<p>I can’t compete with most of these posts … the best I have …</p>
<ul>
<li>I have wasted a ton of gray matter on useless old sports trivia (Rod Carew’s batting average in 1967 anyone)</li>
<li>I am great at “name that movie” (or in other words I drive my wife crazy by flipping channels every 3 seconds because I instantly recognize old movies (at least for any movie before kids … after kids I only know animated movies))</li>
<li>I am a great youth coach (even playing time, fun, skills, and winning)</li>
<li>More of my life is managed in Excel than virtually anyone else</li>
<li>I have more old sports stats memorbilia than almost anyone</li>
</ul>
<p>I always face forward on the escalator; brush my teeth after every meal; cross at the green and not in between; laugh at people’s unfunny jokes; I am quiet at the movies; and, I do not tell my wife that any particular dress makes her look fat when she asks.</p>
<p>I am not bothered when people ignore me; I think TheDad is a model CC contributor except when he is discussing USC; I take my muddy shoes of when I come into someone’s house; and I always put the toilet seat down.</p>
My kid has 4 of these in one(Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, white), since I am half-Jewish, half-Catholic, H is Protestant and we are all white. Not sure if that’s a hook, these days. Back in the day, my aunt was considered “fast” because she, alone among her siblings, hung out with a “mixed crowd.” To her family, a mixed crowd was any crowd containing gentiles.</p>
<p>If we are talking ancestry hooks, mine I’ve always been embarassed to be proud of, having grown up in a dyed-in-the-wool liberal intellectual household. I am descended from one person who signed the Declaration of Independence and another who wrote the first actual draft of the Constitution. The pride comes from - well, it was a hell of an accomplishment for them, wasn’t it. The embarassment from the fact that the family went on to Wall Street and made a fortune off the backs of Chinese laborers building railroads. Don’t worry, the fortune is almost gone. And, ironically, Graybeard I am writing this from China where I am on a business trip myself…</p>
<p>Descended from pirates here…Sir John Hawkins and Sir Francis Drake. What the heck, not much of a difference between pirates and lawyers, except the pirates are more colorful ;).</p>
<p>Patient- I would admit you for being a descendant of Sir Francis Drake…because of the Sir Francis Drake channel in the Caribbean and the fact that it takes me to Paradise!</p>
<p>It’s my husband who has the colorful ancestry: not only was his paternal grandmother herself the grand-niece of Jesse James, she also had some Cherokee in her background. So my tall, lanky, very blond boys can say they are partially Native American (although they don’t say it anywhere “official” since it’s such a tiny fraction). The younger one decided to use that part of his heritage in the 4th grade diversity pageant years ago and everyone wondered why that blond kid was up there in buckskin and moccasins.</p>
<p>This is another weird hook: I grew up with no religion. Zero. I asked to go to Sunday School as a kid (all my friends went) and was <em>invited to leave</em> when I asked too many tough scientific questions about Virgin birth, miracles, etc.</p>
<p>What’s more: none of my four grandparents had a religion! That has to be pretty rare. I have to go back several generations before I find a religious ancestor. Back at the GGGrandparent tier, I’ve got a Jew on one side & a Mormon on the other. Otherwise, lots and lots of agnostics & athiests & other secular humanists.</p>
<p>momsdream…he did get around…there are of course lots of SFD mentions in the Bay Area, including Drakes’ Bay, a hotel in San Francisco, a thoroughfare in San Rafael, etc…glad to be admitted ;).</p>
<p>bandittx, I didnt know there were French penal colonies on the Gulf coast! That’s really interesting.<br>
sbmom, my kids have also grown up with no religion. They’ve only been to church once, for their dad’s remarriage. One of my kids told his second grade class there was no God, and no Santa Claus. Some of the parents were really mad, though I had a hard time believing that any second grader out there still thought there was a Santa Claus. He didn’t go to a birthday party for the rest of the year. [We live in the South.]</p>
<p>I also thought those having kids without drugs were bragging they could conceive without drugs. haha. I too had so many surgerys I lost track, I was lucky and had our son after complete bed rest for 7 out of 8 months of my pregnancy. We used every drug known to man, I felt like a lab rat at times, it took us 7 years to get pregnant. I consider getting pregnant one of my greatest accomplishments, along with raising a wonderful, decent human being. It’s amazing how something so simple can be so complicated when things don’t work perfectly.</p>
<p>What’s my hook? I was in Up With People, some of you may know about that organization. </p>
<p>I also can shoot a bow pretty well, I hold the state record for indoor target archery on the FITA target. :)</p>
<p>ugh feel for you cruella- with my oldest I was on bedrest from 16 weeks till 30 weeks ( when I delievered) I could just feel my muscles turning to jello- when they did an ultrasound before delivery and estimated that she weighed about 1 & 1/2 lbs I thought I could easily lose that and I would still look pregnant! ( Which I did)
But with my 2nd I was in labor for three days- it was awful but when it was over I practically could fit into my jeans!</p>
<p>I used to say librarian cattle artificial inseminator and it would always get a laugh; now I can add editing assistance on volume of Greek poetry translated into English. I have come a long way!</p>
Way to go, Buddy! hahahahahhah!</p>
( Which I did)