I haven’t worn a tie to work in many years, but I have about two dozen ties hanging on two clothes hangers at the back of my closet.

Of those 20+, here are my favorites. Sadly, I only ever wear the conservative one on the right. Since I only wear a tie nowadays either for a job interview or to a funeral (I’ve aged past the days of all my friends getting married), I never get the opportunity to wear Thor or Captain America.

I miss showing these ties as a business sign of my cool geekness. (I own both issues of The Mighty Thor and Captain America that these designs are based on.) But I definitely don’t miss having to wear ties on a daily basis. I’m a jeans and t-shirt guy.

But if I had a business-dress alter ego, he’d wear a kick-ass superhero tie. “Avengers assemble my wardrobe!”

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

I was telling Cowgrit how my blog needs more humor; my posts need to be more entertaining. A few minutes later, she and I had what I thought was a hilarious conversation.

“See,” I said, “this would make a great blog post.”

“I don’t know,” she said, hesitant to let me post about a private conversation.

“Really. That was great. It was cute and entertaining,” I argued. “Perfect.”

“Well,” she smiled, “I’m cute and perfect, so anything you write about me has to be cute and perfect.”

It was a few moments later that I realized, she wasn’t so much describing herself as she was telling me how I’m allowed to write about her. See, she’s cute and perfect.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

I’ve mentioned my Captain America action figure that I keep on my work desk. I bought him two or three years ago while in a toy story with Calfgrit7 (then just 5 years old). At the time, I felt that I had to say I was buying it for the calf, (I don’t remember why I thought this), but I was really buying it for me. I had all intentions of digging it out of his toy box once he forgot it was buried in there.

He had three variations of Spider-Man action figures, so surely he wouldn’t miss this guy he wasn’t all that interested in anyway. Once I had swiped this Captain America from the pile of toys, he forgot all about it.

I took Cap’n A to my work and proudly displayed him on my desk. I even dressed as the Captain for Halloween that year. Since then, he’s been a regular part of my desk. At work. Out of my boy’s sight.

But now that I’m home, and have no away desk to keep him, Captain America is on my home desk. Calfgrit7 immediately saw him and asked for him back. <sigh>

So, I went on ebay to find a replacement. (These figures are out of production, now.) I bid on one figure (new, in box), but lost the auction within the last hour. I bid on another figure (also new, in box), but lost that auction, too, within the last hour. Geez. I found another figure, and thought about bidding on it.

It’s been a while since I did anything on ebay, so I had forgotten about the “Buy Now” options and stores. Fortunately, I remember this before bidding on the third figure. I checked out the buy now listings and to my happy surprise, I found a figure (still new, in box) selling for even cheaper than I had bid on the others. I clicked to buy that thing faster than Cap’n A can take down a squad of Nazis.

So Calfgrit7 gets his action figure back, and I get a brand new one all for myself. It’s like a half-hour sitcom resolution. But without any funny.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

As you know, I have two boys: ages 3 (4 in two weeks) and 7 years. They both have boy friends they’ve made at school (or preschool), but they’re otherwise completely surrounded by girls.

Next door neighbor: two girls, 2 and 4 years old.

Across the street: two girls, 3 and 6 years old.

Cowgrit’s best friend: two girls, 7 and 8 years old.

Cousins (close enough in age and geography to count): two girls, 7 and 9 years old.

We have the Calfgrits’ boy friends come over to our house to play occasionally, and they sometimes go to the friends’ homes, so both calves get boy play. But they play a lot with girls, too. Interestingly, none of the children seem to care about the others’ gender. When the genders are mixed, the play tends to be “neutral.” I think this is good. Maybe neither of my boys will grow up shy around girls.

But there is definitely a distinct difference between boy-boy play and boy-girl play. Last night while getting the boys out of the bath tub, Calfgrit3 showed us how he had assembled a “gun” out of the foam letters and numbers bath toys.

“This is what I use to shoot them,” he proudly proclaimed.

“Who is ‘them’?” asked Cowgrit.

“The bad guys and robots,” CG3 explained.

We chuckled, and I said to Cowgrit, “I bet [neighbor] has never heard this kind of conversation.”

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com