Well, after so many years of looking in the mirror, I knew someone would eventually.

There’s a rather wonderful person called Factorymaid who has been following me for a little while now, and I ashamedly had not really even paid attention. No Freshly Pressed excuses; it’s just plain rude. (To everyone else I also haven’t checked out yet, I’m sorry too!)

Factorymaid, as it turns out, is (by her account, anyway) a brilliantly smart and successful person with a lot of hurt underneath and insecurities in the background. I read a few of the chapters of a book she’s working on, and they’re gut-wrenching. I’ll leave the rest of her tale up to her, but I’m rather glad she did this, because now I know someone new in the world whose acquaintance I’d be sorry to have missed.

Factorymaid believes I’m worthy of the Beautiful Blogger award. It does make me wonder: is it the blog or the blogger that’s beautiful? (Well, there’s no doubt about the blogger, of course – the dashing hunk of manliness.) I do try to infuse the world with something less than ugliness, though I’ll admit that words sometimes get a little twisted on the way, but I am the kind of person who prefers to see beauty in things others might not consider. To me, the only things ugly are those that are thoughtless.

Factorymaid certainly isn’t thoughtless.

Anyway, as usual I will obey the commandments of the award with my own stipulations. I won’t put any new blogs down here – there are far too many excellent and deserving people out there. Those that I’ve formed a special connection with are listed at the bottom of every post; it would, of course, be wonderful to check them out. (Factorymaid, you might be going down there.)

I will, however, attempt to entertain you with seven (7) interesting things about myself:

1. I recently discovered I’ve been averaging 4-5 hours of sleep a night. It turned out I was tired a lot.
2. Because of this, I drink a lot of coffee. My wife recently got me a mug that says, “Coffee makes me poop a lot.”
3. It’s true.
4. I can headbang in seven different languages.
5. I have four computers in my room. Three don’t work; hence the fourth.
6. My son now knows his multiplication tables better than I do.
7. Sometimes, when no one’s looking, I sneak a cookie from the jar on the top shelf.