I didn’t bring lunch today, as usual. Mr. W, as usual, did. He was too tired to meet me at the gym, so instead, we met up to eat his lunch. When I got back after lunch, I emailed him a thank-you:

>Dear [his job title],
> Thank you for sharing your lunch with me. You are the bestest Hephaestus.
>
> Signed,
> Clerkishness

He called me. “Who’s Hephaestus?” I honestly had no recollection, but rather than say, “I dunno, I just chose him cuz it rhymes with ‘bestest’,” I instead told him, “He’s a Greek mythology character. Look him up on Wikipedia.” Mr. W again asked, “But who is he? I mean, what did he do?” I said, almost slyly, “Look him up.”

So 5 minutes later I get a responsive email from Mr. W:

Hephaestus was lame and ugly, and was twice thrown from heaven on Olympus (http ://www.the-pantheon.com/olympus.htm), once by his mother in shame and anger at his deformity, and once by his father because of a quarrel in which he sided with his mother. Thanks

Oops!