Q & A Part I

So begins another round of blog questions and answers. It's good to be asked things sometimes. Sometimes we don't examine ourselves enough unless challenged. Here are the first 5 questions.

1. Now that you're an experienced father, what advice will you give Andy and Kev when they become fathers?

A friend on the East Coast just emailed me to tell me that he was expecting his first child in November. My advice to him was to get a Tivo if he ever wanted to watch the end of a television program ever again. It's a necessity in dealing with the countless distractions.

Seeing as Andy and Kev already have TIVOs I would have to come up with something else. I guess I'd say that it's not as hard as it seems, but it is also the most serious commitment you can make to another person. That little guy or girl is going to count on you for everything. You might have to put away everything else in your life that you think is important right now, be it your exercise routine, your fantasy sports league or even your meals. Just be ready for that and recognize it's worthe the sacrafice.

Also I'd tell them, Jordan is probably ready for some little cousins.


2. What mistake did you make in high school that you would go back and correct if you could?

Honestly, it was an awkard age and an awkward time. I could not wait to get out. And one of the reasons I wandered off to a university so far away is that I wanted to get away and leave that all behind.

I don't know if there's much I could have done about the overall awkwardness of the experience. I don't think it would have mattered if I'd gone to a different school, or if I'd studied harder, or I'd studied less.

Maybe I'd had gone out for soccer and seen if I had any talent for that sport.

3. Kev told me an aunt forwarded an e-mail to you that had misinformation about Obama, and said, "I don't know if this is all true." I might have written back with a four- or five-paragraph response showing what was untrue and why. Kev says your whole reply was, "Mostly untrue." Brilliant -- you made a stronger point in two words than I would have in 200. How did you develop your talent for brevity when it's so irresistible to keep talking?

Essentially this was a true/false question and the answer was false. True/false tests must really bother you.

4. Would you rather walk up the stairs of the Empire State Building with a pebble in your shoe or have an eyelash in your eye all day?

Girl I love you som much that sometimes it's such
I'd walk a mile with a stone in my shoe
And that's the price I pay for loving you the way that I do-Billy Bragg

I could deal with a pebble in the shoe even climbing a skyscraper, but I do have an issue with wet socks.

5. What's the purpose of life?

Like Billy Crystal in CitySlickers, everyone needs to find their own answer to this question. But here are some thoughts. Live with no regrets. Live with love. And there's nothing better than a good story.