Table Of Contents

1. Birth
2. Worry
3. Being Stubborn
4. Moving Away

1:   Birth
I was born in Madison, Wisconsin at about 7pm on December 3rd, 1971.
It's interesting to note that my birthday (12/03) is also the most
common code used on those signs they put on the back of trucks
carrying dangerous chemicals - I believe it means 'flammable' (1203).

2:   Worry
In a rather Flinstonesian episode in my life, right after birth the
doctors told my mother that I probably wouldn't survive, and if I
did, I likely wouldn't live a normal life.  Come to think of it, I
guess they were right about the second part.  My mom fretted away
the whole night, unable to sleep.  The doctors realized soon after
that they had mixed up the test results..  If that wasn't bad
enough, they also made the brilliant decision to wait until the
next morning to tell my mom, because they didn't want to wake her up.
This was the catalyst to the somewhat overprotective relationship 
that my mom and I had.

3:   Being Stubborn
I made a giraffe out of paper mache when I was in kindergarten.
It was a baby giraffe.  It was adorable.  I specifically decided
to not paint a nose on the end of its nose because otherwise it
would look grown-up - and this was a baby giraffe.  (We all know
that baby giraffes don't have noses, right?).  My teacher told me
that it didn't look like a giraffe because it didn't have a nose.
I told her it didn't need one.  We argued about it for a while and
I refused to paint a nose.  That is the first example that I can
remember of being stubborn (and I still stand behind my
no-nose decision).

4:   Moving Away
Sadly, my family decided to leave Madison only a few short months
after my birth.  Fortunately I got back there eventually.

     ^
     |

     ^
     |

     ^
     |

     ^
     |

     ^
     |

     ^
     |

     ^
     |

     ^
     |

     ^
     |

     ^
     |

     ^
     |

     ^
     |

     ^
     |

     ^
     |

     ^
     |

     ^
     |

     ^
     |

     ^
     |

     ^
     |

     ^
     |