monitorhead

I was inspired to write this post after reading Patrick and Noel’s recent posts on arriving in China. They each described a particular encounter after arriving in Beijing but with such different perspectives. I thought I would try the same with a recent event at our home.

The first thing you must do is read my wife’s post about her latest home improvement project. If you are too lazy to click the link, here’s a synopsis. Megan attempts to hang a curtain rod. During the attempt she manages to break the head off of 3 screws. Ironically, after breaking the first screw she called me at work and said she would stop working. But she didn’t stop. Let me interject here by saying I can understand why she broke the first screw. They are cheap screws and very soft, I discovered. In fact, I would have done the same had I attempted the install. Despite her questionable decision to press on with a second screw, I can also understand the desire to give it a go. After all, maybe the first time was a fluke. I do have a little trouble understanding the third attempt. I think that shearing the heads off of 2 screws would have caused me to re-evaluate the situation. It wasn’t working.

Now, before you think I am being harsh, let me point out that Megan has a history of trying to put things together unsuccessfully. Her own blog is evidence. That’s not really a character flaw. It’s just the way she is made. I can’t design amazing scrapbook pages or juggle kids while making dinner. She has poor perception of spatial relations. Worse things have happened. However, she has not completely given up on the possibility that she might be good at hardware assembly. It’s as if the deceptively simple pictorial instructions are mocking her.

When I got home after work, we had a good laugh about the broken screws. I managed to back them out of the wall with a pair of pliers. Megan told me “I just keep trying things like this because I don’t want to make more work for you. I do it out of love.” Well, if you love me so much maybe next time you can just wait for me to get home before you pick up a screwdriver.

 "Guys don’t like Chef Boyardee." That was the consensus of four couples sitting around the table during the rehearsal dinner prior to Patrick and Noel’s wedding. The girls seemed to think that the Chef Boyardee ravioli were delicious while the guys invariably dissapproved. "Yeah, but guys like Sloppy Joes." The nodding male heads betrayed their taste for that mysteriously delicious, beefy dish.

Two things struck me about this conversation. First, how odd that two rare meal choices should be thrust into the spotlight while we were still savoring an italian dinner.  Secondly, without dissent we all agreed on the gender-specified palates. Maybe this is univeral like other preferences: dolls vs. trucks, pink vs. blue, action vs. romance. 

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Last weekend, I took a short road trip with my college roommate Eddie to San Marcos for the occasion of another friend’s 30th birthday. We spent the afternoon hanging out with Matt and some other college friends. It was the first time for me to see most of these folks in 6 years. It was a memorable day. I realized how much I missed all those guys and how much they mean to me. We’re hopefully planning another, kid-friendly gathering this fall. It will be satisfying to see all of our kids together–a new generation of friends.

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I was threatened by a good friend to show some activity on my blog. Well, Ryan, this post should not go unnoticed. I don’t think he would ever really remove me from his blogroll. But this should keep me barely-safe for another month.

Cheers, all.