Mild Amusement

I have a friend who is a very good business analyst, and we naturally tease each other about whether or not the other one actually does any work  (note that the explanation for the post title is also in the linked blog post). It's a running joke between us, and neither one of us really means anything by it. The more time passes, though, the more I'm starting to think that the universe really is trying to mess with me as a result of some of this banter. You see, I fancy myself a software developer. That means that all of the skills I value are about solving technical problems. Sure, I understand full well that you need to actually solve problems for users otherwise no one will use your software; I've had conversations at work with people that included me saying, "sometimes you need less code, not more." Still, there are plenty of situations that require code. That's where I come in, and that's where I earn my paycheck. However, judging by my LinkedIn pr...

I was hanging out with a bunch of old friends, and an innocent comment about someone being a good wife kicked off a conversation about relationships in general. The initial premise was that this woman was a good wife because she was willing to watch sports with her husband, even though she didn't necessarily like sports quite as much as her husband. Inevitably, someone cracked a joke about how that must be nice, and he didn't know what that felt like. Soon enough, everyone was laughing, and everyone was chiming in with what they thought was a fair way to handle this particular situation. Suddenly, though, the conversation took a sharp left turn: seeing as how we were talking about relationships, someone decided to ask me for an update on my relationship status. Now, I generally don't go blabbing my business to everyone. I've said before that my life is an open book (er, tri-fold ) to just about anyone who asks, and I meant it. But that doesn't mean that I will vol...

Whenever the family and I go out, things are bound to get interesting. Most of the time, that's because my siblings and I will get creative with the banter . And when there are three people goofing off, parents tend to get in on the fun, too. All in all, it works out to a very interesting time. However, every now and again, someone else will manage to surprise us and inject some fun in to the evening. This is a story of one of those times. The family and I decided to go out to dinner, so we drove out to one of the nearby shopping areas to try out a new restaurant. There were jokes a-plenty, and a good time was had by all. It was more or less what I expected: a good time, but hardly worthy of a blog post. However, the night didn't end with dinner. For whatever reason, my brother remembered that he had to pick up a new pair of slacks. We happened to be within walking distance of a store that sold some, so we all moseyed on over to said store. My brother knew more or less what...

Remember how my friends seem to always think that waitresses are hitting on me and I think that it's all a fairly normal part of the dining experience? Apparently, the last time I wrote about it was not the last time when it would come up. Better yet, there's a new twist to the whole story worthy of quite a few laughs. To begin with, let's add in another couple of anecdotes to the story. I met up with a friend for drinks after work, and she happened to get there first. That meant that when I got there, the waitress had to take my drink order separately. I ordered a beer, and all was well in the world. A few minutes later, the same waitress came back and asked us if we wanted to order any appetizers. According to my friend, the waitress didn't look at her, and pretty much focused on me the whole time. I didn't really notice this, but my companion insisted that this was the case. The restaurant effect was back in play again, it seemed. Mind you, this was the ...

I realized a while back that I tend to appreciate clever things. I am a fan of stand up comedy largely because it involves a clever spin on every day events, I like movies with interesting & surprising twists, and I appreciate rap because of the clever word play involved. All in all, I like watching ingenuity in action, since it's amusing as heck. As I'm discovering, though, little kids are a boundless source of said ingenuity. Sure, there are some really smart kids that pass through the day care, and I readily admit that they impress me with their creativity in accomplishing things they shouldn't be able to do. But even on a more mundane level, little kids consistently get very creative to do things they're not supposed to be doing. Sometimes they just happen to luck in to that course of action, or sometimes they see something that the adults don't see. Either way, these stories are universally worth a good, hearty laugh. Watching TV The kids don't g...

In a post from a while back , I mentioned that people around me end up with nicknames fairly frequently. It's not always my doing, but I am more than happy to play along. Of course, the best part isn't the actual nickname, it's always the back story that leads to the nickname. And since it's been a while since that previous post, I've picked up a few more stories about nicknames that are worth a chuckle. So, without further ado, I present to you: "ADT" You know how people pay for security systems for their houses? One of the most well-known companies is called ADT . My brother likes to say that he has no need for said security systems because one of his neighbors is constantly on the lookout for what's going on in the neighborhood. She's like a one-person neighborhood watch, complete with a side of the neighborhood gossip. He has actually come home and had her tell him about the comings and goings of his wife. My brother's smart aleck str...

A little while back, my sister and her husband came to visit. It was nice to see the two of them, and I was glad to have them around. However, this meant that there were two more people sleeping in the house than usual. Normally, this isn't a huge problem: you let the guests use any kind of a guest room or extra couches you have, and you make sure that they've got whatever supplies they need. In my case, that's not really an option, but ultimately, it led to me laughing at myself for several days in a row. First of all, let's start with the guest room option. In my house, that room has several cribs in it; it gets used for the day care. Most adults I know won't fit there, so it's not a very good option. Sure, we could throw an air mattress or some sleeping bags in there, but it's not entirely comfortable to be cramped by several pieces of furniture like that. Also, if any of the babies actually need to take a morning nap, said guests are going to get kicke...