AbbaGav

Ezzie of SerandEz fame has tagged me with the A-Z meme. With Passover almost upon us and time and energy in short supply, I'll take a shot at it anyway, since it's easier than trying to figure out something on my own to post. Of couse, if you've developed a meme-phobia, feel free to skip this one.

Accent:

Not me. Everyone else has the accent. I speak idealized non-surfer Californian.

Booze:

No thanks. I tried to cultivate a taste for it back when I thought that would make me cool, and it just didn't work.

Chore I Hate:

Folding clothes. I eagerly await the nano-tech revolution, when we can order new clothes from the universal constructor home-unit each morning and recycle them each evening.

Dogs/Cats:

I've put up with cats. A lot of cats. The kids, with a little maternal help, just keep adopting the critters. Everytime one takes off, another one somehow senses the new vacancy and starts mewling pathetically outside the door.

Essential Electronics:

A computer, a broadband modem and a digital camera. That's enough to take cute pictures of my kids and post them on my blog. What more could you need? Oh, and one of those nanotech universal constructor home-units.

Favorite Perfume/Cologne:

As Ezzie said, whatever my wife is wearing. I'm quite uneducated in this area. Besides, I already spend too much of my life sneezing to truly appreciate additional exotic odors.

Gold & Silver:

Not since my days playing Dungeons and Dragons, and even then I prefered platinum, unpoisoned food rations, or a nice Potion of Healing.

Hometown:

I was born in Milwaukee, but I really consider Long Beach, California my hometown.

Insomnia:

Nope, no insomnia whatsoever. I can fall asleep within about 5 minutes whenever I want. Of course, this is because I usually stay up until the wee hours when I'm so bleary-eyed I couldn't stay awake another minute even if I wanted too.

Job Title:

Something like "Programmer." I can't remember what the latest euphemism is. It might be Software Engineer. I'm pretty sure I'm not a Knowledge Worker.

Kids:

Three girls: Rachel, Tamar, and Miriam.

Living Arrangements:

Inside of a house.

Most Admired Trait

My extraordinarily humble nature, and in a distant second place comes my dogged commitment to humor no matter what the cost.

Number of Sexual Partners:

Yeah, right. One at a time. Call me old-fashioned.

Overnight Hospital Stays:

Various births, including my own. Childhood tonsillectomy (I met the Oscar Meyer Weiner man while recovering from anasthetic -- he was more fun than me). One adult surgery. One infant daughter's fever. That's enough thanks.

Phobia:

Fear of typsos (I'm trying to work through it).

Quote:

I'm not really a "quotes" kind of person. Probably Lincoln, Churchill and maybe Orwell would be my favorite sources, along with the Bible of course. When I need them, I google for them. To quote Churchill: "It is a good thing for an educated man to read books of quotations." Since he didn't say anything about memorizing them, I figure I'm on solid ground. I'm sure I know a few, but they aren't pushing and shoving their way to the front of the line, demanding I advertise them here. Plus, by limiting my use of quotations, I also avoid Orwell's complaint: "In places, this book is a little over-written because Mr. Blunden is no more able to resist a quotation than some people are to refuse a drink." And with that, this answer is now officially too long.

Religion:

It shouldn't shock any of my blog's readers to learn that I'm Jewish.

Siblings:

One brother and three half-sisters

Time I Usually Wake Up:

Milliseconds after whichever daughter wakes up, otherwise somewhere between 6 and 7 am -- much too early either way.

Unusual Talent:

I can spin books, pillows and basketballs on my finger. I can also hang spoons from my nose, which isn't really so amazing but for some reason my kids are really hung up on that one.

Vegetable I Refuse To Eat:

Is a mushroom a vegetable or a toxic substance? Ok, let's go with olives then.

Worst Habit:

Snacking.

X-Rays:

Ok, come on, this one is a real stretch just to fill in an A-Z meme. Whoever wrote this thing should have thought of the X-problem before they even started. X-rays indeed! How about xylophones? Ok, that I'll answer: I have no xylophones. But X-rays? I prefer gamma rays, always have since freshman phys lab.

Yummy Foods I Make:

Indian: Chickpeas and Potato curry, Daal, Biryani Rice, Chicken Curry in Cashew Sauce, Saag Paneer. Chinese: Sweet and Sour Chicken, Moo Shoo Chicken, Walnut Chicken, Kung Pao Chicken, Red Pepper Chicken Stir Fry, Fried Rice. Italian: Lasagna, Pasta and Meat Sauce, Tuna Lasagna, Risotto, Tomato Garlic Bread. Dessert: Pumpkin Cake, German Chocolate Cheesecake

Zodiac Sign:

Sagittarius

Wow, you actually read that whole thing, or did you just skim it? Either way, just for scrolling all the way down here, you deserve to learn that I've tagged the following five additional bloggers with this very meme: Hashmonean, Perspectives of a Nomad, I Still See a Spark in You, Soccer Dad, Bananza and Elder of Ziyon.

You are all, of course, free to shirk your memely duty so long as you post a good excuse explaining why.