Tag, I'm it....

It appears I've been officially tagged by my friend Elaine over at Aaron's Rod. Here's how this game works...I'll need to list 8 facts or habits about myself that you might not otherwise know and then tag another 8 people and leave comments on their sites letting them know that they've been tagged, so they can likewise make the requisite revelations.

Here goes:

• Back when I was younger and even crazier than I am now, I boxed professionally for a very brief time (junior lightweight) and ended up with an 7-1-0 ( 7 wins, 1 tie, 4 KO's) record.
  

• I have a real dislike and mistrust of parrots. This goes back to the time when a girlfriend's parrot interrupted a beautiful and intimate moment in a most unexpected and painful fashion. I wanted to barbecue that damn bird! I actually like birds in general..just not parrots.
  

• I don't have television in my home, and rarely watch it. I was never that big a TV fan, and my wife and I made a conscious decision to ban the idiot box while our first child was still an infant. Since we live in an area where cable or satellite would be a necessity to get TV, it was pretty easy to just cut it off. On the rare occasions that I want to watch something like an important speech, I either view it over the net or have a friend tape it for me. I recommend it wholeheartedly if you have small, impressionable children.
  

• I spent over ten years of my life recording and touring as a professional guitarist with various rock, pop and R&B groups as well as playing on a number of commercials. I play 3other musical instruments with varying degrees of proficiency..4, if you count electric slide/dobro as a separate instrument.
  

• I once lived in a secluded old house built in 1924 in the Laurel Canyon section of the Hollywood Hills which was 58 steps straight up off the street, right near Houdini's Castle. I spent a lot of time looking for a hidden passageway that supposedly existed between my old house and the Castle, but never found it. Speaking of which...I love magic shows.
  

• I got into blogging directly as a result of the New York Times, who wanted to publish one of my pieces on the Middle East...but only if I agreed to them `editing' it to the point where the meaning was 180 degrees from the original. After I declined ( to put it mildly), I realized that the new media was a much better outlet.
  

• I'm a big fan of the late Hunter S. Thompson's work...showing that style transcends politics.
  

• I am, almost by instinct, not a flatlander or beach dweller. I prefer to live in the hills, and high up, with a good view so I can see what's coming at me.

OK, here's a list of my intended victims:

Canker

Kobayashi Maru

Rants and Raves

The Strata-Sphere

ShrinkWrapped

the Dry Bones Blog

Augean Stables

It's Almost Supernatural