Well i’ve been tagged, twice by Jake at the community guy and by David at Logic+Emotion on this “5 things you don’t know about me meme”.
Ok, so here goes some intimate details:
- I’ve worked as a Tree Surgeon, on a pig farm and in a Toy Factory
- I was in the Grenadier Guards (British Army) and have stood guard outside Buckingham Palace and was in the first Gulf War (the short one). The guards “basic” training is 22 weeks and is one of the hardest in the army, they are also one of the oldest regiments in the army formed in 1656.
- I have hiked up Mount Washington with a snowboard on my back and ridden down Tuckermans Ravine
- I played the Artful Dodger in a school production of Oliver
- The first computer I owned was an Amiga 500
And I’ll pass it on to:
Paul Whitaker of myphonerocks.com
Victor Lombardi of Noise Between Stations
Gene Smith at Atomiq
Steve Portigal
John Winsor
Good luck everybody 
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I had no idea you served in the Gulf or was one of those Grenadier Guards.
Great stuff Karl!
Amiga? VIC20. We would have had much to argue about (since that was what we did back then). My responses were already posted at
http://www.portigal.com/blog/on-the-subject-of-me-five-things/
Hmm, now that’s another holy war right there, although the vic 20 preceded the amiga by a long way. As I remember it was vic 20 then commodore 64 and then much later amiga 500. Anyway, thanks for sharing
I’m a bit intimidated by your list, Karl. I’m working on mine, but it’ll seem pretty dull in comparison.
By the way… did you get to keep the big black hat?
haha, no, i’m afraid I didn’t get to keep the hat. Anyway I don’t think you should be intimidated, I really wasn’t that good in Oliver
Wow! So did you have any tourist come up and try to make you laugh? What were the consequences of laughing? (I’d imagine public flogging)
So tell us more about the 22 week program, sounds very interesting.
Tourists often tried to make us laugh but when it came down to it they just weren’t that funny. Combine that with the fact that standing their is probably the most mind numbingly boring thing and you do it for 2 hours straight, laughter does not come easily… also you are often hung over having gone out the night before to tie one on because you know you have a 24hr or 48hr guard coming up. Generally you live on site for 24 or 48 hours and do 2 hours on guard and 6 hours off for the duration.
As for the 22 weeks, it involved a lot of running, marching, yelling, shooting, and more running. And a couple of weeks living in the field digging trenches, crossing rivers, night marches, ambushes, and thunderflashes (simulated grenades)
and a little drinking and a lot of smoking when you could get them.
Hey Karl,
thanks for sharing! … and do I recall it correctly from the MBA workshop where we’ve met some years ago that you’ve even did part of the army service in my home town Münster?
In any case I wish you much success for the new year and much fun at your new company Nokia.
Greetings from Germany,
Ralf.
Ha, that’s quite right Ralf, i spent about a year in Münster, I was actually in Germany when the Berlin wall came down, not in Berlin, but it was very cool to be there when that happened.
I think you are being very modest – you were great in Oliver as the Artful Dodger!