Possible Insight

Rafe, you are not the last person on Facebook to do 25 Random Things.  After your post, Jane browbeat me into finally putting my list together.

1) I can force my eyes into a disconjugate gaze–looking in slightly different directions.

2) My wife can also force her eyes into a disconjugate gaze.  This gives a whole new meaning to, “Love at first sight.” Our daughter inherited this superpower (among others).

3) I have large hands but can nevertheless fit my entire fist in my mouth. In fact, I held a record at my oral surgeon for largest mouth opening.

4) I cannot stand the taste of even the smallest piece of lettuce.  I contend this is a rare genetic trait.

5) I once ran a mile in 4:26.  I also once bench pressed 225 lbs 26 times in a row.  I was the same height but weighed 65lbs more when I accomplished the second feat.

6) The first thing that attracted me to my wife was the assurance with which she handled a full-sized Chevy Blazer.

7) I knew I was going to marry my wife one month after I met her.  Moreover, we were only 20 years old at the time. I reject the hypothesis that this is a result of confirmation bias.

8) My wife and I lived with Steve and Laurel right after graduating from college.

9) I used to be a pretty good cook–until my wife become a professional.

10) My wife and I don’t celebrate Valentines day (and we’ll be having our 18th anniversary in December).

11) I have a lot of trouble falling asleep in the presence of any stimulus (auditory, visual, tactile or even just internal mental dialog).  Nevertheless, I require about 9 hours of sleep per night.

12) I really enjoy personal conversation with people I know.  I really enjoy speaking publicly to strangers.  It’s very hard for me to initiate personal conversations with strangers.

13) I feel that my short attention span is my greatest intellectual flaw.  I would be a terrific software developer if only I could pay attention to a programming problem for more than a few hours.

14) I reflexively reject any group ideology (even when it has merit).

15) I’m an agnostic but I’m not viscerally afraid of dying, only intellectually.

16) I honestly think Fletch should have won an Oscar (for writing).

17) I’m pretty sure I was mostly a jerk in high school.  I’m pretty sure I was still quite a bit of a jerk in college.

18) As a freshman at Stanford, I got a D in honors physics, thus crushing my hope of becoming a physicist.

19) As a sophomore at Stanford, I received an A+ in a Master’s level decision theory project course, thus solidifying my membership in the Bayesian Conspiracy.

20) I didn’t take a single computer science course at Stanford but I’ve spent most of my adult life in the software industry in a “technical capacity”.

21) I exercise about 14 hours per week.

22) I am absolutely convinced that I would have been a dramatically more successful athlete if I knew in high school everything I’ve learned about training over the years.

23) I think professional mixed martial arts (AKA “ultimate fighting”) is safer than professional boxing.

24) My best source of stress relief is having a professional MMA fighter trying to bash my brains in.

25) I have trained to the point where I am perfectly capable of seriously hurting another human being in dozens of ways.  One of my biggest fears is ever having to use this skill.