100 Things about Me

I'm going with a meme and will try that out as motivation/inspiration to keep some content flowing.  So today is 100 Things About Me.

1. I was born in Lynn, MA
2. I have lived in Salem, MA for approximately 10 years
3. I have one brother and one sister
4. My parents live in Salem as well
5. My parents are still married
6. My brother lives one town over
7. My sister lives one street over from my parents
8. Neither of my siblings are married
9. I will have been married for 3 years on September 3rd
10. I will have been in a relationship with my wife for twelve years in less than a week
11. I will turn 35 on April 13th
12. We got married in a restaurant and the ceremony was performed by a close friend
13. We did not allow any religious language at all in our wedding ceremony
14. We met at Umass Amherst in 1991
15. I rarely eat red meat anymore
16. My wife is turning me into a "foodie"
17. I used to be a beer snob. 
18. I'm now a wine snob
19. We have two cats - Kasha and Leeloo
20. Both were adopted from the Northeast Animal Shelter as kittens
21. My taste for architecture, art and furniture is typically "contemporary"
22. I am an atheist
23. I am generally tolerant of the belief systems of others
24. I am very much in support of gay marriage
25. I'm a die-hard true liberal
26. Conservativism seems more like a personality disorder than a philosophy to me
27. I will never, EVER vote Republican
28. I was once a boy scout and went as far as "Star" before I got bored with it
29. I love to read just about anything
30. I'm a classic "early adopter" of new technology
31. I am also an entrepreneur at heart
32. I have trouble with creativity
33. I've been a geek for my entire life
34. I love both Star Wars and Star Trek but have never dressed up or attended a convention for either
35. I have dressed up as Wash from Firefly but only for Halloween
36. I spend a lot of time doing maintenance on my digitized media
37. I believe that George W. Bush is the worst President in U.S. history
38. I read over 400 blogs daily
39. I read 3-4 newspapers every day (not cover to cover)
40. I believe the U.S. media is filled with incompetent, lazy people who simply type up the talking points they hear from the Republican party uncritically
41. I love books AND I love my Kindle.  I can see that this will cause conflict in the future
42. TV shows I watch include Psych, Battlestar Galactica, Corner Gas, Lost, Top Gear, and The Riches
43. I absolutely LOATHE "reality" TV
44. I have watched less than 5 minutes of American Idol
45. My music taste is insanely eclectic, to the point where I won't even bother discussing it here
46. I have lived on the North Shore of Massachusetts for my entire life (other than a few semesters in Amherst MA)
47. I consider myself to be mostly self-educated
48. I work in software
49. I'm a QA Manager
50. I hate explaining what I do so I'm not going to
51. I recently lost about 45 pounds
52. I don't exercise
53. I know I should
54. I drive a BMW
55. I'm slightly embarrassed by that
56. I have never and will never own a gun
57. I'm not anti-gun in general
58. I believe that all guns should be shipped with a trigger lock
59. I find it disgusting that the gun lobby keeps stopping this
60. I have collector tendencies but am able to keep the worst at bay (no star wars figure collection for me!)
61. I would love to live in California
62. I hate the seasons, I would prefer year round spring
63. I absolutely hate snow
64. I enjoy travel but not as much as my wife
65. I have driven cross country with a friend
66. I think drugs should be legalized
67. I live in a house that is bigger than my needs
68. I struggle to be green and succeed in some places and fail miserably in others
69. I have a very high IQ
70. I don't think this makes me any better than anyone else
71. I'm not very creative
72. I wish I were
    
73. I'm a terrible impulse shopper
74. I bought a new car on an impulse once
75. I complain a lot
76. I suffer from insomnia
77. I think I'm an optimist
78. Everyone else thinks I'm a pessimist
79. I wear glasses
80. I can't wear contacts because I'm terribly squeamish about eyes
81. I don't think anything on this list will surprise my wife
82. My wife is my best friend
83. I'm an introvert
84. I can be charismatic at times
85. I can come off as arrogant
86. I can BE arrogant
87. I'm terribly lazy about maintaining relationships
88. I hate entertaining
89. I'm lazy about house chores
90. I'm a good listener
91. People frequently come to me for advice
92. I frequently seek out advice
93. I don't believe in ghosts, alien visitation to earth, cryptozoology, or any of the common conspiracy theories
94. I distrust my government
95. I am pro-choice
96. I am anti death penalty
97. I believe that evil is a lack of empathy
98. My favorite author is Terry Pratchett
99. I wish I had the money to sponsor a professional poker career for my brother
100. I had a lot of trouble coming up with the items on this list