Are the Planets Aligned?

Remember the book Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus from the 1990's?  The premise of the book was that men and women communicate so differently that they may as well be from completely different planets.  

Well, I have had my Mars/Venus moment this week.

Today, hubby came home from work, had some dinner, and proceeded to bury his nose in his laptop.  Now, this is not abnormal.  When he wants to unwind, I often find him at the table, reading ESPN online, managing one of his fantasy sports teams, or just emailing buddies to haze them on their weekly golf picks.  This is normal for him.  After all, he is the sports guy.

 After he was engrossed for a bit, I sauntered my way over to him, laid a hand on his arm, planted a kiss on him and asked him about his meeting after work.

He answered with a distracted, "OK," and then actually tried to wave me away.

Now, this is not like the sports guy!  He could be knee deep in Super Bowl coverage of his all time favorite team, The Pittsburgh Steelers, and still stop what he was doing to talk to me.  He is just good like that.  It is just one of the many reasons that I love him.

So, when he didn't stop to talk to me readily, I was curious.

"Hon.  What are you reading about?"  I prompted.

"Um . . . just stuff . . ." he answered without looking at me.

At this point, I was beginning to worry that he was viewing something bad on that screen.  So without saying another word, I stood up so that I could get a peek.  And can you guess what I saw?

Probably not. It was that weird.

Hubby's screen was set to you tube, and . . .  he was watching someone tell him how to solve a rubik's cube.

No, I am not lying.

And yes, you can now stop laughing.

Seeing the rubik's cube screen, I was instantly relieved that he was not watching pirated Girls Gone Wild Videos, but I was also instantly intrigued too.  I mean, a rubik's cube?!?  Had I just intercepted my guy embracing his inner geek?

"Is that a rubik's cube?"  I ventured.

"Yep."

"Um . . . hon . . . why are you watching a video about a rubik's cube?  Wasn't that fad over when we were like twelve?"  I questioned, hoping to reel him into the conversation.

I knew that he took the bait when he turned to me and answered, "Yes, but this is cool.  I have been watching this guy, trying his moves, and . . . it's working!"  he answered excitedly.  It did not escape my notice that his eyes were shining like a kid with a great big shiny Christmas present.

"So, you are hooked on solving a rubik's cube?" I reiterated.

"Well. . . yes. But it's more than that,"  he explained.  "It's a mathematical pattern that this guy is using.  No matter which way the cube starts out, if a person uses this pattern, the cube can be solved.  How. cool. is. that?"  He paused between his words for emphasis, and then he went back to his screen.

"Let me get this straight.  You are excited because a) it's math and b) you may solve it?"  I asked incredulously.

He smiled brightly and answered, "Exactly!"

Clearly, this was a Mars versus Venus moment.

After a bit more discussion, I discovered that he had spent a few hours last night learning about the cube and could not wait to get home today to continue with his cube quest.  And all I could think about was, if I had a few spare hours to choose an activity to do, I would do a million different things.  I would read, blog, shop, sleep, get a pedicure, eat chocolate  . . . basically do anything . . . but . . .mathematically solve a rubik's cube.

It was obvious that we were speaking in different languages, so instead of trying to understand, I kissed my Martian and left him to his cube.

I am confident that the next time he visits Venus, he will do the same.