Another Five Things Meme

Courtesy of the one whose dissertation miraculously begins to write itself.

Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot, like so.

1) Seeking Solace
2) Statgirl
3) ScienceWoman
4) Professor Me
5) Post-PhD Blues (ArticulateDad)

Next select five people to tag (Sorry!):
1) Young Female Scientist
2) YesYelloCello
3) J. Dryden (AKA Will's Coffee House)
4) The PhD Explosion
5) Wanna Be PhD

What were you doing 10 years ago?
February 1996. Wow. I was two years into my Master's program at Rice University (I would finish my final requirement Feb 1997). I was nearly a year and a half into my relationship with the woman who was to become (and still is) my wife. Like, ProfessorMe & T, C & I had become fast friends nearly from the start, but didn't admit to "having a relationship" for quite a while. We met around a keg of beer at graduate student orientation (a Rice tradition).

What were you doing 1 year ago?
February 2005. I was still mourning my father's demise (He died of prostate cancer in November 2004, after nearly three years of holding on). I was still in disbelief about the birth of our second son (born a month to the day after my father's death, and named after him). And, I was deep in the final throes (I mean really, not in Dick Cheney's sense) of my dissertation. I was to send it off the final version to committee on March 2, 2005.

Five snacks you enjoy:
1) Reese's peanut butter cups (or any good knock off).
2) Swedish Fish & Swedish berries (Yum!)
3) Ice Cream (especially Haagen-Dazs Dulce de leche and numerous flavors by Ben & Jerry's. I've even been known to make my own (Pumpkin, strawberry, coffee)
4)Carr's table water crackers (or an appropriately similar type) with brie and other assorted cheeses.
5) My wife's lips!

Five songs to which you know all the lyrics:
1) Erlkönig (Franz Schubert, words by Goethe)
2) Ciganské píseň č. 4: "Když mne stará matka" (Antonín Dvořák)
3) All I want to do (Sheryl Crow)
4) Come Rain or Come Shine (Billie Holiday's version)
5) Fly me to the moon (Frank Sinatra's version)

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:
1) Pay off all of my student loans!
2) Take a REAL vacation (what is that anyway?)
3) Pay off middle brother's mortgage (It's about 65k, then he owns it free and clear).
4) Give oldest brother enough start up cash to get back on his feet.
5) Put the rest away for a rainy day.

Five bad habits:
1) Impatience
2) Pulling my nose hairs out (I know it's gross, but you asked for BAD HABITS)
3) Misdirected anger (I always feel bad when I take out my frustration on some poor unsuspecting customer service agent.)
4) Sloppiness. I clean my desk when the piles start falling on the floor.
5) Buying too many books!

Five things you like doing:
1) gardening
2) cooking
3) thinking about research
4) being a dad
5) spending time with my wife

Five things you would never wear again:
(of course, I can't say things I'd never wear in the first place!)
1) body chocolate (seemed like a nice idea at the time)
2) chains of safety pins (I was a punk in the 80s).
3) narrow shoes (god, I hate buying shoes... almost nobody has shoes that accomodate a high instep!)
4) a headband
5) a sign that says "kick me"

Five favorite toys:
1) Son #1
2) Son #2
3) DI (my laptop)
4) my garden tools
5) my kitchen knives & appliances