Hunger Games

This week Brady started reading The Hunger Games.  We started talking about it the other day and Brady said he wishes we had hunger games to go participate in.  I got really excited and expressed my ideas a little too quickly.

"Yes!  I would kill you so quick!"

Brady looked at me blankly.

"I was going to say I would save you like Peeta saves Katniss!" he said. (and yes, those are their names in case you haven't read.  They start to become normal)

Hmmm.  I guess that is the more appropriate answer.  

But our house has been full of reading lately.  Because he was reading them I decided to read the third one finally.  I am reminded at how addicting these books are.  There is something special about getting lost in a book.  Time flies.  

Brady has now almost finished all of the books also.  Three books in one week for the man who says he doesn't read.  We need to find more books like this.

On the Look

Yesterday I ate lunch with Brady in the chemistry lab while he worked.  There was one guy in there who made us laugh every five minutes.  Each girl that came in the room, the kid somehow managed to start a conversation, and ask her if she is married.  Every girl. (Except me, the wife sitting next to the married T.A.)  The best time he asked was a red head girl who walked in halfway through me being there.  The kid got up five minutes after she sat down and acted like he was getting something out of his backpack.  He said hi, asked about chemistry, and after a maximum of 3 introductory questions the kid asks, "So, I ask this to all my friends, at least here at BYU, but are you married?"  Then he goes on telling her she looks really young and he can't believe she is married, and how cool that is.  Hmmm.  

Next.

The table of girls he was sitting at.  The first girl was married also.  So he continues... "Oh, cool!  How is that?"  Poor guy.  Next girl.  Single.  "Single?  You say that like you're dating someone though, you must be dating someone."  

"Nope"

Brady said this happens every day.  Really though, this kid was genuine in his questions and his conversations.  His mind is just a little too much on marriage and finding out for everyone.  Someone's got to teach him the ring check.  Good luck kid.

Husband or Sister?

In class yesterday, we discussed solving problems in a business setting.  Shayne, the great professor, gave an example of him and his wife.  He comes home and she tells him smoke came out of her car.  Instantly, Shayne starts thinking of what the problem is, and before his wife finishes her story, he states the problem and the solution:  the radiator!  But his wife is crying saying that Shayne is not listening.  Is he?

Now, maybe a funny story.  That's our class.  But this story brought up advice that was given to Brady in front of me before we got married.  It's called the Husband or Sister Rule.  The advice giver told Brady, when Jane is telling you something, ask her, should I be your husband, or your sister?  The husband solves the problem.  The sister just listens.

Really, this helps.  A man's instinct is to solve a problem.  A girl just wants to talk.  When you put these things together, you get the situation between Shayne and his wife.

So in class, we learned that in business settings, be the husband!  Solve the problem!

But outside of those settings, maybe keep asking the question...

Husband?  Or Sister?

Generation Gap

Last week I heard that although the current generation can do things more technologically than our parent's generation, we are not able to do things they could.  Make sense?  Well, it means that just like our parents can't do things we can do, we can't do things our parents can do.  I thought this was interesting and kept listening.  They gave a list including mending, driving stick shift, and building or repairing.  As I listened to them list off examples, I thought the list was true in many aspects.

Luckily, I had parents who made us learn.  I can't say I know how to repair many things, but luckily Brady does.   And by 6th grade I could make pajama pants!  But more importantly, I know how to sew if I need it (and repair the rips in jeans since money doesn't grow on trees).

The one item on the list I almost didn't pass was driving stick shift.  Most cars now seem to be automatic, and if they are stick, they can be switched into automatic, or you choose stick because you like that kind of thing.  But not me.  I always drove automatic.  In high school I briefly learned how to drive in the parking lot of Hires while the driver of the stick shift car got out running chasing someone, and I had to pick them up. . . driving stick.  So this summer when we got a stick shift car for me to drive, it took some time to become smooth, not kill it, and remember to press the brake and not the clutch (true story).  Luckily, I can now drive stick!

So of course our parents know more than us, but maybe we can still have the upper hand?  I'll keep telling myself that when I'm a parent.