Me! ME! ME! ME! meme

Ma belle Michele posed these questions for me. I will now answer them. I've been putting this off due to the PELC, which is now over. I'll write about that in a bit, but my mom said she's getting bored with reading about what I eat, so here's a little variation for once.

1. You've been in the Triangle for about 10 years now. What made/makes you stay?
Truth be told, it's a combination of reasons. Inertia. Comfort. Good weather. Cool people. Nice community. Jobs in my field. Central location. What I don't love: being away from my family. Sprawl. McMansions. Subdivisions. Homeowner's associations. Faux morality. (Those last things are probably issues elsewhere, too, so: meh)

2. Why did you get rid of the Bug? (Heh. I've always wondered.)
It was a lemon-assed POS that was fun to drive but the most unreliable POFS that ever limped its candy-assed POFS-ness across central NC. Ask me how I REALLY feel about it!

In the bug's short time with me:
a) its entire (manual) transmission had to be replaced to the tune of what would have been ~$6K (it was just barely still under warranty)
b) its cooling system failed, but in a boy-who-cried-wolf kind of way, so that I almost f-ed up the whole engine.
c) the battery died twice. no lights were left on.
d) it stranded my roommate more often than his own car did. Said roommate only borrowed the car a handful of times.
e) its corners were impossible to judge, which left me running into things from time to time. I am a firm believer that a car should feel bigger than it is.

I could go on. I won't.

3. What other blogger would you like to meet in real life and why?
That's tough! I'd say either Kitchen Witch or the Peaceable Imperatrix. Both are very kick-ass women that I feel a kinship with. I am way more about meeting people for real relationships than bowing at the feet of the famous. Ya know? Note that I've met (or will meet soon) everyone on my blog roll other than those two.

4. My dad's given me a timeshare week. I call you up and ask you where you want to go. What is your answer? (Assume vacation time is not an issue.)
If we're talking mainland US, then South Texas. Some of the best birding in the country is there, and I'll likely not ever go there for vacation otherwise. Considering that you just might have no interest in going to HELL, though, other choices would be in the western US, cause I've spent little to no time there. If we're expanding to other areas, I'd definitely want to go tropical. Africa has cool birds. So does Mexico or elsewhere in Latin America. WAIT. Cuba. CUBA!!!!!!!!!!!! That's a dream of mine. CUBA CUBA CUBA! (I bet there's not really any timeshares in Cuba though that are on your plan. Heh.)

5. If you had to opportunity to move back to a large city, would you?
I'd say definitely maybe. It would have to be the right situation and the right city. I'd have to be a) making a shitload of money at something I really like to do and b) have some kind of access to green space and a community garden. There's a lot to be said about cities (mass transportation, interesting things to do, cool diversity, exploring, the world seemingly at your fingertips...), but I'd say I'm for sure moving closer and closer to the Prairie Stew persona. I think I'd be much more likely to live outside a medium sized town and keep some land.

Great questions, Michele! Thanks. It was fun...

So if you want to play along and now be interviewed by me, please leave me a comment or send an email saying: "Interview me."
* I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
* You will update your weblog with the answers to the questions.
* You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
* Then others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions and so on.