Eight random facts about me

ByElizabeth Harrin Last updated: General

Back at the beginning of August I was tagged for this meme by Mike Ramm, over at Stop and Think! I have no idea where it started, but the rules for the 8 Random Facts About Me meme are:

  • Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves which others do not know about them.
  • People who are tagged need to write in their own blog and post these rules.
  • At the end of your 8 random facts post, you must select 8 more people and leave a message at their site that they have been tagged.

So here are my random facts.

  1. I have four pairs of emergency tights in my office drawer…
  2. …and four pairs of shoes under my desk (cream summer sandals, gym trainers, black high heels and brown flats).
  3. I don’t own a full-length mirror, although I have owned two in my time. I think they were both casualties of my various moves as neither of them has made it to my new home. The first mirror I bought was in York, and I carried it home from the glass shop. En route I was intercepted by a nun who wanted help crossing the road, so I had to walk across with a nun on one arm and the mirror under the other. It was a flattering mirror too, so I’m sorry I’ve lost it. Consequently I prefer lifts with mirrors in so I have a chance to see what I look like before I go into meetings, although I’ve become quite adept at checking my appearance in shop windows.
  4. I read the latest Post Secret book in one sitting.
  5. I was supposed to go to a lecture on project managing the Docklands Light Railway extension to support the demands of the 2012 Olympic Games last Wednesday, but I went shopping on Oxford Street instead.
  6. I don’t remember a year when I was working in an office without a Dilbert calendar, the oracle of project truth, on my desk. At the moment I have a cartoon stuck up on my partition wall of Dilbert describing his project as “a steaming pile of failure… like fifteen drunken monkeys with a jigsaw puzzle.”
  7. I have also pinned up a Garfield cartoon in French that I cut out of Metro, but it’s a visual gag so no point in explaining it here.
  8. My favourite Asian dish is Pad Thai noodles. In fact, most dishes can be improved with peanuts.

There can’t be many people who haven’t already been tagged in this meme, and not being a great one for rules, I’m not picking eight bloggers. Instead, I choose Laura, Anthony, Frank and Raven. Fifty per cent of the requirement – which is about what projects normally manage to achieve!

Elizabeth Harrin wearing a pink scarf

Project manager, author, mentor

Elizabeth Harrin is a Fellow of the Association for Project Management in the UK. She holds degrees from the University of York and Roehampton University, and several project management certifications including APM PMQ. She first took her PRINCE2 Practitioner exam in 2004 and has worked extensively in project delivery for over 20 years.
Elizabeth is also the founder of the Project Management Rebels community, a mentoring group for professionals. She's written several books for project managers including Managing Multiple Projects.