Bev did Sunday Stealing for today so naturally I could not resist. (
Unlike the two previous times this month that I stole from Sunday Stealing,
Mary has not yet stolen
this -- but she's been busy.)
Sunday Stealing said they took this from Another Suburban Mom --
but when I went to check out the source, I found that
Another Suburban Mom had taken (and answered) 10 questions from another blogger and then added
10 of her own, so I decided to answer those first 10 questions today and
the following 10 tomorrow.
1. What were you doing 10 years ago?
If this is precisely 10 years ago, I can only speak in general terms because
I did not post an entry for that day. January 27, 2003 was a Monday, so
I would have been at work. That would have been the same employer I have
now, but different work. My job then involved designing and writing courses
-- and then teaching them (and sometimes training new teachers in how to
teach them). A few months later in 2003 I moved over to a new quality assurance
team, which is the same job I have today (reviewing and editing courses).
Also, 10 years ago I mostly drove to an office to work and probably only
worked from home maybe once a week. As I got into my QA position, I began
to work from home more and more, not having any reason to go to the office
except on days when there would be meetings of some kind (so I was well-practiced
at working from home a few years later when the company closed the office
and told us all to work from home.) Unlike Bev, I didn't write an entry
for that date -- however, I did post an entry for
January 26, 2003 -- Lady Windemere's Fan -- where I mostly wrote
about a play Nancy and I had gone to see the night before.
2. By this time next year, I ...
Well, the big thing will be that I will be retired (target date for retirement:
December 31, 2013).
3. Do you think the United States will elect a female President in your lifetime?
Do you think this would be a good thing?
Yes. It might even be in 2016 with Hillary Clinton, who got pushed aside
by some slick campaigning and media fawning in 2008. If she had won the
nomination in 2008, I might have voted for her. Voting for a candidate
is an attempt to pick the most competent person for the office, not for
the person you would want to be friends with. Given the negatives and positives
of her performance as Secretary of State, I have a lot more doubt about
her ability, but sometimes you have to hold your nose and vote for one
candidate because the alternative is even worse. There are those who say
she would be too old in 2016 -- but she is four years younger than I am,
so I don't think of her as being too old -- and if she were elected, she
would be about the same age as Ronald Reagan was when he began his first
term. On a brighter note, there are a number of talented potential female
candidates in both parties. Personally, I think those who are governors
are a lot more qualified than those who are senators -- the experience
in actually serving in an executive capacity is very important. (Oh, and
I guarantee that I would not under any circumstances vote for Elizabeth
Warren, Sara Palin, or Michelle Bachman.)
4. Which fictional, TV show character you would shag anytime?
This has to be one of the dumbest questions I have seen in these memes.
5. Who is your greatest enemy?
I cannot think of anyone I know that I would consider to be an enemy. There
are some people I hold in utter contempt, but they are mostly politicians
who have no idea that I even exist.
6. Tell me about your most recent trip of more than 100 miles?
I have not travelled outside of Rhode Island in ages. My last trip of that
length would have been to New Haven by train. Normally there would have
been multiple trips into New York City since then but then Hurricane Sandy
came along and various scheduling conflicts and then my foot surgery keeping
me from being able to get around easily. So, sometime soon I have to get
into New York for a long overdue visit.
7. Which do you use more often, the dictionary or the thesaurus?
I am more likely to use a dictionary than a thesaurus. With most writing tools having
some form of spell check, I don't have as much need of a dictionary. I generally know
what a word means; it's my spelling that is atrocious. When I do grab a physical dictionary,
it is generally my two volume edition of the OED.
8. Do you have a nickname? What is it?
Jim. That is, I am definitely Jim rather than James. My business cards always
say Jim. My employee ID badge says Jim. People who call me "James"
are just showing that they know me so little that they really should be
calling me "Mr. Lawrence" (such as receptionists in medical offices,
clerks in stores, and so on). When I was in college I was nicknamed "Bat"
for a while, due to a proclivity for nocturnal living, but it didn't follow
me beyond college.
9. What are you dreading at the moment?
That the incompetent and corrupt clowns running the government are going
to screw things up even more than they already have.
10. Do you worry that others will judge you from reading some of your answers?
I don't worry about it. I suppose it could happen, but I don't worry about
it.
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