"Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage."
- C. S. Lewis
Thursday, September 16, 2004
Well, I just finished the crossword puzzle from the Life section of USA Today. This has become one of my new favorite pasttimes. I was introduced to the crossword on my recent vacation to Minnesota. The couple that we (my wife and I) went with showed us the wonder and mystery of the "crossword", as we have come to call it. We were instantly hooked. It is challenging and fun and sometimes very frustrating. It is a good test of ones pop culture knowledge as well as the amount of useless information one carries along every day.
The best thing about the puzzle is that it has become a really fun thing for my wife and I to do even when we are not on a date. As those of you who are married with children know, it is not always easy to find the time or the sitter to have a real date. The crossword has become something that we look forward to every day. I buy the crossword on the way home from work and later, when the kids settle down we attack it. It's a blast. No T.V. or any other interruptions, aside from the occasional wondering four-year old. Sometimes we finish it (like tonight), others we don't (like last night) but we always have fun. I would highly recommend it to married and un-married folks alike. You won't be disappointed. Anyone else have some good date-at-home ideas, aside from the obvious of course?
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Comments on "Another One Bites The Dust!":
2. Shrode
- 09/17/2004 1:40 am CDT
I was thinking the same thing. Crossword puzzles? You're the first person under 60 I've ever met that likes them. But hey, more power to ya...
Our "stay at home" date activities:
Star Trek Deep Space Nine - Don't laugh. If Crossword is OK, so is this. We now own the first four seasons on DVD. I"m thinking about canceling our satellite and spending the money we save on buying TV shows on DVD that we would actually watch.
Cards- Hand and Foot is a favorite lately. But my wife always wins.
Boggle on the computer. (So I guess this is close to Crossword?)
3. J.C.
- 09/17/2004 2:13 am CDT
We play cards. I suppose it also puts us in the old fogie category, but doggonit, it's fun. Phase 10 is our favorite. I would NOT recommend Scrabble. It's very bad for our marriage. ;-)
5. Quaid
- 09/17/2004 3:29 am CDT
I also love crosswords.
I do the crosswords in the Chronicle. Monday is always easiest and they esacalate in difficulty through Sunday. I got hooked on them in college.
The Daily Texan crossword was an easy thing to do while riding the bus around campus - a lot of students do them then. Mondays I can almost always finish. I've finished a Friday crossword only once. Saturdays I have to get lucky with to get anywhere. Sundays I don't have time for crosswords.
Having not been married, I have no advice for dating.
But Phase 10 rocks too.
I am 25 yrs old.
6. Jared
- 09/17/2004 4:09 am CDT
Phil, with ya on "stay at home" dates. Our kids go to bed around 7:30, so it's not too difficult to have some good quality time together. Thanks to NetFlix we usually have at least two movies a week we can watch.
And we have a regular "date" night on Friday nights:
We boil shrimp and watch "The Amazing Race" (which I tape on Tuesdays).
Fun!
We rarely play card games or board games and such because Becky always wins and that's no fun. :-( About the only ones I could win are the trivia-type ones, but they're no fun for Beck, so it's a wash.
And we don't do the crossword because we're not receiving Social Security yet. ;-)
Still nice to get out of the house together every now and then, though.
7. judyh
- 09/17/2004 8:05 am CDT
Oh, go ahead and give the old folks a hard time - but, remember, we can go away ANY TIME we want (we are just too tire to!).
Crossword puzzles are great. My husband does the USA Today puzzle in the lunch room at work. Then, we divide up the Grand Rapids Press, which has two a day, he gets the hard one, I get the lame one. We also play a lot of Scrabble. He ALWAYS wins, so in my head, I just play 'myself'. But, our favorite is "Peanuts" which is solitare played with two people. This is fast and hopefully does something to keep us mentally alert. Mostly, I crochet and he watches home improvement shows on TLC. AHHH. A match made in heaven!
He watches movies, I read books, so we NEED each other for the crossword puzzles. Besides the kids, it's probably what keeps us together!
8. Neesox
- 09/20/2004 7:48 am CDT
I began working the Sunday crossword puzzles after college -- Washington Post Sunday magazine puzzles are the best. My sister and I would drink coffee and pass the puzzle back and forth until we finished it. I stopped doing the puzzles when I lived by myself. Now I work them with my 91 year old grandmother (who lives alone in her own home) during Sunday afternoon visits. She says they help ward off Alzheimer's.
Crossword puzzles? You guys are still in your 20s, right?
;-)
Know what you mean about dates, though. Becky and I haven't been on a date in over a couple of months. We really miss having my parents in town.