Mild Amusement

I've written before how some of my nerdy tendencies lead to some hilarity with the Mild Wife. Sometimes, she pushes me further down the rabbit hole by getting me a 20-sided die , but sometimes, she dips a toe into the waters by getting really into the Lord of the Rings movies . This blog post is an example of the latter. Now, it's worth mentioning that the Mild Wife's short-hand term for all of this is "Star Trek." She basically equates that show with all things nerd. Say you are interested in science fiction; that's "Star Trek." Like movies with an element of fantasy to them? Star Trek. Are you a software developer? Star Trek. It's basically become one of those running jokes that means something as soon as it it uttered, usually with quite a bit of laughter in tow. Well, I was sitting at work, minding my own business, when I got a text message from the Mild Wife: I laughed as soon as I got this, in part because I have been the person on...

Every now and then, I come across some "clever" way of solving a problem that is too good to keep to myself. The verbal rock-paper-scissors thing made me laugh enough that I figured I'd share it. I mean, we could've solved that particular problem in any number of ways, but the manner in which we chose to attack that problem maximized the amount of laughter. In keeping with that tradition, allow me to present my latest find. This one comes courtesy of Sur La Table , which has all sorts of cooking-related items. I actually think the Mild Wife and I walked in there because we were killing time, not so much because we needed anything. Still, that meant we had time to peruse the various goods. Before I actually show you the item in question, let me set up the problem that this thing is meant to solve. Every now and then, you need to do something like pull pork so that it's easy to eat. As much as pork is delicious, I don't think you want to sit down to a giant...

I've mentioned more than once on this blog that I get up really early during the work week. This leads to all sorts of shenanigans, from having to tip-toe into a bedroom to being mistaken for a car thief . It's just one of those things that leads to amusing stories. If you think about it, it should come as no surprise. I have just woken up, so I'm very likely to be operating at less than optimal levels. It is usually dark at that hour without any sort of natural light, and I can't just go traipsing through the house for fear of waking other people up. So, a groggy person wakes up, has to navigate a dark environment, and can't make any noise. Doesn't that sound like the perfect set up for some slapstick? So, let me add to the list of amusing stories. In this particular case, it has to do with my "countermeasures" to this hilarity. You see, I am more than aware that I have to get dressed in the dark. It's not the sort of thing you forget about a...

I'm always amused whenever things end up with amusing names or labels. In fact, that was precisely what I wrote about the last time this came up . In short, some of the labels on medicine and vitamin containers made me chuckle, and I also learned the difference between a teaspoon and a tablespoon in the process. This time around, the setting was much different. Instead of scrutinizing product labels, I was having lunch with a coworker. This particular coworker was actually new to the area, so he wanted to go somewhere off-campus in order to explore some of the food options. I don't consider myself super cultured when it comes to the happening restaurants, but I can usually come up with a suggestion or two. In the worst case, my friends Yelp and Google tend to do a decent job of pointing me towards good food. Still, the parameters were a little too broad, so I asked my coworker if there was anything in particular that he wanted. I mean, I wasn't going to take him to a su...

Lately, we've been buying " Everything But the Bagel " seasoning. The Mild Wife had come across it somewhere before, and she was excited when she spotted it on the supermarket shelf. So, naturally, she got some, and we started putting it on some of our breakfast items. We actually had a fair bit of cream cheese on hand after we made our "store bought" cheesecake , so the plan was to sprinkle the seasoning on top of the cream cheese. I like bagels and cream cheese, but this was entirely new to me. I don't generally put anything else on top of the cream cheese, let alone a seasoning that combines several different spices. Still, the Mild Wife told me it was really tasty, so I was more than willing to try it. That was a good thing, too, because I ended up liking it. I thought that was the end of it, but one day, we started cooking with it. I don't know if the Mild Wife saw this on a recipe somewhere or if it just occurred to her to use the seasoning ...

Recently, the Mild Wife and I decided to partake in NightLife at the Academy of Sciences . If you're not familiar with the event, it's a night at the museum with alcohol and music. Given how much we tend to nerd out about certain things, it seemed like a good way to enjoy an evening. And, in hindsight, it totally was. We thoroughly enjoyed walking through the exhibits and sipping on adult beverages. We were talking about going back again at some point, so you probably have some idea of how much we enjoyed the experience. Of course, that's not the amusing part. Sure, the evening was enjoyable for us , but that's not amusing to you . So, then, why would I write about that particular evening? Well, let me tell you, friends. We chose to sit in on the planetarium show, so we sat down in what felt like a movie theater with a bunch of other people. It was these other people that really made us chuckle. Specifically, it was a couple on a date sitting a few chairs away from ...

These days, the Mild Wife and I usually go to the dentist on the same day. We have schedules that allow us to be flexible, so we can time our appointments to line up on the same day. We're fortunate enough that we don't generally need more than just the regular cleaning, so it's more a matter of when we schedule the prescribed check up. If we're both going to be there for an hour or so, we might as well just go during the same hour. Given this, though, this means that we both know when the other person's dentist appointment falls. Most of the time, that detail is useful because I can remind the Mild Wife that there's a dentist appointment the following week, or vice versa. It's a little thing, but it also helps to mentally track where we need to be on any given day. This most recent time, however, this little detail led to quite a bit of hilarity. On a random evening, I noticed that the bi-annual dentist appointment was coming up, so I mentioned this to ...