
Honestly, the movie I have seen the most is probably 1 of the Scooby Doo straight to DVD movies that we got for our daughter. Either Scooby-Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon or Scooby Doo Camp Scare. In terms of non-kids movies, not sure. Probably some old war movie like Tora Tora Tora or The Bridges at Toko-ri. Watched Toko-ri as an adult as well as many times as a kid, so maybe that.
If it helps your case for disliking the John Lennon song, he ripped off the tune of a song called Stewball. It was about a racehorse named Stewball.
What's the soundtrack to your life?
What's your favorite story (about you) to tell?
Does your wife know that you are on your third wedding ring? If so does she know what happened to the other 2--can you share that information?
Soundtrack of my life? Not sure. I did have a theme song while at VT. Old Cat Stephens song as I could never get a date. And to make it fit even better, I had a part time job so I had more money than most people. Remember one of my housemates who had about as many dates as I did saying, well, at least you've got somemoney.
"Another Saturday night and I ain't got nobody
I've got some money cause I just got paid
Now how I wish I had someone to talk to
I'm in an awful way ..."
I suppose When I Look to the Sky by Train has some relevance today.
Yes, the wife knows I am on my third ring. She reminds me of it! First one I just lost somewhere. I'd never worn rings before getting married, and I was in my mid-30s. So the first time I tried on one at the jeweler it felt super tight and I wanted a looser one. Well, it slipped off while we were hiking on our honeymoon. Found it right away. A few years later, I did not even notice when it slipped off and we never found it, so got a second. Second one disappeared when I died - see above. Don't think anyone stole it. Think they probably had to cut it off of me or something. But who knows, maybe someone did swipe it. On the third now and she tells me she doesn't want to have to get me a fourth.
Let me think about the story. The best ones normally involve my friend John from VT.
Re: third ring, I feel you. I lost my ring on a weekend, figured it was when I was bathing my kids that Saturday night. With the shallow nature of tub water traps and the whoosh of water going out, there's no way the P trap would have held it. It was gone. Found it a year later in a pile of sawdust in the garage next to the mitre saw. I must've taken it off when I was building the shelves on the day after the bath and forgotten about it.
So when I lost a lot of weight in the past year, it kept slipping off all the time. It's now in a drawer and I'm wearing a silicone ring. The maroon one, of course.
I just bought this exact same pack and I'm wearing the maroon one.
What Hokie wouldn't?
I lost my maroon one somewhere =(
It probably rolled behind my nightstand or something but I have less inclination to move the furniture than I would for my actual wedding band.
As a Sam Cooke fan, I have to be sure he gets credit as the writer and original performer of this song back in 1963-4 (realizing it may have been the Cat Stevens version that you grew up hearing)
Are there people that aren't Sam Cooke fans?
The people who killed him?
What's the dumbest thing you have ever done?
Whats the nicest thing you have ever done?
What's your favorite sound?
What's your guilty pleasure?
Whats the oddest/strangest thing you have ever seen happen, where you literally said to yourself: 'I cant believe that just happened right in front of me?
If you could remove one thing from existence in the world, what would be? It could be a person past or present, a thing, an emotion, .....anything.
Oh God, I knew these were coming and I would struggle with them as it is so hard to come up with 1 thing.
Dumbest thing - mentioned this already on TKP, putting up with 18 months of complete crap from a person who truly cared about 2, and only 2, closely related things. 1a = how much money I made and 1b = what things I bought for her with that money. And corollary to 1b, anything I bought for her was either "junk" or "that's the least you can do." Alas, when you love someone as completely as I did with her, it can make you do dumb things. And, in fairness to me, she was a wonderful, beautiful, amazing, intelligent woman up until about a week after I asked her to marry me. Then it was like someone flipped a switch.
Nicest thing: no one item leaps out. Wife and I both work hard, have been successful and live below our means. allows us to be supportive of various charities, and we have tried to instill that in our daughter. I terms of impact, this is probably the biggest thing. We typically donate >$20,000 a year, although last year was a lot lower as I had made a mistake the year before. We had pledged a large sum spread over 5 years for a capital type campaign. In 2021, I donated twice forgetting I had donated early in the year and that completed the total a year early. So we were low in 2022.
Favorite sound - Oh man, why did you ask this?!? Couldn't you do favorite scent so I could just say strawberry Twizzlers? Bumping up against NSFW as well as reserving the right to not get my wife mad. The soft cries my ex-fiancé used to make when I would (I'm going to stop here).
Guilty pleasure - If I keep this suitable for work and something that is safe for people to look up, I'll say watching Susan Li videos. She is a business reporter. Also laughing my head off at videos of Johnny Lawrence insulting people, Bill Dance Bloopers or things that offend the perpetually offended snowflake types.
Oddest thing - this was actually a great thing and the highlight of my outdoor life, when the wolf ran past me on the Bass Lake-Dry Lake figure 8 double loop trail in Northern Minnesota.
Remove 1 thing - if I say Satan, is that against guidelines? On a more down-to-Earth level, the entitled people who think things should be handed to them because they are owed it. Like the lady in a video who spent $40,000 a year to get a degree in drama and now expects taxpayers to pay for it or the one I got into it with on LinkedIn who spent similar amounts on a similar useless degree and wants me to pay for it.
We try to eat meatless on Mondays, and Indian food is often a good option. I'll often prep something stove top Sunday to finish low and slow in the oven for Monday dinner, but quick cooks are also a great option. Any vegetarian Indian dishes that would work well either way you care to share?
What kind of grill, and what is your go to thing to grill?
Oh gosh, I have a bunch. My favorite is balti mixed vegetables. Aloo mater, tomater aloo, aloo gobi all leap out. Let me dig out the recipes for those and some grilling things.
My favorite Indian dish that I can make, balti mixed vegetables. I was told that "balti" means bucket, so this is a bunch of root vegetables cooked together.
1 onion, chopped
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon minced garlic (I use the stuff already chopped up in the jar)
1 teaspoon cayenne chili powder
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 pound vegetables broken or chopped (can use whatever you want, but I prefer a mix of diced potato, sliced carrots and broken up cauliflower)
Frozen peas, about 2/3 of a cup
4 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons oil
Salt to taste - I don't use a lot, just a few salt shaker shakes
Heat the oil and fry the onions until they are soft
Add the garlic and spices + salt and fry for 2-3 minutes
Add the vegetables EXCEPT for the peas and cook for 2-3 minutes
Add the lemon juice, stir, cover and cook over low heat for 10-12 minutes until the vegetables are getting soft; may need to add a tiny bit of water if it is getting too dry
Add the frozen peas, stir, cover and cook gently for a few more minutes (maybe 2-5 or so) until all the vegetables are soft
Can add more salt to taste if you want, but I normally make it with little salt and don't add any here
Serve on top of naan bread that has been warmed in the oven or on top of basmati rice. I think this is good with rice but much better with the bread. I just buy the bread as I don't know how to bake it. Plus I don't have a clay oven!
Here's a super easy Chapati Bread recipe:
1 1/2 cups AP flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
3/4 cup hot water (140 degrees)
2 TBS olive oil
In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients. Stir in water and oil. Turn onto a floured surface and knead 10-12 times. Divide into 10 portions. On a lightly floured surface roll the portions into 6 inch circles.
In a large nonstick skillet, cook breads over medium heat until lightly browned on each side.
I like 50/50 greek yogurt and self rising flour, pinch of salt. The acidity of the yogurt activates the flour and you get a puff to the flatbread.
I found with the recipe that I posted, that if you press down on the bread as it cooks, it will puff up too.
2 others.
Aloo mater - first thing I think I ever cooked for my eventual wife.
5 tablespoons oil
1 onion, chopped
1 teaspoon ginger powder
1 green chili, finely chopped
2 teaspoons minced garlic, again I use stuff from the jar
1 teaspoon turmeric
1.5 pounds of diced potatoes, I like to make them pretty small so they cook faster
8 ounces (weight, not volume) frozen peas
Salt to taste
Heat the oil and fry the onion until soft and clear
Add all spices except the salt
Add the potatoes and salt and cook with constant stirring until they are soft
Add the peas and cook a few minutes more until they are soft
Serve over warm naan or basmati rice. Both work, but I prefer the naan
Tamatar aloo
2 tablespoons oil
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 pound diced potatoes, again, in small cubes so they cook more easily
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon cayenne powder (I often double this as I like this hot)
2 teaspoons paprika
Juice of 1 lemon
(The recipe says 1 teaspoon sugar, but I often leave this out)
1/2 pound diced fresh tomatoes, you want to make sure these are fairly firm so they don't just turn to mush
Salt to taste
Heat the oil, add the mustard seeds and cook until the start to pop, won't take long at all
Add the potatoes and fry for 5 minutes
Add the lemon juice and all the spices, salt and simmer covered until the potatoes soften, could be 5-15 minutes
Add the tomatoes and cook gently until everything is soft but not allowing the tomatoes to turn to mush
This, I think, is actually better over rice than it is over bread.
With much Indian cooking, these are designed to be served with rice or bread and not eaten straight.
Awesome! Thank you for taking the time to answer!
Just grill on a big old Weber charcoal grill. Favorite things are kielbasa, variants of hamburgers, a marinated chicken breast and my wife's favorite is beef and vegetable kebobs.
Kielbasa is cut in half long way into semi circle shaped tubes and served on a firm sub or club roll with toppings that I make on the stove in a skillet.
Slice 1 onion and cut in half into semi-circle shapes
Slice 1/2 of a green bell pepper into fairly thin strips about 1 -2 inches long
Finely chop 0-2 habanero peppers based upon how much heat you want
A couple tablespoons of minced garlic from the jar
Oil
Heat the green pepper in the oil until it is just starting to get soft, probably no more than 5 minutes
Add everything else and continue heating until everything is soft
Use this to top the kielbasa. I like to add brown mustard as well, but leave off if you prefer
Indian spiced burgers are mixing ~1 pound of ground beef with 1 tablespoon of dried minced onions, 1 teaspoon cayenne powder, 1 teaspoon ground coriander, 1 teaspoon turmeric and 1 teaspoon paprika. Just blend it all together and grill.
I also combine to make the Polish-Indian triple onion burger. Make the burger like above and grill kielbasa too. To the burger, add sautéed caramelized onion, fresh sliced red onion, sliced pickles, lettuce, tomato and brown mustard, but of course you can use whatever toppings you want. This is my post from the work foodies group. I really enjoy Casey Webb on Man vs. Food.
What is your parenting philosophy? What is it like raising an only child? What sorts of challenges/pleasures have you encountered that you didn't anticipate?
What happened to your ex-fiance? Where is she now and how do you know you really dodged the bullet?
Shoot, the parenting one will take some thought. And I could go on for days about my ex-fiancé. I can quickly say with her, that I called what would happen. She would either never get married or she would end up as some rich old guy's trophy wife. I called that because I could not imagine a scenario where she would marry a guy who did not have money and she was several years older than me. When she was young, she was very pretty. Did a tiny bit of modelling back in China I believe. But pretty, not gorgeous or "hot". By the time we met, she was still very pretty, but not quite the same and her looks clearly faded before we split up. Assumed someone young and rich would not put up with her and she would not take someone without plenty of money, so it was either never marry or be a rich old guy's trophy wife. We spoke something like 15-16 years later as I had a health scare, which turned out to be nothing serious, and I had wanted to know the answer about why she did all the crap she did. Great over-simplification, but she apologized, said I did not do anything and it was all her fault (even I would not go that far, I could have done things better at the start). During the conversation she mentioned that she married someone "much older" than her, that she had a big house and some other sign of wealth that I don't remember but that she wasn't happy.
She works in regulatory affairs at a biotech company.
What is your favorite book about a historical topic or character?
Probably one mentioned above, The Cruelest Miles about the 1925 serum run to Nome.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=the+cruelest+miles&i=stripbooks&hvadid=409912...
What books do you read for fun when you have time?
Like to read. Alas, the book I am reading now has been very dull and is a slog to get through. The White Rock, an Exploration of the Inca Heartland. Not what I had hoped for.
Favorite author is Dean Koontz and second favorite is Tom Clancy.
Like a lot of different things. Exploration (especially polar regions, but also other areas), military history, science fiction, techno-thrillers like Clancy, some history of science. Oddly, don't read much suspense outside of Koontz. Read a couple on suspense books by Michael Koryta as well and they have all been pretty good.
If you could have told me that I was guaranteed to be able to get a job as a professor, I probably would have studied history and focused on Europe from about 1900 to about 1925 with the lead up to WW1, WW1 itself and all of the political changes and fighting in the aftermath, like the Polish-Soviet War.
My grandfather taught Dean Koontz in high school and was one of the teachers he dedicated a book to (The Bad Place). He also sent an autographed copy of each book to him and he's always been quite gracious with his words.
Oh my gosh. That is great to hear. The Bad Place was actually one of his books that I did not like. Glad I did not read that one early on because it was really gross and I would not have read more of his if that was my first experience.
I read it a long time ago, and from what I remember I thought it was good. I've read only some of them, and I remember he had at least one movie made from his books (it wasn't good, that I remember). Fun fact, he wrote a couple of books from his dog's point of view. He's definitely come a long way from his modest and troubled childhood.
Which question were you preparing to be asked, hoping to be asked, or afraid would be asked that has not been asked, and what is the answer?
The favorite sound and guilty pleasures were what I was hoping to skip. Maybe the parenting philosophy as it is hard to wrap up quickly. Plus I am more old school than a lot of people on here probably are.
Was prepared to be asked the 5 TKP people to have lunch with and did think about it to come up with the 5.
Can't think of anything specific that I was afraid would be asked that has not been.
Which 5 TKPers would you want to have lunch with?
Thank you, As I really had put thought into this one ahead if time :-).
First 3 were easy, then I had to think and limit stuff.
1) Ass Pocket Full of Whiskey - I am dying to swap psycho ex-fiancé stories
2) Gobble Gobble Chumps - get the Jersey Boys together part I
3) Hokietopher - get the Jersey Boys together part II
4) Egbert - really respect the small business owner/entrepreneur types and would like to hear how things really work
5) VT Guitar Man - see what is going on with VT Biochemistry these days
You me and Topher are overdue, rip in peace mastori's though
Yeah. Sorry about the lunch one. Good thing other people have our backs.
TKP- could say it means "TEAM Key Play"!
Best vacation?
Worst vacation?
Strangest thing you ever saw or had happen on vacation?
Best vacation - Top 2 are very close, but I'll go with the month I took off between my postdoctoral work and when I started the real job in market research consulting. Drove from New Haven to Erie, PA (brief stay with a friend) then St. Louis area (brief stay with a friend and her husband) and out to Seattle area by way of Fort Laramie, Natural Bridge Wyoming, lots of awesome scenery. Stayed out there with family for a week and my ex-fiancé (when I still thought everything was going to work out and she had not fully transformed into the psycho gold digger yet) flew out and then we drove back together. Seeing Yellowstone NP, Grand Teton NP (still my favorite place in the world), Buffalo Bill Dam, Mount Rushmore, Badlands NP and that same friend in Erie before getting back and packing up to move to Southern NJ.
Close second is the first family trip - not counting the honeymoon - that my wife and I took. 2 weeks in Alaska. I'll have to dig out some great photos from that. At the Arctic Circle and at the hotel in Deadhorse on Prudhoe Bay were great shots. Also one of me stepping from 1 tectonic plate to another with the clear crack in the Earth surface. We have these saved somewhere.
Worst vacation - Hmm, I can't think of a really bad vacation. Just some were less good than others. Guess 1 time I went out to North Cascades NP with 2 of my brothers for a backpacking trip. Something like 4 days/3 nights. It was not bad, just North Cascades was pretty dull by national park standards. And one of my brothers was the kind of person who liked to argue a lot and thought everyone should do what he wanted. Finally, when we hiked up into Canada at Chilliwack Lake, the lake shore was really dirty with lots of garbage. Trip was not bad, just kind o of rainy with very few scenic views and so-so company.
Strangest thing seen on a vacation was probably on that Alaska trip. There is a bike path from downtown Anchorage to the airport. We rented bikes and did the trip. On the way out, see beluga whale right off the shore.
Later on, the path turns left and immediately goes down a moderately steep hill. At the bottom it bends right and goes back up. Maybe 10-20 feet tops to the left of the bottom curve is this moose grazing. My wife is in front and she starts barreling down the hill. I see this and am thinking as I watch her go further and further along:
She is going to stop. ... She is going to stop? ... She is not going to go blasting by and startle this moose and have them do God knows what? ... She is going to ...
Finally I just yell as loud as I can: MOOSE!
She slams on the brakes, comes to a screeching stop right next to it, pops her head up and yells: Where?
Me: 10 feet to your left.
She finally see it. Thankfully it was a female as male moose can be seriously nasty and kill a lot of people each year. Moose was just looking at her with that 'yeah, whatever' look and chewing away. Did not move an inch from what I could see.
On the way back, we are not too far past the place where the moose was. She is not there anymore. We do around a curve and there is a black bear walking along the bike path. Looks back at us, gives us the same 'yeah, whatever' look and just keeps slowly walking away down the path. Eventually gets off to the side and we go by.
This was whale (the only one I have ever seen), moose and bear all close up and all (I think) within the actual city limits of Anchorage.
Couldn't help but think of the below...
I love it!
Probably obvious, but when I saw the post again, realized I should have said the only whale I have ever seen in the wild.
Who's next? I know HOAT is on the burner, but it seems that he went out into the open prairie again.
I'd like to nominate Egbert if he is interested.
Strong nomination imo, wonder if he'd accept after further consideration
Yeah, sure. This has been a very interesting series so I can do my time in the barrel.
We got the weekend coming up so I'll post initial tomorrow night (Friday) after work.
I got that GGC.
Good choice. Egbert is a nice guy. (I do remember meeting you in 2014 pal....)
If you were to build a sled dog team to compete in the Iditarod, would you use specific purebreds (and which breeds), or mixes (and mixes of what breeds)?
I think he should go with Yukon Cornelius's sled team...
Since the only dogs I've ever mushed for real were the Canadian Huskies that they use at Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge, I'd use them. The 10 minutes or so I drove a team on Lake Placid doesn't really count. There you are supposed to ride in the sled, but I told the guy I had done it 3 times and he let me co-drive while my wife sat in the sled.
Canadian Huskies are the traditional Intuit dogs bred for hauling cargo. Not at all fast. If I was crazy enough to try this and my wife would let me do it*, my goal would just be to get as far as I could and see if I could finish, so I would not be worried about speed. Just stamina and my own familiarity with them.
* No way would she let me do it. And I suspect my cardiologist would freak. And Frosty would flip out about the money this would require.
Now if I actually knew what I was doing and was a true competitive musher, would use the mixed breed dogs that all the top mushers use, the Alaskan Huskies. But they are not a recognized breed as they have all kinds of dog types mixed to try and get speed as well as endurance.
FYI if anyone is interested in giving mushing a try, here is the place I've always gone: https://www.dogsledding.com/
I wonder if Kangal's would make good mushing dogs. They have size anyway...
Late again, so you've already gotten to most of what I've asked others, and also the bear.
What college would you remove from existence and why?
Assuming you drink, what's your go-to? If you drink bourbon, what are your top 3?
College I would most want to get rid of is Penn State.
Favorite bourbon is Buffalo Trace. Don't really have a clear cut second favorite taste-wise. But I probably get regular old Evan Williams more than anything else. Not because I like it the most, but because it is good and much more affordable. For me, BT is definitely #1 and there have been others I have liked, but I never had one better that BT. The ones I've had like Eagle Rare or Nobile Oak were not so much better than Evan Williams that I could justify the price difference. And the other inexpensive bourbons I've had were not as good as EW.
Happy to try others if you have suggestions.
Re: Penn State. Any reason other than coach?
A variety of things.
Ugliest uniforms east of Oregon
The first time I ever remember seeing blatant officiating bias was a Penn State-Nebraska game. Officials wanted Penn State to win so badly. Was even a NYT cartoon making fun of how the officials gave Penn State the game. This was when I was a little kid and still thought things were supposed to be fair.
Massive Penn State homer professor that I had for Introduction to Sociology. VT made you take a social science even if you were a chemist.
Massive Penn State homer fellow graduate student in my lab. I have given derogatory nicknames to 4 people in my adult life. 1 was her (snot face). She was a massive narcissist, ass-kisser and general jerk. Loved to ask questions in lab meetings to people where English was not their first language so she could answer them and show how much she knew. I've got some good stories I can share if interested.
Back before streaming services and when I was living on $14,500-$16,500 grad school stipends (i.e., did not have cable), the ABC station would show Penn State every friggin week. Watch THE #2 NITTANY LIONS take on Temple! Who the bleep thinks we want to watch THE NUMBER 2 NITTANY LIONS take on a 2-6 team? The score is 45-3 at the end of the 3rd and they still won't switch to another game. And this is in Connecticut. Not like I am living in PA.
Of course the whole JoPa and the university covering up molesting little kids and how some, not all, but some of their fans still want to rehabilitate him. JoPa was not the main bad guy here, but more than enough blame to go around.
I despised Penn State even before all that other stuff came to light. Actually like Ohio State because they beat Penn State several times when Penn State was a top team.
Yeah. That'd do it.
Snot Face stories sound interesting....
EW is the only bourbon I buy by the handle, and I buy that more often than anything else. Black label, bottled in bond or small batch, which ever is on sale that day. I have several other bottles on hand, and love the Buffalo Trace line-up for upper end - but do spring for the Eagle, Blanton's, or Taylor when I can find it. Though that is at state controlled pricing, so way cheaper than in a private store, just harder to get.