So there’s been this ‘7 Things’ meme going around the internets and I’ve been gracefully tagged by Stacy Lukas to mention 7 random/weird things about myself. Some may know most of this stuff, others might not. So here we go, and hopefully these aren’t too embarrassing…

1. I’m a mama’s boy. I never try to hide the fact that I am, but I have been a mama’s boy for as long as I can remember. I was spoiled growing up (not in a spoiled brat way), but I was the youngest so it just so happened that I clung to my mom a whole lot growing up. She’s been my role model for most of my life, so I guess it’s fitting.

2. I love fashion. I love shopping, and looking at clothes in magazines. I pay quite a bit of attention to the way others dress as well (both men and women). I’m a firm believer that who you are as a person, reflects on the way you dress. So when I meet new people, I quickly scan them to see how they’re put together. It’s just one of those things I do. Half the reason I subscribe to GQ is because of the fashion spreads. I loved visiting New York because of how diverse the fashion was there.

3. I’m addicted to music. Seriously, I love music so much. I’m always listening to music. When I dj’ed in college, I made mixtapes just for me to listen to. I didn’t care if other people heard them. When I wake up in the mornings to check email, etc., I have music playing. First thing I do when I get in my car in the morning and turn on music I want to listen to on my drive to work. When I get to work, I put my headphones on for more music. When I get home from work, I browse the internets for more/new music. I get it from my dad, because he is the same way, and I grew up listening to music with him. He had a nice record collection.

4. I used to play the violin. My sister played for a few years, and I had been pretty fascinated at how good she was. So I figured I’d play too, and get good quick, and love it. That wasn’t the case. Like anything, the violin takes years to get good at. But I’m a fast learner, so I figured I’d get good quick. I only ended up playing for 2 years because my patience ran out. It obviously wasn’t meant for me, but it was an interesting instrument to play.

5. I like wedding planning. I know that’s odd to hear from a guy, and it was actually something I was dreading before getting engaged. But once we started diving into things, I knew I wanted to handle the creative side of it (designing invites, finding photographers, etc.). So not only has it been fun designing stuff for the wedding, but it’s been interesting learning about other people’s crafts who are in the wedding industry. You don’t really realize how big the wedding industry is, until you’re planning one and talking with so many other people. So I enjoy seeing how other people work in their normal (and creative) jobs. I’m not used to being the client, so it gives me different perspective on how to work with people.

6. I was a gymnast. My high school had a mens gymnastics team, so I tried out my freshman year and made the cut. I actually got really good, really fast and had a blast doing it. I was the coaches guinea pig for trying new stuff. Luckily that didn’t backfire on me, because it’s quite a dangerous sport. I would have tried out for the mens team at MSU, but they were canceling the mens program. I miss the sport and competing quite a bit, and the only time I get to watch it is when the olympics comes around.

7. I’m a die-hard Florida Gators football fan. I get this question a lot, why I love the Gators so much, when I’m from the midwest and didn’t go there. Well my brother got me hooked on college football in the mid 90’s(ish), and he was a huge Florida State Seminoles fan. So the very first game I watched with him was a Florida/Florida State game, and since we’re competitive, I rooted against him and went with Florida. Since then, I’ve been a huge Gators fan through the good and bad seasons. When I lived back home, we always watched that game together, and now, living in different cities, we call each other (depending on the winner) to rub in the others’ lose. So that’s why I’m a Gators fan.

So there you go, 7 random/weird things about myself. I’m not ashamed of any of it, though I don’t exactly brag about it all either! Feel free to comment, otherwise it’s time to tag a few others:

• Victoria Pater
• Homer Gaines
• Matt Furtado
• Nicole Crimaldi
• Addam Wassel
• Damon Henry
• Naim Falandino

Here are the rules for my fellow bloggers:

• Link your original tagger(s), and list these rules on your blog.
• Share seven facts about yourself in the post – some random, some weird.
• Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
• Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs and/or Twitter.

I couldn’t be more happy that it’s finally warm outside now, and consistently. I’ve been complaining talking about wanting warm weather for the longest, and now it’s here in full force. I’m loving every minute of it and it feels great to not have to walk outside with a coat and long sleeves on.

So this summer, I want to do much more than I did last summer, in terms of getting outside (read: off the computer). I’ve already been golfing a bunch of times which already exceeds the total number of times I went last summer. I’ve been to two Tigers games, though one got rained out so we left early. I’m looking forward to a trip to NY in two weeks to visit Trav and JJ, so I’m hoping it’s purely sunshine when I’m there.

Lately I think I’ve had a good balance of downtime and work time. I feel like I’ve been working a crap load lately, but my downtime has been very relaxing so it works well. Tridea has been doing pretty well, and I’ve had lots of client calls lately which has been exciting. I was even contacted by an online publication in Lansing to be interviewed about how Tridea came to life, which will be published next week. The interview went really well though, and I could get used to doing more of those. It’s the second one I’ve had this year, the first was for this other blog. I will most likely post it on my Tumblr site since everything in-between personal and web design gets posted there.

So yeah, finally warm weather, and I refuse to be a computer junkie this time around and miss the whole summer. Plus, it’s not like I can’t use Twitter and the Internet on my phone.

The best thing about when I use to dj is hearing my favorite music being mixed and blended together. If you were to look into my music collection now (mp3’s & cds’s) you would see a whole lot of mixtapes. I almost prefer listening to them over regular albums, even if they’re new. Before my dj days in college, I used to make my own series of mix cds that went up to 20 volumes. And before that it was cassette tapes….remember those?

I recently stumbled across Muxtape.com that lets you upload music to make a mixtape, with a total of 12 songs I think. I love the site so far, but I still wish there was a way to mix/blend the songs together, but beggers can’t be choosers. Anyways, I’m going to start making more of them, and I’m already on my second volume. So if you’re looking for something to listen to, and you like chill hip hop, check out my latest one: jphill.muxtape.com.

I’m already planning my third volume as being a non hip hop mix, but we’ll see. There is just too much good music out there. If you happen to make one, send it to me so I can listen.

This is one of those posts that I’ve put off, like many other posts, for a long time. At least once a week I get an idea for a blog post here, and then drop the ball and/or get busy. But you’ve heard that before right? Probably, because I’m quite sure I’ve said that before. A few months ago I wrote about organizing my data. That process was not only long (over two hours), but it was very interesting. The results of organizing that data is in the categories on the right.

So basically to organize this site into categories, I had to go back and read through every single blog post I’ve written here, and assign it a category. Aside from realizing that I’ve written many thoughts about a lot of topics here, the main thing was realizing how much I’ve matured as a person. I’d say that most people don’t get to see that type of maturity in themselves in terms of having it documented. Well for me, it’s documented. Of course it’s only documented since 2005, but I am amazed at how much I’ve matured in that short amount of time.

Aside from my maturity in life, reading through my posts also showed how I’ve matured as a writer and communicator. Though I’m not proud of it, I used to swear in my writing quite a bit. I’ve veered away from that unless it’s absolutely needed to communicate a point. That is for obvious reasons, but that’s one of the things that jumped out at me when reading old posts.

It will be interesting to read current posts in 5 years to see where I am and how I’ve grown. I really need to write more or else that will be a little harder.

This year has been extremely busy already in just two short months. I’m guessing it’s going to be a busy year overall. I need a quick breather though. For that past 6 years I was used to going on at least one big vacation a year. This year is looking a little different, and I have no big vacations planned.

I will be heading out to Texas Friday for a conference, which I am definitely ready for, but it won’t exactly be a vacation. It will be packed with panels and networking in the day, and going out and networking in the evenings. And though it won’t necessarily be relaxing, it’s much needed.

Every now and then you need to mix it up and take a break from everyday life. Weekend trips don’t count because they’re took short, and it’s just the weekend. You’re supposed to do stuff on the weekends, but not necessarily during the week because obviously you should be at work. There is where it’s nice to change things up. So I’m very much ready for my trip.

I’d say that I’m going to blog everyday, but I tried that last year and failed miserably. I can promise at least one or two blog posts while down there though. But if I’m not writing here, it will be at my other blog. I plan on this being a great and productive trip, and hopefully I’ll have some stuff to report on. But until then….

Peace