5 Things You (Probably) Don't Know (Or Care to Know) about Me
I woke up this morning to find both Nathan Weinberg (of Inside Google and Inside Microsoft) and John Tropea (Library Clips blog) tagged me with the '5 Things You Don't Know About Me' meme.
5 Things You (Probably) Don't Know (Or Care to Know) about Alex Barnett
I used to be a professional cricketer (for 8 years), playing for Middlesex and Lancashire. I think my proudest moment is getting 5 wickets in a match for Lancashire against the Austrailian 1993 touring side in the only game they lost on that tour. A word of advice to any aspiring young Middlesex cricketers reading this: on your second morning of your first week on joining the staff, do not walk across the hallowed turf (Lord's Cricket Ground) while the Middlesex Cricket Committee is in session. Especially wearing a torn leather jacket and jeans. Expect your first team captain to have a word in your ear and explain that the rules have now been formalized regarding appropriate attire while convening at the Home of Cricket, thanks to you.
My Xbox gamertag is alex101.
I have a fear of heights. Trying to overcome this, at the age of 16 I decided to follow my uncle up a rock face. It was about 100 meters high - the idea was to get over a waterfall on a river we were trecking up in southern spain (near Nerja), without equipment. Without a doubt the most stupid decision I've ever made. About half way up I came to the realisation that the rock face was 'crumbly' and about 50 meters below me were rocks and certain doom if I slipped. I spent the next 40 minutes contemplating my fate, before finally mustering the courage to continue up the face. Once I made it to the top I didn't feel I had 'conquered' anything. If anything, I learnt that I was capable of doing really stupid things.
My chess 'claim to fame' is that I drew a game with a British Grandmaster, in a cafe in Chalk Farm. I set out to bore him to death, and it worked.
I hate doing 'DIY'. I mean really hate it. Anything related to tinkering around with real world objects just puts me off. Give me software to fix anytime, and I'll be as happy as larry. Give me something physical to fix, and a small little dark cloud magically looms over my head. Even the prospect of replacing a lightbulb is enough to remind me of that feeling you got when you put off the 6 weeks school holiday homework until the night before - urgh!. I follow a subconcious strategy of accidentally on purpose screwing up simple chores around the house as a guarantee that won't be asked again in the future. Fortunately, my wife loves fixing real-world stuff.
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So to continue the meme, I've decided to tag some of my favourite Microsoft bloggers: Betsy Aoki, Raymond Chen, Joshua Allen, Kim Cameron, and Andy Edmonds. Over to you!