Urban Thought Collective

Hey UTC fam!

I came across this really cool list and, of course, I had to share it with you!

These are the 50 things you may not know about our wonderful and charming new President Barack Obama. Just a small something to help you live this day with a little more pep in your step.

• Barack Obama was called the O-bomber by his fellow high school basketball players in Honolulu.
• He collects Spider Man and Conan the Barbarian comics.
• His name means “one who is blessed” in Swahili.
• His favorite meal is wife Michelle’s shrimp linguini.
• He won a Grammy in 2006 for the audio version of his memoir, “Dreams of My Father.”
• He is left-handed – the sixth post-war president to be left-handed.
• He has read every “Harry Potter” book.
• He owns a set of red boxing gloves autographed by Muhammad Ali
• He worked in a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop as a teenager and now can’t stand ice cream.
• His favorite snacks are chocolate-peanut protein bars.
• He ate dog meat, snake meat, and roasted grasshopper while living in Indonesia .
• He can speak Spanish.
• While on the campaign trail he refused to watch CNN and had sports channels on instead.
• His favorite drink is Black Forest berry iced tea.
• He promised Michelle he would quit smoking before running for president – he didn’t.
• He kept a pet ape called Tata while in Indonesia
• He can bench press an impressive 200lbs
• He was known as Barry until university when he asked to be addressed by his full name.
• His favorite book is “Moby Dick” by Herman Melville.
• He visited Wokingham, Berks, England, in 1996 for the stag party of his half-sister’s fiancé, but left when a stripper arrived
• His desk in his Senate office once belonged to Robert Kennedy
• He and Michelle made $4.2 million last year, with much coming from sales of his books.
• His favorite films are “Casablanca” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”
• He carries a tiny Madonna and child statue and a bracelet belonging to a soldier in Iraq for good luck
• He applied to appear in a black pin-up calendar while at Harvard but was rejected by the all-female committee.
• His favorite music includes Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Bach and The Fugees.
• He took Michelle to see the Spike Lee film “Do the Right Thing” on their first date.
• He enjoys playing Scrabble and poker.
• He doesn’t drink coffee and rarely drinks alcohol.
• He would have liked to have been an architect if he were not a politician.
• As a teenager, he took drugs including marijuana and cocaine.
• His daughters’ ambitions - to go to Yale before becoming an actress (Malia, 10) and to sing and dance (Sasha, 7).
• He hates the youth trend for trousers which sag beneath the backside.
• He repaid his student loan only four years ago after signing his book deal
• His house in Chicago has four fire places.
• Daughter Malia’s godmother is Jesse Jackson’s daughter, Santita.
• He says his worst habit is constantly checking his BlackBerry.
• He uses an Apple Mac laptop.
• He drives a Ford Escape Hybrid, having ditched his gas-guzzling Chrysler 300 SUV
• He wears $1,500 Hart Schaffner Marx suits
• He owns four identical pairs of black size 11 shoes
• He has his hair cut once a week by his Chicago barber, Zariff, who charges $21.
• His favorite fictional television programs are “Mash” and “The Wire.”
• He was given the code name, “Renegade,” by his Secret Service handlers
• He was nicknamed, “Bear,” by his late grandmother.
• He plans to install a basketball court in the White House grounds.
• His favorite artist is Pablo Picasso.
• His specialty as a cook is chili.
• He has said many of his friends in Indonesia were “street urchins.”
• He keeps on his desk a carving of a wooden hand holding an egg, a Kenyan symbol of the fragility of life.
• His late father was a senior economist for the Kenyan government.

Live well!

Tilane Jones is a long-time practitioner of retail therapy. As an administrator for a top marketing company, she can hunt and negotiate a bargain like nobody’s business. Miss Jones shares her top-notch tips for looking & feeling fabulous on less money exclusively with Urban Thought Collective.