Mild Amusement

The fact that I shave my head causes no end of amusement to people around me . It's been around 5 years since I wrote that linked post, but it seems like some things never change. The Mild Ex has been known to be amused by my shaved head, and I'm pretty sure I've heard similar comments in the last few weeks. It's just one of those things that I've gotten used to. Heck, even the little kids seem to get in on the act. Though, frankly, I never quite understood why. I know for older folks, part of the appeal is that it's they're used to seeing me look different. There was also an old supervisor of mine who assumed that I had lost a bet. Either way, these are very adult reasons to be amused. Think about it: a little kid doesn't have that past mental image of me from which to draw, nor are they going to understand what kind of bet would cause you to shave your head if you lost. For them, there has to be a much simpler explanation. And it's not a fluke,...

I like sports. I like playing several of them, and I like watching professional teams, as well. In fact, I follow several local teams, and I am more than happy to devote a few hours to watching a game . On a basic level, it's just flat out fun to watch someone do something wholly unexpected (like Baron Davis dunking on one of the better shot blockers in the league in a play off game ). But there's also a whole level of drama involved, like when a guy who has been injured hits a home run to tie the game for his team . Just watch the reactions from everyone on that last link, the entire stadium went nuts at that point. So yeah, it's fun. However, there are a variety of unspoken rules about rooting for athletes and teams . The most basic of these is that you're supposed to pick a team and stick with it. If all you ever do is just wait until the post season and pick a team at random, you're not really a fan. It's like picking a new favorite color every year becaus...

Generally speaking, I don't buy tons of stuff for myself. I do have some hobbies on which I'll burn some occasional disposable income (comic books, gadgets, travel, athletic endeavors), but I really do mean it when I say I spend money on these "occasionally." For the most part, I tend to stick to the basics. Heck, I've had people comment that shopping with me looks like a sprint through the mall (or store). As I have recently discovered, though, the one quasi-exception to this is ties. I have been a working stiff for enough years at this point that I have a non-trivial number of dress shirts. And sometimes, I have to wear a tie with those dress shirts. So, I own several ties. Up until a few months ago, this wasn't really something I really noticed, much less thought about. I had a bunch of dress shirts, and a few ties to match with them. That's what you do when invitations you get start to include the words "business casual." Then one day, I ...

I've had a decent amount of practice coordinating dinners and otherwise trying to rally the troops . And if you do something often enough, you pick up a few tricks. For example, whenever I send out an invitation for a meal, I usually tell people the details of the reservation (e.g., it's for 4 people, under my name, at 6:30PM, on Thursday ). It helps to resolve any issues that might come up, and streamlines the process. If you're the first one there, you know exactly what to ask for, and you're not trying to figure out if others in the party have arrived yet or not. Otherwise, you and the host(ess) get to play "guess the reservation" for a few minutes. It's a simple thing, but it helps. One thing in particular I've found is that if you're asking "where do you guys want to eat?" the conversation is much, much simpler if you throw out at least one suggestion. People can say either yes or no to the options you suggest, and it helps start t...

I wrote recently that my email is actually a pretty rich source of material for blog posts . However, my weeknight outings are also just as likely to cause some hearty laughter. Heck, I've got a tag for outings precisely for that reason. If you don't believe me, I invite you to read about the time that dinner led to a bet about whether or not someone could finish their meal . These outings also resulted in the decision to ban someone from picking the restaurant because we narrowly avoided food poisoning , my cell phone pretending to get booty calls in the middle of dinner , and people giving me grief over a gift card . Don't get me wrong, I've been laughing right alongside with all these folks, but I've come to realize that an inordinate number of amusing stories come from these types of outings. And as it turns out, an inordinate number of those outings happen to come up on a Thursday. It's like Thursday is my lucky day or something. I actually didn...

In case you haven't noticed yet, I prefer talking informally. If people IM me at work, I usually greet them then follow it up with, "what's up?" There are a few reasons for this, but the most important one is that I think there's more character to it. There's more soul in slang, if you will. In fact, one of my very first blog posts was about this very topic . It just doesn't sound the same to use twelve five-dollar words when you can use five normal ones. In particular, somewhere along the line, I decided that I like the usage of "yes ma'am" and "yes sir." I don't know if I read it or heard it first, but the idea that you'd show respect in a such charmingly simple way struck a chord with me. Of course, it's always something that's portrayed as a country manners type thing. But it sounds right to me, so I use it. It's precisely why I say that normal, every-day conversation has more soul to it; there's a sen...

Long-time readers of this blog (all two of you) know that I stick to a schedule . There are good reasons for this, all outlined in the linked post. However, the pertinent part of that post for today's purposes are near the bottom of that post: if I have to stick to a schedule, how do I ration out my funny stories so as to not run out? I don't want to end up in a situation where I post a bunch of funny stories, and then one day, I find myself staring at a laptop with nothing amusing to write. Well, as it turns out, the answer to this problem seems to be checking my email. Somehow, I have managed to gather a group of friends that consistently provide snarky and/or amusing stories. And they frequently email me about these post-worthy stories. On days when I find myself needing inspiration for the weekly blog post, I usually end up checking my email to see if there's anything worth writing about in there. In hindsight, this should come as no surprise. After all, my inbox wa...