There is a Facebook thing going around, called 25 Things About me. It's supposed to work like this:

Once you've been tagged you are suppossed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you(-or they're just really nosy) (To do this, go to "notes" under the tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) Then click publish.

I don't believe in tagging people (see #22 below), but I do think this is a fun exercise. Feel free to do it yourself.

1. I met my wife playing flag football at Penn State. Our team mascot was a stuffed duck named Oscar.
2. Though Oscar the Duck was a major draw, what really got Elise and I started was the homemade Chocolate Revel Bars I brought to each game, given to me by my grandmother.
3. I drive the hypothetical bus for the Philadelphia chapter of the Donovan McNabb fan club. Rob Szewczyk is my copilot. The bus is usually otherwise empty. I locked the doors to the bus at the beginning of the season, and people begged to get on once the playoff run began.
4. I have run a marathon. I have finished last.
5. I am filling this list with links to my personal blog.
6. I enjoy writing enough to put two or three things into each of these items.
7. I have taught my dog Scout to do the following: walk on the treadmill, give me a High 10, shake with "left" or "right" paw on command.
8. I have, with Elise, invented voices and personalities for our three dogs. Scout is a well-meaning dope, Hank is a 4000 year old evil genius, Max is eternally grateful to be adopted.
9. I am an optimist in almost everything I do. Halo 3 is an obvious exception.
10. Google Reader is a two hour daily addiction for me. I could give up TV but never blogs. I usually have 40-50 blogs I read including 5-10 web comics.
11. My favorite blog is Marginal Revolution. I'm also partial to Deadspin, The Angry Economist, and xkcd.
12. My favorite author is Gregg Easterbrook. I got to know him through Tuesday Morning Quarterback (TMQ) articles at ESPN.com. His books are also great: The Progess Paradox, Beside Still Waters, and A Moment On The Earth rank among my favorites.
13. My favorite podcasts are Seven Second Delay and Real Time with Bill Maher. Podcasts are my preferred way to pass the time on long car rides.
14. I believe DVR is the greatest thing that has ever happened to TV. Though the consumption model is the same as Google Reader I am much better about ignoring things in the DVR queue.
15. I buy whatever I can from Amazon.com. I signed up for their affiliate program in an attempt to pay for my web hosting.
16. I do tech support for any family members who ask. My preferred rate is one hug. Tough jobs are sometimes worth two.
17. I understand why people play Guitar Hero. Guitar Hero is great.
18. I play for and manage two soccer teams at IBM. I play every one of the positions during the season. I write about most games.
19. I play for a softball team at IBM called Grandpas Gone Wild. I write about that too.
20. I believe in the power of Agile software development. I believe this power extends to other things, including Christmas lights.
21. I write up my favorite classic memories on my blog for posterity and for practicing storytelling. I need to write more of these.
22. I sing improvisational songs for Elise and friends, as seen on Whose Line Is It Anyway?
23. I don't do most Facebook things, like sending pokes or 'We Are!' waves, as some sort of personal principle.
24. I do allow the fine folks at Kongregate to post to my Facebook page, because their games site is both free and fantastic.
25. I wrote this post in Notepad, including the HTML 'ol' and 'li' tags for the list items and the 'blockquote' at the top. Using blog software I personally wrote, I copied and pasted the entire thing to my blog upload form. I have an handwritten automated process that builds the RSS feed for my blog. I set up another automated process at Facebook which imports that RSS feed from my website into Facebook Notes, and that is probably how you are reading this. I described that process partially to explain more about who I am and partially to impress you.

Beware, this test is tricky, and quite addictive. You'll want to have a sheet of paper or something to keep track of which guesses are incorrect. Most answers of the puzzle refer to other questions. I apologize for the URL but the puzzle is worth it: Take the test! It took me most of the morning.

In college I had a job doing tech support for students in the dorms. It was a good job: part-time, respectable pay, the opportunity to meet lots of people, and the occasional "wow" story. This posting is about one of those stories.

I received a call that a student was having trouble with her printer. The ink printed onto the paper just fine, but the paper came out wrinkled and mashed up. I went out to her dorm room and examined the situation. The paper loaded into the printer was fine, the print tray looked fine. I opened the lid on the printer, squinting to see any potential problems -- nothing. Then I looked into the paper output in the back of the printer, still not seeing anything. On a hunch I held the printer upside-down and gave it a soft shake. Out fell several small pieces of a Pop-Tart.

Problem solved, I thought! I set the printer back where it belonged, and noticed a box of Pop-Tarts on the shelf immediately above the printer. After printing a test page, I explained to the student what had happened, and how she might not want to have her Pop-Tarts directly over her printer. She laughed, thanked me, and I went on my way. When I returned to the office, I regaled the other techs with my tale.

After that call, I started taking on other printer-related calls, specifically grabbing them from the stack of call tickets. About a month later, there was another ticket about a printer that printed fine but wrinkled all the paper. Hey, I've done this kind of call before, give me that one! I went to the student's room and looked at the printer. I thought I saw something in the back of the printer at the paper output. As I went to shake the printer upside down, my eyes drifted upward and saw a box of Pop-Tarts. I turned to the girl and said "That's funny, I had a call just like this a month ago." She formed a sheepish smile and I realized "Hey -- it was you!"

(This story is from just a week ago, making it an instant classic!)

When I was very young, toddler young, my uncle and my grandfather crafted a set of wooden toy blocks for me and my sister to play with. We spent hours playing with these great toys. At our youngest, we enjoyed knocking down towers that our parents would build for us. Later I would spend hours in my room building and rebuilding towers, learning about balance and proportion. Eventually, we reached the stage of building towers taller than we were, a feat which required all of our collective kindergarten-grade skill. Mom has a Polaroid picture of us proudly standing next to a four-foot block tower in the basement.

This year Dad decided to build a wood block set for my nieces. Cassidy is almost 2 and Sadie is nearly 6 months. As Christmas got closer, he got a little behind and I was called in to help with the sanding. It was a touching experience to be on the other side of the wood block story. We spent several hours in the basement, him using the power saw and me using the power sander (and later, Mom using the shop vac to remove the layer of sawdust that covered everything. Eventually we completed the job and packaged them up for Christmas morning.

I was excited to see Cassidy open up the block set. I feared she might be too young to appreciate it that morning, but I knew she'd eventually have the same fun I did. We gave her the block set after all of the other presents were opened. She looked at the set with wide eyes, as if examining the possibilities. She joyfully grabbed a couple of pieces and shook them. Then Dad showed her what else she could do with the blocks. He built a small tower for her. You could see the idea form in her face, starting with her eyes, then her little laugh. She gleefully knocked the tower over!

And so the circle continues.

I just got back from a ten day extravaganza in Souderton. What a trip! I got to see all my relatives and have a lot of fun with them. I chased my nieces around the house ("again please!") and watched a little too much Wiggles ("Fruit salad! Yummy yummy!") I spent time in the hot tub with my parents, Wii Bowling with my grandparents, Guitar Hero with Mom and Elise, and also several visits with high school and college friends. One special memory was formed as I helped my Dad make a toy wooden block set for my nieces (I may have to write more about this later). There were even two caps to the weekend: first, the Eagles made the playoffs, and second, we are keeping Max forever. A great time as always!

We've got a new permanent addition to the family -- Max the dog, who was previously our foster dog. His adoptive family decided against keeping him, and we decided against looking for another place for him to go. Everyone likes him too much, including us. We're all quite excited about the news!

Fun article about the five strangest programming languages. My favorite is definitely LOLCODE:

HAI
CAN HAS STDIO?
VISIBLE "HAI WORLD!"
KTHXBYE

Front and back yard Christmas light displays at the Freed house!

We're the Big Three. We don't need to compete.

Last night we squared off against #1 seed FC DTWC (Football Club, Don't Think Why Can't). Given that they had not played in three weeks, due to rainout, Thanksgiving, and a bye week, I was hoping for some rust on their part. I definitely did not get my wish!

FC DTWC only scored once in the first half, despite controlling most of the tempo and winning most of the loose balls. We came out of halftime with a little more energy, culminating in a breakaway attempt by Lawrance that was impressively saved. They came right back with an impressive shot of their own, which I barely managed to kick save, also barely averting a muscle pull!

Soon things went according to seed. Late in the half we gave up two goals, for a 3-0 final margin.

All in all, it was a season of great fun. We were competitive in nearly every game and managed to give our nemesis two nailbiter games in the regular season. Let's hope we continue to improve next year!