Blankbaby

Some of 2008 in pictures

I give you 2008 in pictures (an idea I have totally stolen from Jacqui and Clint).

January 2008

I drank a Mexican Pepsi (Love it!)

I went to Macworld 2008 and saw MacBook Airs on a string.

February 2008

I turned 31.

My TV (and me) moved into Marisa's apartment.

May 2008

Becky and Eric got married (and not much happened in March or April).

We retreated to a lovely cabin in the woods, with neighbors across the river who really liked classic rock.

July 2008

I visited my Mom and we went to Mount Vernon.

August 2008

I got a Kodak Zi6 (which I like more than my Flip Mino HD, no matter what certain tech pundits will have you believe).

September 2008

I had my first article published in a real, live magazine.

Off to Las Vegas for VMworld (and it'll probably be my last VMworld ever!).

Marisa and I went to Hoover Dam whilst in Las Vegas.

And then we got all fancy and spent the weekend at the Ritz Carlton at Lake Las Vegas (it was really quite nice, and it has turned Marisa into a hotel snob).

November 2008

I got a Flip Mino HD and made a silly movie with it.

I saw my book in print for the first time (and it looked awesome).

My mom visited for Thanksgiving, met some of Marisa's family, and met with Marisa in her role as my girlfriend for the first time.

We went to City Hall and looked cute.

December 2008

I got engaged to Marisa.

Spent Christmas with my mom and bro, as is McNulty tradition (and no one fought!).

Farewell, Wharton. Hello, Comcast.

I'm coming up on my 6 year anniversary as a Wharton employee (and a Philadelphian to boot), and what better way to celebrate than by quitting?

That's right, today was my last day as a staff member of Wharton Computing where I have learned many things, met lots of great people, and realized that I'm not really interested in following the traditional IT career path of slowly moving further and further from actual technology.

As I was realizing this an exciting opportunity arose. I got an email from Frank (a man I trust) asking me if he could pass along my name to some Comcast folks. It seems they were in the market for someone to run their corporate blog, and Frank thought I would be a good fit. I wasn't looking for a job, but I am never opposed to entertaining options. I gave Frank the go ahead and he sent along my contact info to Comcast. Soon thereafter I was called in for a round of interviews.

I honestly didn't think they would be interested in me given my decidedly non-corporate persona (and Internet presence), but they asked me in for another round of interviews (always a good sign). The second round of interviews found me meeting with a number of people working in the Communications department. After a few hours the interviews were over, and I was impressed with the level of passion and realism that the Comcast folks had about their company. Plus I didn't think I came off as too much of an idiot, which I find to be helpful in such situations.

Soon I heard back from Comcast that they were interested in having me join their team (after I passed a routine drug test, which was the first time I had ever taken a drug test... but that's a post for another day). I had a major career choice to make (though if you read the title of this post you already know what I decided. Stupid spoilers). I've been working in the University setting for nearly a decade (gosh, I feel old) and I've never worked for a company as large as Comcast so I was a little nervous about potential culture shock.

On the other hand, Comcast wanted to pay me to manage the day to day aspects of their corporate blog which is pretty darned close to my dream job. How could I say no?

Tomorrow is my first day as a Senior Manager of Digital Media (that'll look impressive on a business card) at Comcast. I'm excited, terrified, and befuddled all at once (which I take to mean I made the right decision).

I don't generally post much about my work here on Blankbaby, and I imagine that trend won't change too radically. I will post a link to the corporate blog once it launches, and I'll be posting pictures and things from the gigantic Comcast Building (in which my office will be located) from time to time (just as I did from Wharton).

Thanks to everyone I worked with at Wharton. Wharton really was a great experience in my life, and I would recommend working there to anyone.

Speaking of which, if you're interested in my old job go to Penn's Job Site and search for Reference number 081226054. You'll be working with a good group of people on some pretty cool projects.

Here's to the future (is anyone else scared?).

Engagement ring(s) on Marisa's hand

Engagement ring(s) on hand
Originally uploaded by Marusula.

Marisa wasn't surprised when I popped the question because she designed the engagement ring, and set the schedule for when the question should happen (before she went home for Christmas this Sunday).

Not too much wiggle room there, but we're both still pleased as punch.

A big thanks to my friend Nicole who helped us with the rings.

Thanksgiving a success

Ah, Thanksgiving is winding down in the best way possible: sitting on the couch next to Marisa watching the latest episode of Dexter (who, I bet, can carve a mean turkey).

I took the week off, as I usually do, in order to entertain my mother in Philadelphia. Every year for the last few years Mom has spent Thanksgiving in Philly. For the last three years (here are some pics from 2006 and 2005, it seems like 2007 was the Thanksgiving Flickr forgot) I've ordered dinner from DiBruno's and it was fantastic. I was prepared to do the same thing this year, but Marisa would have none of it. She whipped up a fantastic Thanksgiving feast from scratch and it was very good.

All in all, 2008's Thanksgiving was one for the ages.

Check out some pictures I took (of the day after Thanksgiving) here. Marisa also wrote about Thanksgiving, so why not read her post? Hmm?

Out of consumer debt

I've had several milestones in my life:

• Graduating from college
• Taking my first job in IT (which really has had a very significant impact on my life)
• Moving to Philadelphia
• Blogging professionally for the first time

Today marks another milestone: I no longer have any credit card debt. Ok, so that's not REALLY true. I still have a balance on my Amazon credit card but that's by design. Everything I buy from Amazon goes on that Amazon card because I get double reward points for each Amazon purchase. Once I get enough points Amazon sends me a $25 gift certificate in the mail, so I would be a fool not to use the card. The key, though, is that I pay off the balance in its entirety at the end of each month.

Where do I get off saying that I no longer have any credit card debt when I clearly have some? Because I finally paid off the last of the balance on my Citibank card. What's so important about that? For some reason Citibank gave me a ridiculous deal a few years ago: a very, very low interest rate on balance transfers and a very high credit limit. I took advantage of this to combine all my credit card debt (spread over 3 cards) onto one, so I only had one bill to pay since I'm a lazy man. The clear benefit being that over time I wouldn't be paying as much in interest on my debt but the greater benefit, which was entirely unexpected to me, was seeing that big old number in the balance column. That made me really want to get rid of the debt once and for all, and that I did today.

It feels great.

The only question is, what do I spend all my money on now? I hear Citigroup stock is a real bargain nowadays.

Holy crap, I wrote a book

Scott McNulty watchers (and you know you're one of them) might have been wondering, 'What the heck has Scott been up to?' I haven't been blogging here, I haven't really been posting much to MacUser, I haven't been posting new episodes of Fork You... what have I been doing?

It turns out that I've been writing a book (I'm as shocked as you are). That's right, on December 12 (or there abouts) you'll be able to walk into any of a number of fine bookstores and pickup a copy of 'Building a WordPress Blog People Want to Read' by yours truly (I'm told that some Barnes and Noble stores will have a special display with my books. Cool, huh?).

This book is the perfect stocking stuffer for anyone, no matter whether they are interested in WordPress or not (they will surely be interested in my witty and sparkling prose) and if you buy a copy via this link I even get a little kickback from Amazon (double score!).

I'll post more about how I came to write this book in due course, but I just wanted to share the fact that I have written a book that will soon be published and in bookstores everywhere (by a real publisher, no less). Ain't that cool?

Airs Appliances in Philadelphia: good people, better prices

I'm generally of the opinion that you can almost always find things cheaper on the internet than you can in a brick and mortar store, and forget about finding good deals at small local places. This goes double for large appliances.

Airs Appliances in Philadelphia (1119 Chestnut Street for those of you in the area) has proven me wrong. Not only did we get a great deal, we got great service as well. If you're looking to buy an appliance in the Philly area you are doing yourself a disservice by not stopping by and chatting with the good folks at Air.

Why was I in Airs?

Marisa and I have been talking about getting a new refrigerator for a little bit. It would seem the success of the washer/dry combo unit has emboldened Marisa's zeal for gussying up the kitchen (which I approve of, mind you).

Our current refrigerator irks me to no end. I think it is pretty ugly, and since Marisa is a world class foodie it is often packed to the gills with all sorts of food. That's not a bad thing, but I can never find anything! And with all that hippy food in there there is hardly any room for 'Scott approved' foodstuffs (mostly Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper, and yes I am well aware of the dangers of diet soda). We were both in favor of getting a new fridge.

The world of refrigerators is a wild and varied place. There are awesome professional fridges, very cool retro fridges (which are super tiny), and many more in-between. The space that we have to work with is pretty narrow, in fridge terms. It would seem that manufacturers are making fridges that are about 35 inches wide, which works well for most people. We have a space that, at most, can take a fridge 33 inches wide. We thought we would be stuck with some bottom of the barrel fridge, but we were wrong.

Helen at Airs steered us towards the LG LFC20760, which has everything we wanted:

• French doors
• Freezer on the bottom
• Comes in plain white (the floor model was stainless steel, but you can't put magnets on a stainless steel refrigerator, which is about 50% of the purpose of a fridge, if you ask me).

We were in fridge heaven!

We had no plans to actually buy a fridge while we were in Airs' lovely Center City showroom, mind you. We just wanted to get our hands on some fridges before we ordered one from the web. However, the price ($1139.95) was better than anything we saw on the internet for the same class of refrigerator and it even included delivery (which none of the places on the web did). Marisa looked at me and said, "Are we going to buy a refrigerator today?" I said, "It sure looks like it!" And so we did.

It'll be delivered on the 18th, and Marisa can't wait. My only question is: what do we buy next?

Wedding in a barn?

Marisa and I headed to Lancaster County in the beautiful Pennsylvania countryside to celebrate the marriage of our two friends Becky and Eric (they met via a combination of a blog post and a Google search. Blogging makes things better!).

The wedding itself was lots of fun, as one might expect from a wedding in a barn. I was worried about what the appropriate attire is for a barn wedding, so I just wore my fancy dress shirt and some nice khakis. It seemed to work.

The highlight of the evening, since the happy couple had actually married themselves with a self uniting marriage license earlier in the day, was the pig race. Seeing 4 cute little pigs run around a track is lots of fun, and I recommend it to everyone.

Check out all my pictures from the happy event here. You might notice that Becky and Eric are in very few of the photos. My only explanation is that whenever I hang out with Becky she tells me not to take her picture, so she has conditioned me not to snap her pic (though this one of Marisa and Becky is very nice indeed. Becky looked great in her blue dress, and Marisa is always pretty).

Yet another reason why I shouldn't live by myself

As you know, I've picked up some new shirts as of late. Sadly, the problem with button down shirts is that they need to be ironed before you wear them (just the thought of wearing a wrinkled shirt to work makes my mother's voice ring in my head, 'You're not going out looking like that, are you?' Make it stop!), so that's how I found myself almost out of a house and home this evening.

I woke up this morning, almost on time, and hopped in the shower. I then went to my closet to try and decide what to wear. All my shirts were horribly wrinkled, so I picked a blue striped one and fetched the iron. Now, I'm an 'adult' but I don't own an ironing board so I drape a towel over my coffee table and iron things on that. This means that I often rest the iron on top of my TV, which is within easy reach of my ironing board/coffee table. After my shirt was ironed to my satisfaction (i.e. I couldn't see any more wrinkles on it, but invariably that means the shirt is about 75% wrinkle free) I put the iron on top of my TV, got dressed, and hurried off to work.

After many hours at work, slaving over a hot computer, I wearily made my way home. As I stumbled into my apartment, and dropped in my favorite chair to get a moment's rest I hear an odd noise. It was ticking, but not the ticking of a clock. Have you ever been next to a car that has recently been turned off after driving for a long while? You know that tick you hear, the metal throwing off heat and expanding (or contracting... whichever one it is)? That was the noise I was hearing, but I was pretty sure no one had parked a car in my living room. I scanned the room quickly and that's when I saw it, sitting on my TV so innocently. An iron on the 'cotton setting,' happily heating itself, and using up all the water I put into it this morning to iron the very shirt that I was wearing.

I leapt from my chair, quickly unplugged the iron, and sighed a mighty sigh. The TV, luckily, wasn't even warm after 10 hours of having an iron sitting upright on it.

The lesson here is clear: I should live in a home of some sort, and I should purchase wrinkle free shirts from now on.

I'm available for weddings

It is always a nice feeling when you know that someone you care about is very happy. You know the feeling, don't you? A sort of warm, squiggly feeling deep inside of you that let's you know the world isn't half bad. It is not unusual for someone to feel this way at a wedding of a dear friend, and I am happy to report that is just how I felt this past Friday. However, this feeling was amplified because two good friends were getting married... to each other and I can take at some of the credit for it. Thad and Angie (if those are their REAL names) got hitched this past weekend after a 2 year courtship (or there abouts) and I introduced them to one another! Such is the mighty power of the Blankbaby, I tells you! Remember, ladies, I'm still single and I am very fashionable as evidenced by the above picture. Anyone who has encountered Thad and Angie (or Thadgelica as some have called them) over the past year or so could tell that these two wacky kids were meant to be together. I'm just happy they let me participate in their happy day (I was an usher, and I must say that I ush with the best of 'em). The ceremony itself was very nice, though the priest's homily was a little creepy. He managed to bring up pedophilia and having a threesome with Christ in the same homily. It was most impressive. I also nearly managed to make Marisa laugh out loud during the ceremony, which would have been hilarious (to me at least). Other highlights of the evening include:

• Thad's dad telling me to stop calling his son a jackass
• Thad's mom saying to me, as she walked out of the church, 'What's going on good looking?' to which I said, 'I'll see YOU later.' and winked at her.
• Dancing like a fool with Roz, Bart, and Marisa. Roz managed to snap a few shots of Marisa and I making like Fred and Ginger, and me getting up off the floor after doing the worm (I'm a wild man on the dance floor!).
• Marisa falling in love with, and then absconding with, a pumpkin.
• Escorting Owen down the aisle.
• Having Roz tell me that I am handsome with my glases but VERY handsome without (I told her that she should see me without pants... she wasn't interested).

A good time was had by all, and here are my pictures, Roz's pictures, and Marisa's pictures to prove it.

BlogPhiladelphia rocked, and rocked HARD

The first time I heard about BlogPhiladelphia I was doubtful. This had nothing to do with the people behind it, rather I am just naturally a stick in the mud (which might explain why I am not an entrepreneur. I would have been the one friend of Henry Ford’s who would have said, ‘Eh. Who wants a mass assembled car?! The people want something hand man, sir!’). Luckily, despite my reservations and thanks to the charms of Alex and Annie I signed on to not only attend but to lead two sessions (give me a roomful of people and a microphone and I’m a happy man. I’m the most extroverted introvert you have ever met, I tells ya!).

As with most things in my life, it turned out to be a very good decision (I should always do the exact opposite of what I think I should do, but that’s another post entirely, and a Seinfeld episode to boot!).

Simply put: BlogPhiladelphia was a kick ass time, and I hope to do it again soon.

Annie, Alex, and the whole Uwishunu and the Philly Tourism Board did a fantastic job putting on this great unconference. The unconference format really highlights the best part of conferences: the conversations you have in the hallways. Instead of making people whisper during panels, the people in the audience are the real experts and they get fools (like me) to facilitate the conversation and try and keep it on point.

The thing that really surprised me was that people wanted to meet me. Me?! Why are these people interested in meeting me? Strikes me as a little odd, but hey I’m an egomaniac so I’ll take what I can get.

Rob Sandie, President of Viddler, has a great post up recapping all the reasons that BlogPhilly rocked (and I am not just saying that because he starts off with me and calls me the funniest person imaginable… though that doesn’t hurt. Thanks, Rob!). Check it out, and I’ll be posting another thing or two about BlogPhiladelphia in the coming days.

Yes, that's a picture of me leading a session. Thanks to Tony for taking it! Check out the BlogPhiladelphia Flickr pool for even more pictures from the event.

Blankbaby Reader survey: To beard or not to beard?

I've asked this question before (twice, in fact) and each time the beard wins out, however, I haven't shaved off the beard since I lost 95 pounds (and counting). So, dear readers, should I grow back my beard, or let my skinny face be naked?

You're all smarter than I am (except for you, and you know who you are), so tell me what to do with my face (and keep it clean, people!).

Photos by stellargirl (I think she took both of them.. I know she took the one on the left, but Thad might be responsible for the one on the right).

Wanna see me get yelled at on TV?

I have been a busy, busy panda here at WWDC (that's Apple's World Wide Developer's Conference to you, bub). Oh, that's right, I was so busy leading up to it that I didn't mention on Ye Olde Blankbaby that I would be in San Francisco this week. I'm here until Friday, so if you are a Blankbaby reader and you live in the Bay Area now is your chance to meet me!

Anyway, right after the Steve Jobs Keynote I get an email from a producer at CNBC. It would seem Steve Rubel (thanks, Steve!) gave him my name (and the names of a few of my fellow TUAW bloggers) because he was looking for someone to appear on Fast Money's Face2Face segment. They wanted someone to talk about the Keynote, though the catch was that they wanted someone at the conference. Since I'm currently in SF covering it, they went with little old me. They had me log into a WebEx session, dial up a conference number (using speakerphone) and talk into my iSight. They also made me take off my glasses, which made me sad but anything for TV (there was some glare from the glasses).

You can check it out here on iTunes and see me try to talk some sense into these fast talking traders (or you can look at it on Viddler. Thanks, Alex!). I don't know if I succeeded, but at least I didn't sound like too much of an idiot.

It is useful to keep in mind that I really didn't have any idea what they were going to ask me about. I knew they wanted to hear the 'Man on the Street' view of the Keynote but they didn't give me any specific areas they wanted to talk about. I wanted to talk about Safari 3 being on Windows but they were more interested in the iPhone (shocking, I know).

Oh, and thanks to Frank for the kind words. It was quite an intro that Dylan gave me... and one I try to live up to though I fail miserably more often than not. What's that saying, 'being there is 90%.' I might have just made that up.

The Ferik wedding

Ain't they cute?
Originally uploaded by blankbaby.

This weekend was the wedding of my dear friend Owen to his lovely bride Jess. Check out all the pictures I took here.

I've known Owen for about 12 years now (has it really been that long?) and while I am pretty sucky about keeping in touch with people Owen has made the effort to say in touch with me (why, we might never know). Now that Thad is in Philly I make it out to Allentown more often for some quality Owen time, which is a good thing indeed.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed the wedding.

Jess and Owen, here's to many years of bliss.

At Owen and Jess' reception

Let me show you my photo face

I like to think of myself as shy and retiring, an opinion that isn't always upheld by reality. Sure, I'm fairly shy around people I don't know, but around friends I'm far from shy (and if I'm in front of a crowd... forget about it). Concurrently, I like to think of myself as someone who is happier behind the scenes, not the center of attention. Once again, reality disagrees.

There are many pictures of myself on Flickr (234 at the moment), which I suppose isn't the mark of some shy, reticent individual.

Here's a story that goes with the above picture:

I was amongst those lucky enough to be invited to a certain someone's birthday party, so I got gussied up (you never know who you'll meet at these parties. Yes, ladies, I am single.) and headed on over. Stellargirl was also in attendance with her camera in hand, and for some reason, and with no prodding from yours truly, she decided to start snapping pictures of me. Once it became clear that our height differences were making the ideal shot difficult to get she had me sit in a chair, which I did because I am ever the willing photographic subject (see here, here, here, and here). As the camera clicked away Becky walked in, and rolled her eyes saying, 'Of course, Scott is getting his picture taken.' Really, what party is complete without me getting my picture taken at it?

Anywho, the real reason I am writing this post is to call your attention to the face that I am making in the above picture (taken by stellargirl herself). This face is my default picture face (Lord knows why) and as such deserves a name (ala Zoolander's Blue Steel). Sound off in the comments with some suggestions! You know you want to.

The man of the hour

Calvert DeForest, a.k.a Larry 'Bud' Melman, is no more

Calvert DeForest died today. You might remember him from David Letterman's show where he played the character Larry 'Bud' Melman. He always got a laugh from me, what with his odd delivery of pretty random stuff (my favorite kind of humor).

Death has been in my thoughts a lot as of late. Well, perhaps not a lot, but more than usual. A friend of mine recently died due to complications from surgery and I don't think he was much older than I am. Not to mention the sudden, and entirely unexpected, death of Star. It really makes you think about what you're doing with your life.

Death is also a great motivator, at least for me. It is the main reason I have managed to shed 75 pounds in recent months. Death is a constant thought in the back of my mind as I go about my day. I really don't want to be another person who dies because they didn't take care of themselves (though heart disease does run in my family. Hurrah!). I'm not afraid of dying, really, so much as not willing to miss out on everything that will happen after I'm gone. I don't believe in an afterlife, or reincarnation, or anything along those lines. This life is the only one I get, and I damn well better enjoy it.

Heavy stuff, huh? I promise I'm not depressed! I'm a pragmatist when it comes to my own death (cremation, I think, is what'll happen to my body since I doubt any of my organs are harvestable... but the doctors should check. If they can use it, they can have it!) but I am against it happening to other people.

Words of wisdom from Jon Stewart

Talking about the hordes of 'comedy groupies' on Sit Down Comedy with David Steinberg Jon says:

They [i.e. women] always say, 'Sense of humor it's so important to me... that's why I'm in love with Don Rickles.' Yes, sense of humor is very important to you in theory.

So very true. Lots of folks seems to find me entertaining (whether or not I am actually funny I leave up to you. I don't really consider myself to be that funny, but I do enjoy it when people laugh and so it follows that I often attempt to make it happen. It is selfish, really) and yet the ladies are not pounding down my door.

That being said, I have it on good authority that Jon Stewart is hot. Perhaps I just need to get a show on Comedy Central.

Out of my comfort zone

I'm a big fan of my comfort zone. I love schedules, routines, and clear objectives. They make things so much easier for me. I mean, if you have a hard and fast deadline you know when you need to have something done. When you have a routine you know what should happen and when it should happen (and I think my love of routines is one of the reasons I have, in fact, been getting fit. I had my doubts about whether or not I would actually go to the gym as often as I should. Luckily, I have been).

Sadly, for me, the universe doesn't play by my rules (what up with that, universe? I totally play by your rules. I've never violated the laws of causality, nor have I gone faster than the speed of light. Help a brother out!). Sometimes, it would seem, the only way to get somewhere is to step far, far outside your comfort zone and just do it.

I do not like this one bit.

Leaving my comfort zone frightens me.

I am a weak, weak man.

There should be some sort of company that you can call, and they'll take care of whatever you need to get done. Since I don't think such a company exists (and if they did, I bet they would charge a lot for their services... I would think of them as 'life movers.') I must leave my comfort zone from time to time to accomplish things that I know have to be done.

I know what you're thinking, 'Scott, it is good to leave your comfort zone! That's when the best things in life happen!' Sure, I know that intellectually, but the comfort zone is not a place of reason. The comfort zone is a place where no one judges you, no one says you're wrong, and you know the rules of the realm. Everything outside the comfort zone is the Wild Wild West. You never know when some varmint is going to shoot you and gallop off with your horse.

Birthday party pics

I am having a hissy fit because I am turning 30
Originally uploaded by blankbaby.

I'll be posting more about my party shortly, but until then check out some pictures. The party was a blast!

Scott from 2002 is disappointed by 2007 Scott

Look at what the Past Me thought the Current Me would be doing:

I am thinking I might want to go full-time if I can swing it, because it usually takes 5 years or so to get done.. and I want to be Dr. Scott by 30. And since I am turning 25 in a matter of days, I have to get started!

Dude, when did I get sooo lame?

Yesterday was my birthday, and it was your birthday too

I turned 30 yesterday. How did I celebrate this momentous occasion? Thusly (presented to you in convenient list form):

• Went to work (I was very nearly on time)


• Went to lunch at Pod (thanks, everyone!)


• Went to the gym and did 2.7 miles on the elliptical in the secret equipment room (Thanks, Becky!)


• Had a bacon cheese burger from Five Guys for dinner (I know, so not on the diet but it is my frickin’ birthday)


• Cleaned out my closet (I’m sorry mama.)


• Did some laundry


• Patched some servers

Fork You! on iTunes

Fork You! is now available on iTunes (link) and Digg (link, and Digg it if you like it, and if you use Digg).

Five things you don't know about me

C.K. tagged me, and so now I must participate in the latest meme sweeping the internet.  Here we go, five things most of you don’t know about me:

1. I was a boy scout, a very bad boy scout but a boy scout nonetheless.  My father was an eagle scout and I always had the sneaking suspicion that he wished I was more outdoorsy.
2. I enjoy hugs.  I have this reputation that I hate being hugged, and it simply isn’t true.  I like appropriate hugs, which pretty much covers being hugged by anyone who reads this (if you are so inclined to hug me.  If you would rather not hug me that’s cool too).  I will seldom initiate a hug, because I can never tell if a hug is welcome, which might add to my hug hating reputation.
3. I live in constant fear of being fired.  No matter how many times the people I work with tell me that I’m doing a good job, in the back of my mind I think that at any moment I will be told to take my belongings and leave the building.  This isn’t a new thing either.  When I was in school I was always afraid that I was on the edge of failing all my classes and being kicked out of school.
4. I fear that I will die alone (just like Capt. Kirk!  I’m such a big geek.)
5. When I was a child I carried around a purse.  The purse contained blank pieces of paper.  When my mother and I would go into stores I would pay for whatever it is we bought by writing a ‘check’ on one of the pieces of paper.  This is true, and I have no idea what it means about me.

Now I must tag five other people to do this, and so I will tag Terry, Marisa, Karl, Joe, and Frank.

Update: Frank, Joe, and Terry have posted their answers and there are some pretty gross answers in the lineup of 5 (think dangling eyes and peanut butter with cheese).