Mark, of The Divine Afflatus fame, is back, and upon the occasion of his triumphant return has tagged me with the “8 Random Facts” meme. Although I was tagged by Bora back in June, I figured I might as well give it another go, especially since I would hope that there are least 8 more things of potential interest about me.
1) My wife and I drove down to Haddonfield, NJ today to visit the site where Hadrosaurus foulkii was discovered. I’m planning an uber-post about it’s discovery so I won’t go into those details here, but I have to say I was extremely disappointed with the “park.” After driving about an hour, we made our way through the suburban sprawl to a dead end, a commemorative plaque plastered to a rock sitting right across the street from a newly-built house. Thinking there must be something more to see, Tracey and I made our way down the embankment to the fetid, mosquito-infested and trash-ridden streambed below. While the Cretaceous marl was easy to locate, the only thing of note we found was a discarded Sears credit card. Further exploration was blocked by vast pools of stagnant water and the fact that the “park” was a patch of land surrounded by private property, the monotonous whir of a nearby lawnmower letting us know we were practically in someone’s backyard. Rather unfitting, overall, for one of the most important sites in the history of paleontology.
2) I heard the New Found Glory cover of Go West’s “King of Wishful Thinking” yesterday and I can’t get it out of my head (trust me, the NFG version is much improved over the original). The song can be found on the band’s new album From the Screen to Your Stereo II.
3) Although I would have normally waited for the paperback, I purchased the newest Terry Pratchett book, Making Money on Friday and have been reading it aloud to my wife. Although we somewhat fell out of the tradition, for the first 6 months or so of our marriage I’d read some Terry Pratchett to her every night before bed.
4) When I was in preschool I once played a Stegosaurus pitched in battle with Allosaurus during the ever-popular “Dinosaur Night.” While I was expected to lose, at the close of the confrontation I pleaded my case to the parents on scientific grounds that Allosaurus wouldn’t dare try and take down such a large and spiny critter, but my protest ended up being in vain. At least I got some dinosaur-shaped cereal out of it. (My later high school stage appearances included Eugene in Grease!, Mr. Kraler in the Diary of Anne Frank, and Father Drobney in Don’t Drink the Water).
5) Many people once had imaginary friends, but I had an imaginary enemy. Named “Snuff,” he was a demonic, shortened version of Sesame Street’s Mr. Snuffleupagus, and if touched by his trunk you would become paralyzed (and subsequently eaten). You know that high pitched whine you sometimes hear when a television is on even if you can’t see it? I thought that was the sound of his impending arrival, and I once heard it while riding my tricycle in the driveway. I abandoned my vehicle, which my mother ran over while backing out of the driveway, and although I did get in a bit of trouble spare parts were found and all ended well.
6) During the last year of high school and the first years of college I used to frequent the local clubs, seeing a punk/emo/ska band just about every other weekend. The first show I ever went to was for a local group called Shades Apart (they had a song, “Stranger by the Day,” on the American Pie soundtrack), although they are long defunct. The place that I saw them and many other bands, The Birch Hill, was torn down a few years ago, and now most of the shows are at The Starland Ballroom (although I haven’t been there in at least a year and a half).
7) Up until recently I wanted to study marine ecology at Rutgers, specifically what was happening to sharks off the NJ coast (no one seemed to be studying it, given the funding cuts to the EPA, DEP, and Fish & Wildlife in the state). When I told one of my professors about this he replied “What are you ever going to do with that? No one studies sharks” (which was the entire point, from my perspective). Frustrated with the academic wall I kept running into, I ended up taking a course in paleontology & “evolution and geologic time,” which definitely helped establish my current line of interest. Overall, I think I’m better for it.
8 ) This blog, as you and I know it, will soon become extinct. I know I’m using on of the oldest tricks in the book and that I’m terrible because I’m going to leave you all hanging (at least for a little while), but some big changes will soon be going into effect. I think you all will be pleasantly surprised, but for now mum’s the word. In time all will be revealed, but I’ll still be writing regularly until I can divulge the secrets in my possession.
So there you have it, 8 little tidbits of information that may or may not have replaced something more important that you were supposed to remember (i.e. the location of the car keys). Everyone who immediately comes to mind as far as tagging goes has already been tagged previously, so I’ll leave this one open ended; if you feel compelled to write, just leave a comment and I’ll set up the links. And now to finish up the scraps of reading I have left over…
Laelaps 
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