Getting to know Dave

Dave's office is putting together a company yearbook that will be printed and handed out at the summer party.  The employees were asked to interview a specific co-worker on their team and write a summary for the yearbook.  Dave's Project Manager Jared did his write up.  He sent Dave and I each a list of questions to answer independently about Dave.  Then from that he built his write up.  I thought it was a fun little exercise in getting to know Dave.  

Dave's Q&As:

1. What’s the #1 most played song on your music player?

At work: “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey

At home: “Let it go” from Frozen because my daughter plays it over and over and over…

2. What is one of your favorite quotes?

“Fail to plan, plan to fail.” My wife says I over analyze things.

3. What sound do you love?

My daughter’s giggle.

4. If you could choose to stay a certain age forever, what age would it be?

I would stay 25 years old. I was healthy and active and in good shape.

5. If you knew the world was ending in 2015, what would you do differently?

I’d take a good long vacation with my family to Europe or somewhere exotic.

6. If you could witness any event past, present or future, what would it be?

Neil Armstrong walking on the moon.

7. If you were immortal for a day, what would you do?

Go skydiving. I want to do it now but it freaks my wife out too much.

8. If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would you meet?

Meet Enos from the Book of Mormon.

9. If you could know the answer to any question, besides “What is the meaning of life?”, what would it be?

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?

10. Which celebrity do you get mistaken for?

My sophomore year in High School after Dumb & Dumber came out I combed all my hair straight down and wore it to school like that. Everyone said I looked just like Jim Carey.

11. What would you name the autobiography of your life?

“Dang! He got fat!”

12. What songs are included on the soundtrack to your life?

“White and Nerdy” by Weird Al, “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, “All Of Me” by John Legend

13. What was the last movie, TV show or book that made you cry or tear up?

“The Evolution of Thomas Hall” by Kieth Merrill

14. What did you do growing up that got you into trouble?

I liked to take things apart and put them back together to see how they worked.

15. What’s the best/worst gift you’ve ever given/received?

The best gift would definitely be my daughter Conni.

The worst was when a friend gave me a gift card that they’d already used. (It was an accident, or so he claimed.)

16. What do you miss most about being a kid?

The lack of responsibilities and a super-fast metabolism so I could eat whatever I wanted.

17. What story does your family always tell about you?

I think they would just tell how I would drive my sisters crazy by pestering them. I was the only boy and had 3 sisters so I was really just defending myself. A good offence is a good defense, right?

18. At what age did you become an adult?

I don’t know if I’m there yet.

19. Where’s Waldo?

He’s retired. He made so much money on those books that he bought his own island in the Caribbean and he spends his days lounging on the beach.

Patti's Q&As (how I thought Dave would answer):

1. What’s the #1 most played song on your music player?

Anything by Maroon 5

2. What is one of your favorite quotes?

“Do or do not, there is no try” -- Yoda

3. What sound do you love?

a bag of new legos being opened

4. If you could choose to stay a certain age forever, what age would it be?

32

5. If you knew the world was ending in 2015, what would you do differently?

Finish my wife’s to do list

6. If you could witness any event past, present or future, what would it be?

Signing of the Declaration of Independence

7. If you were immortal for a day, what would you do?

Go skydiving

8. If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would you meet?

Joseph Smith

9. If you could know the answer to any question, besides “What is the meaning of life?”, what would it be?

Do you have any Grey Poupon?

10. Which celebrity do you get mistaken for?

Zachary Levi

11. What would you name the autobiography of your life?

There and Back Again … Wait, Not There Yet

12. What songs are included on the soundtrack to your life?

Code Monkey

Everything is Awesome

Hanging by a Moment

Happy

13. What was the last movie, TV show or book that made you cry or tear up?

Big Hero 6

14. What did you do growing up that got you into trouble?

Everything

15. What’s the best/worst gift you’ve ever given/received?

anything electronic - best given and received

16. What do you miss most about being a kid?

Staying up all night playing video games and then sleeping all day

17. What story does your family always tell about you?

18. At what age did you become an adult?

I'll let you know when it happens

19. Where’s Waldo?

Where isn't Waldo?

Then here is Jared's actual write up on Dave for the yearbook:

Franklin David Farrington, who also has known aliases of Dave, “Dear”, “Babe”, Daddy-O”, or “The Steel Stringbean”, fell in love with coding in high school and joined the XactContents team three years ago. Most days “Bean” can be found jamming out to “Don’t Stop Believin” while coding up a storm pondering such life dilemmas as “how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop”. Even though back in high school Dave could be mistaken for Jim Carey (must be the hair), if ever asked by Doctor Who where he would like to go Dave would head to July 20, 1969. He would don his extravehicular suit and jump out from behind a moon rock to surprise Neil Armstrong – because as Dave puts it, “I don’t know if I’m there yet” when asked when he became and adult.

Back in the present, Dave was lucky enough to talk Miss Patti Wall into being his wife and they have a beautiful daughter Conni – whose giggle is the greatest sound in the world to Daddy-O. Though it is difficult to compete with this giggle, the sound of a new bag of legos being opened will also cause a glow in Dave’s eyes.. Dave lives by the motto, “Fail to plan, plan to fail” and as such frustrates Patti to no with his over analyzation (though we love it because it makes Dave such a fantastic developer!) Perhaps this attention to detail is the cause of Dave being unable to ever fulfill his wife’s honey-do list.

 For the most part, Dave has no regrets in life. He has a beautiful family, he loves his job, and is in the prime of his life (plus a couple years). Even so, both Dave and Patti agree that if he were immortal, skydiving is where Dave would be found on the weekends. Dave is a great friend and co-worker and will happily extend the following advice when seeking his assistance, “Do or do not, there is no try.” With such sage advice, it is no wonder that the title to Dave’s autobiography would be, “There and Back Again… Wait, Not There Yet.”

Dave loves his job - and we love that they do fun things like this yearbook.  It was interesting to see our answers for him to the same questions - maybe we'll do a round where I answer them just for fun!