I get it, he's picky.  I also like the sheets put on the bed a very certain way, all my towels are folded a particular way, and I only drink the mint tea I can get from Amazon. I understand these are my quirks.  The problem with this guy is he's letting one of his major quirks out right off the bat.  

I have a good friend who LOVES onions - I mean, she'll eat a raw onion sandwich.  A few years ago she tried her hand at on-line dating sites.  One of the ways she described herself on these sites was onion-loving.  And she wonders why the whole on-line dating thing didn't work out for her!

I reserve FB mostly for relatives and very close friends.  If I haven't heard from a classmate in the last 30 years I don't really care what they are doing now.  Last fall I had a few FB friends who were boringly obnoxious about Romney and ridiculously in thrall to Obama. I kept telling myself - don't respond, don't take the bait, let it go!  The day after the election one of the friends was really gloating and I decided to push back a little.  He immediately went ballistic - insulting my faith, my husband's job, George Bush, 9/11 was an inside job, etc, etc, etc. before unfriending me.

Now I've got to explain to Mom why I never see anything my brother posts on FB!

She's a doll!  Kids grow up fast, though. Don't blink or you might miss something.

I can't help feeling that sex scenes are just something that I'm not supposed to watch.  Viewing would be wrong for me.  Does that make me a moralistic fuddy-duddy? Maybe. That's not to say that the suggestion of a sexual relationship can't be provocatively portrayed. There have been many films, several mentioned here, that are incredibly sensual but don't contain "sex scenes."

For most things "less is more." But most filmmakers seem to operate under the motto "more is more."  More sex, more nudity, more f-bombs, more explicit everything. Not a great development, IMO.

I'm glad you are back. I always enjoy your back and forth and find both of you very interesting and informative.  Having said that, would it be terribly rude to say that too  much time is spent on the Fight of the Week? I always end up thinking - "you fought about THAT?" I realize it's a joke-y segment of the podcast. I also am married and understand that "fights" about silly things ("do you have to stab your broccoli like that?") are common. 

However, I do enjoy hearing about your kids and your parenting experiences.  I hope you will be sharing about your adoption process.

I'm happy to suck it up.   I understand people love to hate government workers. I'm not defending the government workforce.  Just making a point about the sequester and it's effects here.  I'm sorry you had to lay off employees.  I also have family members who have lost jobs.  

Your reaction is exactly why I hadn't mentioned the furlough issue before.  

Wasn't going to mention this, but...

My better half is a federal employee - DoD. He's not a bureaucrat. What he does directly affects, as they call them, the war fighters.  However, Hagel has issued an edict that all DoD civilian workers are subject to an 11 day furlough for this fiscal year.  Furloughs are supposed to start on  July 8.  Of course, the furloughs were originally planned to be 22 days starting in May.  So who knows what will actually happen.  My conservative self thinks the government is ridiculously overweight and needs to be trimmed WAY back.  My personal self does not want to have the equivalent of 2 1/2 weeks unpaid vacation imposed on my personal financial situation.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is excellent, but not exactly something to "light up" your day.  It's rather dark and, although told from a child's perspective, can hardly be considered children's lit.

I agree with this.  John Piper's calling is not, I believe, Tweet Pastor To The Masses.  Also, whether people who read this this tweet do or do not know the context of Job is almost irrelevant. What was Piper hoping to accomplish with the tweet.  When our family went through a crisis, I can tell you that well-meaning Christians who offered up "Bible Bullets" like Romans 8:28 or Psalm 116:15 were not really helping us that much.  It's not that we don't believe those verses - WE DO, and we found extreme comfort in them.   The book of Job has also been incredibly helpful to us. But blurting those zingers out to a grieving person is just not that comforting.  Perhaps Piper forgot that when Job's friends visited him after hearing about his calamity, they sat with him for a week and said nothing. (Of course, it went downhill after that!)

Delightfully well written.  You have a way with words, sir.

Not exactly a bad teacher anecdote, but....

Going to my kids' Back-to-School night program and having the principal proudly explain that the MOST IMPORTANT part of the school's mission statement is something to the effect of "provide an education to children." I always thought that was just understood, because what else is a school supposed to be doing? If a school has to start bragging about the fact that they teach kids, then we're all in bad shape.

A Bit of Fry and Laurie is really good, and That Mitchell and Webb Look is similar; both British sketch comedies.

After 31 years of marriage I've made my peace with a)ironing husband's work clothes, b) window washing, c) bathroom cleaning, including the toilets.  I can't say I actually enjoy doing those things, but in a way I do, because I love the satisfaction of having the husband looking pressed, windows I can see out of, and sparkling toilets and sinks. (The kids are growing up which REALLY helps with the toilet and sink sparkle factor!) The husband is smart enough to tell me how much he appreciates living in a clean house. Is it glamorous work? No, but it is extremely satisfying.

Maybe after 40 years of marriage I'll finally make peace with dusting.

I once heard my husband tell his mother on the phone that our daughter wasn't exactly sick - just lethergical. He meant lethargic, but somehow had liturgical on the brain. Must have just got out of church or something.

Yes, the made-up singulars can be funny. We have also had clo as the singular for clothes.  A Kleen-eck is, of course, a singular tissue.  And if those things mom wears are called panty hose, then naturally one leg of that would be a panty ho!

Years ago we got our new driver son an old Ford Explorer to drive around. We referred to it as the explorer, which little brother shortened to 'xplore car and eventually to spore car.  We got another Explorer when daughter learned to drive and have called that one Dora.  So now if my husband says something like- he needs to get the Explorer in for an oil change we say, "you mean Dora or the spore car?"

The other day my daughter asked if I'd buy turtle neck pie when I went to the store - but she's 15, so she probably doesn't want me sharing that.

Whew - thought you had died or something.  Hadn't heard a podcast from you in so long! 

Keep them coming, James.  The Brit perspective is extremely interesting.