I prefer the British term “anorak,” which sounds far classier, but it doesn’t make for a very good headline, so “nerdery” it is. Anyway…here’s some of my other, more obscure and slightly embarassing interests:
I’m not much of a drinker, I never developed a taste for coffee and I’m allergic to orange juice.1 Well, I gotta drink something, and my first choice will always be Cherry Coke. Let’s be clear: when The Deity of Your Choice gets thirsty, Cherry Coke is what they choose for refreshment. (Ideally with pellet ice.) I know soda isn’t exactly the best choice and I usually try to give it up at least once a year, but I always end up returning to my cherry-flavored mistress from Atlanta. Two years ago, a member of my staff gave me a sixer of Cherry Coke for Christmas, and I’ve never felt more seen.
1. I’m allergic to orange juice but not oranges. Go figure.
There’s no such thing as the perfect dog…but if there were, it would be the cocker spaniel, preferably buff colored. The Lovely Mrs. Davis and I had three buff colored cockers of our own, and I miss them every day.
The Davis cocker spaniels (l to r): Gordon, Chuck and Bob. (Bob is in desperate need of grooming in this shot — when his fur got too long, it turned red.)
I’m obsessed with finding the perfect ink pen, so I’m constantly buying new ones — but I always come back to the Pilot Juice Up .03. Naturally, because I like them, they’re only for sale in Japan, but like pretty much anything, they’re available on Amazon.
I like jingles. I really like jingles. I especially like an enormous, slammin’ top of the hour jingle into a big fat uptempo record. I have a huge collection of jingles on my phone and often listen to them in my car at air shattering volume.
A screenshot from my iTunes. I told you I like jingles.
While in broadcasting school, I was introduced to the then-relatively new phenomenon of Teh Interwebz, and stumbled on a website with audio clips of stations — mostly their legal IDs. (For those unfamiliar, radio and television stations are required once per hour to broadcast their legal call letters and the city to which the station is licensed.)
Because a legal ID is often the only way to tell exactly what station you’re listening to, I became obsessed with them, and eventually started a website of my own. (I’ve since handed it off to other, like-minded nerds to manage, but I’m still a fan.) Get your legal geek on at tophour.com.
I am a straight up grammar and punctuation nerd. Unlike many such nerds, the hill I choose to die on is not the Oxford comma, but rather the em dash. Apparently the use of the em dash is some sort of hint that AI is in use. Yeah…not so much. I’ve been using the em dash in my writing for years, and I’m not stopping now. (I’m also a big fan of ellipses, so there’s that. Apparently I’m some sort of computer.)
One of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite shows. Let’s get our nerd on, friends.
I’ve been a big reader ever since I was a kid. These days, I mostly read nonfiction, but I always make an exception for the work of Richard Russo. I discovered Russo’s work after seeing the movie adaptation of Nobody’s Fool, starring Paul Newman1, and have been a fan ever since. Most of his work is really good, including Empire Falls, for which Russo won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize. I’d start with The Risk Pool or Straight Man. (Save Mohawk for last; it’s definitely the weakest of the library.)
1. Although Nobody’s Fool is a brilliant book, the movie is just kinda meh. Straight Man was adapted into a TV series called Lucky Hank starring Bob Odenkirk in his first role after Better Call Saul. I’d hoped that the combo of one of my favorite books and Odenkirk would make for a great show, but alas, it wasn’t very good and was mercifully cancelled after only one season.
My favorite part of visiting a new city is checking out the skyline. Even the modest skylines of smaller cities are impressive, and I have a whole folder of skyline pix on my hard drive. Some faves:
Austin
Las Vegas
Minneapolis
When I was a small child, my favorite aunt had a green Volvo station wagon. Because she could do no wrong, I decided that when I got old enough, I would get a Volvo wagon of my own. Unlike many childhood declarations, I actually followed through on this one, and I’m now on my fourth. (Technically the current Volvo Of Love is an SUV and not a wagon, but let’s not get bogged down in details.)
Two of the Volvos of Love: a 2008 XC70 and a 1983 240.