This explains a lot about me.

April 23rd of this year was National DNA day.  People around the nation dressed up as double helixes and paraded through the streets, singing songs about Watson and Crick.  Or something.  More importantly, the company 23andMe offered a $400 dollar discount on their service, wherein you send them a vial of your spit and they sequence your genetic code, letting you know about your ancestry, your genetic preconditions, and (gulp) any serious diseases you may be susceptible to.  I got my results back this week and they will be entirely unsurprising to my readers Mom and Dad: I am, apparently, the most boring person on the entire planet.   The most unusual thing about me is that I am 4% more likely than the average person to have... dry skin.  Holy shit am I boring.  Oh, also, my ancestry is Eastern European and I am most likely Jewish.

That all said, when you dig deeper it's kind of cool: they have heat maps that trace your gene pool back tens of thousands of years, offer you the chance to be put in touch with 3rd cousins who have used 23andMe, etc.  My teetotaling friend learned he is genetically predisposed to heroin addiction (fun!).  Anyway, not worth $500 bucks, maybe, but $100?  Kinda fun.  Even if you just end up knowing what you knew you already knew.