Am I really doing this again? Shame on me. Its another MeMe post.

Me, aged 14, in Köln, Germany.

Last time I did one of these it took me a long time to get it finished.

Now that I think about, I still have the book MeMe laying about from Kristin Moran.  I better get to that one soon.  I guess that means I have to read or something (just kidding).  This MeMe is courtesy of Monica Vera.  If you want to learn the last seven things about me, feel free to read up on my weirdness.

Ok, on with the show.

1. I saw the Berlin Wall before it came down.  As you can see from the photo above, I was in Germany at the age of 14 (August 1986), skinny tie and all (what was I thinking?).  I spent a month living with a host family in Hannover, Germany and loved it.  I speak a bit of German still to this day (having spent a lot of time in my music career touring Germany) and have been to the Kölner Dom (Cologne Dome) so many times, I can no longer count.  I actually have favorite spots in Köln for all sorts of things - best pork sandwich, best bar in a hotel, best place to sing Irish songs with Germans, best place to buy a costume...I couldn't tell you the name of any of them, but I could walk you there from the Dom.
2. My first car ever was a BMW 325i.  I loved that car.  Black with black interior.  I didn't have a license until I was 30.  Yes, you heard that correct.  Consider it my part in helping the environment or something.  I now own a much more sensible Honda Civic.  I want a hybrid.
3. I was once forced to view Lenin's tomb.  We had been out late in Moscow and as I was crossing Red Square, some military guards pushed me into Lenin's tomb.  I had to return to the hotel as we were leaving that day and I tried to explain that to the guards, but they were having none of that.  I went down through the slowly descending stairs (its very dark in Lenin's tomb) and I was freaking out.  I didn't want the band to leave without me, especially since my passport and plane tickets were in the hotel.  When I finally reached the tomb itself, I couldn't believe I was looking at Lenin.  I swear it was a wax figure, but who am I to judge.  Even if it is fake, its a crazy concept.  You've never seen a man run through Red Square so fast in his life to get to a hotel.
4. I'm quite a good cook.  My father was always cooking in our house - lots of Italian food and things on the grill.  I eventually learned to do it myself and have always loved trying new ingredients and new recipes.  I make all the food in my house and my wife loves it that way.  She is in charge of eggs and toast though, because I consistently mess those two things up.
5. I'm half deaf in one ear.  That's not a clinical diagnosis, but trust me its true.  I have trouble hearing out of my left ear all the time.  I guess it has a lot to do with loud music, so let that be a lesson to you (not that its stopped me).
6. I never put an apostrophe in the word "its."  The only reason?  I can never remember which one is which.  "It is" or the possessive "its."  You could tell me right now and I would forget it immediately.  I consider myself decent with the English language, but this is one thing I finally just had to accept about myself.  I've tried, I really have, but I can never seem to get it right.
7. Although I was born and raised in PA, I spelled "Pennsylvania" wrong for a good part of my life.  I had a teacher when I was younger that was teaching us how to spell the states and giving us hints to remember.  Connecticut?  "Connect-I-Cut."  Pennsylvania?  "Penn-SLY-vania."  Yes, a teacher taught me that.

So there you have it folks.  That's a grand total of 14 useless things you now know.

Hope you enjoyed the facts.  One more interesting fact, that isn't about me, but is about this post - ActiveRain's dictionary has decided today that any word ending in an "n" is misspelled.  Well, not the word itself, just the "n."  Weird.

And lest we forget, here's the rules:

1. Create a blog post with a link to the person who so happily tagged you.  See above!
2. List all of these rules in the post. Feel free to cut and paste this.
3. Share 7 things that others may not know about you.  Do or have I HAD a life outside of real estate?  
4. Identify 7 friends, contacts or near enemies in which to adorn this MEME. Tag them at the end of the post and give a link to their blog.
5. Contact each of the tagged members and let them know that you were indeed fast enough to catch them and that you did indeed tag them...no matter how much they say you missed them!  No schoolyard rules in this MEME, nope you gotta do it if you are tagged.  Sorry 7 friends!

The friends?  (I doubt they'll still consider me a friend after this.)

Kelly at ARE-TEC (I sent her one before, but I forgot to notify her that she received it)

Amber Noble-Garland

John Palmisano

Sharon Richards

Christopher and Stephanie Somers

Sarah Cooper

Nick Ratliff