(As I wrote earlier, I think the book Schott’s Original Miscellany is a great idea – random knowledge compiled in list form is surprisingly fun to read. I thought it’d be fun to add a category of blog entries filed under “miscellany” that would take a similar format as the book, though more wordy and stuff about me, because it is, after all, my blog.)
It is true that I am known for my musical snobbery, but every now and again I am forced to suspend my hatred for popular music and admit that a certain band or song is worthwhile. In this first-ever miscellany post, here’s a short list of music I really like even though I heard it first on the radio:
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Two years ago Wendy and I took a 105-mile bike ride together. By the time we finished Wendy had sworn to never ride such a distance again—a sensible promise, but one that I predicted she wouldn’t keep. Last summer Wendy was pregnant with our beautiful blue-eyed baby so I rode the ULCER alone, but this summer she re-enlisted and the two of us rode the now 111-mile route side by side.
Riding 111 miles might sound hard, and for most people it is, but I had ridden the ULCER five times before, the weather was only in the low 90’s, and though I’m not in top cycling shape this summer I thought it wouldn’t be too bad. But the jerseys did say “Sufferfest,” a curious pronouncement that made me question the mental capacity of all 1,800 riders with me on the roadways. Very few people actually enjoy physical pain, so why were there so many of us there volunteering, even paying, to suffer?
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If you know me or read my blog often, you know that I am a bit of a geek, but not stereotypically so. Examples abound in previous blog posts so I’ll just add that I don’t have a single game installed on my laptop, I’ve never owned a comic book, and I think this video is the best thing to have come from the Lord of the Rings books.
But I do love gadgets. I had a cell phone about twelve years ago, which was ridiculous then since I knew precisely five people that didn’t live in my house and didn’t even like speaking to many of them in person, let alone on the cursed telephone. But the salesman was persuasive and I was young(er) and stupid(er) then, and the phone was cool and it made chirping sounds whenever I called myself to be sure it was still working, so I bought it.
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My older boys and I are in California having a great time at Grandma's house. We arrived this morning and spent most of the day splashing in the pool.
Since Wendy is home with the two higher maintenance kids, I thought I'd take some video of her boys having our fun. That and webcam chatting hardly make up for the absence, but it's better than nothing. Check out the video I put together for her. It's not terrific, but it only took me a few minutes to do and I'm pretty new at this video game.
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I used to write things--funny things, controversial things, and boring things. Maybe I'll start again soon (minus the controversial things), but for today you only get pictures.
Wendy's brother Craig is getting married, and we are all, in the words of my generation, super stoked. His fiance Karly is a great person, a lot of fun to be around, and quite easy on the eyes. Way to go, Craigy.
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Most of the time, four is not considered a particularly large number. There are a handful of situations in which four really would seem shocking--just ask anyone who has four arms--but four, perched between "a few" and "several", usually not considered "a handful" but occasionally included in "a small handful", is mostly unremarkable. That might be bad news for any of us who thought to boost our ego by boasting of four dollars in our wallet, four doors on our car, four books in our collection, or even four children in our family, but that won't stop me from trying.
I have four children. I know a lot of you have more than four, and you probably just shrugged, raised a brow, or perhaps even felt a tinge of envy for the simple life of having just four children. I'm the youngest of seven kids, my wife sat at the big kids' table in her family of seven, and I have siblings, neighbors and co-workers with five and six children, but no matter how much comparing I do, four is a huge number. I'm glad to have all four, can't even imagine my world without them, but even considering adding a fifth child makes me crave Xanax and a darkened room. Though I love them all dearly, four children is about as many as I am equipped to parent. If ever I begin to wonder about having a fifth, I simply close my eyes and remember what it's like to have family pictures taken.
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I'm not really a fan of bumper stickers. Most of the time I wonder what a person is trying to accomplish by plastering their car with pieces of their assumed identity--especially since so many bumper stickers are profoundly stupid. (W. Craig has a few nice examples for you, though he's talking about license plate covers.)
(Alright there are at least a few exceptions. I love this bumper sticker, and this one is way above average, but I still would never put either on my car. Or my bike.)
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Over the years, I have developed a mild obsession for books. It’s not as if I spend hundreds of dollars at a time at the local Borders or Barnes and Noble but there is a steady trickle of Amazon boxes arriving at my desk, and I am rather picky about the books I have accumulated thus far.
I love the library for my children’s sake, but I hate borrowing and lending books for myself. Nearly all the books I have read in the past several years now sit on my bookcase—I feel driven to own a book, not just read it. Though they are substantially less expensive, I refuse to order second-hand books online; unless the used book is somehow meaningful, like the copy of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day I had growing up, or the well-worn Le Petit Prince my wife loved to read as a child, I am not interested in having its second-hand smudges, wrinkles, and fingerprints in my collection.
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You've stumbled upon the blog of Paul Malan. I love my family, I love to write, I love to ride my bikes, and I love to take pictures. Maybe someday I'll think of something clever or arresting to say right here.
