Tagged!

My wife tagged me with this post. I doubt Todd will have time to respond any time soon, since Ellie and I are heading to his wedding this weekend (congratulations, bro, you're marrying a lovely woman). So, if there's not much on this blog after tomorrow, at least my/our readers (all four of you) will understand why there's not much here.

Best meal: My graduation meal from high school and undergraduate comes to mind, but it made me feel terrible despite how great it was, so I'm going with the Melting Pot, the time I took my wife for her birthday. It was romantic, succulent, delicious, filling, enjoyable, and it didn't make me ill in the least. Another great meal was one we had on our first honeymoon, where I finally got my wife to love seafood by taking her to one of the best places in Panama City, FL.

Best hobbies: I enjoy travel immensely, and would love to make it more of a hobby. Reading is a very enjoyable hobby, writing is as well (as shown by this blog). Photography is a lot of fun. I enjoy collecting things (among them: medieval weapons, coins, tshirts, hats, and keychains). I rarely have time or funds for any of these right now.

Best vacation: I really enjoyed visiting Israel, Egypt, and Jordan with my childhood minister (a Yale graduate), his minister brother-in-law (a Harvard graduate), and my parents. Seeing so much history, especially history tied so strongly to my faith, truly opened my eyes. I was also in great shape for the vacation, so I felt really great the whole time. I would love to take this trip again with my wife and kids some day. That, or Australia and New Zealand, or Italy, or Ireland (did I mention I love travel?).

Best vacation without kids: My honeymoon, mentioned as my wife's favorite without kids, definitely fits the bill. We flew into Boston, saw some history and enjoyed the seafood, then took a train to NYC where we saw Phantom of the Opera and Stomp! We also took in the sites there before driving to Hershey, where we enjoyed the greatest amusement park I've ever been to. Then we drove the next day to Washington, DC, where we took in the Smithsonians, some of the monuments, and Pirates of the Caribbean (which remains one of our favorite movies and soundtracks). We took a train from there to Williamsburg, VA, which is a great place for history buffs and a nice place just to relax. We then flew back to Atlanta to conclude our honeymoon with a great reception buffet with friends. Great times. I do like the nickname planes, trains, and automobiles for that great trip.

Best job I ever had: While working for myself in a job has been great, I really loved my assistantship at UGA during grad school. I got to start two Toastmasters Clubs while working with the Institute for Leadership Advancement which had some of the most impressive young people I've ever met in it.

Best thing to buy if money wasn't an issue: I would probably love to buy an island with plenty of good soil, good weather, little chance of hurricanes, and a nice living arrangement that harnesses some local power source to allow my home to have modern accouterments. That would be if it was literally not an issue at all.

Best age growing up: The year I turned eighteen was pretty great. I had an awesome prom date, got a big scholarship to my childhood favorite school, graduated top of my class, self-published a novella, had some great dates with a girl, enjoyed my first road trip without family, went to the Olympics in my hometown with friends... life was great. (I hated the college, but let's not bring that part into it)

Best toys when I was a kid: No question, Playmobil were my favorite toys growing up. I got to paint them as pirates, soldiers, royalty... whatever I wanted. Then they started making them that way, and they were just as cool. I look forward to giving those to my kids when they're old enough to enjoy them.

Best date before I was married: No, I won't list my prom (even if my wife listed hers). I won't even list the weekend we first met in person. No, I'll list the date we went on where we decided to officially date. We walked around Temple Square with another couple (also married now, though they weren't dating then either), had a generally lovely day... just good times. We had some great dates other than that (and the weekend we first met was truly wonderful), and we've had wonderful ones since marrying, but that one still wins for me.

-- Robert