Would you have sex with someone you hated?

• Yes
• No

Those of us who are (or have been) married might have a different answer...because of experience.

Those of you who pay attention to the news lately may have heard that a tropical storm just passed over part of Florida this week. Since I work for a utility company, I was honored to work through the storm the past few days.

That has included getting absolutely soaked while trying to determine whether the downed line I was looking at was one of my company's or a different one's...driving down a major highway and feeling my vehicle being pushed by the wind toward the side of the road...upon notice that a tornado was seen in my working area, a text that I was to stop what I was doing NOW, find shelter and wait until the "all clear" message was given...trudging through water that was nearly a foot deep to get signal readings...walking into a sandwich shop for lunch and having some technicians from a competing company just look over, shake their heads and say, "helluva mess, huh?"

Now that I'm off for the next couple of days and can decompress, I have the chance to think about dealing with heavy storms:

Frankly, I'd rather deal with hurricanes and tropical storms than with winter storms. Since I grew up in northern New York, I know winter storms all too well. When I walked out into my backyard this morning to see that I had two or three small branches that had fallen off my tree and one picket had fallen from my fence (fix time - 6 minutes, with 3 of those spent getting my elecric drill and a couple of screws)...it made me so glad that I didn't have to dig my way out like I had to back when I lived up North. And it was 82 degrees, which was a LOT better than what thermometers show back home between November and April.

I'm not new to tropical storms (I dealt with Hurricane Floyd in '99 and a whole bunch in 2004-'05 that passed over Florida) but they beat the hell out of ice storms, blizzards and sleet.

After taking a couple hundred tests on OKCupid, I figured I ought to toss another one into the mix. As a 1970s music buff, I figured what harm would it cause to write a test with some lyrics?

Funny you should ask...it took me almost a week but I got it together and it's something I think is pretty good. Give it a try:

(Warning -- it's a little long and a couple of the lyrics are a bit tricky -- but the songs were all big pop hits)

http://www.okcupid.com/tests/7530957440447352132/How-Well-Did-You-Listen-to-70s-Music-Lyrics

And if this one goes over well, I'll do some more.

Have you ever quit a job without giving at least a week notice?

• Yes
• No

I've held a lot of jobs over the years. Most were great in that they taught me skills I could carry with me to the next job, even if they weren't exactly paying me enough to live well.

Ususally, when it came time to leave I was really good about giving ample time to inform my boss that I would be leaving. I am the type who offers to help train my replacement if necessary, but sometimes I'd just be told, "well, if you're leaving...go now and we'll mail your last check to you" and that's cool too. I did get fired a few times, and while the stories about how that happened are good they don't apply to the question above.

I once worked for AOL. I had gone there to try and get a job as a technical support specialist but since I was a former Radio Shack store manager and had previous sales experience, I let them talk me into becoming a member of their "sales department." They told me I'd have the chance to make $20 an hour as opposed to $7 as a techie (this was when the min. wage was still $4.25) if I performed well.

Once I started training, I quickly realized that this sales position wasn't the standard "cold call and offer a deal" sales job. No, I was going to be the guy who answered when somebody called to cancel the service, and my job was to try and keep you from quitting. I did well in my training class but once I hit the phone...I realized that I was too laid back to pressure people into staying with a service they didn't want. I absolutely hated that job.

On Thursday of the first week on the phones, I was contacted by another company I had applied with before accepting the AOL job. They liked my resume, I had passed all the tests and aced the interview. A new training class would be offered on Monday, would I like to be in it? I walked into AOL on Friday with all my stuff and quit on the spot.

By the way...that was in 1998 and I'm still working for the company that called me. Even though I detested that AOL job, I still learned some stuff in my time there. I realized that I don't like working on the phone in a call center environment. Don't get me wrong, it's not an awful job but you have to be a good match for the job and I learne I defintely wasn't. We have a call center where I work and have nothing but respect for the people who work there. I also learned that I'd rather help fix someone's problem than coerce them to take something they either don't want or don't need. In effect, I'd have probably been a better fit at AOL as a tech guy than in sales but had it worked out differently...I may not have been so inclined to take the job when the other company called me.

One other thing about my 3 weeks at AOL...when I began working there, I was given an email account. My user name? cstuff84, the same name I use here.

Would you, or did you, go to your 10-year high school reunion?

• Yes
• No, but I wanted to
• No

We didn't even have a 10-year anniversary. Or a 15-year anniversary. The 20th will be in 2010 and I'm not even sure it'll be held.

But if the question is: "Would you want to go and see what happened to the people you were so tired of dealing with that you left town as soon as you were able and haven't spoken to most of them in nearly 20 years?" then I haven't yet decided.

Don't get me wrong...my high school years may have been rough due to puberty and the pervasive small-town mindset, but it built me into who I am today. I was bright not not a bookworm; I played on the football team but wasn't really a jock. As the end of my senior year approached, I knew I was ready to run as far from that little town in Upstate NY as soon as the light turned green. And once I had my high school diploma in my hand, that's exactly what I did.

And nearly 18 years after taking that exit, I occasionally wonder how some of the people there are doing now. But not often. I hear from time to time about kids I grew up with: whenever one gets into a serious accident or blows his brains out. Once in a while I get the update on whatever happened to my high school sweetheart. Oh yes, our valedictorian is a doctor now (helluva guy, though. I knew he'd turn out OK).

After all this time...do I really want to go back to a place that I couldn't wait to get away from, to meet people I really didn't like all that much to begin with, to explain what I've been doing for 20 years when I couldn't even be bothered to send them a single Christmas card telling them how my year went?

Maybe.

Would you be interested in running for any public office? (Mayor, Governor, Senate, President, etc.)

• Yes
• No

Not just no, but Hell No! There is no way I would ever be in the position to run for -- much less hold -- one of those jobs.

First, I don't think I'm going to want a job where I'm immediately going to piss off almost 50% of the people simply by making a decision. And then, it won't matter if my decision was so grounded in reason and backed up by facts that are beyond dispute...somebody's still going to call for me to be tossed out on my sorry political ass for making it.

Second, there is no way I'm ever going to be endorsed by a political party. I'm a formerly registered Democrat. I refuse to belong to the Republican party. And as a person who skews libertarian I won't even consider joining them either. I'm a hopeless independent...and no party is ever going to run a candidate who is so outside their realm of influence.

Third, I have so many skeletons in my closet that it would be far too easy for my opponent to drag me through the mud. Whoring around while in high school? Did that. Joining a web community for dating while married? No comment. Taking photos of important landmarks in the Nation's Capitol shortly before 9/11? I was on a family vacation there. And yes, I voted in the 2000 presidential election in Florida. So I'm screwed there too.

Funny thing...when I was 8 years old, if you asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up I'd tell you I wanted to be the President. But when I realized that I'd have to be a politician first, I lost interest by the time I was 13. Well, that and the fact that puberty was making me notice the girls in my class a lot more...

How often do creative thoughts keep you from sleeping?

• Constantly.
• Occasionally.
• Rarely.
• Never.

Now here's a good question. I am an occasional writer, and one of the several projects I have going on is a book. There have been quite a few nights where I'd be hit by inspiration while I was just laying down for the evening. I have to get up and get it written out, because:

1. I can't sleep while my mind works stuff out.
2. I won't remember it unless I write it down.

Much of my book-in-progress has been written after 11 PM in bursts of inspiration. Fortunately, I go back and proofread all of it during regular hours.

Have you ever intentionally connected to another person's wireless internet access point without permission?

• Yes.
• No.

I answered yes to this question, but allow me to explain:

At work, I'm a technician who makes house visits. As part of my troubleshooting tools, I have a laptop computer and yes, it has a wireless antenna.

Occasionally, I'll show up for an appointment and arrive when nobody's home. If the customer tells me he (or she) is on the way, I'm happy to wait and then I'll pull out the laptop. If there's no internet access, I'll play FreeCell or do some work on the book I've been writing. If there is an open access point, I'm checking my email. I do not, in any event, hack into a person's system.

While most of the times I discover an open internet access point are in apartment complexes, you'd be surprised to know how many are in upscale neighborhoods. One day I had a job in a house that costs $800K (most houses around here are in the $125-200K range) and used the internet as I was waiting for the owner to get through traffic. When he arrived he asked if I my company gave us a wireless card and I told him that no, I was using his router. After he saw how easy it was to get online from the curb in front of his houseand how anybody could get on his system, sort through his financial records and otherwise do bad stuff, I was happy to take 5 minutes and show him how to set up network security.

I'm not a person that will do anything malicious when borrowing somebody's internet access, but it's still a good idea to put a password on the system. 128-bit WEP keys are great. For the 5 minutes I spent setting that up (which wasn't part of the reason I was at his house), the man gave me a $20 tip. Not bad...considering he could have been royally pissed that I was using his stuff.

Have you ever fired a real gun? For this question, pellet/BB/Nerf/paintball weapons do not qualify. If so, which most closely describes the deadliest type you have fired?

• No.
• Rifle / carbine / pistol / shotgun.
• Machine gun / fully automatic / assault weapon.
• Tank gun / naval gun / anti-tank / other cannon.

I really wish I could know what's going on inside the head of the person who wrote this question. Is he/she thinking that a shooting a gun is cool, or that anybody who might have pulled a trigger is a criminal?

In my case, I spent time in the US Army. Though my job was a non-combat role (I was a satellite communications specialist), I was still required to do basic training. The training included learning how to fire a rifle -- I qualified as an expert marksman! -- and also had us using grenades, anti-tank weapons, machine guns and claymore mines. For most of these weapons, however, we only used them one time. I rarely picked up another weapon the rest of the time I was in the service except for Desert Storm, guard duty or requalification.

If the writer of this question is also ex-military and just wants to know what others here have blown up...then hoo-rah, semper fi, fair winds and following seas. And glad you made it back to civilian life, brother.

Do you feel that adolescents should be given education on how to treat significant others in order to create stronger relationships when they are older?

• Yes.
• No.

Thinking back on my own adolescence, I could have been taught about this until my teacher was blue in the face but I probably wasn't going to let any of it sink in. Probably because I was too busy looking over at the blossoming figure of the girl sitting next to me.

I really don't think the way to treat a woman (or a man) should be taught in school. Parents and mentors should take the lead as soon as they notice a kid is spending a liitle more time looking at the developments that puberty brings. And if they're too embarrassed to discuss the topic, the way they treat their own spouses will have a lasting effect...even if the kid doesn't say anything then. They're still paying attention to the actions of others and subconsciously taking notes.