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Sunday July 29, 2007

Eight (Or More) Things You Didn't Know About Me

I see I've been tagged for 8 things you didn't know about me by Renaissance Man. Sorry to take so long to reply to it. I wouldn't have found it if I hadn't done a bit of Technorati tag watching for my own blog earlier today.

I missed this meme the first time around, a few months ago, when it was only five things. As my blog is sort of an open book, it's hard to come up with things that I haven't already mentioned. So I think we are going to have to do: "Rich Burridge - The Early years". There must be at least eight things in here that most people didn't know about me. In some cases, by the time they finish reading this, they probably wish it was still true.

This is long, but some of these need a little background.

When I was about 14, I went away for a holiday for a week, along with several other kids my age, to a camp on Dartmoor, in Devon, England. One day we all went out on a horse ride. Everything was going fine until another horse tried to mount the one I was riding, with me still sitting on the back at the time. I remember one of the organisers saying something like "oh, he's a little frisky today", presumably hoping not to expose me to an advanced sexual education at too early an age. (Don't read too much into the fact that this was the first thing I listed. I haven't been scarred for life or have an irrational fear of large animals standing right behind me).

During the summer holidays from school, when I turned 16, I was a pill packer for Evans & Gadd, pharmaceutical suppliers to the Exeter area in Devon. In one day, I probably handled more different types of birth control pills than most people on the planet do in their lifetime. No, I've no idea what that means either.

In my early twenties, I was a Dame in a pantomime. For two nights only. Widow Goodbody. This was to help out a friend who ran a dance troupe in the Reading, Berkshire area. The best part strangely enough was shooting shaving foam through small holes in top hats. Don't under estimate how funny that it to small kids.

Also in my early twenties, I wanted to be a radio disc jockey. I went to a radio disc jockey school and paid for lessons. I was quite good at it. Terrible as a disco disc jockey, but I had potential as a radio jock. I learned a lesson then, that has stuck with me for the rest of my life. It's not what you know, it's who you know. I never got a chance to change careers. Never got offered a job. I stayed in the computer industry and went on to where I am today. Several good things came out of it though. I'm much more confident for public speaking. I got to sit in once with Bob Harris (English folks reading this might remember him from the Old Grey Whistle Test on BBC2) when he did the 10 to midnight shift on Radio 210 in Reading. Plus lots more too numerous to mention here.

When I was living in Reading, England in 1983, I was on the committee for the ICL Reading Social club. One of the "acts" that was performing there one weekend was Alan Hull, at one time the lead singer of British folk/rock group Lindisfarne. Dave, a friend and my lodger at the time, knew him well and arranged the whole thing. Alan stayed over at my place that night and at one point started to entertain us. Obviously thought he had to pay for his board in some way. Pretty cool. "Clear White Light" and "Lady Eleanor" are still two of my favorite songs.

I met my wife through a dating agency. I was her 10th choice. She was my 28th. I challenge anybody (well, apart from the married folks out there), to have 28 first dates in under two years, and look forward to the next one. This was just before the World Wide Web took off, so once or twice a week, I'd head down to the dating agencies offices in Mountain View (close to where Google has some of its buildings now), and check out the catalogs and video tapes for new entries. It was a trying time. Still, it all worked out well, and Lynea and I have been happily married for over eleven years now.

That's it. I think most of the people I know were tagged the first time around, so if these people have already been tagged, just ignore this:

[Technorati Tag: Eight Things]