Dawn Treader Jeff has tagged me with the latest blog pyramid scheme meme the “seven by seven” meme, which asks you to list:

  1. Seven things to do before I die
  2. Seven things I cannot do
  3. Seven things that attract me to (…)
  4. Seven things I say most often
  5. Seven books (or series) that I love
  6. Seven movies I watch over and over again (or would if I had time)
  7. Seven people I want to join in, too.

Oy, he doesn’t ask for very much, does he? Anyway, here goes:

Seven things to do before I die (most of which involve travel and sports):

  1. Travel to New Zealand
  2. Travel to Alaska
  3. Travel to Hawai’i
  4. Tour Europe
  5. See the Brewers win the World Series
  6. Renew my vows in Whistler, Jasper, or Banff
  7. Hike the entire Appalachian Trail Invent the microwave refrigerator

Seven things I cannot do:

  1. Shut up, apparently ;)
  2. Play any musical instrument
  3. Skate
  4. Solve the Rubik’s Cube without step-by-step instructions
  5. Linear Algebra
  6. Blow bubblegum bubbles
  7. Resist silly blog memes, apparently

Seven things that attract me to Canada:

  1. The Canadian Rockies
  2. Friendly people
  3. Vancouver
  4. Whistler
  5. Toronto
  6. Hockey
  7. Shanghai Chinese Bistro on Alberni St. in Vancouver

Seven things I say most often (impressionable ones, cover your eyes):

  1. Fuck!
  2. God dammit!
  3. Jesus [Fucking] Christ [on a pogo stick]!
  4. D’oh!
  5. [In response to "How are you?"] I can’t complain, but I do anyway. (Apologies to Joe Walsh)
  6. Leave it! (Fellow dog owners will understand.)
  7. Nubba. (My wife will understand.)

Seven books (or series) that I love (tough for me, since most of my reading is periodicals and not books per se):

  1. Carl Sagan, The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
  2. Roger Zelazny, The Chronicles of Amber
  3. Raymond Feist, “Magician” series (Silverthorn was my favorite)
  4. George H. Smith, Atheism: The Case Against God
  5. Gary Larson, “The Far Side,” all of them (does this count?)
  6. Carl Sagan, Billions and Billions
  7. Michael Shermer, Why People Believe Weird Things

DISCLAIMER: Since I haven’t read many books in the last several years, I may revise this list as I think of stuff.

Seven movies I watch over and over again (or would if I had time):

  1. Die Hard
  2. The Fifth Element
  3. Galaxy Quest
  4. UHF
  5. Airplane!
  6. North By Northwest (or just about any other Cary Grant movie)
  7. The Chase Last of the Mohicans (1992, Daniel Day-Lewis)

DISCLAIMER: In many cases (e.g., the Bruce Willis movies), it’s not so much that I like the movies; it’s more that I’m powerless to turn them off once they’re on. It’s worth noting that oftentimes, by far the best movies are not ones that lend themselves to frequent viewing.

Seven people I want to join in, too (sorry, guys):

  1. SayUncle
  2. Publius
  3. Joe Carter
  4. Xrlq (pronounced “Jeff”)
  5. Kevin T. Keith
  6. Wacko
  7. Mumon

There, Jeff, are you happy now? :)