Romance, heredity, a situation that was almost ironic, Starbucks, and librarians

Just another romantic evening at La Casa de Bindschadler

Katie received a slab of smoked salmon as a gift from one of her students, so she decided to pick up some brie and fancy crackers and a baguette and make a meal of it (no wine, but that's a whole 'nother story).  The candles were lit, the mood was set, and she broke out some Ghiradelli's dark chocolate for dessert.  We gazed into each other's eyes, whispered sweet nothings, and enjoyed the tantalizing blend of flavors and textures in this sensual feast.  And then (along with Connor and Carrie) we settled in and watched the classic movie, "Spaceballs."

Sometimes, I am my father's son

Katie was telling me about her BFF's plan to run in the Berlin marathon, and the first comment out of my mouth was, "Why the heck is she going all the way to Germany to run a marathon?" which was pretty much the exact same comment my dad made a couple of years ago when Katie and I decided to run the Anchorage marathon (except that, obviously, he knew Anchorage was in Alaska, which is still part of the U.S. of A. last time I checked, so he substituted "Alaska" for "Germany").  Still, geesh. 

My daughter, the hottie wannabe with a killer water bottle and a loose sock

Some kid at Carrie's school informed her the other day that she, "Had the potential to be hot in a couple of years."  Unfortunately, this was not the same kid that got his head cracked open by her water bottle - which happened when one of Carrie's friends borrowed it to use as a prop in a skit (took the place of a beer bottle?) and was swinging it around, but the sock Carrie carries the bottle in was loose (you may be wondering why Carrie carries a water bottle in a sock, but I really don't know), so the bottle went flying, cracked this kid in the crown, and blood started pouring down his face so he had to go to the ER and get stitches.  However, he's got a mildly amusing anecdote to tell about his scar, which he's pretty proud of, so I guess all is well.

Starbucks is taking over the world - one cinnamon dolce latte at a time

I don't know what it is about Starbucks in particular, but at some point, I seem to have decided that I'm going to take my figurative ball and go home and not play.  Which means that I may be one of the few living Americans living in America today who has never purchased anything from the mega-chain known as Starbucks.  I try not to make a big deal out of it, but there's something about the whole idea of Starbucks that sets my teeth on edge.  I ride by one of their establishments every morning on my way to work, and there's always a line of cars lined up at the drive-thru, which makes me grimace and shake my head in disgust.  So what is it that bugs me so much?  Part of it's the whole cost thing (and I'm cheap).  I mean, it's a couple of bucks for a plain cup of coffee, and nobody seems to get plain cups of coffee.  They put all these syrups and flavors and whips and creams and who-knows-what-else in what used to be coffee, and there are lattes and espressos and mochas and twists and half-cafs and frapuccinos that come in various sizes that they call "tall" and "grande" and "venti," which seems pretentious and silly to me, and the people making these concoctions are called "barristas" which also seems pretentious and silly, and after people purchase their concoctions ("I'll have a half-caf venti caramel macchiato with a twist of silky soy" - I could never, ever, force those words out of my mouth without crumbling into a pile of dust), they carry the cup around like a badge of privilege, and… okay, that's probably enough.  Or it would be, except that as I was bouncing around the internet just now, I found that there are actually sites dedicated to "demystifying the Starbuck's menu."  Give me a break.  Okay, deep breath.  Anyway, this particular stance o' mine gets a little awkward around this time of year, because many students like to give their teachers gifts, which is a very sweet and thoughtful thing to do, and lots of these gifts are Starbucks gift cards, which when the teacher is a normal person (e.g. not me) they love, because then they get to go to Starbucks and get a treat that they greatly enjoy.  But in the case of a not-normal person (e.g. me) it doesn't work out quite so neatly, and I'm faced with what, for me, passes as a moral dilemma (and what does it say about me that this is as deep as my moral dilemmas tend to get?).  But here it is.  Do I slink into Starbucks and meekly order some lame concoction, when I'm perfectly happy with my Kroger's brand decaf that I brew every a.m. (like I said earlier, I'm cheap - plus I'm a little afraid of what will happen if I get a taste of the "good stuff" - I foresee a downward spiral where I spiral into a severe addiction that tears my world apart and wreaks havoc on my life and loved ones)?  Do I let the cards go to waste, which seems like a total waste as well as being more than a little disrespectful to the gift-giver, who really was trying to do something nice, and I do appreciate the thought, which is very thoughtful.  Or, do I do what I do, which is to pass the cards on to my wife and daughters, all of whom love to go to Starbucks along with the rest of the horde.  Obviously, I do what I do, which is a win-win-win for all involved - the girls get their fancy frou-frou drinks, the gift-giver's gifts are gratefully accepted (hopefully, honoring the spirit in which they were intended), and I don't have to pay for the girls' fancy frou-frou drinks (again, I'm cheap).

Gotta love librarians - in fact, if I wasn't married to a non-librarian, I'd probably be looking for a librarian to love

If you've read this year's annual Xmas letter (which is due to be posted in the mail in the not-too-distant future), you may remember that I mentioned not knowing what the phrase "dollars to doughnuts" means.  Well, soon after giving said Xmas letter to my school librarian, she brought me the answer to the question, which she had diligently researched and found at www.randomhouse.com.  Apparently, it has to do with the idea of betting and odds.  For example, if you feel like you've got a good chance of winning a bet, you might give 2 to 1 odds (you risk two dollars to win only a dollar).  When you are willing to bet dollars to doughnuts, you're really, really sure you're going to win, because doughnuts are seen as worthless (this can't be good for the poor doughnuts' self-esteem, plus, I'm pretty sure my son, Connor, would disagree vehemently with this assertion, because he really, really likes doughnuts).  Anyway, you can also say, "dollars to buttons," "dollars to dumplings," (this would really work well if you were referring to the dumplings that Katie tried to make one time many years ago, which were 100% inedible and had to be thrown out without being eaten - seriously, they were bad - the dog wouldn't even eat them), and "dollars to cobwebs" (I kind of like this one).  So there you go.  

Okay, that's probably more than enough, but it seems as if quite a few mildly amusing things happen to have happened in the past few days.  So until next time, may your romantic evenings culminate in the viewing of mildly amusing spoofs, may your water bottles remain safely ensconced in their sock-holders, and may your doughnuts maintain a healthy and realistic self esteem.