Former MVP, now Microsoft DPE, and good buddy, Dan Moth has essentially blog-tagged me – I need to think up eight random things about me (that you don’t already know). Another good buddy, Gary, got me too. So here are 8 things about me. I hope these are new to you.

1. Like Dan, I too am a Metallica fan. But, you already knew this. But it’s unlikely that you’ll know I’m also a long-standing Magnum fan.

2. Like Dan, I too was tempted to kill off this almost viral-like meme/tagging thing. It’s difficult thinking up random things that folks don’t know about me. Like this one: I believe in a world where money isn’t required. It’s unlikely to happen in my lifetime, or even my son’s lifetime, but I’m sure it will happen. Let’s face it, a lot of things in Star Trek become reality sooner or later.

3. I crave tidiness, but I am, at the moment, one of the most untidy people I know. I believe this is due to the fact that I tidy in small pockets of time – I really should “take a week” and do it all in one go.

4. Related to 3 above, I hoard things. “That’ll come in useful one day”. The situation has improved recently: I cull my computer-related magazines very frequently now, perhaps because we have the facilities to recycle more and more – for example, we have a regular trash container, two paper/cardboard recycle containers and as of yesterday, we have containers for plastics and cans/glass.

5. Despite 1 above, I do like late-80s, early-90s dance, electronica, old-skool and trance music. I don’t know why. It’s good to work and drive to. Many years ago, I was driving to work, the tunes were “up there”, the speakers were replicating the bass to perfection (thanks to a proper acoustic MDF parcel shelf, a Kenwood amp and a pair of 6×9 JBL speakers), the sun was shining, it was a clear day…I nearly didn’t go to work, wanting only to continue enjoying the drive! There was a Sony headunit and an autochanger cunningly installed in the glovebox.

6. Despite 5 above, I have a cassette unit in my current car! On days when I don’t take the train, I spend up to 2 hours per [working] day in my car and find myself listening to the likes of Chris Moyles and Scott Mills on BBC Radio 1. Whatever you may think of those shows (and BBC Radio 1 in general), I like them and will continue to listen to BBC Radio 1 until I feel that I’m old enough to progress to BBC Radio 2 or 4 (I believe this is the natural progression from folks who are 15 years my senior). Radio’s a funny beast. I find myself listening to it whilst travelling, either in the car or whenever I’m on a train that doesn’t have an overly protective cocoon that blocks basic forms of radio transmission (Virgin please note). By virtue of this listening habit, I have a listening pattern: I tend to listen to Chris Moyles, Scott Mills, Jo Whiley, Vernon Kay and Sara Cox. Rarely do I find myself the other shows, because of the time I travel. I rarely find the peace and quiet required to turn the radio on at home, which is a shame because there are plenty of other great shows on BBC Radio 1. If you don’t believe me, go listen for yourself.

7. Despite 1 and 5 above, I have a reasonable collection of classical music and do listen to Classic FM – it’s tuned in to speed button number 2 on the car stereo. As you might imagine, BBC Radio 1 is tuned in to speed button number 1!

8. I would like to emigrate and work [from] abroad. Most of what I [really want to] do can be done from anywhere thanks to the power of the Internet. This would negate commuting and the downtime of having to fit in with a 9 to 5 working day. I’m a creative type, I can’t turn creativity on such that it’s there between certain hours. It takes many hours to for people like me to reach a state where creativity is found…for me, that happens between 0000 and 0400 – at which point I’m tired because I have to get up at 0630 for the 9 to 5 shuffle. But, unless I really push myself, it’s unlikely to happen.

Who’s next? Must I really propagate this thing? I guess so, otherwise some nasty stuff will happen to me…at least that’s what Dan told me when he dropped me an e-mail reminding me my obligation to write something. So here goes:

Dave
Alan
Liam
Simon
Simon/Jonathan
Chris
Richard
Vinzenz

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