Laboriously Horked From Hammer

Since I haven't done a meme in a while, I lifted this one from Hammer and accept the challenge.

Five things that may be considered an accomplishment to me, but loser-like and dumb to others:

a) Hammer may have run 12 miles (either the girl he was following was hot, or the dog chasing him was really B-I-G!). I, on the other hand, once rode 100 miles in a day...in July. What made it more interesting was one guy in our group riding a fixie (one gear bicycle with no coaster or hand brake). He was true old school stylin' with the Cinzano cap, leather bike helmet, wool jersey and sew up bicycle tires strapped around his shoulders. He never stepped off the bike...not even for a red light. The actual course was short by 5 miles, so I rode around the parking lot until I got my first century. My jersey and shorts were so covered in salt, McDonalds was asking if I could do jumping jacks in front of the fry prep area.

b) I am in the middle of flying around the world. That's right, flying around the world. Swede thinks this is pretty dumb, but I like the idea. Using the current edition of Microsoft Flight Simulator, I am on a journey across the globe. Currently, I have flown from Homestead, Florida around the Caribbean to Guantanamo (three missed approaches in bad weather), the Caymans, Panama, Costa Rica, Peru, Buenos Aires, and Quito in Ecuador. My next leg will take me through New Zealand up the Pacific Rim and across Asia.

c) I blog. My family thinks I am a big dork for doing so. Hey, it keeps my writing skills polished. I do it for me, not them.

d) I am a SKYWARN and Red Cross ARES storm chaser. Back when I got into Ham Radio (1995), I was living in Wisconsin and started chasing with a group of ham operators in the area. The worst storm I was caught in happened near Racine. I just dropped off some sound equipment at a friend's house and turned north back to Milwaukee. The storm rolling across the Midwest was growing in intensity and the weather net was activated. I checked in with my position and provided a weather report. This was before weathermen on the news had lightining strike indicators. Imagine being with Britney Spears and Paris Hilton when their paparazzi entourages collide. The lightining storm was so bad, I had to pull over due to flash blindness. It was like a thousand flashbulbs were going off simultaneously. Lightining struck all around, but thankfully missed my car. When all was said and done, you could actually see where lightining struck all along the highway.

e) I once stayed up for 48 hours straight in college. No reason. Just wanted to see if I could. I drove around Milwaukee at odd hours of the night. Walked from my dorm to the lake front. Found new ways to annoy my neighbors. Read three books and wrote four term papers. Got A's on three and a C on the last.