So here we are, a brand new year and I thought I'd go off on a tangent and see if I can shock and amaze folks with a few things you may not know about me...
I Wear a Toe Ring
Yep, my "wild and rebellious" nature (plus my random interest in them) led me to get one. I convinced my wife to get one with me on our honeymoon in Hawaii. They match and I can always call it my "backup wedding ring" if something happens.
Jeff Atwood Called Me Out Once
Yes, that Jeff Atwood, the co-founder of StackOverflow had an issue with the way I had answered this question. He had enough of a concern that he even wrote a blog post about it. I appreciated the nod and his concern, but I still think I'm right, especially when you setup the tools to handling the logging right 8^D. For what it's worth, it even spawned a followup question on the issue as well.
I Was a (2 Points Away From LV3) Yu-Gi-Oh Judge and Had A Popular App
After reading a random article in the LA Times, I was intrigued, and then hooked on the Yu-Gi-Oh trading card game. I drug my wife and brother in law into the mix. I was a bit sheepish about actually competing, so I wound up being a judge, which had a lot of rewards in it's own right. Along the way I joined up with a couple of people and built a deck building tool, as well as maintained the "unofficial official" rulings site for a while. It was kind of cool to help judge at a tournament and hear, "Oh you're the Deck Studio / Netrep guy. Thank you!" It's the small things. It's pretty old, but the code is available here.
Roy Osherove Hired Me Once
Yep, that Roy Osherove, known for his test driven development, continuous deployment, and a few cool tools back in the day (I love Regulator). I happened to been the right place at the right time when he was looking to have somebody help him migrate is blog to a new platform. I was a little nervous, but Roy was really nice, paid me a nice $500 for about a week of work (helps when you have kids!) and made me open source the project (no complaints here). You can download that project here.
I've Been to France twice and Have NEVER Seen the Eiffel Tower
Yep, it sounds pretty crazy, especially considering each trip was a month long! I spent a couple of summers building some websites and doing volunteer work for an amazing organization that helps give books, published material, software, and other resources into the hands of Christians in France. For both trips, I had to get off the plane and immediately grab the Subway / TGV to get out of Paris to my final destination. Both times when I flew in it was so overcast I couldn't see a thing out the window. C'est la vie. Maybe one day I'll make it back with the entire family.
And You?
What random (and semi-famous?) things do people not know about you? It's always a great conversation starter.