I have a rule of not responding to "blog tags", where someone tags you to write about something and then tag a number of others to do likewise.   But, I got tagged by my nephew Skylar to "write six things you love about yourself".   Since I really like Sky I will play along, plus I just found out that Sky's aunt Gabrielle has a blog. 

Gabrielle:  Consider yourself tagged.

Now this is a difficult topic to write about.  My mother would tell you "Oh, Shawn has no problem listing the things he loves about himself." But that is not the problem.  That topic would induce nausea and vomiting and I don't want any puke on my new site design.  I was going to just copy Skylars, but "Curly Hair", "Good at rebounds", "Loves playing tackle football" is not something I could claim for myself.

Instead, I did a little detective work and found the comment entry where Sky was tagged and found out that the rule is "Write 6 interesting things about yourself, then tag 6 people to do the same".   Much easier to digest.

Enough dithering, here is my list of 6:

1. I LIVE IN INDIA!!!!  I was walking up a little tree lined street on my way up to the highway to catch an autorickshaw to Sarah's soccer game against Bombay and stopped to play cricket with some kids on the street.   Ever day I find a new reason to like being here.  Once in a while I find something that I don't like or wish were different.  The score is certainly in favor of this being a great experience.
   
   
2. Oh, did I mention that my family is here also?  I started this blog 3 years ago so that my family could read what I was doing in India while they were back home in Arizona.   Now they are sharing in the adventure.  I wouldn't want it any other way.
   
   
3. Speaking of adventure, Joshua and I are planning a hiking trip in the Himalayas.  We will be up higher than almost any place outside the Himalayas on the slopes of the 3rd highest peak in the world.     10-15 days total, April 2009.  Open invitation to anyone who wants to fly over and come along.
   
   
4. I have a rule about my work that I set a month into my current job.  That rule is "If I go 5 days in a row of not liking my job then I will quit".  I am three weeks away from 10 years at that same company and the closest I ever got was 3 days back in 2000.  It is a wonderful blessing to love what I do.  Sometimes I love it too much, but that is another post.
   
   
5. I also have the best job in my church.  I don't write much about church things here, maybe that will change, but my job is to work with young men age 12-18.  There are about 50 in our not-so-little branch here.  Most live in youth hostels. All are wonderful and it is the highlight of my week to spend a couple hours with them each Sunday.  Back in Arizona there were much more qualified people doing this job, but they let me tag along whenever I wanted and that was very good training.
   
   
6. The only part missing is a couple steps closer to being here.  Nothing final, and I hope I don't jinx anything, but we are making progress on getting Ian to India.  Ian is my 12 year old son who lives in Utah.   We are close to the "Not if, but when" phase.  Here's hoping.

That was harder than I thought.  Now, I will use this for good.  I have had many comments wondering when my much more eloquent and intelligent wife will jump into blogging.  I will tag her, along with Joshua and Sarah.  Those three along with Gabe are 4 of my 6.  I will hold onto the other 2 and consider my options....

Thanks to Sky for the tag and keep up the blogging.  I would link to his blog, but it is invite only.  Popular people have to take precautions, the paparazzi and all.  You know how it is.