1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
My mom gave me a first name that she "let on" to my dad's side of the family was for a great-great-grandmother, but she told me it was actually just because she liked the name. I chose my middle name (James) to honor three Jameses: my wife's dad, who died several years before she and I met; an especially beloved professor at our graduate school; and Jimmy Stewart, consummate movie good guy and star of Harvey, a big metaphor movie for me.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
I don't do a full-fledged cry very easily or often, but I came awfully close most recently when I discovered my iPod in the washing machine halfway through the cycle.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
Yes, ever since I stopped trying to write script like I was taught in elementary school and instead let my writing evolve from printing.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
I don't eat meat any more, but I really like a chickpea-based un-tuna salad made with dill pickle relish.

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
A daughter, 11 going on 15, and a son, 9.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
I think so, although I might not call me as often as I wish I would. : )

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?
Yes, too much.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
No, they went when I was about 6 or 7.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
Not voluntarily.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
Not a big cereal guy, but I do like oatmeal or raisin bran once in a while.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
Not usually.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
Yes, when I get out of my own way.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Homemade mango sorbet.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
Eyes and overall vibe.

15. RED OR PINK?
Both. Our son loved pink when he was younger, but when he realized how other kids reacted, he decided to make pink his secret favorite color and red his public favorite color. My wife found him a very cool shirt a few months ago that says, "Tough guys wear pink!" He's never been able to bring himself to wear it, but he was willing to hang it on the wall in his room. I hope that he never gives up loving pink and that society catches up with him and kids like him sooner rather than later.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
Complete inability to be an alpha when necessary (which it sometimes is with the kids), and resulting impatience and easy frustration.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
My parents.

18. WHAT IS THE PAUL MCKENNA TECHNIQUE THAT YOU NEED TO WORK ON THE MOST?
After Googling Paul McKenna, I understand he does a lot with Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), about which I know almost nothing. So... can't answer this. Next question, please.

19. ANY TATTOOS?
One. It started as a Celtic cross with Hebrew script from the Song of Songs ("I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine"); during our process of converting to Judaism, our fabulous tattoo artist transformed it into a seven-branched menorah while preserving the Hebrew.

20. WHAT COLOR SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
Dark gray Reebok Realflexes with dayglo green soles.

21. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
Now eating: kale and edamame bistro salad from Trader Joe's (minus the included dressing) and mango chipotle dressing.

22. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
The faint hiss of distant freeway traffic and the sweet silence of sleeping children.

23. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
One of those newfangled ones where the colors are kind of striped together, so that when you color one way you get stripes and when you color the other way you get kind of muddy yuck. If I had to pick just one color, it'd be teal.

24. FAVORITE SMELLS?
Lilacs, fresh-baked anything, Indian food, woodsmoke on a fall evening.

25. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
My wife.

26. MOUNTAIN HIDEAWAY OR BEACH HOUSE?
Either one sounds great right about now, but I'm guessing that the cries of "I'm bored!" might be delayed longer at the beach than in the mountains.

27. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
I've never been into sports on TV, although I enjoyed watching parts of the Olympics with the family.

28. HAIR COLOR?
Medium brown with a little silver here and there.

29. EYE COLOR?
Blue.

30. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
No -- tried them, couldn't stand putting them in/taking them out/losing them. Glasses for distance vision.

31. FAVORITE FOOD?
Almost anything Indian vegetarian/vegan. Spinach, almost any way. Fresh, still-warm kale chips.

32. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
Happy endings. I don't like scary entertainment. If I want scary, I'll watch the news.

33. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
Brave.

34. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
Uncharacteristically, lime green.

35. SUMMER OR WINTER?
Summer.

36. HUGS OR KISSES?
Hugs, unless you're my wife.

37. FAVORITE DESSERT?
Homemade mango sorbet.

38. STRENGTH TRAINING OR CARDIO?
Cardio (running or biking) is the side of the scale that I got started on soon after joining SP this time, and I gravitate that way. Strength training has been the harder one for me to make a habit, and I'm still working on it.

39. COMPUTER OR TELEVISION?
Computer.

40. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
Library books currently on my shelf include several vegan cookbooks, a couple running books, From Defender to Critic: The Search for a New Jewish Self by David Hartman, and The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything by Ken Robinson.

41. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
No mouse pad here.

42. FAVORITE SOUND?
The way the kids breathe when they're sleeping, and the way my daughter sometimes laughs in her sleep.

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
Yes and yes, and so much more. Especially the Moody Blues, earlier Jackson Browne, Springsteen, classic Motown, and -- yes, I know -- disco.

44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
Kolkata (Calcutta), India, in 2004 to bring home our daughter. I think halfway around the world is the farthest you can go. I still don't know what happened to that missing day between takeoff and landing : )

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
I am a decent writer, a pretty good preacher, a pretty good cook, and I am told that I write (and sometimes draw) good notes on my kids' school and camp snack wrappers.

46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Charlotte, North Carolina.

47. WHERE ARE YOU LIVING NOW?
Hopkins, Minnesota, a small town in the midst of the Minneapolis suburbs.

48. WHAT COLOR IS YOUR HOUSE?
Beige antique brick and tan siding.

49. WHAT COLOR IS YOUR CAR?
White, garnished with multicolored duct tape : )

50. DO YOU LIKE ANSWERING 50 QUESTIONS?
I suppose if I didn't, I wouldn't have made it this far : )