One of the child’s friends was over for dinner the other night. I made chicken sandwiches on the grill. After the first bite, the friend exclaimed,
“This tastes just like something from Burger King … except better for you.”
End of story.
Ben
The Two Heroes of Harry Potter
Now that the Harry Potter sensation is coming to an end, I’d like to present my nominations for the the two heroes of the franchise: J.K. Rowling and Neville Longbottom.
J.K. Rowling is responsible for more kids reading more books than anyone else in the history of the world. She gets my deepest respect for pulling that off in this age.
If you were paying attention, Harry, Ron and Hermione just messed things up. Neville was the one who consistently got things right. I want to be like him.
Ben
If an Instant Message Lands In the Woods …
If an instant message lands in the woods but nobody is there to hear it, does it really exist? I say no. Some members of my family say yes. I’m right. They are welcome to IM me to disagree — but I’m not sure I’ll be there to listen.
Ben
Should Waiters Be Allowed to Talk?
I went to dinner tonight at a fancy brew-pub in Boston. The maître d’ seated us and left us with our menus. A few minutes later, our waiter showed up. He asked if this was our first time here. We admitted that it was. He explained that this place is famous for their homemade beers … they used to make them in house … but they don’t anymore. He went on to tell us that the place had been closed for the past four months to be reinvented and had only recently reopened. He said that the menu is new this month. He asked us if we had any questions about the changes.
We didn’t.
Ben
Why Even Bother Having a Phone?
Thirty-three years ago I decided I needed to get connected … it was time to become accessible. So I got a telephone. And a telephone number. Someone even printed it in a big giant book. And you can still call a special number, give them my name and address, and for just a few dimes more, automatically get connected.
Wow.
Then I got married. And then I had kids. They’re all great. They protect me. From all kinds of things. Including phone calls.
No matter how many times I tell them that our phone number is published so that if people want to talk to me — all they need to do is call — and I’d be happy to talk with them — 24 hours a day — no matter what I’m doing — they don’t get it. “He’s busy.” “Can I ask who is calling?” “Can I take a message?” Not my idea.
You have my permission to tell them that you want to talk with me anyway.
Ben
Easter
Have you met my family? They’re great. All of them. Most of us got together today to celebrate Easter. The problem is that today is Saturday and Easter really isn’t until tomorrow.
But we celebrated anyway.
That’s the way we are.
Ben
Welcome
… um … blog.