So I've seen a few of you doing these lists of 100 things about you. Some have them on your sidebar, some are posting them in small pieces, and some have posted them all in one post. I think it's egotistical, self-aggrandizing, and indulgent. I'm in!

The current plan is to break it into 5 groups of 20 things, with each group having a different theme. We'll see if I can stay with that consistently.

100 Things: Me and My Family

100. My father's family is Italian.

99. My mother's family is Irish and Nova Scotian.

98. I have four uncles, three who are my mother's brothers and one that is my father's brother.

97. I was born in Weymouth, Massachusetts.

96. My parents were both born in Massachusetts as well.

95. I am the eldest of three siblings. I have a younger sister and we have a younger brother.

94. I moved to Ormond Beach, Florida (right outside Daytona Beach) in 1980, when I was three years old.

93. I have three living grandparents. I had four until my Nana passed away a couple of months back.

92. My father's family came from Naples. The Avitable (and Avitabile) name is very big there. There is a statue to General Paolo di Avitabile, who was well-known in Italy and feared in Pakistan. In fact, his name (Abu Tabela) is used as a bogeyman to children in Pakistan even to this day.

91. I believe that my maternal grandmother has been able to trace her family back to the Mayflower, which is amusing, because the family drinks like Irishmen right off the boat.

90. I have never met any Avitables other than my uncle and cousins. I would like to, someday.

89. My mother's family is quite large, and, in fact, she is older than her youngest uncle. As a result, most of the family members who are my age are actually my second cousins.

88. My grandmother's brothers used to live in a very poor part of Massachusetts and were a bunch of thugs as kids. The Learys were a bit of a gang back in the 40s and 50s.

87. My mother liked my father because he was a bad boy who drove fast, was a bit older, and got into lots of fights, including throwing someone through a plate glass window. He was arrested many times as a teen and young adult, and it was only because of the good old boy network and my grandfather's connections that he doesn't have a record.

86. Before my parents married, my mother and father either broke up or almost broke up because she wasn't sure he was willing to settle down. My father hitchhiked cross-country, and when he got to California, he realized how much he needed my mother and came right home to her, smelly and dirty from over six months on the road without a shower or bath.

85. Three of my uncles don't have more than a high school diploma, yet they're all successful businessmen.

84. While I have never hit on any of my cousins, many of whom are objectively attractive, my brother tried some cheesy pick up lines on my cousin on Myspace.

83. This same brother also set up a Match profile when he got out of the military. After choosing the parameters of the girl he was looking for, only one result popped up: my sister.

82. Both of my siblings work for me currently.

81. I'm not sure, but I may be the first person in my mother's side of the family with a doctorate.

80. I am Italian and Irish, but I hate Italian food and Irish food. This vexes my parents.

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