Guess The Lie Challenge – The Answers

Hey everyone!

I won’t keep any of you in suspense one minute longer (if any of you are actually in suspense at all).  Remember, six of the statements are true and three are false.

1.  I’ve never had a soda or an alcoholic beverage in my entire life.  TRUE.  This is the one thing that undoubtedly earns the most looks of amazement and pure confusion but, believe it or not, it is true.  I guess soda has always had the same appeal for me that green vegetables do for a kid.  I just never had a desire for one.  I think the carbonation scared me a little bit.  As I grew older, the aversion just never really left me.  And I’m a difficult person to get to try new things anyway so that didn’t help.  Same thing for alcohol.  I can’t stand the smell of most beers and alcoholic drinks.  Plus, I had two friends die in a drunk driving accident when I was in high school and an uncle who died in his 50s due to alcohol and I’m sure that had something to do with it as well.

2.  I would love to write a fiction novel and have even finished the first chapter of a mystery novel that I hope to have published someday.  TRUE.  I’ve liked the idea of writing a novel for years but never really did anything about it.  About a year ago, I concentrated long enough to hammer out the first chapter of a story idea that I really liked.  It’s been sitting on the shelf for about nine months and with a 2 year old at home and another on the way I’m kind of doubting it’ll be coming off that shelf any time soon.

3.  If I had to choose a major in college other than Finance (which is my college major – I’ll give you a freebie on that one), I would have gone to medical school to be a dentist.  FALSE.  While I wanted to be a money guy since I was a freshman in college (and thankfully I’ve been able to make a career out of it), if I had to choose any career path outside of that I would have wanted to be a police officer.  I took a Criminal Justice class as one of my electives in college but that’s as far as my law enforcement career ever went.

4.  I was voted “Worst Driver” during my senior year in high school.  TRUE.  I deserved this one too.  I rear ended another car, put my car in a ditch, buried the car up to the wheel wells in soft sand that I never should have been driving on and came *this* close to actually hitting someone with my car.  Thinking back, I really am surprised that I didn’t at least injure someone.  I was trying to show off behind the wheel way too much.  I’ve mellowed quite a bit in my older age and now am one of the slower drivers on the road.

5.  I once got to hold the Olympic torch.  FALSE.  This honor actually goes to my 94 year old grandmother!  I’m not sure exactly how it happened but she said that a person who actually carried the torch during one of the legs of the relay got to keep one of the actual torches that was carried and brought it with them when they came to visit the facility they were living in.  It’s a strange story.  I’m not sure how you even arrange a visit with someone like that.  Nevertheless, they passed it around among all the ladies and took pictures of themselves holding the torch.  Like I said, strange story but it is true!

6.  I started having multiple seizures, kidney stones and developed knee problems all shortly after my 30th birthday.  TRUE.  I tell people that my body gave up on me when I hit the big 3-0.  The funny thing is that I was virtually physical issue free up to that point.  My knees have always given me minor issues since I was a kid (as a baseball player I played catcher from about age 7 through the end of high school and I think that played a major factor in my current knee issues) but they really started giving me trouble as I got into my 30s – much of which I’ve blogged about here.  I had two otherwise unexplained seizures out of the blue about three months apart in early 2005 (don’t ever have seizures by the way – it’s NOT an enjoyable experience physically or mentally) and had a kidney stone shortly after that (hurts VERY much).  Things have been better lately but beware of the 30s!

7.  My wife and I were married on St. Patrick’s Day so we could celebrate the Irish heritage on my wife’s side of the family.  FALSE.  My wife and did get married on St. Patrick’s Day 2001 but there’s no Irish heritage on anybody’s side of the family.  We only settled on St. Patrick’s Day because it was the one weekend where we knew we could book the reception hall that we wanted.

8.  I met Ted Nugent at a high school basketball game.  TRUE.  The high school team of one of my friends in college was playing the high school team of Ted Nugent’s son.  The rumor was that he would occasionally attend his son’s games so we decided to go and sure enough he showed up.  During a timeout, we went up to him to meet him and get an autograph. He did this for the entire game and I doubt he actually got to see his son play. A very gracious guy.

9.  I’m jealous of my brother for his physical abilities and athletic accomplishments.  TRUE.  Yes, sadly this one is a fact.  I know my brother puts far more time and effort into it than I do (he’s a strength coach at the University of Louisville so it is his career after all) but I can’t say there isn’t a twinge of jealousy when seeing him finish the Ironman or run a 5K in about 18 minutes or have about 2% body fat.  I’m still proud of him though.  He’s worked hard to get to where he’s at.  He’s just been at it much MUCH longer than me.  At least I get a free fitness trainer at my disposal!

So, there it is.  I don’t think anybody got all three right because everybody assumed that #1 was false.  I probably wouldn’t have believed #1 either!

It should be a fun weekend.  My wife’s birthday is today!  Last night, I blew up about 75 balloons and had them all over the floor of the house when she woke up this morning.  I heard her laughing when she first went downstairs this morning so I think it went over well.  My daughter LOVES it!  She’s thrilled whenever there are one or two balloons around the house.  She might explode trying to figure out what to do with 75!

Hope everyone has a great weekend and that weather holds up wherever you are!