getFreshMinds.com | Ideas so fresh--they should be slapped!: 8 Things You Don't Know About Katie Konrath

I've been trying to stay away from too many memes, but they're starting to catch up with me. Last week, Daniel over at Idea Sellers tagged me for the 8 Things You Don't Know About Me meme--which I probably should fill out since he's not the first one to throw it at me. Becky Carroll also tagged me a little over a month ago!

But I'm on vacation right now, so it's a good opportunity to have a little fun.

So, here goes

1. Last year, I helped train a polo pony!

When I was studying in Malta, I wanted to ride horses, but didn't have a lot of money. So, I helped a polo stable before and during polo matches, and in return they let me ride for free.

I rode a former racehorse who was being trained for polo, but was still a little jumpy during games. So, after she learned to trust me, the owner sent me out on the polo field on her to try hitting the ball around. I was SO bad I almost clocked her in the head several times, and came back terrified that I was going to hurt their horse!

But the owner told me that it was a good thing--Poppy needed to get used to ''maniacs swinging polo sticks by her head!'' and since Poppy trusted me, she wouldn't freak out if I was the maniac!

2. I'm a "Greek geek".

My favorite book is Homer's Iliad--which I read for the first time when I was 12. I studied ancient Greek in college just so I could read the Iliad in its original version.

When I was younger, my mom took me to Europe for a birthday present and I insisted on traveling to Turkey just to visit the ruins of Troy. It is still one of my favorite vacations!

3. I have ARD (addictive reading disorder).

I absolutely LOVE to read, and would do it all day if I had the time. When I was younger, I used to sneak my mom's books when she was working and read them in secret. As a 3rd grader, I made it through half of Clan of the Cave Bear before she found out!

Today I try to limit myself to essentals (books on business, creativity, Harry Potter, etc), but I still read way too many blogs.

4. Horror movies terrify me!

I can't watch horror movies because I jump at every noise for weeks afterwards! Jaws made me jump a foot out of the water everytime a tiny sunfish nibbled on me (in the freshwater lakes of northern MN no less!). Scream caused me to freak out everytime I heard a strange noise in the house at night.

Now, I refuse to watch scary movies because I get too jumpy afterwards.

5. I'm a good swimmer because I used to be really bad!

When I was 7 years old, I failed swimming lessons three times because I couldn't do the breaststroke whip kick. Since the teachers thought it would be humiliating for me to repeat the exact same course again, they told my parents to put me on the swim team.

I ended up being a competitive swimmer for 12 years.

6. For a side job, I help people with their Typepad blogs.

To make enough money to survive while I'm a student, I've been helping independent professionals set-up Typepad blogs. It's interesting, and I enjoy making it easier for busy people to start blogging.

So, if you have questions about Typepad, or want to spruce things up a bit on your blog, send me an email! :-)

7. I tried to do guerrilla-marketing for Pepsi, but they weren't interested.

Back in 2003, my creative problem-solving team didn't have enough money to go to Global Finals, so I wrote to Pepsi's vice president of marketing and proposed a guerrilla-marketing venture. They would pay for our trip, and we would be their marketing arm on the ground. Unfortunately, they weren't interested.

Incidentally, our team won our division and was called in front of 14,000 competitors to accept our trophy. Pepsi missed out on a lot of visibility!

8. I'm having the time of my life in Europe.

Over the last year, I've visited 7 European capital cities: Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris, London, Madrid, Rome and Valletta and Malta). I've also lived in England, Malta and Germany.

Right now, I'm on a tour of Germany. In the last week, I've been to Koblenz, Frankfurt, Munich and Füssen. Tonight, I'm just across the border in Switzerland!

And that's 8 Things You Didn't Know About Me! Don't worry, I'll be back to creativity soon!