High School Reunion

Last Saturday night my wife and I went to my 20 hear high school reunion.  I had decided to go because I was curious to see who else would show up, and because I knew there were bound to be at least a few people I’d really like to see.  I didn’t really have any expectations going in, but I never would have predicted that I’d have such an excellent time.  From the moment the party started (the woman working the door would not let us in even a minute before 8), it was like a mega-episode of This Is Your Life (at least until 18).  As I started to recognize faces I haven’t seen in 20 years (or more, in some cases), each one would trigger a new set of memories — sometime just a few images, sometimes very detailed recollections.  I could not stop smiling all night.  It was really great to see that so many of the kids I knew have turned out to be such nice people.  And the variety of stories — who just returned from Cambodia, who was living in Paris, who’s a NYC fireman with 4 kids, etc — was really astounding.  For all the years I knew these same people, none of us had really done anything.  We were just kids, of course.  But I guess that’s how you think of people — the way you knew them.  The event also gave me the opportunity to tell some people how much I appreciated how nice they were when we were kids.  I think it’s important to do things like that, and I’m glad I got the chance.

Anyway, I hope to keep in touch with many of the people I saw.  Facebook should help.  And I hope it’s not 20 years before I see many of them again.

So, That Didn’t Work Out…

Um, yeah, I’m really great at this blogging thing.  It’s only been 2 months since my last post, and my last post was only my second post ever.  I did start a couple of posts about some grammar peeves (“a lot” vs “alot” and the inappropriate use of quotes), but, frankly, they felt stupid.  I guess I kind of put myself in a box, laying out “what this blog will be about,” in my first post.  So, I’ve decided to abandon those plans, and just write about whatever I want to write about.  If I find that I’m often writing about the same things, then that’s “what this blog will be about.”  So, if anyone is actually following this blog… (*crickets*)… there might actually be something to read here soon.  Well, at the very least, there will be this post.

One Small Step….

My son started walking on July 25th. He’d been walking with assistance (first holding onto a walker/wagon, then holding a hand) for a couple of months. But he finally decided to let go and do it on his own. Though exciting from a parent’s perspective, I know a child walking is not an Earth-shattering development. But it got me thinking about the “giant leap” (of course I had to work that in) that occurs in a baby’s mind in order to go from crawling to walking. Once we’ve been doing it for even a short while, most of us never think of what a complex process it is to walk, or even just to stand. There’s an incredible amount of muscle coordination involved in simply balancing on two feet. And to put that together with controlled, directed, forward motion — especially for someone who has never done anything like it before — is quite an amazing accomplishment. Being a dad has definitely helped me to appreciate the giant in the small.

A Different Tack

I play with words. Though admittedly not all that funny much of the time, most of my humor revolves around puns, deliberate twisting of words, and some free association. I also tend to be pretty picky about common misuses of words and phrases, misspellings and misapplications of grammar rules. I’m not so uptight that I capitalize and correctly punctuate IM and SMS messages. But I will admit that poorly written comments, which seem to be the norm on the Internet, make me cringe. So, with that as a background, I figured I’d explain why I started this blog, and what the name means.

A long time ago — in the mid-90s, I believe — I had my own site on which I posted pictures, a profile, a few musings, and the obligatory affiliate links (Amazon, Buy.com, etc). That site passed into memory years ago, and I’ve been kicking around some ideas for a replacement for quite some time. I’m a bit of a political junkie, so I thought about starting my own debate site, to try to promote rational discourse. But I don’t think our political culture is ready for rationality just yet. So, that idea never got off the ground. I also thought about creating a site dedicated to helping to rid the Internet of stupidity by pointing out common writing mistakes, and perhaps providing some “stupidity-checking” tools. But a quick perusal of the comments on Yahoo’s Sports pages demonstrates how hopeless such an effort would be. Then, a little over a year ago, my baby boy arrived, and I thought he might be the perfect subject for a blog. However, predating the true “connected generation” by a few years, I haven’t bought into the idea that my life — or my son’s — is anyone else’s business. What if I innocently post details about his day-to-day life that he will someday find embarrassing? So, I’ve been hesitant about blogging out his life. Then I thought, well, maybe I could just do a little bit of all of those things….

And thus Picked Nits was born. The title is itself a mild play on words — I plan to focus mostly on little things, and I will voice my complaints about such things as how people can’t seem to navigate the I/me distinction. It is likely that, from time to time, I’ll expound a bit on a political issue, or perhaps on something big that happens in my boy’s life. But, mostly, I intend to keep the scope of my posts small, and talk about the little things that tend to take up a big part of life. Hopefully, this will also make it easier to write on a regular basis.

If you’re curious, the title of this post is a bit of fun with words, as well. I’ve heard/read people use the phrase, “a different tact,” quite a bit. I came across it again this morning, and it gave me an idea for this post. First of all, it seemed appropriate given the various approaches I’d considered before finally starting this blog. And it also gave me an opportunity to point out that it’s “tack” (basically, a course or direction) not “tact” (ability to avoid offense). And thus my first nit is picked!