Damn...and here I thought I had dodged that bullet...
Sorry, Tom. Blame George. And you might want to consider letting Shiltone go first...
Yikes!! I'm still trying to figure out the rules. I'll play, but I'm so far out on the fringe of the blogosphere that I don't have a pool of people to tag (besides the ones you just tagged) when I get to the end.
At the rate this thing is spreading (each person tagging eight others), there may not be anyone left for you to tag, Steve! Just play. And play dirty, is my advice to both you and Tom.
As for the rules, Steve, I think that by their probable, like, 84th generation they've lost some clarity. Just reproduce my version (which is also George's version) of the rules, then give us eight embarrassing facts about Tom.
Thank God none of my brothers blog! Hands would break.
Um, I got tagged with it a little while ago and my responses can be found here. I didn't tag anyone else, but I did do the meme. 
I love the idea of posting embarrassing facts about Tom, one of my brothers had a blog, but he is way too busy to keep it up. Thank goodness.
Thanks, Deb. I knew your facts would be interesting ones.
I love the idea of posting embarrassing facts about Tom...
Assuming there are any embarrassing facts about Tom.
Ahab, thanks for playing along. And you mentioned W-B, PA--did I ever say that my parents are from Scranton (well, my mom was from Dunmore, but same dif).
And my apologies to everyone tagged at IIRTZ. I feel like someone tubercular on an airplane....
You have not mentioned that before, George, but it doesn't surprise me. It really is a small world. For anyone else who might be interested in this, it turns out George and my wife taught/studied at PSU together in the English department. George hasn't yet remembered Mary, maybe because as Mary remembers it George was a cool guy and she was a nobody.
ahab,
Me, modest … ? That's a first!
Very interesting! I confess that I would never have pegged you as a tough guy, past present, or future. (That's a compliment, by the way.) And you're the lucky one, not Mary! Are those really wheat stalks on the backs of the pre-1959 pennies? A teacher once told me that they were supposed to be olive branches. I've never known which was correct. Our family had a black lab while I was growing up, and she was (of course) the Greatest Dog of All Time.
Anyhow, I have the following questions/problems regarding the "meme":
Do the eight things have to be interesting? There aren't eight interesting things about me.
I do not have my own blog. I am therefore unable to follow rules 3 and 4.
The only people I would know to "tag" are the people you've already tagged.
Please advise.
Regarding your "modesty," NiP, I was just riffing on your name. Re my toughness, try playing King of the Mountain your whole life with two ruthless brothers often teaming up against you! And yes, you make Mary's point for her, I am the lucky one for having a great wife who tolerates me (and feeds me great poems!). On the pennies, I'm pretty sure they are wheat fronds or stalks or whatever you call them. You'd think a Lincoln scholar/numismatist like me could tell you more about it, wouldn't you? But you'd be wrong. On the meme, you'll probably want to ignore the call for "random facts/habits about [yourself]" as I did, and give your audience something worth reading. Do you have any dirt on Tom, for example? And just post it as I did mine here on IIRTZ.
Good to hear from you. Hope you're enjoying the summer as much as I am. Do you ever hear from Birdgirl or run into her anywhere on the web? I miss hearing from her.
Ahhh ... sorry I didn't get the "modesty" reference. That's not modesty; it's a fact!
Your toughness was/is an asset, I'm sure. I had an older sister, and she abused me mentally, not physically. So, I developed a different defense mechanism: I turned out to be a grade-A smartass.
Don't have any dirt on Tom -- wouldn't post it if I did! Haven't seen B.G. 
She used to post here and on Roger Ailes's site, but it's been a while.
I guess I'll have to be a good sport and do this meme thing. *Grumble-grumble*
Definitely wheat stalks. That, or the whole numismatic hobby has conspired to hide the truth.
My random eight are here. Not very random, and too detailed for Joe Friday, but what are writers without lots of words?
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