I've been tagged by that lovely and mysterious Canadian dromedary Alice the Camel.  The rules go something like this:

List eight facts or habits about myself that blog readers might not otherwise know.  Then, I'm supposed to tag eight more people so they can do likewise. 

  1. I have a very affectionate little Chihuahua named Peño (short for Jalapeño) who leaps into my lap and licks my face first thing every morning as soon as I sit down on the living-room couch.

  2. I used to be a hippy (I can hardly believe it myself) and lived in a hippy house in New Westminster, BC, from 1971-1975.  I grew my hair down to the middle of my back in imitation of The Allman Brothers Band.

  3. Before that, I was living in an apartment near McGill University in downtown Montreal when the October Crisis broke out.  It was rather disconcerting to see armed soldiers walking the streets and armoured personnel carriers filling parking lots.

  4. Almost every day at lunch hour, I play ping pong table tennis with co-workers at the office.

  5. I invariably carry both a pen and a pencil on my person.  Usually, they are clipped to my shirt pocket.  If I'm wearing a t-shirt, I clip them onto the collar.

  6. When John Kennedy was shot, I was in a Grade 9 gym class at John Rennie High School, Pointe Claire, Quebec.

  7. In January 2005, my kidneys failed during minor surgery at University Hospital, Vancouver.  The cause was never determined with certainty, but my surgeon is sure that it was a peculiar drug interaction of some kind.  The kidney specialists were convinced that something blocked kidney passages, but two ultrasounds and a biopsy (!) failed to substantiate that hypothesis, so there you are.

    I was in very rough shape for weeks and underwent four dialysis treatments before my kidneys got back in the game, and I was off work for almost two months.  I have now completely recovered, thank God.  I've also regained all the weight I lost, and more; I'm not as thankful about that.

  8. I am an incorrigible rock & roller.  Every day as I drive to and from work, my iPod is tuned to something snappy and cranked up a little too loud.  (An FM transmitter plays it through the car stereo.)  Although I often play and always remember with great affection pop-rock-soul music from the 60s and 70s, I do try to keep up.  Lately, I've been listening to Muse, The Charms, and Arctic Monkeys.  They're all great, but Muse is, IMHO, as fine as any rock band I've ever heard.

    Here's the video of "Starlight" from Muse's latest album that I can’t stop listening to, Black Holes & Revelations.

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As I usually do on these blog tag things, I'll tag the first eight people to leave a comment saying they'll volunteer.  (I second Alice's nomination of the Rev Joseph Walker.  Joe, how about it?)

UPDATE (22 Jul.): Joe caves does the right thing. Good man!