You know that “8 things you probably didn’t know about me” meme that was going around Facebook a while back? I never got tagged.

I feel gipped.

I feel left out.

I feel all alone.

OK, not really. But I did kinda want to participate, so I thought I’d share eight things you didn’t know about me here, so I could elaborate a bit more. Here goes:

My favorite place on earth in St. John, USVI

My wife and I have been to St. John three times. And each time it gets better. From Honeymoon Beach (my favorite beach) to Woody’s (best bar in the world) to our favorite barbeque stand right on “main street” in Cruz Bay, St. John is wonderful in so many ways. It’s one of my life dreams to retire their someday.

I climbed a volcano

Yep, on St. Kitts no less. Even better, we were shepherded up said volcano by a guy named O’Neal who drove us to the volcano in an open-air Jeep (there’s no other kind on the islands) and made us stop by his house to grab “lunch” from his Mom. The day ended interestingly, too: He couldn’t get the Jeep started, so we were stranded in the middle of a sugar cane field with guys with machetes and had to thumb it back to the resort.

I played in a band named Chimps that Smoke

Basement band. Bunch of old agency buddies. We played Johnny Cash songs. It rocked. But, we sucked. But man, was it fun.

I shot 69 on a golf course–twice

In a former life, I used to play golf (read: before kids). In fact, I played in a national tournament for Winona St. University in 1991. That next summer, I shot 69 TWICE at the golf course I worked at that summer (River Oaks Golf Club). Man, it was fun to play golf. It was even more fun to play golf well. I figure my day will come again when the kids get older.

I’ve cried during The Rookie. In the theater.

What you’ve never cried during a movie? Don’t lie. The Rookie gets me every time. That scene where he’s calling his son and telling him about making it to the Big Leagues. If you’re a Dad and you don’t shed a small tear during that scene, you’re not human. You’re officially a cyborg.

I was one-inch away from winning a state tournament

My high school basketball team was good my senior year. REALLY good. No thanks to me–I was just on the JV (we were also undefeated my senior year). But, we lost to Cretin Derham-Hall in our regional final–by an inch. Literally. A last-second shot grazed the rim and we lost that game. Cretin went on to win the state title. That could have been us. Like many of my teammates, I maintain that SHOULD have been us. As Charles Grodin says in Midnight Run, “In the next life…” (which leads me to…)

My favorite movie is Midnight Run

It still stands up today, too. Have you seen Midnight Run lately? It’s still funny. OK, maybe it’s not laugh-out-loud funny, but it’s still a damn good movie. Great performances from Grodin and DeNiro, but also Denis Farina, Philip Baker Hall and Yaphet Kotto (look him up, you’ll know who he is).

I almost moved to Vancouver

Upon graduating from Winona State University, I gave serious thought to moving to Vancouver, which had an interactive program I was considering. Remember, this was 1996 and the “web” was just new. So, these “interactive” programs were popping up–and I was interested. Very interested. But, for some reason, I didn’t pull the trigger.