Mild Amusement

I've written about playing basketball a couple of times , so it should come as no surprise that I enjoy watching professional basketball. As far as I'm concerned, it's a fun sport regardless of whether I'm watching or playing the game. This, however, was not the case for the Mild Girlfriend. She had a passing understanding of the game, but it's not like she was a huge fan. As you can probably guess, this led to a few laughs along the way. To make sense of this coming story, let me go on a small tangent. My cousin is dating a girl who isn't really into sports, either. A while back, however, she posted Facebook pictures of the two of them at a Warriors game. That's the local team, and they're pretty good this year, so it didn't surprise me at all that they were at a game. However, what did catch my attention was the caption. I don't remember the exact wording of it all, but I distinctly remember the phrase "the things I do for love" i...

I had to go to Las Vegas for a work conference recently. Yes, everyone gave me all manner of crap for going there for work (I think my favorite version of that involved the words "poor baby"). Still, that was all before the trip even started. Sure, it was funny, but it didn't even hold a candle to the things that came out of people's mouths during the trip. Now, some of you might be thinking that posting funny things that people said in Vegas is cheating. All of these comments were from people who were sober. They were not the result of a long night of drinking, nor were they uttered while a scantily clad person distracted the person. Nope, this was all stuff that people had no excuse for. The location and its reputation for debauchery had nothing to do with all this. So, without further ado, I present a small collection of things that people said on this trip: Kid: "They should make a building for children and adults that has all the medicine in it....

I've mentioned it a few times lately, but the Mild Girlfriend and I like to cook . This is a bit of a change for me, since I traditionally looked at cooking as a necessary evil. I always said that I could stave off starvation if left to my own devices, and that was good enough for me. That was always the plan, you know? Well, life has a funny way of throwing you curve balls. At this point, I have a couple of dishes that I could make if pressed to bring something to a pot luck. Now, getting those dishes to the point where I wouldn't be ashamed to bring them has involved help from both the Mild Girlfriend and family , at times. Either way, I can actually make a dish or two on my own. I find this quite amusing in its own right, but that's not even close to where the story ends. The Mild Girlfriend finds all of this just as amusing as I do, but she always points out that I should know how to cook things that I would happily eat. In particular, she goes one farther: she thin...

Normally, I don't eat very many sweets. I tend to eat pretty generous portions, but I generally prefer savory food over sweet. In fact, I usually prefer things half as sweet when possible. My preference doesn't have anything to do with health reasons, it's just one of those things that I've always liked better. That said, I do inevitably eat dessert, particularly if I'm out with other people. My stance towards dessert is roughly equivalent to those who are social drinkers . If other people want to munch on something for dessert, I'm not about to cross my arms and refuse. That'd be just a tad gauche. So, I do eat some dessert. I even have a few standby favorites that I'll usually order when presented with them (brownies, creme brulee, and apple pie). But left to my own devices, I'm not about to go hunting for dessert. Apparently, this means that the sugar can really mess with my system under the right circumstances. As I've discovered, ...

I wrote once before that I have a very distinct way of expressing myself . I have a unique "voice," if you will. The first time I wrote about this, I noted that I have a way of doing this both on paper (or the electronic version, but you know what I mean) and out loud when actually using my vocal cords. Well, as it turns out, there are other people who think the same thing. I'll start with the math class I teach as a volunteer. I think it's a pretty worthwhile program , so I've been volunteering some time there for a couple of years. Now, the experience means that I have a pretty good handle on how to teach that class (or at least I think I do). There's a certain pacing to it, and certain phrases or ways of explaining things seem to make sense to people. The fun part, though, is that with that experience comes familiarity . The staff there knows me, and I feel a bit more comfortable in teaching that class. That means I can be a smart aleck. Specifically...