On Baby Showers: Just recently I was lucky enough to partake in a co-ed baby shower. I’m not going to be a typical guy and complain about how girly this type of event is. In reality, it’s not so bad. Our hosts were kind enough not to make us play any embarrassing baby shower games. Besides, baby showers are really just an event where people give you gifts. It’s kind of like Christmas, but just for you. And because we registered for our gifts at Babies R Us, it’s kind of like Christmas where you get everything on your wish list.

And that is actually the part that is weird about it. Usually at Christmas or Birthdays, when you are opening gifts in front of a group of people, it can be tricky to look like you are excited about the gift that someone gave you. Usually you are surprised by whatever it is and you can use that to mask your disappointment. And then you can say things like, “This is exactly what I wanted!”

Well, at a baby shower, everything you get really is exactly what you wanted. In fact, it’s exactly what you told them to get you. You didn’t just tell them you wanted it. You drove to the store yourself, shopped around, found the perfect item, and then told them to drive back to the store on their own and get it for you. Then everyone drives to someone’s house so they can give you all those things you told them to give you.

I’m not sure Al Gore would approve of this. That’s a lot of unnecessary driving. But that’s not the worst part. The worst part is reacting to all the presents. “Oh!…I remember picking this out…” Or, “Nice…you are good at following orders…” Or, “This is…this is not what we registered for…”

I think we could all save ourselves a lot of time if at the baby shower the guests of honor just put up pictures of what they want to buy with a price next to each item and everyone else just brought money. Maybe their could be sort of a backwards auction where a gift is held up and all the guests bid on how much they’re willing to pay to give it to the parents-to-be.

Well, the highlight of this baby shower was when I was given a baby bjorn and I assembled it and got a stuffed monkey into it in record time, much to the surprise of every woman at the party. Take that ladies!