The woman who writes Running to Her Dreams and Andy at I’m a runner and so can you bestowed the Very Inspirational Blogger Award upon me a short while ago.  Unfortunately I’ve been far too busy to give their generosity its proper due so I’ve put if off until I could at least acknowledge it fairly…

Thank you both, from the bottom of my heart (technically the top and middle too), I appreciate it greatly.

Now for the rules:  I’ve linked their posts, now seven things about myself…

1.  I’m working on a super-secret, new, inspirational company.  Trademarking has taken forever so I’ve had to keep it close to the vest until everything’s done (on the advice of my attorney).

2.  Outside of the blogosphere I believe in humility – I just don’t advertise it because only idiots and jerks have to tell you they’re humble.  Oh, and while I may be a humble fella, I do have a very healthy opinion of myself.  It’s a delicate balance.

3.  I can’t get over how cool it is that I love who I am.  It was like, all of a sudden I woke up one day and thought, “wow, you’re okay!  You actually turned into something good”…  It’s an awesome feeling..

4.  Quitting stuff is hard and even though I’ve had a lot of practice at it, I wish I was a little more pure as the driven snow.

5.  I have a hard time remembering names because I figure, “what’s the chance I’ll ever meet you again”, so I file that info in the “not important” bin.  90% of the time I’m right, and the other 10%, I’m that guy:  “What was your name again”?  It sucks and is one thing that I don’t like about me.  On the other hand, if I do remember your name, you know you’re important to me.  In fact, if you’ve been away from blogging for a while and I sent you a little “hey, how ya doing” message…  Yeah, you’re something else.

6.  I hate doing new things until I find out I love them…  Take Laser Tag for instance.  I was going into that dreading the evening.  “Oh, how silly and nerdy is this going to be”…  I’ll be damned if I didn’t have a blast.

7.  I hate swimming in cold water.  Freaking hate it.  While we were on vacation on Lake Michigan I actually thought about skipping getting into the lake because the water was pretty chilly.  I got to thinking about how bummed I would be if my dad refused to get in the water with us when I was a kid (my girls were all over me to go swimming with them) so I bit the bullet and got in.  I wish I was less of a wimp when it came to cold water – I wish I was more like my girls.

Now, for the blogs that I find Inspirational:  First, I really dig Andy and Running to Her Dreams’ blogs (linked above) so if you don’t already follow them, give ’em a look and I really enjoy Chatter Gets Fit.  Then there are my old standby’s, Elisariva, All Seasons Cyclist, bikevcar, Sandra at Promise to Dad and so forth (see my blogroll).  I have a couple of new one’s to add to that list:

First is a woman who goes by “Phoenix40213” and writes the blog The Rebirth of My Life.  We all know I have a soft spot in my heart for those who are recovering – from just about anything.  So it seems she’s starting on the right path but only time will really tell.

Then there’s Pandora at soveryslightlymad…  The reason that I find her inspirational is a bit of an inside story that I won’t get into here.  Just know she’s cool.