I’ve been tagged by Deb V to give you eight random facts about me…I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.

• Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
• People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
  
• At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
  
• Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

So here we go, eight random things (with a bonus feature of being numerically relevant to their placement in this list!):

1. The number one reason people find my blog (via search engines) is because I’m allergic to avocadoes.
2. My alma mater is playing in the College World Series again this year. UMich - the university from which I got my Ph.D. - knocked off #1 ranked Vanderbilt in a regional game, but lost to defending champs Oregon State on the road to Omaha. That’s 2 universities with connections to the College World Series.
3. I have degrees from 3 universities: Rice, University of Maryland - College Park, University of Michigan. I joked that I should make the rounds of U of Ms, but not even I could stay in school that long!!
4. I have to share a bathroom with 4 male humans. Can I win an award for this? If not now, how about when 3 of those male creatures are teenagers?
5. My family of 5 is leaving for Costa Rica next week. We’re going to help build a playground for a Habitat community in San Ramón. Hopefully it will be easy to avoid avocados!
6. We have 3 nieces on my side of the family, and 3 nephews on my husband’s side (which is how this qualifies as my entry for 6). A long time ago, I used the term “niephlings” as a gender-neutral term for nieces and nephews (combining niece, nephew, sibling). One of the radio shows that used to be on our NPR station had a segment where they were trying to get people to make up “missing words”. I sent this one in, and was called to be interviewed on air about it - and while on the phone they told me that someone else submitted the same word! I missed the show that weekend and have never been able to track down my segment, so I don’t know how I sounded, or if they determined who should get credit for “inventing” niephling. But I do know that the Oxford English Dictionary has not come calling.
7. We just finished raising 7 toads from tadpoles. They were collected from a construction-related pond at a city park. I’ve been meaning to blog about it, but haven’t gotten around to it yet, so this will do for now - take a look at my tadpole set on Flickr.
8. It’s been 8 days since Deb tagged me with this meme!

Now I tag: Michele T, Susan E, Ruth, Johnna, Jane Doe, and any Tom, Dick, or Harriet who happens to read this and is inspired to play along.