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The subject of "interesting things about you" came up recently on a blog I frequent, and I ended up writing this long thing in response:

I recently took a year off from work to write two books, one a children’s book, another a collection of essays on atheism.

I’ve ridden 8 bulls. I’ve hitchhiked around the U.S. more than 26,000 miles. I once shook the hand of baseball legend Sandy Koufax, but had no idea who he was because I don’t follow baseball. I’ve flown upside-down in a plane, and parachuted out of one 5 times. When I was younger, I hopped a ride on a freight train across three states. I’ve fed marshmallows by hand to a live grizzly bear. I’ve been bitten by a coyote. I once ran the main control board at an asphalt plant. Back when I was a professional baker, a hall full of conventioneers gave me a standing ovation for my pastries. I once did a back layout out of a third-floor window into a snowbank. I’ve never had a broken bone. I’m a member of Mensa. I have tissue samples of my dead dog stored in liquid nitrogen, and I hope to someday clone him. I got lost in a snowstorm for 8 hours while cross country skiing at night one time, and almost died. I sold the first piece of writing I ever submitted for publication, to a national magazine. I ran for public office and lost ... twice. I possess the only existing recipe for Nuclear Cheese Bread. I’m a photography hobbyist and I have a $3,000 camera. I know how to make a flame-thrower out of PVC pipe.

I’m restoring a 95-year-old house ... very slowly. I think most people who get tattoos are idiots, and state lotteries are a Really Bad Idea. I’m an advocate for atheism, and I’m thrilled that atheists are at last finding a voice in the U.S. I’d like to see George W. Bush impeached, and Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and Rush Limbaugh in prison.

I’m currently attempting to market those two books to agents and publishers, designing t-shirts in a small business with a friend in California, cranking up a freelance career in writing and editing, and working at a newspaper part-time. I recently decided to start blogging again, and as part of that, I plan to put my fitness progress right out in public on my blog, complete with actual pictures of my huge gym-shorts-clad posterior and decidedly unwashboard abs, as I attempt to lose up to 45 pounds and get fit and thin again. At 55, I’d still like to run a marathon someday.

And oh yeah, I’m single and live alone. I plan to get a puppy.

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My photos are for sale. If you're interested in any of them, shoot me an email.

My blog, with pic of me in all my hairy-bellied goodness (the "Before" picture of me for a fitness regimen I'm starting), is here: www.HankFox.com.