25 Things

I joined Facebook to view a friend's photo album she'd shared with me. Ironically, she's not in my friends list on Facebook. I was just tagged with the latest meme - "25 Things" and I thought I'd play along (my Facebook policy is to ignore everything but friend requests).

1. I was attacked by a hippopotamus while canoeing on the Zambezi river.
2. I love to cook, and am most keenly interested in desserts and preserving food - the current projects are candied orange peel, sauerkraut, vinegar, and bacon.
3. I love to eat even more than I love to cook.
4. I'd choose local over organic, but try for both.
5. I picked wild mushrooms for the first time this past fall, and I'm hooked.
6. I hiked the John Muir trail, and just recently realized that I was probably so sleepy during the hike because I had a daily 3500 calorie deficit (I lost a pound a day).
7. Emacs is my OS.
8. I won a weight loss competition last year.
9. I've since gained back 2/3 of it.
10. I met my wife on a blind date (a triple date at that).
11. I'm left eye dominant.
12. I a master procrastinator.
13. Being a father is more fun than I could have imagined, and isn't as scary as I thought it might be.
14. I like doing (sprint) triathlons.
15. I can ride a unicycle straight, but cannot freemount.
16. Every day, I become more and more of a grumpy old man.
17. I miss my first car (her name was "Xena").
18. I have gallstones.
19. Yesterday I heard Douglas Adams' puddle analogy, and I fear it's a perfect analogy for the state of the world today. We're past peak oil, the climate is changing, we're blinded by our fears, and we're not doing enough to fix any of it. And even with all that we know, I think it's going to catch us by surprise.
20. I don't do Facebook (this is an exception).
21. I can count in octal, can you?