The Secret to a Good Marriage

They say the secret to a good marriage is communication. I'm kind of hoping they're all dead wrong.

Rachel and I have this problem that I would like to take a moment to put out there for the rest of the world to read about. It's summed up quite nicely in the conversation Rachel and I just had.

We got "The Bucket List" in the mail from Netflix today. So, as the Biggest Loser came to a close, we had the following conversation. The conversation is a very clear example of the exact type of miscommunication Rachel and I excel at. The conversation went like this:

Joshua: "Are we going to watch the Bucket List tonight?"

Rachel: "It's a hundred and forty-five minutes."

Yeah, so... that's all.

Absent Minded: Food Bag

My brother Tim has been bugging me to blog a little bit about a part of me that I don't mention to often on the blog, and last week, something happened that fell into that category. See, Tim says that I'm a very smart person, and for the most part I agree with him. But he thinks it is very funny how absent minded I am, and I agree with him there as well. So, to honor Tim's request, I'll be writing these down from time to time and when I do, they'll be titled Absent Minded. These will all be in the vein of the Free Air post I wrote a while back about when I wanted to save fifty cents and I totalled my car.

Here's the first, er... second, of the Absent Minded posts.

Last Tuesday I was on my way out of the house, I got everything packed, grabbed my keys, stuck Norah in her stroller, and pushed her out the door. I went out in the hall, shut the door and when I went to lock it I realized I couldn't find my keys. So I pushed Norah back inside, checked all around the apartment, checked my pockets, checked the counters, flipped the couch cushions over, everything. I couldn't find my keys. So, there I was rooting around through Norah's pajama drawer when I felt something on my butt. I checked my back pocket and there were my keys.

Well, I was glad to have my keys, so I went to the door, pushed Norah out into the hall and started walking down the hall thinking "Why in the $%##@ did you put your keys in your back pocket? Who puts their keys in their back pocket?"

Then, we went outside. I pushed Norah in her stroller down to 53rd Street and talked with the homeless guy Liam outside of Dunkin Donuts for a while. We walked the eight or nine blocks down to Maya's house, I went inside, took Norah out of the stroller, and carried her up the stairs. Just as I knocked on the door, I thought to myself "Every time Maya takes Norah, I fumble around with Norah's stupid food bag that is strapped around my shoulders. I always look stupid trying to bring it up over my head and it knocks my hat off, so I'm just going to take it off before Maya comes to the door today." So there I am standing in the hall waiting for Maya came to the door, patting my chest where the food bag strap usually is thinking, "food bag... food bag... hmmm......" Maya opened the door just as it occurred to me that I did not have the food bag.

So I handed Norah off to Maya, and walked the eight or nine blocks back home. I stopped to talk to the homeless guy Liam outside of Dunkin Donuts, turned up Kenwood, and went into our building to get the food bag. I got to the door, and pulled out my keys and they wouldn't turn the lock. Sometimes, our lock sticks, so there I am in the hall pushing on the keys trying my darndest to not swear very loudly because the key is digging into my thumb and the stupid lock won't budge. Finally I give up and try turning the key the other way. You guessed it.

I hadn't locked the door.

So, I went inside and looked all over the house and couldn't find the food bag anywhere. Again, I'm walking around the apartment looking on the counter, looking in the fridge, looking in the hamper (you never know), looking everywhere I can think to look. Then, I remembered that sometimes I leave the food bag in the pouch in the back of Norah's stroller. Which is at Maya's. I hadn't checked there before I left, and at that point I was pretty sure that I left the food bag in the back of the stroller at Maya's. Needless to say I was pretty uspest with myself for having walked all the way home when the food bag was at Maya's all along. But, since I was in Norah's room, I thought to check her room real quickly before leaving for Maya's. So, I opened he closet and looked in her crib, and as I turned to leave her room, I saw her pajama drawer was still open, and the food bag was sitting right there. While I was somewhat annoyed that I had left it at home, I was also somewhat glad that I had not left it in the back of the stroller at Maya's and walked all the way home to look for the stupid thing.

So, I grabbed the food bag, walked to 53rd, talked to the homeless guy Liam outside of Dunkin Donuts, walked the eight or nine blocks back to Maya's apartment, went up the stairs, knocked on the door and dropped off the food bag with Maya.

So that's my story about the food bag last week. I know what you're thinking. "That's not that crazy. Everyone leaves the house every now and then and forgets to bring the very thing their children rely on for sustenance and survival throughout the day." Well, yeah. But let me confess: When I dropped Norah off at Maya's and realized I didn't have the food bag, my exact words to Maya were: "I forgot the food bag... again."

Yeah. That was the second time.

Ryan

Some of you may have noticed a pretty long running debate between a blogger named Ryan and myself. If you haven't you can pretty much ignore this post. If you have noticed it, I just wanted to take a minute to apologize for my part of that dialogue.

I have the bad habit of taking my opinions very personally. In the case of my discussion with Ryan, this is exactly what has happened. My responses have hurt his feelings on many occasions and I need to own the responsibility for that.

I will not comment on how I perceive the things that Ryan has said about me, because this post is really just me trying to make up for the way I have behaved and I ask that no one comment regarding his behavior. I have not been a loving person in the entirety of my dialogue with him, and if you have read those posts, I apologize.

I wish I could be more loving. I wish I could be more patient and accept everyone's opinions. Hopefully I will get better at this as I get older.

Surf 2 Turf

My friend Branden just showed me a documentary ESPN did on a Surf 2 Turf camp run by one of his friends from Santa Barbara. I met Manny a few years ago while I was out in Santa Barbara visiting Branden and Scott Schuller, he's a pretty amazing guy, and what he's doing out there is (in Manny's words) pretty f***ing sick.

You can go here to see the video.

What a difference a day makes!

I went to school this morning, and Norah was "walking" as you may have seen in the video on Rachel's blog.

I stayed late at school working on a paper and some Hebrew homework in the Library. I took the bus home because it was dark already, and made a stop at CVS for some Tylenol and some Mentos (and a pack of M&Ms for Rach) and walked home. When I got to our apartment and opened the door, imagine my surprise to hear Rachel say "Walk to papa!"

Yeah. Right.

Then, I turned the corner, and Norah was WALKING TO PAPA. Whoa.

I seriously left this morning and she couldn't take more than a few steps. When I got home, she was straight up walking to me. (Now, she still plops down quite a bit, but the difference is remarkable.)

So, of course, we took a video. Unfortunately neither Rachel nor I thought about how irritating it would be to listen to two people whistling for five minutes... you just don't quite realize how annoying something is until you record it. Oh well.

Here's the video:

Reaction to the Results and the Results of the Results

Of course, I am exceedingly excited about the results from last night. And, I am very impressed by McCain's speech. I would like to applaud John McCain for that speech, and I hope that his supporters will be able to get fully behind the country under a candidate they did not want in the White House. I understand how McCain's supporters must feel, and am glad to see that the majority of those supporters are taking the loss with a measure of patriotism that accepts when Americans disagree. Let me say very quickly how disgusted I was to see the response on one conservative blog which featured a photo of a nuclear explosion. I won't mention the blogger by name, and won't link to the site. But I am dismayed to see such a disappointing reaction. Disagree, that's fine. But... disgusting. Hopefully, some of us will get better at being able to disagree without such gross measures of vilification.

The vast majority of conservatives I have talked to or listened to have responded gracefully, and I am confident that the graceful reaction is the majority response by McCain's supporters.

At any rate, I'm glad and sad that the election is over. I'm glad because it was stressful for me. I was very emotionally involved in this election, and put a lot of energy into concerning myself with the election. I'm glad the stress of waiting for the outcome is over. And, I'm sad because, I'll be honest, I enjoyed the campaign. Part of me really enjoyed not knowing what was going to happen, and talking about the election with people on the internet and in class and outside of class. I enjoyed being a part of the Great American Peaceful Revolution, and I'm very pleased with our country right now.

Now that the election is over, I wanted to put a post out there to bring you to a website that I think is funny.

It's called Jake and Amir Dot Com, and well, I just think it's funny. Careful though, the one guy tends to swear a lot. If that bothers you, don't go. If it doesn't, I thought Vote! was funny, and so was Ballgame. Hope you enjoy it. If you think it's stupid, then... yeah. You're right. It's kinda stupid.

Reflection on Nov. 4th

phew.

Vote!

VOTE!

Best Picture Ever

So, if you find a baby who is cuter than this, I'll eat my hat. And I just got a new hat, so you know I mean it.