21 August 2004

Dork credentialling

I am 6'5" tall, about 250 pounds, a fairly good-looking and popular guy, and an ex-football, baseball, and rugby player. But all that is basically just a disguise. I am a total dork by trade.

My credentials are as follows:
1. I have well over 400 individual episodes of Star Trek on tape (mostly TNG, DS9, and VGR). I maintain a Microsoft Access database that lists each episode and its location within my library of about 100 VHS cassettes. Each of these cassettes is clearly labeled and numbered (I used to write the labels by hand; now I print them), and I have watched every episode at least two or three times.

2. I am an obsessive fantasy baseball player. I watch roughly 3-4 hours of baseball every single day, following my players and negotiating trades with other owners. I record my team's performance in a spreadsheet every single day, and I regularly analyze my team's performance using Stata. I speak with my partner and co-owner at least 3-4 hours per day about our team.

3. I am a full-time Ph.D. student at Cornell University. Statistical analysis of large-scale survey data is what I do for a living.

4. The only books I read are non-fiction; I have not read a fiction book in several years. Mostly, I read books about Vietnam War history, Lyndon Johnson, and assorted other historical topics. I also informally collect reference books. I have around 75-100 reference books of all types.

5. I spend approximately 10-12 hours per day, every day, in front of my computer.

6. Every single day, I make a list of tasks I wish to accomplish the next day. These lists follow a strict format, and they are all painfully neat and structured. I write the header of each list, as well as designated parts of the body, in calligraphy. I use different pens for different parts of the lists.

7. I spend an average of 1-2 hours each day doing New York Times sunday crossword puzzles.