5 Things Meme

Sylvie at Rambleonsylvie tagged me to write 5 things you don’t know about me.
I’ve seen a few of these memes out there and this is the first time I’ve been tagged. Thanks Sylvie. Is it the fellow Canadian thing? Anyway, it’s the year-end silly season so why not?
1- My favourite singer right now is Eminem but I still love Streisand and Diana Ross. How’s that for weird?
2- My undergrad degree is in Anthropology (social and physical), primatology, archaeology and ethnography. I did a lot on tool using behaviours in primates and amazingly it still informs interface design and the like. I have been pee’d on by Cercopithecus neglectus (the endangered De Brazza Monkey from the Congo) who was, I believe, sick of me observing his every behaviour.
3- I love to make stained glass pieces. I do little ones (suncatchers) and big windows and lampshades. I’ve taken courses in big windows using lead, the Tiffany copper foil method, French embossing and etching, etc. If I can ever find the time I want to learn glass blowing, molding and other glass techniques. I have a close friend who makes amazing pieces this way. I have every book and DVD ever done by Dale Chihuly and I go out of my way to see his exhibitions. I also have taken courses in flower arranging (especially Ikebana) which I find relaxing. It’s a different commitment to something so beautiful but temporary.
4- I am a long term cancer survivor. It will be ten years in Dec. 2007 since a posse of doctors removed 10 inches of non-Hodgkins Lymphoma from my spine and rib cage. My tattoo was part of this. There are also, apparently, naked medical videos of me on the web (likely behind some insecure firewall and password), showing the entire operation. As usual, I was an early adopter at the front of the e-content movement, this time for streaming media on the web!
5- Despite outward appearances, I am pretty insecure and give speeches and write often to challenge myself to do things that scare me. I recommend this. Whenever I’ve hit a major challenge I have found that externalizing it works for me (my cancer diary on the web was great therapy).
Actually it’s hard to think of five things! I feel so uninteresting.
OK – I get to tag people now, so I tag . . . Janice Lachance at SLA’s InfoX, Jane Dysart and Infobuzzz, Amanda at Blogwithoutalibrary, Andrew Pace at Hectic Pace, and Randy at podbaydoor.
Stephen