We were getting ready to go out a few days ago when I noticed that Tara had one sock and shoe on. Her other foot was bare. This blew my mind.

"Have you always done that?" I asked.
"Done what?" she wondered.
"Put on your socks and shoes like that."
"Like what?"
"One foot at a time."
"Of course. Don't you?"

As a matter of fact, I do not. I'm a sock-sock-shoe-shoe guy, while my wife goes sock-shoe-sock-shoe. How we've been together for over 10 years and I just now noticed this is bizarre. Man...you think you know a person.

This also brings up all kinds of questions. Is she an oddball for putting her shoes on that way? Am I?! Logic says no. If the house catches on fire while we're putting our shoes on, she's going to scramble out the door half-barefoot with one shoe on. That can't be comfortable. What if there's snow on the ground? Or it's raining? What if a thumbtack truck overturned and spilled its cargo across our driveway? At least my feet will be better protected because I'll have two socks on.

It wasn't until later that I learned this is an ongoing debate. There was even a famous sock-shoe-sock-shoe scene in All in the Family.

So, now I'm curious!

Last week, my supervisor called me out on something. I'd drafted an all-company email that began, Everybody should have received a link.

"You always do that," she said.
"Do what?" I asked, fearing the start of another sock-sock-shoe-shoe debate.
"You tend to use the word everybody, while I prefer everyone."

Huh. Can't say I'd even noticed that before. Naturally, it led to a spirited debate over grammar. Because that's what word nerds do.

The thing is, we're both right. Everybody and everyone are completely interchangeable. It's nothing more than a style preference. And a subconscious one at that. Or at least it was, because you can bet your ass I'll be thinking twice about which word to use every single time the option comes up now for the rest of my life.

*#$%@!

And they say bricklaying is a tough job...

Yesterday, the temperature climbed above freezing for the first time in six days. We celebrated by hiking through the snow to a frozen waterfall.

Which, okay, seems counterintuitive. But it was beautiful, so who cares?

After last week's subzero temps, they're forecasting 69ยบ on Tuesday. Everybody everyone people are going to be walking around in shorts, mark my words! And, of course—because of our perpetual rollercoaster—it's supposed to snow on Friday.

If we have to shovel, I'll be doing the whole sock-sock-boot-boot thing.