25 Random Facts about me.

I got this idea from Deborah Underwood.

1. I nap almost every afternoon, usually for about 20 mins to half an hour. If I can't take a nap for some reason, I'm often a little out of sorts. I can also nap in the morning or evening if possible.

2. I had over 15000 emails in my inbox, which is fine because search in mail is good nowadays. [Update: this is not true any more, sadly].

3. I have a hard time getting to sleep unless I'm listening to an audiobook, usually Agatha Christie, but sometimes Dorothy L Sayers.

4. I was a big fan of the British sci-fi comedy Red Dwarf until it started getting too unfunny, and Christine Kochanski was not played by whatsername.

5. I think if everyone listened to Flanders & Swann, the world would be a more civilized place.

6. Facts 1 to 5 are adapted from Deborah Underwood, my sister in law.

7. I can't believe I have a brother in law!

8. Just now I don't really want to go back to work full time.

9. The best part of my job is talking to clever people I like about interesting things.

10. I am Prof Smith from PhD comics.

11. I like playing Patience (Solitaire in US.) Especially on a computer to avoid laying the cards out. I love games where you have to do counterintuitive things to win.

12. I used to think I was a bad collaborator. Then I realised I was better than almost everyone I worked with. Then I realised I could easily be both a bad collaborator and better than most people I work with.

13. I was taking a free Myers-Briggs test. It said I had to choose between logical and emotional. I am extremely logical and extremely emotional. I guess the test was written by an illogical person.

14. I love "In Our Time" with Melvyn Bragg.

15. I love a capella music. I don't know why.

16. I once found a self help book which helped me!

17. My Dad had 9 papers in Nature. I only found this out after he died. I said "If I'd known this when he was alive I'd have had to kill him."

18. I once asked my dad why he didn't take up radio astronomy as a lecturer. He said "I wasn't good enough." Yeah, right.

19. I often say that the most beautiful thing I own is my Curta Calculator. (Google it.) To be clear, I don't own my wife or children.

20. I like the feeling of "flow" when you are concentrating on something. That's not the same thing as being good at getting into it, or indeed doing the thing that will get you into the flow when you are doing something stupid.

21. I dislike living in an untidy house and office, but only rarely get round to tidying. Which is a pity.

22. Throwing out old stuff you really don't need can feel GREAT. Like recently I threw out my old notebooks from when I was a PhD student. It felt great.

23. You are allowed one self refential fact in every list of facts about yourself. Especially near the end when you are out of ideas.

24. I would like to be better at keeping in touch with old friends.

25. My wife is smarter than me.