1. My first name is not Blake, it's Josef.. I'm named after my great uncle, who was a train conductor in Sweden. Josef Blake Holstrom.
2. During a summer semester in Rome, a friend and I biked from Rome to Naples in under 24 hours with only a compass to guide us.
3. I severed my pinky finger when I was 8, and subsequently had it sewn back on by my father (who was a volunteer EMT).
4. I climbed a mountain barefoot on a bet.
5. I won a "Best Essay" award at a Phi Alpha Theta Historical Society conference at West Point Military Academy and it was then submitted for publication.
.... never heard back on that last one.