---
title: "7 facts about me"
date: 2009-01-23T11:59:54-05:00
url: https://blog.lmorchard.com/2009/01/23/7-facts-about-me/
author: Les Orchard
tags: [entries, mozilla, "7things", memes]
---

# 7 facts about me

So, it finally happened—[I've been tagged by Stephen Donner][stephend].  I've not been one to follow memes in this blog, but this one's been going around the [Mozillasphere][] for awhile now and has been kind of interesting.  I'm half-tempted to bookmark and tag all the entries I've caught so far.  Anyway, the rules:

1. [Link to your original tagger(s)][stephend] and list these rules in your post.
2. Share seven facts about yourself in the post.
3. <strike>Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.</strike>
4. <strike>Let them know they’ve been tagged.</strike>

Now, for your random facts, after the jump:

[introvert]: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200303/rauch
[growup]: http://decafbad.com/blog/colophon#growup "An explanation of that image at the bottom of the page."
[doorgames]: http://deus-x.livejournal.com/91013.html "An old entry on LiveJournal, only a few dates in with my now-wife."
[ben]: http://blog.mozilla.com/bhearsum/archives/71
[ratreview]: http://www.algonac.k12.mi.us/ahs/Newspaper/newspaper1.htm "I was production editor of my High School newspaper!"
[newly]: http://decafbad.com/blog/2003/06/13/newly-digital "I was newly digital in 1983"
[snore]: http://decafbad.com/blog/2004/12/03/if-you-snore-get-tested-for-sleep-apnea-now "No, really, go get tested for sleep apnea if you snore."
[dad]: http://decafbad.com/blog/2007/09/25/dad "RIP Dad."
[cpap]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_airway_pressure
[apnea]: http://www.sleepapnea.org/
[mozillasphere]: http://planet.mozilla.org/
[awesome]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/deusx/60976282/in/set-1316941/ "Look at these awesome cats."
[cute]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/deusx/60975345/in/set-1316941/ "Look at these cute kitties."
[inanna]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inanna
[puck]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puck_(mythology)
[ocicats]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocicat
[essay]: http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=education_contests_tf
[palmtop]: http://decafbad.com/blog/2007/09/21/sadness-for-my-dead-palmtop
[stephend]: http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/stephend/archives/2009/01/7_facts_about_s.html
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5. My wife is a nerd, who tracked me down via a user name shown in the webcam picture I used for my Yahoo! Personals ad, in order to avoid paying to reply.  [Dial-up BBSes and DOOR games played a part in our courtship][doorgames].
2. We have [two ocicats][ocicats], littermates named [Puck][puck] and [Inanna][inanna].  They're both [very cute][cute] and are [more awesome][awesome] than anyone else's cats. 
3. I have [sleep apnea][apnea], and use [a CPAP machine][cpap] every night.  [If you snore, go get tested][snore].  Heart disease, [of which my snoring father died][dad], is one of many possible consequences of untreated sleep apnea.
4. [Although I have been a computer nerd since the age of 7][newly], I had the wild notion in starting college that I wanted to be [a journalist][ratreview] or a psychologist.  Luckily, the web took off during my freshman year, which let me be a little of all the above.  [I'm not sure why I ever thought I'd be anything other than a computer nerd][growup].
6. I'm [a complete introvert][introvert] and though I work hard at being sociable, I need a day or two alone for every half-day or so spent being social.  My main coping mechanism since even before my teenage years was to make friends from behind a keyboard and screen, and the internet has made that even more scalable as I've grown up.  And now, I get to work that way too—HUGE SUCCESS!
1. In my senior year of High School, I won 2nd place in [the Ayn Rand Institute's *The Fountainhead* essay contest][essay].  This was the culmination of having read every scrap of Ayn Rand's writing I could get my hands on throughout High School.  I used the money to take a summer trip to visit a friend who'd moved to Texas and to buy my [well used, now dead palmtop PC][palmtop].
7. I like extremely hot spicy food, insanely hop-saturated beer, Irish whiskey, and fresh locally roasted coffee.

[Per Ben Hearsum][ben], I think I'll make this a leaf node in the meme spanning the [Mozillasphere][].  In a quick 5 minute search, it looks like most blogging Mozillans have already been tagged, and I'm not going to spread the contagion outside the organization.  :)



<div id="comments" class="comments archived-comments">
            <h3>Archived Comments</h3>
            
        <ul class="comments">
            
        <li class="comment" id="comment-221082669">
            <div class="meta">
                <div class="author">
                    <a class="avatar image" rel="nofollow" 
                       href="http://djst.org/blog/"><img src="http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=c373b563731bfba5dae207e3f66539dd&amp;size=32&amp;default=http://mediacdn.disqus.com/1320279820/images/noavatar32.png"/></a>
                    <a class="avatar name" rel="nofollow" 
                       href="http://djst.org/blog/">David Tenser</a>
                </div>
                <a href="#comment-221082669" class="permalink"><time datetime="2009-01-23T18:26:51">2009-01-23T18:26:51</time></a>
            </div>
            <div class="content"><p>Re #5, I just realized how annoying my "les is more" jokes must be! I need to figure out how I can deliver these high class jokes in a more subtle way while still being able to entertain myself. Maybe I could just think about the phrase instead?</p>

<p>Re #7, I couldn't agree more!</p></div>
            
        </li>
    
        <li class="comment" id="comment-221082671">
            <div class="meta">
                <div class="author">
                    <a class="avatar image" rel="nofollow" 
                       href="http://www.decafbad.com"><img src="http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=2377f34a68801b861c3e54e1301f0dce&amp;size=32&amp;default=http://mediacdn.disqus.com/1320279820/images/noavatar32.png"/></a>
                    <a class="avatar name" rel="nofollow" 
                       href="http://www.decafbad.com">l.m.orchard</a>
                </div>
                <a href="#comment-221082671" class="permalink"><time datetime="2009-01-23T19:20:44">2009-01-23T19:20:44</time></a>
            </div>
            <div class="content"><p>@David: Heh, heh.  The "les is more" jokes aren't really annoying - they've just kind of graduated up to a bigger meta-joke that I've gotten used to.  :)  No worries!</p></div>
            
        </li>
    
        <li class="comment" id="comment-221082672">
            <div class="meta">
                <div class="author">
                    <a class="avatar image" rel="nofollow" 
                       href="http://gfmorris.net/"><img src="http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=505e3b39dcea29b3ded74a5494c493eb&amp;size=32&amp;default=http://mediacdn.disqus.com/1320279820/images/noavatar32.png"/></a>
                    <a class="avatar name" rel="nofollow" 
                       href="http://gfmorris.net/">Geof F. Morris</a>
                </div>
                <a href="#comment-221082672" class="permalink"><time datetime="2009-01-24T00:15:47">2009-01-24T00:15:47</time></a>
            </div>
            <div class="content"><p>I had always read you talking about CPAP and just thought you were crazy ... then I had an NPSG and got mine.  HOLY CRAP YOU ARE NOT KIDDING.</p></div>
            
        </li>
    
        <li class="comment" id="comment-221082676">
            <div class="meta">
                <div class="author">
                    <a class="avatar image" rel="nofollow" 
                       href="http://pattimst3k.livejournal.com/"><img src="http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=404400e23c8a644635e9eeeec19a2175&amp;size=32&amp;default=http://mediacdn.disqus.com/1320279820/images/noavatar32.png"/></a>
                    <a class="avatar name" rel="nofollow" 
                       href="http://pattimst3k.livejournal.com/">http://pattimst3k.livejournal.</a>
                </div>
                <a href="#comment-221082676" class="permalink"><time datetime="2009-01-24T03:59:30">2009-01-24T03:59:30</time></a>
            </div>
            <div class="content"><p></p><p>When did you and your wife meet? I met my husband on line back in 1999 when people still thought that you only met psychopaths on the internet.  No one could understand it...until Jeff explained how picky I am and then it made sense :)
Hopheads rule!!&lt;/p
TeacherPatti</p></div>
            
        </li>
    
        <li class="comment" id="comment-225605269">
            <div class="meta">
                <div class="author">
                    <a class="avatar image" rel="nofollow" 
                       href="http://www.cpapandsupplies.com/images/infographic/cpap.png"><img src="http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=0cbd1bbbd946fdec40b30dd68d414999&amp;size=32&amp;default=http://mediacdn.disqus.com/1320279820/images/noavatar32.png"/></a>
                    <a class="avatar name" rel="nofollow" 
                       href="http://www.cpapandsupplies.com/images/infographic/cpap.png">Easysleeper</a>
                </div>
                <a href="#comment-225605269" class="permalink"><time datetime="2011-06-14T10:01:28">2011-06-14T10:01:28</time></a>
            </div>
            <div class="content">I am so glad that you talk about your sleep apnea and CPAP machine as openly as you do.

People shouldn't be ashamed of it! </div>
            
        </li>
    
        </ul>
    
        </div>
