| What is your most memorable childhood experience? | I don't have a "most memorable" childhood experience. Memory doesn't work that way for me or, I imagine, for most people unless they've had a traumatic experience. I didn't have a traumatic experience as a child so I can't really answer this question accurately. I could make something up about a really great vacation or some special gift I received but the fact is, even when I start to think of those, I remember many vacations and many gifts that I have received. Most people that answer this question are just writing down garbage they think the person reading will want to read. My childhood was healthy and normal and I have lots of memories, but there isn't one that is most memorable because memory doesn't work like a video recorder. Memories are subject to our current state as a human and change over time. |
| What immediate family member do you closely identify with and why? | I identify closely with my grandfather on my father's side of the family. He is extremely rational and makes sound decisions in his life. He is 85 now and my grandparents are extremely well off because they have lived within their means and chosen to use their income for investment rather than consumption. I was also the first grandson and only grandson for the first twelve years of my life. I think that I was always my grandparents' favorite so they spoiled me, and that led me to develop a strong bond with both of them. But my grandfather especially. |
| What character traits do you admire in an individual? | I admire various character traits in an individual. I admire intelligence in an individual. I enjoy following current events and listening to informative podcasts on a variety of topics, so I enjoy nothing more than discussing and debating such things with an intelligent individual and learning from their perspective, which broadens my knowledge of a subject. I also admire drive and determination in a person. I always strive to better myself- intellectually, physically, educationally and in my professional life. I am a life-long lover of learning and strive for excellence in all I do so I admire such traits in others and try to surround myself with successful individuals in order to learn from them. I also admire compassion in an individual. I care deeply about animals, particularly dogs and cats in animal shelters. I have two rescue dogs from the animal shelter at which I volunteer. I go to the shelter as often as possible to walk dogs, give treats, play with cats, and show the dogs and cats some love and affection that they deserve; I also donate canned goods to the shelter frequently since they are usually in desperate need of food. Therefore, I admire individuals who also care about living beings and have compassion for life. |
| What is the funniest thing ever to happen to you? | The funniest thing- more like the funniest series of events- that has ever happened to me occurred while my wife and I were staying abroad in France. We decided to use a website that sets you up with an apartment as opposed to getting a hotel room. However, we wound up with a very kooky and near-deaf French landlady. One day after returning from a late night out on the town, we discovered a door that we did not have a key to was locked. There were a series of doors that we had to go through in order to get to our apartment because our apartment was part of a large mansion that this old crazy woman owned. Of course it was late, and she was fast asleep. We banged and banged on her front door, but to no avail. After banging on the door for quite some time, my wife decided to call the police. Mind you she had to speak French, and though she knows some French, she was not quite fluent. At first they thought it was a joke, she had to assure them that it was most certainly not and that we two Americans were locked out. After about forty-five minutes, two police officers finally arrived. One spoke English and made fun of our situation and my wife's passport photo, joking "This isn't you!" since her passport photo was from high school when she traveled to France on a school trip. The officers tried to wake our landlady by honking a car horn over and over right outside her front door with no luck. The front door had this black cage-like door, then a wooden door. They discovered that the wooden door was unlocked, but sadly not the cage door. They opened the wooden door and tried honking some more. You could hear the honking echo throughout the entire mansion. It still did not wake her. After that, the officers tried banging on the door to our apartment continuously with no success. Finally, they resorted to calling the fire department. A large fire truck came with far too many firefighters; the French were getting a kick out of this. The firefighters used a ladder to break into a window of our apartment and unlocked the door to our apartment. There were twelve burly men walking loudly and talking loudly on their way to the woman's bedroom to tell her that they had to break in to her house. Do you think she heard any of this? She must have, right? They got to her bedroom door, called her name, but did not walk in. No response. The police officer said, "I guess we will just call her in the morning." She was fast asleep. She heard none of the commotion. Even after the incident, she never mentioned anything to us...perhaps she didn't hear the phone ring! |
| If time and money were not an issue, where would you travel and why? | Everywhere! The world has so much to offer and the more of it you can experience the better you will be as a person. I truly believe that travel broadens the mind and with unlimited resources I would never stop travelling. On my short list are Paris, Tokyo, Thailand, and Australia. Each has unique offerings and is special in its own way. I have heard wonderful things about each from people who have gone themselves and I would love to experience their beauty and wonders first hand. |
| When and if you ever have children, what would you like to pass on to them? | A motivation to be happy; to succeed in everything that he/she does. I never want my child to be complacent. Albert Einstein said that “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving” and I find this to be profoundly true. Life is only about maximizing happiness and I think that if my child had these traits they would have an excellent opportunity at finding and sustaining true happiness. |
