Here are a random assortment of facts about me. Why do you care? You probably don't, but it's my website and I can write whatever I like!
I earned money for my mission and college by making orthodontic retainers.
I have my own recording studio
I play piano/keyboards, trumpet, guitar, and sing, all badly.
I write music. I'm fairly good, but I'm slow.
I'm really smart, but I'm humble.
I don't prepare and eat meals; I eat ingredients.
I have a list of 152 rules that describe the world as I see it.
I run 5K in 23:30 at sea level, 25:00 at 5000 ft.
My resting heartrate is 55 bpm. My maximum heartrate is 201 bpm.
I've never needed glasses, braces, or a cast.
I thrive in cold weather.
I don't know what alcohol tastes like.
My church callings have been:
- deacon's quorum secretary
- teacher's quorum president
- senior patrol leader
- choir member (In my ward growing up there was so many
musicians that you could only join the choir if you were called.)
- missionary to Sweden (1978-1981)
- Sunday school president
- elders quorum president
- ward young single adult representative (1984-1989)
- stake young single adult chairman
- home teacher
- teacher development instructor
- elders quorum instructor (2004-)
- sign language interpreter (~1986-)
- sign language class instructor
- executive secretary
- seminary teacher (1995-2001)
- ward/stake missionary (2001-2006)
- cub scout leader (2006)
- bishopric counselor (2006-)
I like X-Files, Letterman, Simpsons, SG-1, Star Trek
I am mortally afraid of boredom
I went on an LDS mission to Sweden
I like to buy broken R/C cars and fix them
I'm fascinated by: black holes, nuclear fusion, psychology, mathematics, genetics, archeology, electronics, particle physics, statistics, and acoustics.
I'm bored by: accounting, philosophy.
I love to make lists.
Favorite spices: lemon pepper, Worchestershire sauce, curry, capers.
I almost never tie my shoelaces.
I get choked up listening to Paul Harvey's "The rest of the Story"
I have $200 worth of boomerangs.
I can explain the physics behind boomerang flight.
I don't like to be early and time my arrival to the minute.
I'm writing goofy science articles I hope to print in a local paper.
I raise Venus flytraps
I enjoy parlor magic and know a few tricks.
I can tear a phone book in half and tear strapping tape by hand.
I have a few web sites:
- http://David_Thomson.tripod.com - photos and stories
- http://www.chicagodavid.com - Updated version of the tripod site
- http://www.download.com/choirboy - A few of my songs recorded
Some interesting things I've done (one of these is a lie):
- I was under investigation for money laundering.
- I've been locked up in the DuPage county jail.
- President Monson told me in person to get married.
- I caught a burglar who broke into my home.
- The prophet and his counselors talked about my calling to
the bishopric in presidency meeting.
- I was suspended from high school for fighting. (lie)
- I taught a college physics class at age 14 (and at 21).
- I officiated in the women's initiatory room of the temple.
- I've stood in the core of a nuclear reactor
- I've been in four mental institutions.
- I've sung solos in three musicals
- Henry B Eyring once gave me a ride to school
- I have 10 patents and have 5 more pending.
- My fiance' married another guy on our planned wedding day.
- I went sailing in the San Francisco bay.
- I went diving in Kauai.
- I've dated a sociopath, a hypochondriac, and a manic depressive.
- I've tried welding.
- I co-wrote a musical and I'm working on a second.
- I've milked a cow
- I've been thrown off a motorcycle, a bicycle, a horse, and a calf
I have more projects that I want to do than I could finish in five lifetimes.
I like most foods, but not ham, grapefruit, cranberries, or eggplant.
I've published 20 technical papers on digital speech processing.
I don't go nuts over working out, but I stay fit. I exercise two times per week on average.
I graduated with an MS in electrical engineering from BYU.
I grew up in Rexburg, Idaho.
I've lived in Boston, MO, ID, Sweden, CA, UT, and IL.
I collect kids' watches, especially those that advertise something or come free with UPC symbols.
I studied Taekwon Do for a year & earned a yellow/green tip belt.
I can't whistle.
I think hats and perfume make girls irresistable.
I don't think girls dark glasses are attractive on girls.
I can walk on the back of my toes.
I have 10 patents. Lucent Technologies owns the rights.
I watch all the credits at the end of movies.
I'm hard to read. Friends usually end up asking me at random times, "What are you thinking?"
I can see my pulse at a spot on the back of my hand.
I used to have three offices, one in New Jersey, one in Chicago, and one in Salt Lake City. Now I have none.
I can solve complex statistical integrals, but I can't do long division.
I have nearly 300 CDs, with everything from Aerosmith to Fresh Aire.
Here is my ranking of a few Broadway musicals I've seen:
1. Les Miserables (Chicago & SLC)
2. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Chicago)
3. Cats (London)
4. Fiddler on the Roof (SLC, Chicago, Yellowstone)
5. Phantom of the Opera (Chicago)
6. Theda Bara and the Frontier Rabbi (Chicago - local)
7. Ragtime (New York)
8. Miss Saigon (New York)
9. Schoolhouse Rock (Chicago - local)
10. Faust (musical adaptation at Chicago Goodman Theater)
11. Dance of the Vampires (New York - lame)
12. Dames at Sea (SLC local - awful!)
13. Rent (even worse!)
Local productions I've seen: Secret Garden, Cinderella, and lots of stuff at my favorite spot - The Desert Star Playhouse.
Local productions I've been involved in:
- It Starts With Balloons (I was in 2nd grade and had one line),
- The Music Man (trumpet),
- Hello Dolly (danced),
- Saturday's Warrior (played Todd),
- My Turn on Earth (played John and Charles)
- Turnips and Buckwheat (played Willard, co-writer, sound)
- Gone with the Wind - satire (assistant director, co-writer),
- You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown (director),
- Brigadoon (played Sandy Dean),
I balance my checkbook to the penny.
I like to drive with the A/C on and the windows down.
When I'm about to leave on a trip or come home, I find myself singing.
My goals:
- I want to invent something great.
- I want to die old.
- I want to be a good person.
I've never used shaving cream for any purpose.
Records among girls I've seriously dated:
- Longest relationship: 20 months
- Most kids: 5
- Tallest: 6'0" (I'm 5'7")
- Highest IQ: 164
- Longest prison sentence: 3 months
- Greatest distance: 1714 miles
- Shortest engagement: 1 week
- Longest engagement: 2 weeks
- Shortest time until the girl is engaged to a new guy: 14 hours
I'm usually the second-to-last guy a girl ever dates.
Everyone I've dated seriously is married, and most were engaged
within a few weeks, or a few months at most.
I look for friends who live the gospel when it's not convenient, are honest when they know they wouldn't be caught, and keep "small" commandments even if they seem silly.