Dan Rubin’s SuperfluousBanter

Thanks to the “kindness” of Ryan Brill, I’m a recipient of the latest meme. Since I’m almost never on the receiving end of these things (hence I never send them either), I’m actually happy to play along, so, as scary as this will be:

Where was I one year ago?

I was preparing for two competitions: the US Masters Short Course Nationals, and the International Barbershop Quartet championship. I did fairly well in each… the now-ex-g/f and I were patching things back together for the second time… the business was starting to see some real income after 5 years of slogging it out from nothing. Oh, and I was redesigning asp.net in XHTML/CSS (a few things were changed from my templates…)

Where was I five years ago?

Happier (personally), poorer (financially), heavier (by 25 pounds), 2 years into the business with my brother, 2 years into directing the chorus, and 2 years into my dad’s recovery from an emergency aortic dissection (ascending). I was also discovering web standards and blogging.

Where was I ten years ago?

18 years old, about to experience my first breakup (I’ve always been more of a long-relationship guy I guess - that one lasted 2 1/2 years), swimming competitively (practicing 5 afternoons and 3 mornings a week), had long hair (well past my shoulders), participating in renaissance faires (picture me in a kilt… yeah, you know you want to), working as a consultant to the Seminole Tribe’s Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum (as primary assistant to the curator; I also developed their first interactive computer exhibit), and receiving the rank of Eagle Scout (yes, I know, you can’t get Eagle once you turn 18, but I finished all the work the year before, my Court of Honor wasn’t until that summer).

Take a number

Let’s just see what Shaun, Bryan and (for good measure…) Mike have to say…