The Gift of the Magi

A couple of months ago, Jon (my husband) and I spent an evening with Josh (my brother) and Camilla (one of my best friends and Josh's wife). While we were there, we talked about playing a game, but found ourselves stymied by the lack of available games. So we went to Walmart. On the way there, we tried to decide what to buy. Camilla mentioned The Newlywed Game. I said it sounded good to me.

Later, Jon and I were trying to decide what to get Josh and Camilla for Christmas. I suggested that we get Camilla The Newlywed Game because she had seemed pretty enthusiastic about it. So we went forth and bought it.

Meanwhile, Josh and Camilla were trying to decide what to get Jon and me for Christmas. Camilla suggested the Newlywed Game because I had seemed pretty enthusiastic about it. So they went forth and bought it.

It turns out neither of us really wanted it; we were just being supportive of each others' ideas. And neither of us kept the receipt. Hooray! Free (not really wanted) game!

Creative

So apparently I never posted this blog, written weeks ago. Oops.

I've never been a very creative person, so this semester I'm taking a creativity class (yes, really). Yesterday our assignment was to "make something out of a box of paper clips". So I did.

This is my dinosaur. You will notice that I made him out of the box of paper clips as well as some of the paperclips themselves.I'm quite fond of him.

The Christmas Bet

So Jonathan and I both hate doing the dishes as much as Scrooge and the Grinch combined hated Christmas before their changes-of-heart. This, as you might imagine, leads to some piled up dishes occasionally (OK, almost always). Two days before Christmas, I suggested that we should do something about the two weeks worth of dishes stacked in the kitchen. Jonathan had another idea. "How about whoever receives the best Christmas presents does all the dishes?"

I agreed, although I had a suspicion that he must have something really great lined up. Jonathan does not do dishes voluntarily, nor does he put himself in situations where doing the dishes seems likely. However, I had a trick or two up my sleeve also. Jonathan has been wanting a Wii since we got married. I told him we couldn't get one. Little did he know the reason we couldn't buy one was that I had already bought one for him. Good gift, right?

However, my suspicions were totally justified. Basically, he got me everything I had mentioned wanting, and then some. The clincher was probably my new computer. A few weeks ago Jonathan stepped on my computer and cracked the screen. Approximately 1/8 of the screen (and growing) was black and horrific looking. So he got me a replacement and I've spent about three hours doing the dishes over the last couple of days. And now, for the first time in weeks, every dish we have is clean.

New Year's Resolution: Never again live in a home without a dishwasher. Ever. Ever. Ever.

Grammatical

This one is for my editor friends and husband. Enjoy!

Grading

Last semester I was a TA for a math class. The below is probably the best(read: most fun for me) paper I ever graded. In case you can't read it, it says, "Sorry, ran out of time! Looks like too much work anyways... I'll draw a picture instead..." As promised, there is a lovely picture. Fortunately for me, for that particular class I graded a few homework problems for accuracy and the rest for completion, so I didn't have to take off points for the artistry.

Love Lasts Fo

So when Jonathan and I got engaged, my ring fit just about perfectly. Additionally, it was engraved with "FOREVER", and so was Jonathan's. My fingers respond aggravatingly quickly to changes in temperature and my level of hydration, and the end result is that sometimes my ring fits just about perfectly, and sometimes it's tight to the point of impossible to remove. So we went in to get it resized.

The lady was quite helpful, although she did express disbelief that I wanted it sized up rather than down. Ouch. Fortunately, she threw me a lifeline. "You like a looser fit?" Yep, that's it. It has nothing to do with sausage-fingers.

Remember how I said the ring was engraved with "FOREVER"? Yeah, apparently resizing tends to wreak havoc on engravings. Now it says "FO|".

Progress

This is how the world works, according to my nuclear engineering professor (who, by the way, is probably the smartest person I know, which is why I can't take any more classes from him: I don't live up to his standards).

"You would think that when a new idea comes up in the scientific community, people would read about it and discuss it and then, if it's a good idea, they'd come to a consensus and move on. Sometimes that happens, but not very often.

"You really get progress because all the old people with outdated ideas die or retire and then they are replaced by people who accept the new ideas."

Encouraging.