John Gonzalez Gives Joe Gumm the Thumbs Up

A book just landed on my desk that confuses me a bit. It’s called Romancing Mommy: 150 Secrets to a Happy Wife (and a Happy Life). Amazon says the book, written by Joe Gumm, was published in 2005. But the press release that came with the uncorrected proof says it will be published in April of this year. Same publisher, too. That’s the first thing that confuses me. The second thing is the page at the front of the book whereon other folks give praise to its author. There I found the following endorsement from a gentleman named John Gonzales.

“Most men are idiots when it comes to their wives, their families, their kids, or just about anything. Joe Gumm is an exception to that rule. His book is a survival guide for men — a funny, fun, must-read for knuckle-draggers everywhere.”

Gonzales is identified as a Dallas Observer columnist. Here’s the odd thing about that: there used to be a guy named John Gonzalez — with a “z” — who was a columnist at the Observer about, oh, five years ago. But that guy writes for the Philadelphia Inquirer. And he doesn’t know anything about relationships and families and so on. The Gonzalez I know once punched me in the face while another guy had me in a bear hug from behind. This was right before a rec-league basketball game. We were on the same team.

Like I say, all very confusing.