Thursday, October 7, 2010

Lists and Rankings and Memories

We are people who love lists it seems.

We pay others to rank things for us so that we don't have to try everything to make our own ranking. Or sometimes it is fun to rank things on our own just to see how we compare to the professionals.

I can tell the year is coming to a close because the rankings are beginning to show up in the mail.

Just this week, I received in my current issue of Wine Enthusiast Magazine the "Top 100 Best Buys 2010.' Yes a list. I look forward to the wine lists. And there will be a lot before the year is over. Some will seem funny before it is over-- "The 100 best Wines without a cork" or something like that.

All through the year, new wines are ranked on a 100 point scale. OK--the dirty little secret is the scale is really from 55-100.

Soon we will see lists of the top 10 movies of 2010, or the worst 10 movies. Every day I look forward on ESPN to the "Play of the Day." And during baseball season the "Web Gems." Or the "Top 10 Plays of the Day" from all sports. I am amused sometimes about how they try to give equal time to golf--but that's a thought for another day. I never see chess in the play of the day, though.

Some lists are much more useful than others. I find that Consumer Reports has good lists of things I might want to buy. And my Scuba magazines ranks everything Scuba--nice to look at, but I'm probably not going to replace my current gear with new gear just because.

What if I tried to rank order list things in my life? I thought about it for a minute. It would be pretty weird.

Bob's Top 10 Favorite Living Dogs
1. Makayla (keeshond)
2. Ben (keeshond)
3. Jefferson (beagle)
4. Florence (itailian greyhound)
5. Ginger (chocolate lab)
6. ?

That went well didn't it?

I want to try another attempt at dog listing:

What about Bob's Top 10 Favorite Dogs of All Time: Living or Deceased

Actually this gets a lot harder.

1. Nufi (keeshond)
2. Makayla (keeshond)
3. Meghan (golden retriever)
4. Spooky (some kind of spaniel/hound)
5. Ben (keeshond)
6. Zachary (Yorkie)
7. Bear (keeshond)
8. Trixie (Shepard mix when I was a kid)
9. Lady (collie mix when I was a kid)
10. Ariana (shitzu)//Rippy (Lhasa apso) (it was a tie for 10th)

Anyway--it gets hard. With the exception of Makayla and Ben, they are all deceased--but their memories linger. Is it useful?

I don't know.

I do recommend the wine list though for for good value wines under $15. The list gives me something to look for when I go shopping.

And we will all likely continue to check the lists for the best buys or for whatever.

Happy listing!

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