Who Am I? Getting to Know Ken

My friend Aaron Aiken (@aaronaiken) who blogs over at Where Are You Now? started a thread or "meme" whereby we're supposed to introduce ourselves a bit and tell seven weird or random things about ourselves, and then tag seven more people to keep it going. So...why not?

Here's some interesting things you should know about Ken:

1. I love music, but have ZERO musical ability. Any time I have ever tried to take lessons, I have failed. I guess I'm too A.D.D. to stick to it. I seriously wish I could play piano or guitar, but...I can't. I can't even sing. I always tell people that I'm "biotone" - I only know two notes...and neither of them have ever been used in a song.  So I live vicariously through the music I listen to, as well as my drum/piano/guitar playing kids. Oh, and I have no rhythm. And since I don't drink, you'll never see me dancing in public. Unless of course it's a small crowd of close friends and I'm seriously trying to embarrass my kids.

2. Food, glorious Food! It's a surprise I don't weigh 300 pounds. I love food. And I'll try anything once. I think that if a Dr. ever tells me I need to cut back on certain things due to cholesterol/blood pressure/other malady, I'll just have to look him in the eye and say "Are you stupid?" And I love meat too much to ever consider being a vegetarian. I'll go to a buffet and get back to my table and realize that I have a plate piled high with meat.  Sometimes the closest thing I ever get to a veggie in those places would be mashed potatoes or French fries. 

As a kid, I once as a joke made an apple butter and liverwurst sandwich (yes, i know, "ewwwww.") And as gross as it may sound, it actually tasted quite good. So I actually made those sandwiches from time to time. I've even eaten cold calves brains at a Moroccan meal. Won't ever eat them again, but I tried it! And yes, I do like scrapple. For me, it's all about taste. I don't give a rip about what it looks like or "presentation." I'm from the school of thought that it's all going to the same place...so strange combinations generally don't bother me. If it tastes good, I'm in!

3. My hair is completely gray and has been for a long time. I don't remember when the process started, but I was definitely in my mid- to late-30s. I've never even considered coloring it, but for those of you who know me only as a gray-haired gent, my original hair color was a light-ish brown. I think there are some pictures of that on Facebook. Fortunately I've been told that gray looks good on me. Some might say "dignified" but then they must not really know me!

4. While I'm not an innovator or a true early adopter, I'm a supreme multi-tasker when it comes to technology. As a kid I would do my homework while sitting in front of the TV and listening to music. Now, as I approach my 47th birthday, I find myself well ahead of the tech curve, having been on Facebook and MySpace well before my kids were even there. Part of that is due to the fact that some of my jobs have involved researching and writing/speaking on social media/Internet/new media. I'm obviously blog, I'm on Twitter (@kmueller62) as well as a number of other social media sites. It is not uncommon to find me online, listening to music, on AIM, on Twitter, and on my cell (either texting or speaking), all at the same time. Somehow this works for me and I flourish. Sometimes in the evening I'll even be doing all these while watching TV. 

As a result, many of my friends are people I first met online via social media. These are the friends  with whom I can truly connect on a regular basis, and I enjoy meeting them in person.

But the one area where I'm technologically stupid is video games. My kids love playing me in Halo or other games because I'm like a guy with a bulls eye on him. They've killed me ten times before I even SEE them the first time. And don't even ask me about Guitar Hero. Apparently my musical inabilities carry over to virtual music.

5. Fears. I don't really have many. Not afraid of dying. I guess my biggest phobia would be a weird fear of medium heights. High heights don't bother me. I figure if I fall, I'm dead. But if I'm on the edge of the roof...or perhaps 20 feet up...then I might get a little scared...because if I fall, I'm maimed. I think I'd rather die than be seriously maimed. Not afraid of snakes, or spiders, or crowds, or small spaces. And certainly not superstitious at all. I go out of my way to use the number 13, walk under ladders, walk passed black cats. I'd break more mirrors on purpose, but my wife would be ticked, and that habit would get kind of expensive. 

6. Coffee. I love coffee. With cream and sugar. Coffee stirs up fond memories for me. I can remember coming downstairs in the morning as a kid and smelling my dad's coffee, and even smelling it on his breath as he hugged me to go to work. Couldn't stand it back then, and didn't really learn to drink it until college. Now, I used to say that there is no such thing as a bad cup of coffee. That's because when I really started drinking it heavily I was working overnights in small town radio. You never knew when that pot of coffee had been brewed, and I'm sure when it was emptied it never really got cleaned well. My main caveat with coffee is that I want just regular old coffee. No lattes or espresso or double mochasomethingorothers for me. No flavors. Just coffee. And my preferred brand is Dunkin Donuts. I just think it tastes best and goes down really smooth. Starbucks is overpriced swill. I would LOVE to get into all the different blends from different countries, etc., but sometimes they are too strong for me. So if you are buying me a cup of coffee, I'll take regular ol' Joe with some cream and sugar...and DD is the best choice. If you do that, you'll make me very happy.

7. Oh wow...my last one. What to talk about? How about that fact that I'm seriously boring! I'm a homebody and I don't go out much. With few exceptions, I'd rather stay home at night and on the weekends and just chill. I have no real hobbies (other than reading, music, and Internet), no cool special skills, and I've never really travelled extensively. Only been out of the country twice (both times to Canada...yawn), and have never been to any of the really cool places in this country. Never seen the Grand Canyon or Mount Rushmore or Alaska or Hawaii. I prefer white bread to wheat bread. Yep...I'm boring. 

And now time to tag my friends and see what they come up with:

Daniel

Jess

Hiram

Sara

Brian

Bryan

Beth

THE RULES ARE:
Link your original tagger(s) and leave a comment on this blog posting when you’ve “memed”.

List these rules on your blog.

Share seven facts about yourself in the post - some random, some weird.

Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.

Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs and/or Twitter.