The “Eight Things” meme is going around the blogosphere (more specifically the blogoclump), where bloggers shed a little light on their personalities or personal life. Ben Martin has tagged me in this go-round.

I was tagged back in March on a “Five Things” meme. The first five: I love running and cycling, I was introduced to associations at a young age as my father was president of the American Institute of Architects, I have a very small extended family (no aunts, uncles, or cousins), I’ve been a Mac guy for more than twenty years, and I really can’t dance. But I’ll go ahead and give you eight more (okay, one expands on one of the first five):

1. Update on running and cycling: my running is still below where I’d like it to be, but I haven’t been injured in a while, which is a good sign. Totals for 2007: 2,782 miles biking and 379 miles running (and the biking total doesn’t include time on the indoor trainer).

2. I was extremely lucky to travel internationally in my youth (mostly because of my Dad). In 1984 I actually went all the way around the world on one trip (Australia, Hong Kong, Thailand, India, Greece, England, France, Switzerland, home).

3. Joey from Friends (Matt LeBlanc) was in my class in junior high and high school, and we played on the same youth hockey team.

4. I am a big fan of single malt scotch. Macallan 12 is my favorite, and I can’t drink the really peaty ones.

5. My oldest daughter has language-based learning disabilities. If you think schools today are designed to teach everyone equally well, think again.

6. My neighborhood (The Kentlands, in Gaithersburg, MD) is an example of “new urbanism,” and was developed by the same people who did Seaside, Florida, which was the town in which The Truman Show was filmed.

7. When I was two I crawled out the window of our 9th floor apartment and crawled around the ledge to another window, where the maintenance guy was kind enough to let me in.

8. Despite a master’s degree in conflict resolution, I admit to enjoying the shoot-em-up video games (which I like for the strategy and problem solving, by the way, not just the action. Think about it: chess is, in fact, a very violent game).

I don’t have anyone to tag: just go back to Ben’s post and follow the other ones because they have tagged everyone I would have.