Mild Amusement

As the Mild Fiancée likes to remind me, I am a rule follower. Sure, there are minor deviations here and there, like jaywalking. But for the most part, I read instructions, follow directions, and color within the lines. It's served me well enough all these years, so it's just how I roll. The Mild Fiancée, however, is not as rigid about the rule following. In fact, that's why it came up in the first place: I expressed some concern about not following the rules exactly, and she proclaimed, in semi-exasperation, that I was a such a rule follower. I don't even remember what the discussion was at that point, but I do remember the subsequent commentary. It had that distinct ring of truth to it, and I could only nod along. One of the places where this starts to show itself is when we cook. We like to try new recipes (like that healthy mac n cheese recipe from a while back), so that means we're often reading ingredient lists or watching some YouTube video for what to ...

Fun fact: at work, we are allowed to enter our own titles in the company address book. I realize there are a lot of ways that particular fact could lead to some amusement, but keep in mind that this is a corporate job. So, all in all, people tend to keep it pretty tame. Basically, people write down something like "Manager" or "Business Analyst." There are a couple of reasons for that. First of all, it's a business casual outfit. You may not have to wear a suit and tie, but you do have to keep it professional. Secondly, and more importantly, other people can see those details. That's sort of the point of an address book: you should be able to look people up (it's a big company, and I don't always know someone's phone number or email). So, if you put down "The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread" as your title, someone is eventually going to notice. I'd even venture to say that a bunch of someones are going to both notice and laugh ab...

If you've shopped at a Safeway any time recently, you've probably seen that Monopoly game . The idea is fairly simple: you get Monopoly pieces every time you shop, and if you get the right pieces, you win a prize. It's sort of like a sponsored version of Bingo , only you participate by grocery shopping. They've been doing it for a while, so I'm guessing you've seen it around at some point or another. Well, this year, I decided to play. I don't even know why I wanted to play, but as we were at the store, I figured, "why not?" I mean, the Mild Fiancée had just finished doing our grocery shopping, and it's not like it was going to cost us anything extra to participate. So, on sheer whim, I told the lady behind the counter that we did, in fact, want the Monopoly tickets and the game board. Now, I know full well what the odds of winning are. There are only so many prizes, and there are a ton of people who shop at these stores. I don't realis...

Last time on this Bat channel, I mentioned that Netflix provides some entertainment during our usual day-to-day interactions. In particular, it led to one very interesting exchange involving Star Trek (I'll leave it at that if you haven't read the previous entry. It's a quick read, and should be worth a chuckle). Well, as it turns out, Netflix just keeps on pumping out the entertainment in our household. It's not just that we can watch various shows or movies, it's that we can do so whenever we want. That ability in it of itself is incredibly useful. I can watch stuff while I'm prepping dinner, and the Mild Fiancée and I can both pick something to watch if we're in the mood. We've certainly had a few date nights cuddled up on the couch with Netflix. Now, if you're at all familiar with modern day slang, you've probably heard of the term " Netflix and chill ." Basically, inviting someone over to watch Netflix and "chill" is...

I've never really been a huge television fan. There were some shows that I really like as a kid (the animated X Men and Batman shows come to mind), but I can't remember ever spending the whole day in front of the television. I would play video games for long stretches of time, but that seems different to me. I was trying to control the action, rather than just staring at the screen. Either way, that means I missed out on a lot of shows and movies. There are classic movies that I know about as general cultural awareness, but that I've never actually watched. This includes movies like "Casablanca," for example (I'll get around to it eventually). This phenomenon also encompasses more recent small screen hits, like "Breaking Bad" or "Game of Thrones." I've heard a lot about both of them, and I even have some vague inklings of key events in those series (I know to be very wary of a Red Wedding). But I've never actually sat down to watc...

The Mild Fiancée and I have a very interesting relationship to food. Between the two of us, we will eat just about anything  and seek out interesting food . We also spend time a good amount of time cooking an interesting diet , so things are never very dull in our kitchen or at our table. Basically, there's always a laugh or two to be had. The latest turn of events is that we've noticed that the Mild Fiancée likes to season her food a bit more than I do. Neither of us add so much that the food tastes bad, but it's readily apparent who adds more spices to the food. I don't just say that to avoid getting dirty looks; other people have complimented the Mild Fiancée's cooking for a very long time. She knows what she's doing in the kitchen. So, perhaps it's more appropriate to say that I add less seasoning to the food than the Mild Fiancée. I appreciate flavor as much as the next person, but I just prefer a bit less seasoning. There's no accounting for pr...

When I was a kid, my dad once showed me and my siblings how to make a pickle glow ... with electricity . I remember being both confused and amazed. It was precisely the sort of thing that a young boy who likes science would enjoy. As it turns out, you can do all sorts of really interesting stuff with household items. All you have to do is apply just the right stimuli or chemical, and something kind of amazing can happen. Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't warn you about that whole pickle thing. You're actually making a resistor out of the pickle, which means that electricity is flowing through the pickle. In fact, there's enough electricity going through the pickle that it can do you serious harm if you're not careful. Be careful if you try that at home, kids. Well, I came up with one of those types of experiments, complete with the associated danger, all by myself. In my case, I did so completely by accident. In order to replicate this particular experimen...