Tagged by an Indian…7 Random Facts

Thanks to Rav, I’ve been unceremoniously tagged.  As if my weekend could get any worse…

We lost two of our games then got weathered out (and fifteen minutes after we left the field–voila! nothing…).

So seven random facts about me:

1. I was a bedwetter until I was twelve.  A urologist prescribed a pill the size of a pinhead for me to swallow each night, which I found impossible to swallow.  Of course, I drank four glasses of water trying to get the pill down every night.
2. I was scheduled to fly on TWA 800.  I was living in Phoenix at the time, and I had a meeting canceled in Rhode Island.  British Airways had just started a direct flight to London from Phoenix, so I talked one of my bosses into having a telecon instead of a meeting (I reported to two executives, one in Aerospace and one at Corporate).  I canceled JFK-Paris flight and instead booked Phoenix-London on British Airways then flew on to Paris.  The company still had my travel records as the TWA 800 flight, and I didn’t figure any of it out until I called my secretary from the Heathrow BA lounge (or Gatwick, I can’t remember which).
3. I was in Northern Alabama when Hurricane Camille hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast in 1969.  In the torrential rain, a car ran into a tree in front of my great-grandmother’s house.  The driver died there.
4. My middle son, All-In, went to pre-school with John Smoltz’ daughter.  He was invited to her birthday party at some Gymboree-type place, and Sweetie took him to the party (I had some commitment).  He had just had his big surgery at the time.  All-In had no interest in the craft, so he convinced Smoltz to join him in the foam pit.  Fortunately, All-In didn’t damage his shoulder, or we would have been forced to move from the ATL.
5. I baby-sat the daughters of Bernie Ebbers, the former CEO of WorldCom.  He started LDDS when I was in high school, and my father did some programming for him at the time.  He was involved in our church and a fairly mediocre tennis player.
6. I’ve been to the following countries:  Canada, Mexico, St. Martins, Jamaica, Brazil, England, France, Portugal, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Finland, The Netherlands, Belgium, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, Hong Kong (both before and after the transfer back to China), and Australia.  My two favorites places to travel are Paris and Singapore.  The only place I’ve ever had any problem is the first time I went to Canada.  This was pre-NAFTA, and my boss told me to lie about why I was going there (it was the second week of my job).  They asked me what I did for a living, I told them I was a consultant, then the Calgary immigration people put me in a room for two hours.  They told me they would put me on the next plane back to the United States.  I flipped on my boss, told them I was just starting, but they really wanted him.  He was a horrible person in general, so I’m not too torn up about it.
7. I gave Sweetie the greatest birthday party anyone reading this has ever given his wife (or for any wives reading this, no way your husband ever gave you a greater birthday party than this).  I flew six of her friends into Newark from all over the country plus invited friends from Princeton, Philadelphia, and Morristown (where we lived).  I had two of her friends take her out to dinner, then called her telling her I needed some work stuff from my car (she told me last weekend she rolled her eyes when I called her, that of course I needed some work thing on her big night out on a Saturday).  She walked into the dark house, then the big surprise, which included the catered meal plus goodie bags for each of the thirty guests.  Saturday, she and her six imported friends were sent to New York, where they saw Rent after going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  I joined them for dinner, then we had a limo take us all back home.  I took her six friends back to the airport Sunday and Monday.  I did it because I’d moved her around every two or three years, and I wanted her to know how much her friends meant to her.

OK, now who to tag?  Here are the lucky five (plus a few):

1. Dan (since he can’t have twins, he has lots of time on his hands…)
2. Tripjax
3. Fuel55
4. kurokitty
5. skidoo
6. Pauly (ok, more than five)
7. willwonka
8. Pinky