So, Do You Like ... Stuff?

I try to be a man of culture (a strong statement coming from someone who used to participate in lengthy email chains regarding the most recent “Flavor of Love” episode). I listen to NPR sometimes. I fashion myself a great fan of “indie” music. Occasionally I will read a book, or at least leave one on the end table near my bed with the best of intentions, only to waste away the minutes before slumber playing Words With Friends on my phone instead. Point is that I can do words and stuff. It was culture I had in mind when I considered my wife’s Christmas gift this past year. I usually like to arrange some kind of date rather than buy her a material gift because I value our time spent together more than lavishing her with goods. Also because I’ve tried to buy her material things before and it hasn’t gone well. Also because I saw the movie Blood Diamond in a hotel once. Also because I cannot afford diamonds. Speaking of movies, last year for her gift we went to see Les Miserable...

Note: This column appears online on The Glendale Star and Peoria Times websites. My wife introduced me to Words With Friends. At first I thought she was trying to tell me something. Shouldn’t we be playing Words With More Than Friends? But then I realized it’s just the name of the game. Everything is cool. Words With Friends is an app for the iPhone. People have said it’s like Scrabble, but the thing is, it is Scrabble. It’s just called something different, for some reason. The only difference is that it’s played on your phone at your respective leisure as opposed to the urgent confinement of a board game setting where several letters are missing and a dictionary must be referenced. (One day I will tell our daughter that, when I was young, we used to play a board game that required a dictionary, and I am going to sound like a Pilgrim.) Anyway, my wife won the first game. I discovered this when I logged into the app to see if it was my turn and was instead greeted with a party-type au...