About me

I've only contributed one "note" to my facebook page.  It was the "25 random things about me" thing that was popular a few years ago.  I want to share that list with you because I think that it will be a good springboard to other posts.  If you want to here the full story on any of these points, let me know in the comments section and I'll get started with it.

My list:
1. Until recently I had little to no desire to keep a blog-- it felt like a lot of work that would pretty much just be wasted anyway...*
2. I can catch flies with my bare hands-- right hand, left hand, it doesn't matter. I have caught flies out of mid-air while teaching English in Beijing and while sitting down in Church in Romania. The most flies I have ever caught in one hand at the same time: right hand 5, left hand 3. It is hard to catch more than one fly in your hand, because when you open your hand to catch the second fly, the first one flies out. Its harder than it sounds.
3. I love pizza--much more than is reasonable. In high School Tim Robbins and I ate Little Caesars Pizza EVERY SCHOOL DAY for 2 years. I still eat pizza about 4-5 times/week. Crazy.

4. Basketball brings me true joy. Really. Ask Paul Rogers, he knows.

5. I eat very little processed sugar.
6. I have been attacked by dogs twice-- the first time by several packs of street dogs in Bucharest (no that is not an exaggeration, in 2000 there were tens of thousands of stray dogs on the streets in Bucharest, and once I took a wrong turn into a dead-end alley. There were well over a hundred dogs organized in packs of about 15). I won that battle by kicking the lead dog of the most aggressive pack squarely in the nose, he retreated, and the rest of the dogs followed suit. I lost the second battle-- to a trained attack dog in Chicago. score as of now; Steve:1, dogs:1
7. My cousin Josh Law lived in ChengDu, China last year. While I was visiting him, the washing machine spontaneously combusted. 15 inch flames came out of the top of the washing machine, and it spewed extremely thick, dark, very toxic smoke out of random cracks. We used a very high-pressure fire hose to extinguish the fire. I never would have imagined that a washing machine could be a fire hazard.
8. I have streaked on the Great Wall of China

There were not this many people on the wall when I performed task #8

9. I have para sailed and fed sting rays in the Caribbean.

me, feeding a stingray in the Caribbean

para sailing-- pretty fun

10. I love to work--hard. Weird, I know, but as long as I know why I'm working and believe in what I'm doing, I really enjoy hard work. I think this came from 3 things; basketball, debate, and yard work when I was younger.
11. Although I quit medical school, I still might become a doctor eventually. I really love almost everything about medicine.
12. When I was younger I never imagined I would stay single this long. Now (after falling in love with Alina) I think it was worth the wait.

Alina and I were married almost 2 years ago

13. I once accidentally stole a new car-- long story.

14. I am debt free and have begun investing for retirement, even though my job does not offer any assistance with retirement investment.**
15. I acted in a Chinese movie. I even said two lines in Chinese. haha funny.
16. I don't like drinking milk.
17. I used to be able to eat insane amounts of food. When I was younger I participated in multiple eating contests and never lost. I can't eat nearly as much food any more.
18. I don't remember birthdays very well. In elementary school I tried to use my older brother Josh's season pass to sneak into Lagoon. When they asked me my birthday to confirm my identity I told them I didn't know. Josh's pass was confiscated.
19. Beautiful piano music is my favorite thing to listen to, which is really amazing considering when I was younger I would cringe when I heard the piano.
20. I love debate, but ONLY in a structured setting with rules and judges. I really don't like "debating" outside of those circumstances, especially about things like politics, because inevitably opinions and arguments will hinge on incomplete information, and worse, the incomplete information will be tainted by personal biases. If I'm not debating for the sport of it, I don't like it and will try to change the subject or leave.
21. I LOVE tall buildings. I have really enjoyed living in Beijing and Shanghai, and visiting Hong Kong, in part because I love to see all the beautiful buildings. I love the mountains and oceans and country too, but huge buildings completely amaze me.

Hong Kong

fun building in Hong Kong

22. Speaking of things that amaze me, even though I technically understand the physics behind what makes airplanes get off the ground, I still can't really understand. Cell phones-- same thing. There are just some technologies that I will have to accept that I don't truly understand.
23. I love to talk about life goals and dreams. Somehow that subject never gets old for me. I'm happy that I'm almost 30 and I still love to talk about this.
24. I think I would love hunting, but I've never done it. I do love fishing.
25. I can listen to good Christmas music at any time of the year, but if I listen to it during Christmas Season, then it makes me miss America/Christmas in America.

*I changed the first thing because the old comment was not relevant anymore.
** not anymore, we bought a house two weeks ago (YEAH!) and are in debt again