World’s Only Mormon Bartender

I grew up a die-hard Jeopardy fan. In my home, you got penalized if you shouted out the answer without phrasing it as a question and patronized for getting an answer wrong. My default answer to every question I didn’t know was Taft; once in a while I got lucky. My twin sister and I would joke that if she were to be on a TV show it would be the Real World and if I had to choose it would be Jeopardy. Age and reality have taught me that I’m not smart enough to even attempt a try out. Luckily that was not the case for Ken Jennings who graced the show today (Wednesday) and will be on again tomorrow (Thursday). I am always pleasantly surprised at how utterly delightful he is. I keep expecting him to be a bland book smart dude, but he never ceases to be positively charming.

I loved what he had to say about the importance of educating and entertaining kids simultaneously. My oldest is almost two and she already has a general concept of the ABCs and counting—although it comes out as one, nine, two, four… but, hey, counting is hard! Her simple knowledge of these important life skills has nothing to do with me. While I’m chugging coffee and willing my eyes to open, she’s watching Sesame Street. As much as I hate that stupid Mr. Noodle, I love the fact she’s learning at such an early age due to the high entertainment value added to the material. Not gonna lie, I’m kinda sorta looking forward to the incessant “why?” questions because it means I’ll get to learn some stuff too. At least until she learns to navigate to Wikipedia on her own at which point I can resume my days of lackluster parenting.

If you’re in the Portland area and want to hear more from Ken, he’ll be at Live Wire on April 26th. There’s a small chance I’ll be there wearing a fedora with “Press” written on it in crayon. And who knows? Maybe Andrew will be there looking for a job since Press Play lost to Live Wire in the most intense imaginary public radio contest ever held.

Love, T-money