100 Things, Part 3

#'s 41-60 for your boredom pleasure.

41. I don't typically like Chinese food, but I love Chinese buffets.  I think I don't want to be limited on my choices.  I prefer a little bit of everything as opposed to a lot of one thing when it comes to Chinese food.

42. All this writing about food is making me hungry.

43. I have recently made quantum leaps in my technological savvy.  I have purchased an iPod and a Blackberry since Christmas.

44. I almost enjoy listening to podcasts more than listening to music on my iPod.... almost.

45. In spite of being a huge Cardinals fan for my entire life, I didn't go to a game in St. Louis until 2002.  I have since been to three games in St. Louis - Cubs, Giants, and Dodgers.  The Cardinals are 1-2 in those games, but the win was a blowout over the Cubbies.

46. I have been to a game in all the Major League ballparks in the state of Texas (the Juicebox, and the Ballpark in Arlington).  I have only been to Texas three times in my life.

47. My wife and I went on a roadtrip during Spring Break of my final year of seminary.  We went to Hershey, PA; the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY; the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, OH; and visited what turned out to by my first ministerial appointment in Noblesville, IN (unknown to us at the time).

48.  We almost made a detour to see Niagra Falls as we drove from Cooperstown to Cleveland.

49. We left Cleveland the day that the Indians were supposed to have their opening game for the season.  It got snowed out.  Yes, I said, snowed out.

50. February is one of my favorite months.  Not because my birthday is in February, but because it is when Spring training starts.

51. When we went to the Ballpark in Arlington, we sat in the section with the all you can eat tickets.  Two of our closest friends from seminary were there, and my buddy's brother invited us to his office's box sweet once the 7th inning started.

52.  The Orioles were in town for that game, but they sat Tejada, Roberts and Hernandez - three of their best players.  We left just before the 9th inning, and at that point, there had been a combined 12 hits and the lone run came in the first inning.  

53. After we left, Tejada, Roberts and Hernandez came into the game, tied it up in the top of the 9th and scored 5 runs in the 10th inning.  The final was 6-3, and the teams combined for a total of 20 hits.

54. For our second anniversary, my wife and I went to see the Cardinals play on a rainy night in Cincinnati.  Pujols, Rolen and Edmonds all homered and the Cardinals scored 4 in the 11th to win it, 9-6.

55.  I remember being at both of those games, but I actually took the time to look up some of the specifics on mlb.com.  I'm a total baseball dork.  

56. I didn't have trouble finding the boxscores for either of those games... because I'm a baseball dork.

57. I have been to Las Vegas.  Katie's aunts got together and paid for our airfare and hotel as a wedding present.  I now know what a "dry heat" is.  After three days, I was tired of being in Vegas.

58. Katie and I were having lunch at the ESPN Zone in Las Vegas when Scott Rolen was traded to the Cardinals.  They have some awesome nachos there.

59. I remember mostly baseball and food related things.  I have difficulty remembering to do simple things sometimes.

60. Even though my last name is "Swisher," I'm not very good at basketball.

61. I played raquetball when I was in seminary, and absolutely loved it.  I haven't played since I moved away from Wilmore.

62. I was a three time champion at intramural softball in seminary.  I was also on two teams that lost in the championship game, and on two teams that combined for 1 win over the course of two semesters.  I was out of town on the night that we won.

63. I love playing softball.  I don't hit for power, but I would guess that my batting average was around .700 for 8 semesters of intramural softball.

64. I have more books than I could reasonablly read in two years.  Yet, I still buy more and try to read them.

65. I have a case of ADD when it comes to reading books.  I tend to be reading 2-4 books at a time, and it is a miracle if I ever actually finish one of them.

66. Probably the most enjoyable part of being a pastor is noticing that people are actually paying attention when I preach.

67. I'm still in a bit of a honeymoon phase with my new churches.  I'm wondering what it will be that finally makes somebody mad at me.

68. I'm re-booting an afterschool homework help program with other churches in the community.  I'm wondering if any students will actually show up on the first week.

69. I've sent an email from my Blackberry while sitting in front of my computer.

70. I tend to pile things up.  Eventually I go through them and sort them, but the pile always comes back.

71. My wife and I have put together a debt repayment plan that should pay off all our debt, vehicles and student loans within six years.

72. People say that economy is slow, but I haven't really seen any effects from it in my personal life.  But then again, our first year of marriage, my wife and I brought home about $1000/month if we were lucky.  I'm used to living on the verge.

73.  I like to toast bagels and use them for bologna and cheese sandwiches.

74. We bought a Wii about a year ago.  It's so much more fun than my Super Nintendo.

75. I have recently purchased LEGO Star Wars, Call of Duty: World at War, and the Nerf game for the Wii.  I haven't touched the Nerf game yet, but it was marked down from $60 to $40 dollars.

76. My wife and I give ourselves an allowance each week.  It has helped taper some of our unnecessary spending.

77. I have unlocked the Prestige Level on Call of Duty multiplayer online.  I spent the last month getting ranked up to #65 only to start all over again with the Prestige Level, but I'm having so much fun!

78. When we lived in Noblesville, we didn't even have a landline.  A year before that, I had never owned a cell phone.

79. I almost froze to death trying to make it home for Christmas one year.  Our car kept getting stuck in snow banks, so I was pushing it out for about 5 hours.  Then, when we finally gave up, we got a hotel room that was being renovated and didn't have running water.  My entire body was red and shivering when we finally got into the room at 2am.

80. Seymour, IN will always have a poor place in my heart because of that trip.  We were stuck in Seymour with 30 inches of snow.

81. I recognize that someday I may be appointed to Seymour and will have to deal with my irrational hatred of that town.  But for now, I'll let it fester.

82. I wrote more blogs in December of last year than I did in 2006 and 2007 combined.

83. I finally realized that I don't have to put anything terribly profound up on my blog.  It's my blog, an online expression of who I am.

84. I secretely want to write cool things and be published, but I don't have the time or the discipline to actually write a book.

85. I spent 10 years from the time that I first felt called to ministry to the time I received my first appointment.  In another 2 years, I'll be fully ordained... hopefully...

86. When people asked me how I felt about North Indiana and South Indiana Conferences of the UMC merging, I told them that I haven't been around long enough to know the difference, but it seems to make sense to me.

87. I keep up with pop culture by watching The Soup on E!  It's one of my favorite shows each week.

88.  I also like to watch: The Unit, Chuck, Heroes, House, Scrubs, The Office, 30 Rock, My Name is Earl, and Criminal Minds.

89. I rolled my eyes when my wife wanted to buy all the seasons of Friends and proceeded to watch them all the way through.  Now, I want to buy all the seasons of Scrubs and watch them all the way through.

90. The whole reason I bought an iPod was because I got speakers and an iTunes gift card at my wife's family Christmas party.  Before that, I never put a lot of thought into getting one.

91. My wife has 348,923 people in her immediate family.  We had been doing birthday parties on a monthly basis, but now I think it is going to be every other month.

92. At my wife's family birthday parties, we sing to each individual.  At the last one, I lost count after the 9th person.

93. When we got married, I suggested buying a pool table and building a cover for it so that it could be used as a dining room table.  My wife said no, but I still think it would be a great idea.

94. I used to be a big Miami Dolphins fan.  My dad and I would go just about every year to see the Dolphins take on the Colts at the Hoosier Dome.  I was there when Dan Marino broke the career TD record, and still have the ticket stub.

95. After Marino retired and Peyton Manning was drafted by the Colts, I have become more of a Colts fan.  I still also root for the Bears, which made the Super Bowl a couple years ago rather difficult.

96. 2004 was one of the most difficult years for me when it came to sports.  The Cardinals won 104 games, best team in baseball, but lost to the Red Sox in the World Series.  The Colts lost to the Patriots in the AFC Championship game.  Illinois college basketball lost 2 games all season - their final regular season game, and the championship game.

97. I still don't like Sean May because of the way he got away with so many fouls in the Illinois-UNC championship game.  Illinois' center wiped his own nose and got called for a foul in that game.  May knocked over people and walked away foul-free.

98. I'm not a big fan of just plain pepperoni pizza.  I don't mind pepperoni's with other things, just not by themselves on a pizza.

99. I'm kind of specific about the pens that I use.  I like the ones that you click on the end, but not the fancy ones like that.

100. I didn't realize how difficult it would be to come up with 100 things about myself!