1) JC has come down with a combination of an ear infection and conjunctivitis. She is not a happy little girl. She is being dosed up with the appropriate medications. Her father is sitting at work with mixed emotions - she no doubt is not a lot of fun to be around, but on the other hand needs plenty of TLC. That's where Mrs M's charms come in handy. It means for the next few days we'll all be washing our hands every three seconds and no doubt still all come down with it as well.

It all got me thinking. JC goes to one of the most expensive schools on the planet, partly because it is literally two minutes walk from our door, and mostly because it is a darn fine school. Such places are a breeding ground for all sorts of maladies and diseases, all spread from little munchkin to little munchkin. So we're paying to expose JC (in time PB) to these diseases. And we don't even get refunds for the days off due to illness. Yes they use the masquerade of education, but I know what they are doing. They are experimenting with my little girl, and they are trying to bankrupt me at the same time. Evil, yet genius.

2) Mrs M and I were discussing the other day the topic of small talk. Idle chat. Mrs M's theory is men are better than women at making small talk. This often comes up because when you are doing the 3 year old birthday circuit (not as glamorous as the pro tennis circuit) one tends to find oneself making chit-chat with people. Usually you've met them a couple of times before, so you should know something about them and their lives. But in reality you've got little idea other than they also have a kid at the party and they too are scrapping around to remember your wife's name.

Men can usually find some point of commonality and chat about it: sports. Women are far more diverse and interesting, which is great if you know them, but difficult if they are getting to know each other for the first time. Even having kids in common isn't much given a wide variety of ages, gender and experiences. What is interesting is when a male meets another male who professes no interest in sport. Suddenly there is a chasm that needs to be quickly covered. This happened on Saturday night when we went for dinner with some friends from Disneyland. Luckily we found other points in common, but it was a mighty effort of concerntration to find those grounds.

So we've discovered why sports exist. It makes it easy for men to talk to each other at kid's birthday parties. You thought it was all about money and entertainment.