The Summer of Sudoku

There's a bit of a battle going on in my house. For years, my family has been aware that a summer vacation doesn't really feel like a summer vacation unless it acquires a name derived from something memorable that happened during that June to September stretch when school was out. As such, I've been leading an aggressive and fairly well-funded campaign for this to be referred to as "The Summer of Sudoku." As you may have guessed, this has a lot to do with (okay everything to do with) my new-found love for those addictive little Japanese brain teasers that the local paper has started running. Hopefully they're running in your local paper, too, because they're really fun. Challenging and sometimes a little crazy-making, but fun.

And when I say I'm "campaigning" for this to be referred to as "The Summer of Sudoku", I may be overstating things, because it's not like I'm out there twisting arms or anything. It's probably more accurate to call it a well-thought-out, focused marketing strategy that involves me using the phrase "The Summer of Sudoku" over and over and over again, even in circumstances where it's not really applicable. I realize that may sound nonsensical or even a little annoying to some of you, but trust me, 1987 didn't become known as the "Summer of President Ronald Reagan's Prostate Surgery" by accident, particularly since the procedure in question was performed in early January.

My fear, however, is that in my house, we may be well on our way to this becoming known as "The Summer of 'Friends'", given how much my kids are watching the show these days. Another possibility that's recently made a strong showing and I suspect could be a real dark-horse candidate is "The Summer of 'What Not To Wear'".

Now, I suppose "Summer of 'Friends'" has a nice warm, rosy glow to it that the kids might look back fondly on in the years to come. But the name does sort of point to my weakness as a parent for allowing them to sit in front of the TV for hours on end when they could be engaged in something more active or healthy, or at least more financially lucrative. Not to mention that I've never really been the show's hugest fan and I'm even less of one now given the continuous TiVo loop it's been on for the past 63 straight days.

I actually have less of a problem with calling it "The Summer of 'What Not To Wear'," but the words don't exactly trip off the tongue and it sounds a little too catty for my taste. Maybe if we were talking about it being "The Month of 'What Not To Wear'" or "The Day of 'What Not To Wear'". But we're not. Summer is what's up for grabs here and I really think we've got to be more discriminating than that.

That's why I much prefer "Summer of Sudoku" and I think I'm being pretty objective here. I say that with such confidence because when our housekeeper uses the phrase "Summer of Sudoku" (and before anyone writes in, don't worry -- I'm paying her on a per-usage basis and quite handsomely, I might add) it gives me the feeling that the school vacation has been an interesting and well-spent one, a summer where I've, say, travelled to some exotic new locale where I've had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to explore a vibrant and dynamic culture heretofore unknown to me. When in actuality, all I've really done is sit at the kitchen table in my t-shirt and boxers and scream at the family to shut up while I search vainly for that elusive "9" in the upper right hand box.

Anyway, I guess I'm writing this because I need your help. Obviously I can't possibly pay each and every one of you to use the phrase. (To be honest, I wasn't quite anticipating how many times the housekeeper would be able to fit "The Summer of Sudoku" into her talks with the kids but I guess it just goes to show the value of a good incentive). But if it's not too much of an imposition, it would be really terrific if you could throw it into conversation whenever possible. I'm not asking you to go overboard with it or anything. Just as little or as much as you feel comfortable with.

Oh, and one more thing. I can't stress enough that I'm aware there are many important things going on in the country right now that definitely deserve our attention more. But we're really so very close to "The Summer of Sudoku" catching on and going wide that I wouldn't forgive myself if I didn't go all out while I still have the chance.

And to be really blunt about it, you may be all that stands between me and the past couple months being known in perpetuity as "The Summer of Dad's Massive Weight Gain".