This strange new world of blogging never ceases to amaze me.  I have struggled, offended, and learned through this creative process.  I’ve made horrible assumptions and have also – already – made great connections and have received very rewarding and encouraging feedback from my small but mighty group of readers.

Perhaps the single lesson that has come to resonate with me is the value of “The Link”.  I implicitly knew this as I embarked on this journey but I know of it explicitly now.  I once viewed Link Round-ups and content references as friendly pats on the back, but I now view them as PURE GOLD!!

And so this ‘link is currency’ model becomes its own economy complete with its Haves and Have Nots.  Soon emerges the sub-economies or niche markets and that is where we find ourselves today.  Engaged in a friendly and fabricated Link-Fest known as a “meme” and (hopefully) loving every minute of it!

My new friend Trevor – the original Financial Nut - has “tagged” me in this blog version of a chain-letter.  A pretty good definition is available courtesy of Sire - (hey, with his link in the ‘boilerplate’ for this game, isn’t he the ultimate winner?… I challenge future participates and borrowers from my ‘new’ template to use my site as the new definition site!!)

Ok, so this is sort of a ‘tag’ game bloggers play to help build community and to exchange links.  Sounds good to me, so I’ll play along.

The rules for this edition are pretty straightforward:

1 – Link to your original tagger and list these rules in your post – just to be sure…Financial Nut tagged me

2 – Share 7 facts about yourself in the post

3 – Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names and links to their blogs

4 – Let them know they’ve been tagged.

Makes sense… I’ve actually never participated in a ‘meme’ so this should be interesting…

So here goes, Do You Dave Ramsey’s initial “meme”, take 1…

1. In Junior High, I once spent a full day in “in-school” detention for selling dirt in Science class.  To this day I believe Ms. Dukes misrepresented herself when talking to the Assistant Principal and that is why my punishment was so steep. 

2. My very first car was a 1965 Ford Mustang… looking back, it was such a heap.  It was an in-line 6 cylinder that really only ran on 4.  In the winter it would take 20 minutes for it to warm up so that it would go faster than 10 mph.  But it was red and I loved it.

 3. I’ve already shared that I’m a Harley rider.  This fact never fails to surprise folks that I encounter at work.  I suppose (and I’ve been told) that in a business setting I often have a professional persona that just does not reconcile with the Harley image.  But what you don’t yet know is that my worst financial decision involves my purchasing a used Harley with a credit card.  I actually have this post ‘in the can’ and scheduled for release so you’ll have to check that out for more details.  As a bonus while we’re on this topic… I have a thing for collecting Harley shirts from the various dealerships.  So far I have a not-so-frugal collection of over 60 shirts from such locations as Hawaii, San Francisco, Aruba, and England.  I also have shirts from Custom Bike Builders like Jesse James, Matt Hotch, Arlen Ness, Hank Young, and Chica.  Clearly I have a weakness in this area! 

4. I absolutely hate having to show my receipt and merchandise when living a warehouse store like Costco or Sam’s.  I’ve asked multiple folks including Costco Corporate why they have this practice in place and I get the same two phony responses – 1) to ensure that the cashier rang everything up and that I am not being overcharged – which requires me to believe that the receipt checker has a Rainman-like ability to instantly identify an incorrect price – which further makes me wonder why all these door checkers aren’t working for NASA… or 2) to ensure the cashier isn’t ripping me off by keeping my merchandise after ringing it up – which makes we wonder why I’m shopping at a den of thieves. 

5. One night in college I ate an entire bucket of KFC original recipe and then the next morning ran more laps or a further distance than I had ever run in my life up till that time.  I only stopped running because I had to get cleaned up for class.  I called it the “Power of the Chicken”.  Alas, I’ve never been able to recreate the second part of this event.  

6. I once had a wonderful conversation with the COO of one of the major credit bureaus as the result of a ‘colorful’ letter I had written in trying to clarify an ongoing confusion over certain contents on my report.  Now before you get the wrong idea, my letter was colorful because it was challenging in a comedic manner rather an offensive way.  In fact, we both laughed at my jokes after resolving my issue and then discussed Aruba from where he had just returned from vacation and where I honeymooned with my wife… oohhh, a two-fer

7. I was in Miami on the beach when the calendar flipped from 1999 to 2000 with a great friend and his then-girlfriend.  Just after the New Year swept the east coast someone snapped a picture.  My friend’s girl-friend’s sister saw the picture and this lead to our dating for a short while.  However, during this time – stick with me – I became better friends with the girl-friend such that when this couple got married and I randomly met one of her long-time friends at the reception, she was able/willing to give a ringing endorsement on my behalf to her friend which led to our dating and eventual marriage in December of 2004.  I love to reflect on how improbable events fit together to weave the fabric of our lives. 

So that didn’t hurt too bad.  Perhaps more than you wanted to know, but nothing bad.  I’ll save those facts for after my current job search… just kidding HR Professionals doing your investigative homework!  I’m really a great guy and would make a wonderful addition to any workplace!!!

So here’s my list of victims, er, blogging friends who I am tagging as part of this endless meme!

1. Sean at Blogopolis Blueprint (but you also have to check out his fantastic work at Writer Dad)

2. Jason at Frugal Dad - he cemented my motivation to start blogging (don’t know if he knows that)

3. Eric at Motivate Thyself was an early supporter of my endeavor and has provided me with great advice along the way

4. glblguy at Gather Little By Little runs a great site, I love his blog’s name and message and greatly appreciate his offline support

5. Jeff at My Super-Charged Life has one of the slickest layouts I’ve seen. I love the rotating headlines!  Hey, he’s a cool guy too!

6. Sandy at Yes I Am Cheap stumbled upon my site and has been very supportive.  You must check out her site to see how she is flat killing her pile of debt!  Go Sandy!!

7. Stephen at The Rat Race Trap may have been my first reader/commenter that didn’t already know me.  His early words of encouragement meant more than he knows.

If you guys choose to participate, GREAT!  If not, I totally understand!

As a creative addition to this adventure, I add the following challenge in closing.  If you learned something you now appreciate about me, I challenge you to do 3 things 1) subscribe to my email or RSS feed, 2) comment about it below sharing something neat about yourself, and 3) tell someone about this post and encourage them to act on this same challenge.

Thanks!!

Dave 

Photo By: girlbuise

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