100 Things About Me

1. I'm a Scorpio born on November 6, 1955.
2. So was my father and his twin brother, though they were born on different days. Uncle Johnny was born on November 14 and Dad the next day.
3. I'm a Montana chauvinist though I don't eat huckleberry products any more after reading an essay by Annick Smith about how commercial production is ruining the huckleberry patches.
4. I graduated from Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana, in 1990.
5. I have two sons.
6. Zen is thirteen. He's a Taurus born on April 30.
7. Zen's Papa, Bob, is a Libra.
8. Zen was born at home in my spare time...he was a VBAC and weighed 10-1/2 pounds.
9. Kevin is sixteen. He's a Capricorn born on January 17.
10. Kevin was born by C-section.
11. My mother was born on January 21, so she's an Aquarius.
12. Kevin's father, Charles Briggs, is a Libra with two Libra daughters.
13. My sweetheart of eight years, Tim Pool, is a Libra with two Libra daughters.
14. My new sweetheart is a Capricorn.
15. And a geologist, which redefines how you read the landscape when you're with him.
16. It's like telling time VERY slowly.
17. I have a brother, Dave, who is a radiologist in Billings, Montana. You can find out about his at http://david.lehnherr.com. I also built him a site for his birthday, The True Christian.
18. His son, my nephew, Toff, was born on July 3 and he is the funniest human being alive.
19. I'm a born-again skier.
20. I love to read. Anything at all. Too many books I love to list here but I read almost anything written by a Montanan.
21. I've been married three times and divorced four times.
22. I got married the first time when I was sixteen on June 23, 1972, to Timothy Ray Buhmann in Bozeman, Montana, at the Episcopalian Church. He left me for a younger woman; she was sixteen, I was seventeen.
23. I got married the second time when I was eighteen on August 23, 1974, to Benjamin Joseph Royland in Great Falls, Montana, at the library.
24. I got married the third time when I was twentynine on September 2, 1984, to Neil Halprin on his 33rd birthday in Missoula, Montana, at the Unity Center.
25. I got divorced by Zen's father in May of 1990.
26. Nobody loves the movies more than I do. Nobody. There's a list of my favorite movies somewhere around here.
27. I feel political action is the only way to accomplish long term goals. I put my money and my time where my mouth is on this issue. I'm a dedicated Democrat.
28. All this emphasis on dates -- maybe you can tell I really like genealogy?
29. I'm part Swiss, part French, and a little English.
30. I find myself saying De gustibus non est disputantum a lot.
31. I love listening to music, too. I've been listening to public radio since 1976.
32. My favorite station is KUFM.
33. I like the opera and Prairie Home Companion the best -- oh, and Zed's show on Wednesday afternoons, Dancing with Tradition, and Jon Jackson's jazz show on Thursday afternoons.
34. I just discovered the Grateful Dead and I've applied for official status as a Deadhead.
35. I really like to swim.
36. And watch the stars.
37. Soaking in Wayne's hot tub in Marysville combines the best of these two.
38. Dancing is something I love to do, too.
39. Bellydancing is just an extension of that. Except I get to dress up and yell Yi! Yi! Yi! at the top of my lungs.
40. I like to do anything that has to do with white water, actually. Ski, sail, just get me on the water.
41. Making love is an art I like to practice -- a lot.
42. And I do it for peace...check out my Blow Job A Day site.
43. I wear glasses.
44. Getting Raybans is the highlight of my glasses wearing experience.
45. I'm always losing my glasses.
46. I'm a food fascist...which means I care about what I eat.
47. I'm always looking for food adventures, especially if they involve chocolate.
48. I love what I do...building web sites.
49. I don't like to drive with other people in the car.
50. I don't like to drive much anyway.
51. My car is a beat up maroon 1976 Volvo that cost $300.
52. Bicycles, though, are fun, especially when they're a mountain bike.
53. Especially when you're on the railroad bed above Butte.
54. I've been on the Internet since 1989.
55. I love to play games.
56. Like Scrabble, "Pennies" and "Spite and Malice.
57. I'm fascinated by Mint Bars because there are so many of them around.
58. I don't think there will be anything for me in a retirement fund.
59. I only drink a little Bailey's Irish Cream now and again.
60. I've had one beer since I was eighteen years old.
61. I don't think I've ever lasted more than eighteen months on a job.
62. My house was built in 1887 in the red light district of Helena, Montana.
63. My best friend, Buttons Greear, died in 1979 after being strangled by an irrigation system.
64. I visit her grave in Livingston, Montana, whenever I can.
65. I once got engaged to two guys at one time. That was stupid.
66. That's not the only stupid thing I have ever done.
67. I think I've been engaged -- not counting the guys I married -- about seven times.
68. Maybe I have commitment issues?
69. The unexamined life is not worth living -- I wish I could always stay in therapy.
70. Depression runs in our family; my grandma has been hospitalized for depression.
71. So does obsessive compulsive disorder, but we turn it into a high functioning philosophy.
72. I like to go camping.
73. Water skiing is fun, too.
74. So are go-carts.
75. And fireworks -- big explosions are a blast!
76. I like Macromedia's Fireworks a lot, too.
77. My father was a gambler.
78. So was Tim.
79. I HATE gambling.
80. But I buy a lottery ticket twice a week.
81. I won $5000 in the lottery a couple of years ago.
82. I gave most of it to Tim but bought myself a subscription to the New Yorker. I really like to read the New Yorker every Wednesday after it comes.
83. Especially if I can sit out in the yard and admire my garden.
84. Weeding my garden is great therapy.
85. When I was in the throes of adolescent Sylvia Plath madness, I didn't think there was anything worth living for. Now there's so much.
86. And time moves a lot faster now. What's with that?
87. I always fall asleep in movies with time travel. It's just too confusing a concept for me to grasp.
88. One of my goals in life is to own a big Russell Chatham print.
89. I love art, too.
90. I've spent six whole days in New York's Metropolitan Museum and never seen the whole thing.
91. All this culture and so little mention of my kids. But I love 'em.
92. There are lots of people I love.
93. Ann Prunuske, Jules Chriske, Dina Stephenson, David Thompsen, Bobbi Niles, especially.
94. Folfing is way high on my list of favorite things to do.
95. I'm not very good at it.
96. But I don't really care.
97. I'm not very good at anything I do physically but I love to do it.
98. I still wonder if there's a God. I think He/She must have a terrific sense of humor.
99. Sailboarding is going to be my next great challenge.
100. Then I'm sure I'll find something else.