<p>Thread of the month. Fun and informative!</p>
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<ul><li>I grew up with a soccer ball at my foot. My first game ever, with my father as coach, I scored 3 goals. From that point on, I was the captain of every team I was on. I earned some really cool awards in middle school and high school. As a sophomore I scored like 30 goals in a 12 game season. I had the hardest and best shot around. I took all penalty shots and free kicks beyond center line because if the ball was within a half a field of the goal, I could put a laser on net.</li>
<li>Having a father who worked at CBS (the broadcasting station) afforded me some really cool jobs: I worked on the floor and in the anchor booth of the Democratic and Republican Political Conventions in 1984 and 1988, when I met many political figures (Ronald and Nancy Reagan and others) and newscasters (Dan Rather, Andy Rooney, and many more) not to mention a few famous stars (Wonder Woman, Tom Cruise, etc.). The person who made the biggest impression on me was, believe it or not, Jesse Jackson. During my duties of trekking in and out of the anchor booth on convention floor, I had gotten to know many of the security guards, all of whom were local to the Atlanta area (where the convention was that year, in the Omni, this before the whole underground was built). Witnessing the impact Jesse Jackson's mere presence had on them and the hope he instilled in equal rights for blacks was something I will never, ever forget. When he walked into the bottom floor of the booth, two of the female guards passed out because they were so excited. He was a symbol of freedom to them. I had some other cool jobs too, but those were tops.</li>
<li>High school was spent with a focus on soccer and being a kid. My grades sucked. I probably had ADHD because not only could I not sit still but I couldn't focus long enough on any text in a book to actually absorb what it was telling me. So I gravitated toward math. My grades were straight C- or D's in anything not math. But in math, I broke all the curves. Naturally, my overall grades sucked. Only 1 of 13 colleges let me in. And it was my least favorite choice. And that's where I went, and that's how I wound up going from Long Island, where I grew up, to Boston.</li>
<li>I came upon 4 "dreams" as a kid. I decided while watching Wide World of Sports one weekend day that I wanted to do four things before I died: Run a marathon, complete an Ironman, cycle across the country, and watch in person a space shuttle take off. Although I was not a runner (I played soccer, and that's it!) and I could not swim nor did I want to, and my only cycling was on a BMX bike on dirt trails, these were the events that aired on WWofS and, often, put a tear in my eye. I am proud to say that I have achieved two of those, although I would still love to cycle across the country, the goal has been modified by years to include running across the country. The last one will never happen. And I'm cool with that.</li>
<li>It bothers me every day that I don't do more to give back to society. And I don't mean giving money to charity -- I do that and have done that since I've earned a paycheck. I mean giving back, like being a big brother, mentoring a troubled child, hand delivering a meal to a needy family. One day, I suppose, I will give back enough to be satisfied. But not a day goes by where I don't think about how I could do more, as in I could do more but do not do more. We all have faults. This is my biggest. I consider it highly selfish.</li>
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