my father the (nerdy) hero

I spent the weekend with my parents in the hill country – it was my first time to visit their new house on Lake Marble Falls. (We closed out Turtle Rock Cove in late November, and soon found the house on Lake MFer.)

I always love time at the lake, winter or summer, it’s a great place to enjoy being outside, escaping to-do lists, alarm clocks, Houston traffic, and just enjoy life. This weekend has been particularly uneventful and a normal person would probably have nothing to blog about… however. I am not a normal person. Nor do I have a normal family.

I’m still adjusting to the difference between turtle rock cove and lake MFer. The house is pretty empty because we sold the other house mostly furnished and my mom is “taking it slow” when it comes to hanging things on the wall and adding her usual touch.

I’ll get to my point: my father, this weekend, has been both more entertaining and nerdy than his usual self. Tom and Cathy are putting in a dining room table made out of unfinished lumber which my mother will cover in a crazy, cool tablecloth that hangs to the floor and hides the unfinished lumber. They’ve done this for decades, very HGTV before HGTV.

Well, instead of just eyeballing the space or guesstimating what size table we’ll need, as done in previous homes, my father proceeded to get out the following supplies: painter’s tape, a pencil, a tape measure, AND a weighted contraption to hand from the ceiling to mark the center point of the room on the floor. (if you’re baffled you should just back up and reread that. I can’t make this stuff up.)

It was quite hilarious to watch, my dad on the floor spinning around, marking where the table would stand. I understand the need to be precise here Pops, but we’re talking about the difference between 6 ½ feet and 7 feet. Can it really be that big of a difference that we need to measure it out?

Well, just as I think I can’t giggle over this for much longer, my dad starts calculating the number of inches each person seated at the table would have, based on the circumference between the 6 ½ foot table or the 7 footer. Out comes the ipad, thank you Steve Jobs, and my dad goes to Wikipedia to doublecheck the formula for circumference. Repeat: my dad goes to Wikipedia to check the formula for circumference.

Seriously, most people perceive my dad as rebellious, hip, adventuresome. But let me tell you, if it requires an equation, a weighted string hanging from the ceiling, and thirty minutes (literally) of calculations to decide between a 6 ½ and a 7 foot table, you have some semi-serious issues. Seriously.

All that to stay, Robo has since decided on the 7 foot table. He announced proudly "We'll be able to sit 14.6 people comfortably." Um, dad, exactly who will the .6th person be? We're not sure exactly. But whoever they are, we'll have room for them. Comfortably.