Those random things redux

(Remember waaaay back in 2009 when it was popular to post lists on Facebook such as “25 random things about me”? Well, I found one I wrote then, and I am reposting it here. Of course, a few of those things have changed. While I still am grateful and always will be to Rod Richardson for giving me a job at The AP, it is now only the 2nd best job I ever had. The best job I’ve ever had is the one I have now: pastor of a church — though I do not call it a job. I call it a call, an adventure, a dream, a blessing…. I still need more tropical shirts, though, and I am not afraid to wear them to church. In other updates: I am now up to nine years plus since I quit smoking. On the negative side, Willie doesn’t phone me anymore.)

Without further ado, 25 random things about me, circa 2009….

1. Wearing tropical shirts make me happy. My goal is to have enough of them to be able to don a different one for each day of the week. Every week.
2. I am a fourth-generation Texan. I used to say fifth-, but I am not very good at math and discovered I needed to make a correction. I also have Oklahoma roots.
3.  An uncle of mine drove the first “Sooner Schooner” — or so he claimed. When he was a student at OU in the 1930s, he and some friends borrowed a hay wagon from a local farmer, which became the schooner.
4. I have always been a college football fan generally, and a Texas Longhorns fan specifically.
5. I walked the aisle to accept Jesus Christ at the age of 10. Much of the rest of my life has been spent trying to figure out what that means.
6. I miss my father every day. He died of cancer in 1988. One of the last things he told me was: “I’m not afraid to die. I’ve done everything I know to do to be ready. I just don’t want to leave my family.”
7. Among my proudest moments was taking a traffic ticket to court in Dallas and winning.
8. I grew up on a farm near a small, Texas town, which tells part of the story of who I am. I am extremely close to my wife’s family, which stretches geographically from Oregon to Harlem. This tells another part of the story of who I am.
9. I will always be grateful to Rod Richardson, who hired me at The AP, the best job I’ve ever had.
10. I once saw Devo live.
11. My daughter’s birthday this May will mark six years since I quit smoking.
12.  I am related to former vice president John Nance Garner, who was best known for saying the vice presidency is “not worth a bucket of spit,” although he didn’t really say spit.
13. On more than one occasion, I have picked up the phone and been surprised when the person on the other end of the line was Willie Nelson.
14. I have worked as a hay hauler, storm cellar builder, supermarket sacker/stocker, warehouseman, spokesman for a rodeo, legislative aide, furniture deliverer and yard worker.
15. I like to shoot baskets at the park.
16.  My first date was with Michele McCreary Majewski. My dad drove us to see the movie “Oh God,” starring George Burns and John Denver (1977).
17.  Wherever I am, a cup of coffee is nearby.
18.  I have worked at the Wichita Falls Times Record News (twice), the Corpus Christi Caller-Times and the Amarillo Globe-News, and free-lanced for the Austin American-Statesman (where I met my wife) and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
19.  On a sunny day, I like to watch my kids playing in the park while listening to “Lovely Day” by Bill Withers on my ipod.
20.  I have never stopped missing the presence of Linda Leavell at the AP.
21.  I have been to an “Air Supply” concert. The warmup was “England Dan and John Ford Coley.”
22.  Former OU quarterback Steve Davis preached a “revival” at my church when I was a kid and ate dinner afterward at our house. During dinner, my uncle regaled him with the “Sooner Schooner” story.
23.   I was in band and choir in high school.
24. People used to always ask Richard Mize and me if we are brothers.
25. I never get tired of “Seinfeld.”