The Whiteboard

Starting a couple of years ago, I resolved to write a blog post at least once a week (also, holy crap, I can't believe I've been on this schedule for two years now. It really doesn't feel like it's been that long). I remember being slightly concerned that I wouldn't have something to write about every week, so I would have to figure out how to pace my posts. After all, just how amusing could my life be?

As it turns out, I've either got more amusing things going on around me or I'm really good at embellishing the mundane things that happen around me. However, I don't always write about these things in the moment. That means that if I don't write them down somehow, I'm liable to forget about them. This is particularly true if I hold off on writing about the amusing anecdote until the following week to make sure I don't fall behind on my schedule. So, I keep a whiteboard and write down things I can write about on it. When it comes time to write the weekly blog post, I always look at the whiteboard for any pending ideas that I can write about.

It's a pretty simple system, and it works for me. In fact, it's so simple that my brother and sister-in-law have figured it out. They have both peeked at the whiteboard and commented that they were getting a sneak peek about future blog posts at one point or another. It amuses them to see what I'm going to write about, in particular if any of the items involve them for any reason. It's a little bit like Googling yourself, I imagine: it's fun to see your name show up.

Anyhow, it was a humdrum week, same as any other, when my brother and sister-in-law stopped by to visit. They stopped in to say hello, and we were just chatting for a few minutes. Suddenly, my sister-in-law stopped, squealed in amusement, and pointed to the whiteboard. I take the whiteboard for granted at this point, so I don't usually remember what's on it. As it turns out, though, I'd put down something about Wife Watch and a suggestion that my sister-in-law had made (she had wanted to set me up with someone). This was all sorts of amusing to her, and there was quite a bit of laughter/squealing at this turn of events.

In fact, this was so amusing, that she insisted on taking a picture of the whiteboard. I think there was talk of sending the picture to others, too, but I was too busy laughing about the whole thing. It turns out that even planning for blog posts can be funny. I like this whiteboard plan just a little bit more now.