A Gentlemen's Bet, but a Bet Nonetheless

We have a new custom that entered our home recently. It involves my birthday present from last summer - DVR. It has become tradition that whoever has the remote control at the time that a commercial comes on to hit pause at random times during the commercial to see who can get the funniest still photo of someone’s face. As we are very easily amused, this often brings on some riotous fits of laughing .

Not long ago on a Sunday afternoon, we were sitting at the dinner table having a snack while watching a Planet Earth episode on Netflix. Randomly hitting pause during a nature show is not nearly as hilarious as it may be while watching an Old Spice commercial or that cute little talking baby, but we still do it.

At this particular time, my 10 year old, Tyler, was in charge of the remote. He stopped the frame on a dusk mountain scene, with the reflection from a placid lake in the foreground and a cloudscape in the background. Tyler commented that it looked like the mountains were tilted sideways in the picture, or more likely that the camera was tilted sideways at the time of the still frame. I took a different approach to viewing the picture - I said that it looked like the scene was upright, but rather that the oblique cloud shape in the background was an optical illusion in depth, making it look like they were rising at an angle, and thus, skewing his perspective.

After some discussion, being one to never pass up an opportunity for a debate, Tyler casually asked me, “Wanna make a bet on it?”

I was intrigued by his proposition. I agreed to a friendly bet as to who was seeing the still frame correctly. He then stated, “Okay, I’ll advance it a few frames and we’ll see who’s right”.

As he was pressing the play button, he continued, “A gentlemen’s bet, but a bet nonetheless”. 

I won’t bore you with the details as to who won the bet. It doesn’t matter. The important thing is - when will he learn? He should know by now the three classic blunders: To never get involved in a land war in Asia, never go in with a Sicilian when death is on the line, and only slightly less well-known is this - Never make a bet with your vindictive parent when tv-watching privileges are on the line.

Gentlemen’s bet, indeed. Gentlemen don’t bet.

Do these shoes make me look old?

For a couple of reasons, I found myself in a Vans Outlet store yesterday for the first time in about 20 years. First, I have a daddy-daughter dance on Friday night, which has an 80's theme. I've always gone all out on dressing up for these events, which have included Disco and Roaring 20s in the last 2 years.

Secondly, on Saturday night our church youth dance, which I’ll be chaparoning, also has an 80's theme.

Being one to take my costuming very seriously, I set out to find a good 80’s outfit. On Saturday I found a killer Members Only jacket right next a nice pink Izod golf shirt, complete with collars that flip up perfectly. I'm still looking for a good pair of acid wash jeans, but have a couple of leads for places to look.

Not having any shoes to match the rest of the outfit, I thought that a nice pair of Classic Vans would go nicely. I picked out some black Classics to buy.

One thing to realize here is that I wore this same exact pair of shoes for about 3 straight years in junior high and high school. I was raised in the glory days of skating (boards, not rollers); well before Shawn White was even born and even back when Tony Hawk was still cool and still alive. And while I stunk on a skate board, I still rode. Everybody did. And nearly everybody wore Vans. After all, this was California in the 80s. If you didn’t wear Vans and sport a Flock of Seagulls hairdo, you may as well hitch your pants up to your chest and don a pocket protector.

As I was at the checkstand, the 20ish year old worker commented, "Nice! Going with a throwback pair. Did you wear these when you were a kid? Did you used to skate as well?"

I answered "Yes" to both questions and left the store to head back to work. As I was walking across the parking lot, it dawned on me what had just happened. He had just called me old. I had decided to pick up a pair of Vans, and the kid worker assumes that I wore them when they first came out and that I no longer skate, and only did so 20 years ago?

I was deeply, deeply offended, despite everything that he implied being true. Did I really look that ancient? Am I so old that I can no longer pull off wearing a pair of Vans and pegging my jeans without someone questioning my motives?

Is this my mid-life crisis purchase? If so, sweet. Its a lot cheaper than a corvette.