My Arch Nemesis

I have a friend, we'll call him Bogart, who is constantly flaunting his supreme knowledge base in his almost daily MySpace blog. Initially, I thought nothing of this blog until I started questioning the information he was sharing in his blog. An example of this information is the claim that a man name Millard Filmore was the 13th President of the United States or the claim that US coins do not have pictures of animals on them. The first claim is true, I thought it was a ridiculous lie but I looked it up in multiple and credible sources and it's true. Seriously, though, doesn't the name Millard Fillmore just sound made up? And, regarding the second claim, I'm not sure how the eagle feels about Bogart's claim of no pictures of animals on US coinage. Birds are classified as animals. Additionally, there are animals on the recently released state quarters such as WI's dairy cow quarter. I digress.

The point of this entry is actually to examine my near obsession with proving Bogart wrong. I am not sure why I am so passionate about trying to ferret out an incorrect fact or overstatement. I like this guy and consider him a friend yet feel compelled to challenge him with every turn. He's smart. He's really, really smart. I am not really smart or even just smart, I'm mediocre. I did not get a near perfect score on my SAT as he did and I did not go to college on a full academic scholarship. Possibly this it why I am so intent on trying to find fault with his information. I want to prove to him that I can be as smart as he, even though we both know it is impossible. The worst part of my quasi-secretive competition with him is he doesn't even truly flaunt his superior intelligence. It's just there like the subtle morning mist rising from the pond. Even as I write this I know I anticipate his next blog entry and another chance to catch him in a tangle of misinformation.

I will get you Bogart...mark my words, you're going down, Bogart!