Father's Day

Okay, to get it out of the way: Album of the Day is "Second Coming" by The Stone Roses.

In honor of Father's Day, I'm going to create one of those "25 Things" lists that you see all over Facebook. On Facebook they are always "25 Things About Me" since so much about Facebook has to do with people trying to get the rest of the world to pay attention to them. Can you say "How well do you know me?" quiz? I truly think Facebook is a collosal waste of time... for me. If people enjoy it, hey, more power to you. I use it mostly to keep in touch with some friends and family who live far away, and to play Scrabble, along with any other flash-based games that catch my attention for a few weeks, like Tetris or Bejeweled. I realize saying that I use Facebook for the games is kind of like someone claiming they read Playboy for the articles, but that's the way it is. I also like to write things for my status line that most people will just find perplexing, so we can call that my own little game.

Anyway. This is not about me. This is about my dad. To the best of my knowledge, all of these things are true.

25 RANDOM FACTS ABOUT MY DAD
1) There was a time when he wanted to drop out of high school. His older brothers would not let him. They had all dropped out to start working, and they were determined that he wasn't going to follow that same path.
2) He took his college entrance exam only because it was a good way to ditch out of a class that he didn't like. He passed.
3) He was once given an F- from a teacher who did not appreciate him sleeping in class.
4) He can play the banjo, but he hasn't practiced in a long time.
5) His favorite place on the face of the earth is the Boundary Waters.
6) I've seen him cry twice in my life.
7) He told me once the best way to deal with big-mouthed retail customers was to listen to everything they said, smile widely and agree as much as you could, all the while flipping them the bird down below the counter where they couldn't see.
8) He had a record in his collection by the Kingston Trio that had four people on the cover. Still haven't figured that out.
9) He is self-taught in most of the things he knows how to do.
10) He has served as a District Governor in Lions for the past year. This is no small thing.
11) He has owned three motorcycles and one scooter since I finished high school.
12) Few things make him laugh like a really good fart joke.
13) The best advice he ever gave me, as cryptic as it sounds, was "You can't push a chain up a hill." This meant that you can't force things to happen, or you can't make other people see your point of view. You have to encourage things to happen, you have to convince people to listen to you or see things your way. You have to pull the chain up the hill if you want it to move.
14) He once followed my car for nearly 20 miles while it spewed 100 feet of the thickest, most noxious automotive smoke you can possibly imagine until it finally broke down. From there he towed me.
15) Even after he left the church choir, he would still sing the tenor parts to the songs he knew during mass.
16) He is an avid photographer, and has had at least one photo I know of win an appearance in a calendar.
17) Death in his family has left him with one sister, which is something we have in common.
18) I haven't argued more with anyone in my life. 97% of these arguments took place between the years 1981 and 1987. Yes, these would be my teenage years.
19) He knows more about cars than anyone else I know.
20) He knows more about birds than anyone else I know.
21) He's had something close to 20 dogs come and go through his family life, and he's on the verge of adding one more in a matter of days.
22) He is so proud of being Irish that he was responsible for Elk River beginning it's St. Patrick's Day parade.
23) He hearing became very sensitive after working on the barges on the Mississippi River.
24) He takes his grandson on a Canadian fishing trip in the summer.
25) He is the one person in my whole life that I've always been able to count on for anything.