Until very recently, I had assumed that people in the 16th century actually talked like Shakespeare wrote them. And that only in the past couple hundred years had we devolved into plain-spokenness.

I am a moron who didn't think that assumption through.

Turns out that plain-speak has been the norm for millenia. But during the Renaissance, there was a desire to return to high civility - to hierarchy - to nobility. But, this was an attempt at culture creation. Not the reality of the culture itself.

It's like your friends who still go to Rennaissance Fairs on the weekend. It's playing dress up. It's faking a British accent.

It wasn't real - even back then.

There are a couple exclusively plus-size clothing stores for women that have popped up around my area.

Designed specifically for women sizes 14 and up, these stores offer moden accesible fashion that better fits the plus-size female. They don't shy away from stating who they are. "Plus-size clothing" is in the store's headline. Plus-size models are plastered on the windows.

Here's my question regarding this business model. Are girls, especially younger girls, going to be slightly embarrassed to be seen coming out of these stores by people they know? Are they going to be embarrassed when someone asks them where they got their beautiful sweater?

I know these stores exist precisely because the mainstream brands are awful at this segment, often, sadly, by intention. But, is this the solution or a gateway step?

I'm prepared for the "how dare you! Girls shouldn't be ashamed of who they are!" comments, but if you can, let's avoid those, pretend I'm not evil, and actually address the question I'm presenting.

Are teenager girls going to be ashamed to be seen in these stores? And if so, is this the long-term solution to modern, fashionable plus-size clothing?

Let's say you meet someone new for the first time, and you can choose what impression you leave them with. But, only one thing.

For example, once you leave the room, you want them to say more than anything, "He/She was _____."

What would that one thing be?

After thinking hard about this, I was surprised to realize that mine is "funny". I want people to think I'm funny more than anything else. More than intelligent. More than sensitive. More than musical.

I want to be a clown. I want to make you laugh.

What's your thing?

We are very relieved right now. After a long day at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, the surgeon thought we might be able to wait until our daughter is 9 mos. old and just do the 2nd kidney surgery - when it's a lot safer (less painful) for her! Still praying to avoid this next one.

Appreciate your support more than anything.

For those of you who don't know, my newborn girl is scheduled to have the first of two sets of kidney surgeries tomorrow. And we just learned that they're going to be doing an ultrasound before the surgery - just to make sure that nothing major has changed their game plan.

Now, that would be an ideal time for them to see that the problem had miraculously disappeared, wouldn't it?

That's what we're praying for, and for any of you God-beggars out there, we would appreciate your begging more than anything in the world.

I'll be back on Thursday with an update.

When boonies get money, they don't change.

They just have a bigger backyard fireworks show on the 4th of July.

I love watching football. And I don't really understand a thing that's going on.

There's 22 men on the field at a time. People who really know football watch all of them. They look at formations. They watch the war between the guards and the tackles. They watch how the corner plays off the line. They predict offensive play calls and the defensive response to them. They watch football like its a chess game - because it is.

I only watch the ball. That's where the action is. That's where the excitement is. I like seeing huge runs, big hits, and diving touchdown passes. And it's really odd that I love a game so much in which I have no real idea what's going on.

But, because of this, I will beat you in fantasy football this year.

Because knowledge of the game has distorted your view of specific players. I base my valuations on nothing but statistical evidence. I will draft better than you do, understanding the Adam Smith comparative advantage of picking the last good player at a specific position over picking the best at another because of the depth that's there.

You understand great players and why they're great. And if we were managing an NFL game, I would beg you to take the reins. But, Fantasy Football is a behavioral economists' dream. And I will beat you this year.

"When I try to do everything on my own, too little gets done. When I empower those around me, I am surprised by how little goes wrong."

Over the past two weeks, my entire outlook on work has shifted dramatically. My plan had been to determine the most valuable and necessary tasks at my University I could personally take charge of, and exclusively focus my energy there. It's the 80/20 rule. Determine the 20% of my workday that creates 80% of my value as an employee, and spend as close to 100% of my time on these tasks as possible.

With my manpower alone directly responsible for the value of specific initiatives, I can get 40 solid hours of this amazing work done in a week.

But what if instead, I created systems?

What if instead of my control freak nature which feels I have to personally reply to every comment on our University's social networking sites - I empower others around me, much closer to the specific questions being asked to interact with. What if rather than re-writing every page of our 2,000 page site myself, I create a navigation framework and outline based on Web best practices and ask department chairs to fill in the holes.

Will the results be slightly worse than if I had done it myself? No, because the quantity getting done will be 10-20x what I could have done on my own.

Sometimes, we work so hard to prove ourselves invaluable to our organization. But if we're really looking to create value, we set up systems that won't immediately die upon our departure.

If your first sexual experience is with a hooker, you just might "fall in love" with her. The physiological power of sex is so convincing, you might overlook the fact that you keep paying her cash afterwards, and confuse this physiological pleasure with love.

It's the same reason you probably said "I love you" to the first person you slept with. Looking back, did you? No. A more accurate admission would have been to say, "I'm addicted to you."

Your friend finally breaks up with a girl that was so completely wrong for him and says to you, "What was I thinking???"

Sex is addictive. But, if your goal is long-term relationship, you really need to wait until marriage. Because over the long term, it's much more important to be addicted to the person.

Last Thursday, I came home from work realizing I had left my phone charger behind. I bring my phone charger to work with me because I have an Android smartphone (that I love), but that can't even make it through a single workday on a single charge.

So, how was I going to get through an entire weekend without it? I simply couldn't. I'd have to drive back to work and get it. Unless...

I simply turned my phone off, and turned it on twice a day to check voicemails and texts.

That's what I did. And it was a freeing experience for me. Because the always-on feature is really only necessary for emergency situations, and I was with my wife all weekend anyway. So, I was never going to need to be the first responder in an emergency.

It felt very 2002'ish. It felt good.