The Washington Connection—I’m directly descended from the Washington family through George’s step-brother, Lawrence, who is my 8^th great-grandfather on my mom’s side, and my 7^th great-grandfather on my dad’s.

Speaking of My Dad—He was a classified agent with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). He is mentioned in several books about the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Deep Roots—I am descended from a family that was part of the first permanent settlement at Jamestown. Yup. We’ve been part of North America since 1607.

The Women in My Life—My “kids” are a four-year-old whippet named Molly (technically, Molly Mae Bodelia Sabbath-Jones Smith, III, Jr., Esquire) and a two-year-old Maine coon cat named Scarlett.

I’ve Got the Music in Me—I studied violin, viola and cello for 7 years (I quit when my music teacher got one of my classmates pregnant). Since then, I have taught myself keyboards, bass guitar, mandolin and just enough drums to know that I suck at them.

It Ain’t a Grammy But…--A song I wrote about the Heaven’s Gate cult earned Honorable Mention in Billboard magazine’s international songwriting contest. I got a nice certificate and a set of guitar strings (and have never owned a guitar).

To Make You Feel Better—My whippet Molly and I are a certified pet therapy team. She has this uncanny ability to pick out the loneliest person in a room. Earning our certification was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, and one of the things of which I am most proud. We also have a Maine Coon cat named Scarlett who only recently came to live with us. She’s a lovely creature, but not a pet therapy candidate yet—unless people are comforted by being clawed to death.

The US is Beautiful—Between traveling for work and for pleasure, I have been to 48 states (still missing Hawaii and North Dakota—Hawaii would be great if the flight wasn’t so damn long, and North Dakota, well, it’s not very high up on my bucket list). I’ve also explored Europe, as well as most of Canada, Central America and the Caribbean.

Extra! Extra!—I’ve appeared as an extra in several movies, TV shows and commercials (they were all horrible). I’ve also been interviewed (live, even!) for several local TV news programs, and contributed to a series of articles in USA Today.