1. My hometown is named after a Frenchman whose claim to fame was for developing and growing his own strain of celery.

2. One of my grandfather's first jobs was as a tombstone carver.

3. One of my more distant ancestors was eaten, after being shipwrecked on a whaler.

4. Just up the road from where I grew up, was a house reputed to be haunted by Abraham Lincoln.

5. A hot air balloon, carrying an advert on it for Mr Pibb's soda, once made an emergency landing in the middle of the four-highway next to my street.

6. In the mid-1960's a loose tie down rope from a low-flying Goodyear blimp, once got temporarily snagged in the top of a pine tree, in the pine grove behind our house.

7. A wild whitetail deer once jumped through the plate glass front window, of a small produce shop that belonged to a friend of my mum's, which was located in a small city near our village.

8. Three of my grade school teachers were on a hijacked plane, during a long standoff in the Middle East, in the early 1970's, and a nationally televised press conference was held in our school's gym/auditorium, upon their return.

9. When I was in my late teens, I had a best friend, whose sister was film actor Al Pachino's secretary.

10. I once dated a genuine cowboy from colorado--for three whole dates, while at the same time I had a friend and co-worker who as a Navajo Indian.

11. I am a direct descendant of James Fennimore Cooper, who wrote Last of the Mohicans, and many other works.

12. The oddest thing I ever ate for breakfast was choocolate sprinkles on bread--followed by some cold smoked herring and a hard boiled egg. Any port in a storm, when you're hungry.

13. In my lifetime, I have been on and/or driven/steered the following modes of transport: car, pick-up truck/SUV, antique auto, train, single engine plane, jet, tram, tractor, bucket loader, backhoe, bulldozer, dump truck, ski-lift/cable gondola, horse, pony, mule, camel, elephant, hot air balloon, sail boat, whitewater raft, motor boat, row boat, canal boat, cruse boat, submarine, banana boat/freighter, ferry, bicycle, bus, stagecoach, horse-drawn wagon/carriage, jitney, rickshaw. Still waiting for the Tardis, ha-ha.

14. Besides my 2-year degree in Liberal Arts, I also hold a Level I certificate in Culinary Arts, and have also studied heavy equipment (construction) operation and floral design (as 6 week extracurricular study courses).

15. During the depression, while working at the Daily News in New York City, my grandfather invented the device which automatically stops the newspaper presses if a man's hand gets caught.

(Unfortunately, he showed his idea to the boss--who promptly took it over, and my grandad wound up never getting credit for his invention. He was so upset, he eventually quit his job there, and went to work for the Albany paper.)