Two good books...

I am currently in the middle of reading two books - both highly worth mentioning.

The first is called "Babyproofing Your Marriage" by Stacie Cockrell, Cathy O'Neill and Julia Stone. This book is about how to laugh more, argue less and communicate better as your family grows. While it is written by three women, it is chock-full of information by men, for men. Surveys, quotes, lists - all presented in an easy-to-read, humorous format. I DEFINITELY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK IF YOU HAVE CHILDREN OR ARE THINKING ABOUT HAVING CHILDREN!!! It's AMAZING!!! An excerpt:

Chapter 3: What's the Score? The Post-Baby Battle of the Sexes

How the Game is Played...

"On any given weekend in thousands of homes across America, wives stand in front of their husbands listing all of the selfless acts they have performed in the last week: 'I paid all the bills, bought a birthday present for your mother, read Goodnight Moon five times, took four six-year-olds to Chuck-E-Cheese ... and that was just Tuesday. ...'
"The husbands return fire: 'Excuse me, but did I not make the kids breakfast every morning last week, including the morning it made me late for my presentation, when I really should have gone in early? And I picked up the dry cleaning without being asked, and I did bath duty three times last week. What more do you want?'
A volley of personal accomplishments and sacrifices ensues. Not exactly what we thought life would be like when we eyed each other across the room all those years ago, is it? We both end up angry and defensive, each convinced that we have it tougher. Some people are habitual scorekeepers. Some people just do it occasionally. But we all do it.
"Sometimes our low-stakes spatting game escalates into all-out combat. Men wage a sort of guerrilla warfare, where accumulating positive points is always a hit-or-miss affair. Women draw upon a major arsenal of weaponry. Our bazookas hit the target again and again, but for reasons we will explore later in this chapter, we never quite seem to get what we want.
"Both sides are convinced that they are right and will up the stakes to prove their point. Women, men tell us, will pull out a list of his "priors" lest there be any doubt as to who is in the wrong. Often men are not equipped to retaliate effectively. Our friend Brad says, 'It's like I am trying to make my point with a peashooter and she has a missile launcher and is just wiping up the floor with me. I can't win.' He says, 'I got up with the kids on Tuesday.' She responds, 'Well, I got up with the kids every morning for the last three weeks, other than that one Tuesday.' Faced with such superior weaponry, men choose to retreat, but they do not concede defeat. The bottome line: nobody wins this war."

The second book I am reading is called "An Inconvenient Book: Real Solutions to the World's Biggest Problems" by radio and Headline News talk-show host Glenn Beck. Beck is a self-proclaimed Libertarian, which I am finding myself more and more to be. He is smart, witty and he speaks the truth with no regard to the consequences. I like his in-your-face approach to politics. This book will leave you wondering how political correctness, special interests and outright stupidity have gotten us so far away from the commonsense solutions this country was built on. An excerpt:

"Things that will kill us before oil:
#13 - Political Correctness - Here's the point tonight: Political correctness is going to lead us all to a place where we're down on our knees and somebody is standing behind us with a machete. ... Political correctness is going to kill us.
#22 - Iranian president Ahmadinejad (since I can't pronounce it, I just call him President Tom) - President Tom is the head of the snake. This is the guy who will be responsible for the deaths of me and you if we don't wake up soon.
#37 - Hugo Chavez - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. He doesn't believe in the apocalypse like the nut jobs do in Iran. But I'm telling you now, he is willing to align with them, because he wants to destroy us as well. Let's not forget he also controls CITGO.
#41 - Russia - The real story is that this is just more irrefutable proof that Russia is maneuvering to reestablish their beloved Byzantine Empire.
#63 - World War III - It's World War III, but I'm telling you, I think Jesus could come out of the sky at any time. He could be making a glorious appearance, you know, in the next 15 minutes.
#77 - Iran - So here's what I know tonight: There is a possible apocalyptic war on the horizon, and it will be centered around President Tom and his boss, the Ayatollah Khamenei ... it doesn't matter if I don't believe that it's the apocalypse; it doesn't matter if you don't. The important thing is these people do, and they're dead serious. A year ago, [they] said the end of the world would happen within three years."

I highly recommend you invest in these two books - one could strengthen your marriage; the other could strengthen your knowledge about world politics. If nothing else, they're good conversation starters...
Peace,
~A