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Question: What is your IQ? Do you feel it's accurate? Do you feel it's the strongest factor in a person's ability to succeed, and if not, what is?

My Answer: 150. My low was a 142, my high a 164 (which I don't quite believe at all). Either way I'm in the top 1% or so. Is it accurate? Yeah. Does it matter? No. I think people can get caught up thinking about things too often. A good IQ provides a solid foundation, but Forrest Gump had a whole lot of luck and a good heart, and look where it took him! 🙂 Seriously, though, there are many things far more important to success than a person's IQ. A person's ability to get along with people is more important.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

I dropped off my mother and my grandmother at the airport today, their visit having come to an end. I then went to pick up my kayak. All three items arrived home safely. You can see the kayak on my .Mac homepage. As you can tell from the first three shots, I didn't even take the darn thing out of the bubble wrap until I got home.

Getting the kayak up the stairs presented a bit of a challenge. I've got a few S-curves at the bottom of my stairs (dictated largely by railings, a tree or two, and some bushes). Not fun. Once the yak was upstairs, swinging it around into my apartment was not that big a deal. As you can see in the later shots, it pays to have vaulted ceilings!

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I have no idea what this is, but I can tell you that Fred and Victoria are both involved, as are a bunch of skimpy bikinis and power tools.

Question: How many countries have you visited?

My Answer: All of three: the United States of America (duh), Canada, and France. I didn't even have a layover in Portugal or anything. 🙁

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Question: What's your biggest pop culture sin?

My Answer: I suppose 80s music may be mine. I dig it. No, I don't think it's artistic or "good music" but it's typically fun, upbeat, mindless stuff to which you can work. I listen to 80s music, well, let's just say more than someone sitting around in 2003 really should.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Every month (since February) I post my site's referral search terms (not what people search for on my site). It's an interesting peek that illustrates "how people are finding me." Here's July's…

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Question: If you could uninvent one thing so that it would no longer exist, what would you choose?

My Answer: Religion. I'm fairly certain that people would find something else over which to fight, but I know I'd be interested in seeing the result. Religion has caused or at least complicated nearly every war I can name. Would we also lose hope with religion? I doubt it. I think the "good" would continue to exist. This poses another question entirely: has religion been a net positive or negative? I don't know that I'm qualified to answer that.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

José came over today and spent quite a while here. We went to, in order, Home Depot, Lowe's, Ace Hardware, a Peter Glenn outlet, Home Depot, Lowe's, and Home Depot. In the end, we mostly returned things we'd bought the other day and bought a few other small things. I don't even know if I'll use those other things to build a pulley on my balcony - it may be easier just to carry the kayak up and into my apartment. For now, the idea of outside storage has fallen by the wayside.

José and I had most of our fun naming the places we visited with childish, silly names. "Homey Despot" and "High's" (the smell, we swear, could get you high). Ass Hardware, Peter's Glands. You get the point. Silly, but fun. After all, we've already got a name for the IHOP.

Question: If you could discover one item that belonged to someone in history, whose would it be and what would it be?

My Answer: The Holy Grail. After all, if Monty Python and Indiana Jones can't get to it, then it'd certainly be an accomplishment if I could find it. The Ark came in second, followed by some miscellaneous artifacts from some random scientists and rulers.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Today I picked up my mom and grandma at the airport. They're visiting southern Florida for a few days. José is coming over tomorrow to get the kayak box done, and I picked up a Stealth CS from Bending Branch yesterday. Progress! My boat is on its way from North Carolina and the expected delivery date is August 4. Should be a good weekend. 🙂

Question: If you could be on the cover of any magazine next month, which magazine would it be and what would the caption say?

My Answer: Fortune and the caption would say "America's Newest Billionaire Bachelor." That or Playgirl. I'm not sure yet. 😉

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Two weeks ago my dealer told me that I'd have to wait 3-4 weeks to get the kayak I wanted (a Wilderness Systems Tarpon 120 in "Sunrise" coloring). Yesterday he told me that the estimate is still 3-4 weeks. Today he told me that the estimate was 8 weeks.

I hopped online, called about ten places, and purchased a green Tarpon 120 from some folks in North Carolina. I can't wait eight weeks. I'll pay the $50 in shipping to get the damn thing before the end of the year. Yeah, it's green, but my other choices were orange and yellow, and my Aztek is green, so perhaps it'll match. I just didn't want red or blue, though I was tempted to choose either the yellow or orange colors that this particular dealer had available, but the bright solid-color kayaks have always seemed a bit "cheap" to me. Sunrise - a mottled yellow/orange kayak - and the darker colors (green, slate, brown) mitigate that somewhat.

I'll still look into buying a "Sunrise" when they come in - so that friends can kayak with me - but right now I've got to get a paddle. The thing will be here in a few days, after all, and I've got to be ready for it!

WOOOOOOO! I'm excited. 😀

Question: What's the best example of fate that you can think of?

My Answer: My mind immediately went to Hamlet's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and then jumped over to Romeo and Juliet. In real life, well, this question really depends on how you define fate. I don't believe that everyone is on a path that's unchangeable and predetermined, but I liked the movie Serendipity. I believe in something in the middle. The best example of fate is thus my own life, every second. But hey, I'll just stick with Romeo and Juliet.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Today I picked up my copy of Mario Golf. First impression: fun, but a bit too easy and disappointing. Perhaps it will grow on me. The problems that I've got with it are two-fold. First, it seems quite a bit simpler than I remember. I recall the N64 version being a little bit more difficult. Perhaps "more realistic" is the word - I know it's a cartoon, but the GameCube version seems a bit more over the top. Second, the mini games: I will almost never play Ring Golf or the Coin Golf or any of the other modes. I typically play alone, and José and I played them last night and didn't even enjoy them very much. Plus, my favorite mini game from the N64 version seems to have been removed: mini golf! Y'know, just putting…

I also picked up some other things while I was out today:

• Broadband adapter for my GameCube
• Network adapter for my PS2
• GameBoy Adapter for my GameCube

Why did I buy a broadband adapter for my GameCube? I think it's human nature to hope, and I'm very, very hopeful that Mario Kart will make use of the network adapter to allow play against other people (and not some cop-out like posting high scores to a website). For the PS2? I dunno. Because I could? I rarely play the PS2 anymore, but it's actually got some networked sports games from EA, doesn't it?

Much more research is necessary. But not this weekend: my mother and grandmother are visiting.

Question: If you had to pay one dollar for every time you thought of sex in any form, how long would it be before you went bankrupt?

My Answer: Since I've got school loans, a car loan, etc., my net worth is probably already $0. But let's assume I own everything and have no debt. I sometimes think that I think about sex less than almost any other guy in the world, and yet sometimes I have two hour conversations about it, so those would certainly ding the old pocketbook. One doller per thought? Let's go with a three months as a complete guess.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.