"it's a win-win situation"

...and I do love winning.

It's nice when you have a friend who can lighten your perspective on a topic and help you to think clearly and rationally, all in all improving your outlook and helping you to relax and see the big picture.

It's even nicer when he's your dad.

For the 92% of the time we're on the phone when he's (a) distracted with another conversation, (b) trying to navigate his way through a grocery store/parking lot/interstate, or (c) talking in (extreme) detail about baseball, he makes that last 8% so valuable that I'm willing to say he's batting at least .750.