4 months of absence, 5 things about me

I apologize for the 4 month absence, but I've been caught up in life's juggling act and blogging was one of several balls I had to drop so that I can keep the other (albeit, more important) balls moving, i.e. family, work, health, etc.

I've also been unsuccessful to get someone else to drive for a while so I decided I'd keep driving while you guys continue to enjoy the scenery as we journey along. Instead of having a really cerebral discussion on integrity like friends in a university coffee shop, I thought of just blabbing away on all sorts of topics. A good friend of mine sent me an e-mail over Christmas tagging me as one of 5 individuals as part of this 5 things meme where he shared 5 things about himself that I'm unlikely to know about, and I reciprocate and pass on my 5 things to 5 other people.

Thanks Kevin for choosing me and below are 5 things about me (notice that I would rather be known by my alias - Synapse, since this blog was not intended to be about me nor promote anything or anybody else but the topic of return on integrity):

1. Like most teenage kids growing up in the U.S., cars are an important part of life. So following Kevin's example, my first car was a 1967 Mustang coupe which I drove home from Portland Oregon to Fremont California, a 12-hour trip without a functioning gas gauge and radio!
2. I now own a pet Cockatoo which my wife gave as a gift on my last birthday. I named him/her Noah. Noah makes sure I spend more time with him/her than my wife.
   
3. When I was around 10 years old, I joined a contest where I outdrank all others in finishing a large Coke bottle (less than 1 liter) the fastest. I won a basketball, but ended up throwing-up most of what I drank.
4. One of my favorite books was given to me by my dad - Self-Renewal, by John Gardner.
5. My first job was delivering newspapers for the San Francisco Chronicle to 50 subscribers at Escondido Village at Stanford when I was 12 years old. I got paid $50 per month and delivered 7 days a week, including the bulky Sunday newspapers!
   

Enough of me and look forward to more babbling on related topics.