100 things about me in no order

This isn’t one of those questionnaires, it’s more like free-association. 100 things should tell you a lot, but I can’t promise everything. Yes, this is narcisitistic, but I figured that if people wanted to know something about me, this might be more intriguing than a boring old profile.
I haven’t been terrible productive right now at work because this is the most dead part of the year, when it comes to news (everyone is on vaction in the community), so it hasn’t been hard for me to scribble something down as soon as it pops into my head.
Mostly, I’m missing Yelena terribly. Talking on the phone with her is pretty much my only solace. Enough moaning, here’s the list:

1. Before I became a writer I wanted to be an architect.
2. My sophomore year of college I lost 26 pounds.
3. I was born in New York and raised in San Francisco, which should never be called “Frisco.”
4. One serious movie I cannot get enough of is Wonderboys.
5. The best vacation I have ever taken, as a kid, was with my family to camp in Big Sur, Calif.
6. I have two younger brothers.
7. The first two-wheeled bicycle I learned to ride was too big for me to get on myself.
8. When people name their children after ideals, like “Hope,” it drives me crazy. Continued…
9. I have been dating my current girlfriend Yelena, since October 2004.
10. I believe vanilla far exceeds chocolate ice cream in complexity.
11. I am deathly afraid of un-enclosed heights, so airplanes are fine but rock-climbing is out.
12. My parents are still married.
13. I am not, nor have I ever been, married. Yet.
14. If I had one to pick one cocktail it would be a gin and tonic.
15. I have only one credit card, tied to my checking, and I am terrified of it.
16. When interviewing people I prefer to tape record, but this is often perceived as lazy.
17. I was a virgin until I was 18.
18. I harbor a not-so-secret love of cooking elaborate dishes.
19. Although I am Jewish not Catholic, if I could nominate one person for sainthood it would be neighbor Fred Rogers.
20. I love swimming but hate public pools.
21. I speak French quasi-fluently, it took me only seven years.
22. The only sports I watch on television are hockey and college football.
23. My first blog entry was in 2002.
24. I have zero musical talent, kazoo does not count, although I tried to play the trumpet and the guitar once.
25. I have a deep sense of nostalgia for the mid-1980s.
26. I drive a Subaru station wagon.
27. The best cake in the world is my Mom’s chocolate raspberry.
28. My first CD was the Beatle’s red compilation album, the second was Green Day’s Dookie.
29. I have worked for newspapers since I was 16.
30. I am allergic to fish/shellfish/seafood and, no, I don’t know what I’m missing.
31. I cannot do math.
32. I purchase books like an addict.
33. My best night on the town was in Portland at Montage in the spring of 2005; five bottles of wine for five people over four and a half hours.
34. Between nectarines and peaches I always pick nectarines.
35. I have never been to Chicago.
36. I would rather be freezing cold than even remotely hot.
37. I love listening to public radio on rainy weekends.
38. I can make hollandaise sauce.
39. I think all furniture should have clean lines.
40. I never buy dryer sheets of fabric softener.
41. I think bouquets of flowers are a necessary evil.
42. Roommates are always a bad idea unless you are sleeping with them.
43. I love my car but would prefer to never drive it, so I always try to live close to work or school or take public transportation.
44. Politics are no longer my bag, I see too much of the ugly side of political parties as a journalist to ever want to help either.
45. Favorite colors are total B.S.
46. People who say things like, “Oh, I don’t read, did you catch Survivor last night?” should be shot.
47. I am devoted to Safeway, but love Whole Foods-esque stores.
48. I attended a Jewish sleep-away camp outside of Yosemite as a kid and consider the weeks I spent there some of the best summer days of my life.
49. Woody Allen and Diane Keaton in any movie pre-1980 is an ideal to be obtained. Even in an oppressive future they are so damn likeable.
50. Hummers (the car) are a disgrace.
51. Humidity makes me sweat badly
52. I know AP (Associated Press) style and write in it all the time (see #95).
53. I hunt-an-peck type.
54. I rarely carry cash.
55. The longer my hair is the more it tends to puff into an afro.
56. The Dick Van Dyke show is ridiculously unrealistic, but totally brilliant.
57. I have never received a speeding ticket.
58. I used to own PCs and run Windows, I am now an Apple person.
59. My parents used to call me “the camel” because as a little kid I rarely went to the bathroom until the moment before I was about to explode.
60. Lemonade is my favorite summer drink.
61. I have always wanted a tattoo, but fear of pain and my ever-changing style have prevented me from getting one.
62. I have shaken President Bill Clinton’s hand.
63. My brother Eric bit me a few times as a hyper little kid, he’s now studying to be a rocket scientist in Cleveland.
64. I like big TVs and sound systems (not that I own one), but mostly for watching movies.
65. IKEA is my own personal savior.
66. I was a Boy Scout, but fell short of becoming an Eagle Scout. On thing I learned, duct tape fixes everything.
67. I hate LA, and love the movie “LA Story.”
68. Coca-Cola not Pepsi.
69. My friend April is going to be the next Martha Stewart, she turned me onto steamed artichokes with gritty mustard sauce.
70. I wear boxers.
71. Cool white linens on your bed are great, but impractical. Flat sheets are pointless too.
72. I love the smell of real cinnamon and vanilla – air fresheners smell awful.
73. I vividly remember panicking during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
74. I did not drink wine for over a year after I got sick once on cheap red wine.
75. There is nothing as satisfying as a hot shower.
76. My best friend is a girl.
77. Toast is essential, and I own an antique chrome toaster that makes perfect toast every time.
78. Quickie sex if fun.
79. My room in my parent’s house was filled with inventions I created.
80. I like scarves and long, old-fashioned men’s coats in the winter.
81. I am a good dancer, but poorly coordinated in every other avenue of life.
82. I have not eaten beef since I was 15, and no red meat either except for some fantastic lamb I had on my 21st birthday.
83. I was born in 1983, and share my birthday with singer Michelle Branch.
84. My first girlfriend in college is now married and living in South Korea.
85. I consider authentic Chinatown dim sum, or Mel’s Diner the perfect Sunday morning hangover cure.
86. My youngest brother plays ice hockey.
87. The only taste I truly hate is black licorice.
88. Seeing blood makes me squeamish.
89. I prefer a messenger bag to a backpack.
90. I love waking up next to the woman I love and thinking she looks beautiful, even tousled.
91. I pick at my cuticles.
92. I h
    ave been on two cruises, both to Mexico.
93. My laptop is named “Woodward” and my desktop computer is named “Bernstein.”
94. I love lightning.
95. I can program Web sites in HTML, CSS and Flash.
96. I have only three first cousins.
97. I have had mono.
98. San Jose is overrated.
99. My grandma calls me her ‘number one barana.’ I was her first grandchild
100. My middle name is Ross.