Ok so I've been tagged by Mike Wilton who runs a blog called, "Musings For A Darkened Room". He happened to be tagged by David Harry aka The Gypsy who happens to be an extremely detailed blogger with all things related to Internet Marketing and some things not so related. The idea of this game of tag is that each person gets to share a little about themselves that not everyone might be aware of and then tag several other people to do the same. So without much hesitation and some free time on my hands through out the evening last night... I give you seven facts about me that you probably don't know or are sick of hearing me talk about.

Goody goody

Through out my life I've been looked at as someone that behaved, never got in trouble and couldn't possibly do anything wrong. As a child I sabotaged my moms makeup and my brother got the blame, in elementary school one year I kept the walkathon money that I collected instead of giving it to the school, I was accused of burning down a vacant motel when I was 13 and even though I didn't have anything to do with it I did rat out who MIGHT have done it and no one really knew I told. At around that same age I came across a blue bank bag with $1,300.00 in it and turned it in though what people didn't know at the time was that it wasn't my choice; I was already picturing a red moped an older friend was selling for cheap.

Needless to say and as sad as it is, I've had a minor run in or two in my 20's with the law and the cat was out of the bag. However I will say this... no matter what stupid choices I've made in life, I've always been the one to turn myself in. The walkathon money? Yeah I felt guilty and told my mom and together we gave it all to the school; the snitching ... I confessed and even though I got beat up for it I was glad to have a guilt free conscious. I also would have never been arrested for my stupid stunts if I had never turned myself in or played my cards a little different.

So while I may not be the best goody goody out there, I can tell you that I learn my lessons and try not to repeat certain mistakes... oh and my conscious keeps me from getting away with anything sneaky for any period of time. I've been behaving for almost five years now.

Loyalty

I consider loyalty to others above my own well being a weakness that others consider one of my best qualities. I simply do not like disappointing people that are counting on me and feel a great deal of grief when I feel as though someone somewhere is being let down by my choices. I remember giving my two weeks notice at my first job when I was 19 after being with the company for two and a half years; it took me damn near two weeks just to give my notice! Today this has not gotten any easier for me and I am still as loyal as ever to employers, clients and above all my family.

Dungeons & Dragons

Even though I've not played the game for five or so years now I still consider myself a gamer. I've played the game since I was 17 years old and didn't stop until I was 22 when my girlfriend at the time told me it was either the game or her that had to go. I should have chosen to keep playing the game so to save myself the grief because later she became my wife and very shortly after that my ex-wife. That is what I get for thinking with the wrong ... never mind about that.

Christianity

I'm a Christian and have been since the age of 18. I've never once looked at gaming as evil or satanic and that is mostly due to the particular group of people I gamed with. I'll argue with anyone until my face turns blue that gaming is not bad even to this day. Sure bad things can happen in the wrong environment but that is true for anything in life.

Family Tree

I'm the third generation in my family to carry on my Great Great Grandfathers name. If it wasn't for my Great Grandfather being named John Alvin Jones I'd be the fifth person to carry on the name without a single break in the passing down of the name. My son who is 9 months old is carrying on the name as well which was one of my life long desires to see happen. I'm glad my wife was ok with this one stipulation before I decided to marry her.

This is the one fact about my life that everyone knows about but if they knew the history behind the Jones' family they would probably question why on earth I'd choose to pass down my namesake to another human being. That however is a book of a story that I won't get into.

My Biggest Fear or Most Natural Talent

My profession is defined broadly as an Internet Marketer but with an emphasis on search engine optimization. I've been in this field now for almost seven years and I don't see an end in sight. Every now and then though I fear that I don't know as much as I let on when talking with customers or co-workers and that one day that would become apparent to everyone around me.

Regardless of what I know, don't know or have yet to study up on though I'd say I have a natural talent that my forever keep my biggest fear from becoming a reality. You see, during my seven years in this industry I've had an understanding of what I am doing in a logical and common sense kind of way. My work isn't complicated to me at all because it makes so much sense to me regardless what it is I don't really know or what I know like the back of my hand.

I don't like to admit this particular thing because even to me it is a recently new realization that I've come to discover about myself. However I am a fairly honest person and willing to risk the opinions of others by being transparent with this post. I will however expect the same transparency from those who I plan on tagging at the end of this post so keep this in mind when you get tagged!

Addict

No I've never touched drugs, don't smoke and while I do drink every now and then I'm not an addict in that kind of way. Instead I get easily addicted to things like video games or books. If I start playing a video game it simply consumes me until I pass it and any previous versions that might be floating around.

Diablo II consumed me so much that I snuck into a friends house while he was at work on MANY occasions. Twenty minutes before he was due home I'd leave only to come back 30 minutes after he was home and asked if I could play for awhile.

I read one James Patterson book that involved Alex Cross and spent the next few months reading the entire Alex Cross series. Today I am reading the Twilight series of books by Stephenie Meyer. I picked up book one last Tuesday and today I am maybe three quarters of the way through book two and already looking forward to starting book three this weekend. Needless to say, when I go off on these addictions, my wife can't wait for me to get through them so she can have her husband back.

My Past Life

When I was a young boy I always wanted to grow up and become a Chef. I left home when I was 16 to attend Job Corps out in Stead near Reno Nevada. My choice vocational study was Culinary Arts and I completed two thirds of the program before I left and returned home. I then spent almost three years working at Harrah's Tahoe working in the food pantry and every now and then playing line cook, cashier and even host. I've been a Junior member of the American Culinary Federation and would still like to jump back into that membership one day.

My motives for wanting to become a Chef were selfish though and my desire to continue that path didn't last long. You see, growing up I didn't have much and I never wanted my own children to go hungry or repeatedly eat the exact same stuff over and over again. I thought that if I became a Chef that it wouldn't be speghetti, hamburgers, macaroni and cheese every night for them.

I eventually realized shortly after my first experience on a computer that I didn't want to be a Chef and that I didn't have to be a Chef to cook good and decent meals for my family. So, back to Job Corpse I went at the age of 20 to study office related vocations including typing, use of computers and so on. Today I type over 80 words a minute, am fairly fluent with Microsoft Office applications and obviously can work with websites.

Tag You're It

In keeping up with this viral tradition, I have chosen seven people I know to come up and share seven things that people may not exactly know about you. They can be as simple as David Harry's post or as complex and brutally honest as my post.

Griffin 'Gage' Granberg - Friend, Strategist, Programmer, Designer, co-conspirator and Sweet Geek!

Jennifer Jones - My Wonderful Wife and business owner of Tutoring 911 & Blogging Mothers

Pat Haddad - Indianapolis real estate professional and one of my favorite clients to work with.

Sandra Mathewson - Newer client of mine but my real estate related social media co-conspirator in Fernley Nevada

Steve McLaughlin - My best friend & DM (Dungeon Master)

Steven Jones - My younger brother who can vouch for much of what I gave away up above.

Jeff Turner aka ResPres - Though I know of his popularity and follow him on Twitter, He doesn't know me so I thought it'd be kind of fun to tag Jeff and get to know him a little better.