Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Tag, I'm It

Jenclair at A Garden Carried in the Pocket tagged me for the "8 Things" meme. This is a first for me, but here goes:

The rules -

1: Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
2: People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post these rules.
3: At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names.
4: Don't forget to leave them a comment and tell them they're tagged, and to read your blog.


1. I was born and raised in Texas but, by a large majority, my cousins live on the east side of the Sabine River (in southwest Louisiana) and are very much Cajun by heritage and habit.

2. I was in the Algerian Sahara Desert on 9-11-01 and found out about what happened in NYC that day from an Arab employee who was crying as he broke the news to me.

3. I am a huge fan of what I consider to be "real" country music and have a collection that includes probably every song recorded by Hank Williams, more than 300 different recordings from George Jones, and close to 300 each from Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard. The collection totals over 22,000 country songs in all.

4. The Civil War intrigues me and I am a member of a Houston Civil War Round Table group that meets once a month.

5. I was an officer of the Houston Astros booster club in the '80s and met many of my childhood baseball heroes as they came through Houston for old timers games or to speak at our monthly meetings.

6. Until my left knee eventually forced me to quit running, I was a dedicated runner and I completed marathons in several different states from 1979 to 1994.

7. I worked in the oil industry for over three decades despite having returned to college to complete my degree only after surviving two refinery explosions in one year at a Mobil refinery in Beaumont, Texas.

8. I take politics very seriously but I've taken a personal vow to stay away from political arguments on the internet after finding out that death threats tend to bother me.


This is a great way to get to know one another a little better, so I'm going to tag the following folks and we'll see what happens:

Matt at A Variety of Words

Amanda at The Blog Jar

John at The Book Mine Set

Cip at bookpuddle

Sharon at Ex Libris

Dewey at The Hidden Side of a Leaf

Joy at Thoughts of Joy

J.S. Peyton at BiblioAddict

I'm off to alert the chosen eight, and hoping that they have not already been tagged for this one.


18 comments:

  1. Oh this looks like fun! I'll try to get this up in the next day or two.

    BTW -- allegedly, Robert E. Lee is my great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather. Apparently it is written in some dusty bible and that is why my middle name is Lee. It has been handed down. :)

    By boyfriend -- who is african american -- always jokes about courtin' the general's granddaughter.

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  2. I've looked long and hard for a link to ANY Civil War officer, Amanda. Sounds like you really struck gold with Lee. No wonder your boyfriend's so impressed. :-)

    Best I can do is come up with a few privates who don't seem to have gotten themselves promoted even once during the war...one deserter in the bunch who was my paternal grandmother's grandfather. He was wounded twice and captured once. I suppose he finally just had enough.

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  3. I like "real" country music, too...especially the ones you mentioned. Can't believe some stations won't play anything but the new stuff, although I think this is getting better with "Classic Country" segments. I have a Carter Family compliation as well as one by Jimmie Rodgers. Even though the production is a little rough and the voices are sometimes a little harsh, I'm attracted to the music. I think it's my way of being a history buff.

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  4. bybee, check out http://realcountrymusic.org and you'll find a whole community of real country music fans, some great people and some fantastic music. You'll feel right at home.

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  5. Neat idea - I knew some of those things, but I learned some stuff about you, too. The marathons are cool - I've never actually known someone who's run a marathon.

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  6. Hi Sam, I was surprised that I actually knew some of these before! #2 I didn't though. Wow. That was interesting. I remember where I was at 9-11 too. It's one of those "Where were you when" stories that defines a certain time, I guess.

    Btw, I did the tag.

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  7. When we were small, my dad worked for the Houston Oil Co., and we lived in Beeville, TX. We have pictures of rigs all over the country from Texas to Wyoming, several are from wells in the Tabasco Field area in south Texas.

    You didn't mention Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys--loads of toe-tapping fun!

    Thanks for playing, Sam!

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  8. I've posted my "8 things". And tried to tag some people but couldn't come up with 8 that hadn't already been tagged.

    I've decided I have to stay away from politics because it gets me too worked up, it also depresses me. One of the reasons I chose to blog about books was to get me away from blogging about things like politics.

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  9. Anne, it almost broke my heart when I had to quit running, but if I hadn't quit when I did I would really have some bad knee problems today. Distance running became an addiction for me and I've never really found an exercise substitute for it.

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  10. Thanks for playing the game, John. I've been out on two job interviews all day so I haven't seen your response yet, but I'm on my way.

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  11. Jenclair, it seems that almost everyone I know these days from Texas or the surrounding states has been touched by the oil business to one degree or another. It's probably a dying industry but it's certainly one of the most important ones of the 20th century and beyond.

    Bob Wills is still the king according to Waylon...and I agree. I have lots of Bob's music and really enjoy Western Swing as done by George Strait and Asleep at the Wheel also. Good stuff.

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  12. Thanks for playing the game with us, Matt. It mushroomed so quickly that I think that some folks have been tagged more than once. There are only so many of us to go around, after all. :-)

    I had a political blog for a while but it attracted some of the weirdest people I've ever come into contact with in my life. And that covers a whole world of weirdness. I quit fooling with it when I managed to attract a crazy woman stalker who eventually threatened me with much more than just internet stalking.

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  13. I'm having such bad luck with comments lately! I left one here, too, but it didn't show up. Anyway, thanks for the tag!

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  14. I have a Civil War ancestor, and he's only my great-grandfather. He was a lieutenant in the Union army and served in an engineering corps that repaired railroad lines between Meridien and Vicksburg, Mississippi. He was discharged from the army because he was ill, and took the government up on their offer of land in Florida--does that makes my ancestors carpetbaggers?

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  15. You're welcome, Dew. I wish I could figure out why you're having problems with comments here, but I don't have a clue.

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  16. Gentle Reader, I think that my ancestors would have considered your ancestors to be carpetbaggers...but Florida may have been a different situation when compared to the other Southern states, I don't know. :-)

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  17. Great post!! I did this a few days ago too. Totally agree about the politics. Still doesn't stop me from posting!!

    Great blog! I'll be BACK

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  18. Do come back, Stephanie. Most of the fun I have from this blog originates from the comments that people post. Thanks for stopping by.

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I always love hearing from you guys...that's what keeps me book-blogging. Thanks for stopping by.