Get offa my lawn!

[madbaker]

Courtesy of cvirtue and siderea, an age-appropriate meme.

1. Do you prefer solicitors and service staff to address you by first name or by title+last (e.g. "Ms. Smith", "Dr. Adams", etc.)?
   Mr. madbaker, unless we are friends/acquaintances.



2. How many careers have you had?
   Just one. I wasn't in any of the other jobs long enough, nor were they career-type jobs.



3. How many jobs? How many employers?
   Depending on how you slice it... Four employers; my current was my third out of college, but they were bought ten years ago so I count it as an employer switch. Jobs? Two before this one, and at least four here. If I'd stayed in the first job I had here, I'd have long ago gone on a three-state killing spree.



4. What was the best employer you worked for?
   My current company before it was bought was quite good, but the pay was staggeringly low. Now it's much more pointy-haired Dilbertesque, but the pay is significantly better. Neither of the previous companies compare on either scale.



5. What was your favorite job?
   I like my current job, when I'm allowed to do it.



6. How many companies, businesses or incorporated organizations have you founded?
   None. I'm too risk-averse to be an entrepeneur.



7. Did you grow up to be what you wanted to be when you were 5? When you were 10? When you were 15? When you were 20?
   No, no, no, and sorta. When I was five I wanted to be a professional soccer player. (Ha! No skill, size, or hand-eye coordination.) When I was ten I wanted to be a writer. (No muse.) Fifteen... I don't remember. Twenty, I was in college as an econ-math major and assumed I'd go into finance of some sort, which I eventually did.



8. Have you published any books or academic papers? How many?
   Web pages don't count, so no. If Just Add Butter gets published then I'll have my name on it as a co-translator/editor, which I would be thrilled with.



9. Do you hold any patents? How many?
   Patent leather shoes, maybe.



10. Are you licensed or certified to practice a profession(s)? If so, what?
    I am a Chartered Financial Analyst, but that's a professional certification as opposed to a certificate to practice...



11. Ever served in the military? What branch and how long?
    No. "It's not just a job. It's $96.78 a week."



12. What's the largest number of employees you have ever managed at a time?
    My current minion is the only one I've managed.



13. How many countries have you lived in?
    Two - the U.S. and France.



14. How many times have you been married?
    My current one is fine, thanks for asking.



15. How many kids do you have? How many grandkids?
    HA! Never wanted any, never gonna have any.



16. Whom do you observe Thanksgiving with?
    It depends. The upstairs neighbors this year, I think.



17. How many parents have you had?
    Just the two.



18. How many of your parents are still alive? How close are/were you to them?
    Both are still alive. I get along fine with my dad, who lives five or six hours away. My mom... lives less than an hour away, let's leave it at that.



19. What's one way you were surprised to find out you turned out like one of your parents?
    I'm surprised I still have my hair as my dad does. I expected to be bald by 30.



20. What's one way you expected to turn out like your parent(s) and were surprised not to?
    I never modeled my life or expectations after my parents.



21. Do you own or rent your home? If the former, how many years on your mortgage, if any?
    I own. The mortgage goes until 2028, or until my dad passes away.



22. Do you have roommates (i.e. non-family adults living with you)? If not, how long has it been since you had roommates?
    I haven't had roommates since college, not counting the (now) wife. I'm protective of my space and there are very few people I could stand to have share it constantly.



23. Have you ever sat on a jury?
    Yes. We found the guy guilty of hit-and-run and not guilty of the DUI. Very instructional experience, and confirmed many of my views of human nature.



24. Have you ever run for office? Held office?
    Not since being elected class president in the third grade. Go out on top, that's me.



25. Are you a member of a political party? Do you volunteer with it? Do you donate money to it?
    HA! I'm registered "Decline to State". Berke Breathed said it better than I could: "I'd be a Libertarian, if they weren't all a bunch of tax-dodging professional whiners."



26. What's the nicest restaurant you've been to in the past year?
    Masa's for the wife's birthday this year. The best three and a half hours I've ever spent at a restaurant. And Michelin only gave them one star? Unbelievable.



27. What's the nicest item of furniture you've bought? (Gifts don't count!)
    That would be the Stickley glass-front bookcase. It was the wife's choice, but I have to admit it's a fine-looking piece.



28. What kitchen appliance are you most happy you bought? (Gifts don't count!)
    My garlic mandoline isn't an appliance, so probably the commuter mug coffee machine.



29. Do you have a preferred airline? How many frequent flyer miles do you have?
    I prefer not to be treated like cattle, so I don't "prefer" any of them. I do have frequent flyer miles on American, though.



30. Where do you like to go to vacation?
    We need to go back to the bed-and-breakfast in Pasadena. And Portland, maybe. We don't tend to repeat much.



31. Women: Do you wear skirts or trousers on the job?
    --



32. Men: Do you currently have facial hair?
    Yes, a goatee. Not a full beard because the bald patches don't match. I grew it about ten years ago on a bet, and kept it when the wife and I decided we liked it.



33. Do you have grey hair yet? If so, do you try to hide it?
    I've had grey hairs since college; just ask farmount. (Bitch.) Lots more have shown up in the last couple of years; I'm vain enough that it vaguely bothers me, but not vain enough to do anything about it.

Comments

Re: Question 32 -- Not a Goatee

[fionnbharro.livejournal.com]

Actually, what you have is called a 'Van Dyck' beard. Were it grown longer, it should have pomade or wax applied.

[deathbytamarind.livejournal.com]

Boo, age discrimination!

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

It's a reaction to the "ZOMG have u gone to 3rd base?????" teen memes.
But hey, feel free to answer it if you feel like it...

[deathbytamarind.livejournal.com]

Giving you a bad time, as whippersnappers and damn kids are prone to do. :p

[deathbytamarind.livejournal.com]

I always had an inkling you were childfree, glad to have my inkling confirmed. :)