25 Random Things

There's are notes being posted on facebook, "25 Random Things," where you write 25 random things about yourself and then pass it on to 25 friends. I thought I'd go ahead and post it here, too. Enjoy!

1. My whole family is great (and there's a lot of my mom and dad in me), but my dream is that I turn out just like my grandfather, Leland Schindler.
2. I love hanging out with teenagers, I think maybe especially middle school guys (so long as there aren't any little girls around for them to impress).
3. It's been a long time since I've done some of my favorite things-- snow ski, golf, play poker, wear bowties, or study ancient Hebrew and Greek... very sad.
4. My middle name is John. I was named after my grandfather, John Claire Swinehart... another amazing man :)
5. I don't think my wife is as amused as I am that I have so many "old flames" as facebook friends (and, Cindy, no comments on "the list"!)
6. I was a student at UK when we went to three straight national championship games and won two titles ('96 & '98)... maybe I should go back to school!
7. Amy and I met in 1996 at UK (tomorrow is the 14-year anniversary of the day we met). It turned out we had several friends in common who were helpful in getting us to start dating :)
8. My favorite restaurants are Chipotle, Sonny's BBQ, Chick-fil-a, Giuseppe's, the Melting Pot, and any kind of Hibachi Japanese place (I like meat and chocolate... but not at the same time).
9. Though I played trumpet and french horn in band, I most enjoyed choral music and eventually taught myself how to play guitar.
10. I enjoy blogging (www.grabacorner.blogspot.com) and reading blogs, listening to podcasts, texting, facebook, twitter, etc.
11. As I type this, Kate is napping next to me... so sweet! I love my daughter more than I ever imagined. Truly amazing!
12. Adoption has taught me more about God than I am able to put into words. I highly recommend it :)
13. I'm usually bad at details and better at big picture stuff. (Amy does not like this feature in her husband.)
14. I love playing with the boys. Ben and Will are getting to that age now where we can do more and more fun "guy" stuff... I only wish I had more energy!
15. Not that I want more kids, but if we had another boy, I wish my wife would let me name him "Cook"... after the English name of a kid I met in China in 1997.
16. I love football. (This will be a long offseason.)
17. Though I've got some close friends, as a whole, I've never been able to replace my college "accountability group"... Shawn, Cager, Greg, Chuck (Last one on facebook is a eunuch, Chuck!)
18. With that said, I really miss Monday nights in Somerset (Poker for Jesus)
19. I love to read... but won't read fiction.
20. I watch much less tv these days, though I still carve out time to watch the Simpsons and the Colbert Report (usually on hulu.com)
21. Because Amy won't live north and I don't want to live south, we have a short list of places we would likely live: Hawaii, North Carolina, Kentucky, overseas, and Virginia (in that order... for me, at least).
22. Images are important to me (usually in the form of metaphors or stories)... they are useful for helping me think about/ understand things I have a hard time putting into words.
23. The trip to the Liberty Bowl this year was so much fun... thanks Alex and John.
24. I truly enjoy hanging out with my brothers, Rick and Brian, and wish I got to do that more. (It's funny how things change over the years, huh?)
25. Especially since so many high school classmates are on here now, I think there should be a 15-year class reunion for PHS class of '94. Any plans in the works, Emily, Jessica, or Steve?