Friday Five

I have to say, this is my 3rd trip to Rogers, AR and the place is starting to grow on me. I'm not saying I want to move here, but it's a cute little area. It's also growing like crazy because of WalMart being headquartered here, and the infrastructure can't keep up. It was strange getting stuck in traffic in the middle of nowhere.

And let me tell you, the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport is actually bigger than you would expect. Don't get me wrong, it's not large by any imagination, but it's decent sized all things considered. The airport bar is nice because they have a departures screen up so I can track my flight, and they play the airport announcements inside. Very slick.

This week was nice because I had someone to hang out with this week. The MCT (Microsoft Certified Trainer) community is rather tight knit all things considered, and there are MCT's scattered all through the nation. Quite often I can get together with someone. There's a trainer (Rod) who moved out here to take a job with Microsoft (supporting WalMart). He's a bachelor at the moment (fam will move out when their house sells (sound familiar?)).

Rod was kind enough to entertain me all week, and show me some of the local flavor. We went to a local sushi place that was attached to a gas station. Rod insists that I say the Shell station as that sounds better. I'm not convinced. Either way, though, the sushi was great. Yes - there is good sushi in Bentonville, AR. The chef doesn't have the widest selection being in the middle of the country and all, but he does a great job with what he has.

My travel note involves the bar at the Holiday Inn in Springdale. I often go down there as I work/study better there than locked up in the room. In any event, there was a guy next to me, very talkative, who found out I do computers. Sure as the sun rises in the East, "If I buy you a beer will you fix my computer?" I'm too polite to say no. I fix his problem in about 30 seconds. He buys me a beer, and talks my ear off for the next half hour. Let me tell you - not worth the beer.

The five this week will be a "mini-tag". Sarah "tagged" me, meaning that I'm supposed to link back to her blog, say 10 deep dark secrets about me and then tag other people. I'm not going to tag anyone, mostly because there isn't many people I know personally that blog, and those that do wouldn't appreciate it. So I figure I'll do 5 things, not tag anyone else, and call it good. (Chances are, most people who know me will know all of this already.)

1. I used to shoplift as a young teenager. Nothing big - candy and things like that. We also used to swipe soda cases from outside the local store. I'd like to point out they'd leave the cases out overnight, so they were almost asking for it. Yes, that's justification.
2. I screen my calls. Well, if I don't recognize the number, or it's "blocked", I'm not answering it.
3. I've been in a handful of fights as a kid. I was 4'11", 90 pounds, and constantly picked on. Makes you a tad feisty.
4. Up until about 10 years ago I really wanted kids. Now, I can't even imagine the concept.
5. I once got a letter from the state of MN that my license was going to be suspended if I got one more ticket. I had received 3 (2 speeding, one rolling stop) in the span of 6 months.