Lot's of stuff rolling around in my head today, so rather than a post here and a post there, I figured I'd dump it all into one rambling meaningless entry. Much easier for folks to skip that way if need be 
The Discovery channel has a show called 'Modern Marvels' where they pick an item, event, or person and talk about how history has changed as a result of *insert noun here*. Last night was the telephone. I used to train CS for a national phone company, and actually met DH when he worked at that same place.
Anyways, having both worked for a phone company DH and I were interested in the show, although a lot of it was not-new information. What struck us was the first transatlantic phone call wasn't possible until 1956 (about 70? 80? years after the invention of the phone), but less than 20 years later transatlantic calls were being bounced off of a satellite. 80 years to string a cable across the pond, then 20 years to figure out how to bypass the cable altogether...
The next thing that got me thinking was the introduction of touch tones. What do you think: would the internet have been invented if there hadn't been touch-tone capability? The more I thought about it, the more I started to really believe that home computers, internet, cordless phones, cell phones, PDAs, GPS, and so much more really owe their existence to the simple little invention of touch-tone calling.
It was an interesting train of thought, and one I jumped off of until the SA site was temporarily unavailable earlier today. This happened shortly after the internet went down in my office; when the internet goes down, so does our phone system.
These two things pointed out very clearly to me that I am without doubt a computerized person. I work at a software company on a computer all day, my job requires internet access to solve problems and access systems all around the world. The phones require internet service. My preferred personal methods of entertainment are computer and internet based. I worked my way through college at both an internet start-up and as part of the IT department.
I can honestly say, without doubt, that I wouldn't be where I am or even who I am without computers. The only thing that has affected my life as much as computers are my parents.
Weird...
Any rate, moving on in my rambling post to money. I think DH is maybe, perhaps starting to get it a little!!!
His first wakeup call was when he found out I'm saving $ from my allowance to buy part of his Christmas present (that's part of what I've decided to do with the
Now, imagine the Wimbledon announcer saying "FIFTEEN LOVE, TINA"
Next came his realization that, even though I get less allowance than him and am even saving some of my allowance, I always have more allowance left than he does. "THIRTY LOVE, TINA"
Last night was the culmination of those and other small revelations on his part. After dinner (which the house allowance paid for), we went to a sporting goods store. He wants golf clubs... I held my tongue, not a peep from me! He didn't say much as we were looking around but I got the feeling he was waiting for the 'house' to volunteer to pay. It was hard, but all he got was silence on my part. "FORTY LOVE, TINA"
He found a great deal on some clubs: buy 1 get 2 free. For the quality, it was a steal and a half! I still managed to keep quiet. "MATCH POINT, TINA"
After he pondered for a while, he looked at me and said "I wonder if they do layaway? I'm pretty sure I can get enough out of my allowance ever 2 weeks to cover these..."
GAME, SET, MATCH BABY!!!
The Duh-Huh is just something funny that happened at work. Today is November 14th. We have a client with some pretty intricate software/database/website stuff we created and support when it messes up. I get a ticket from this company saying Such-and-Such report is supposed to run 2 times a week on Wednesday's and Friday's, and the last time it ran was 11/10. Therefore, the report hasn't run properly on 11/15 and 11/17....
OK, who can spot the 'error' that was causing this? ....
AND NOW FOR A SURPRISE FOR MY READERS!!!
As a 'thank-you' for making it through my rambling post, I am going to tempt the blog police by posting something ugly and shameful: pictures of DH's pumpkin colored chair and the area around it...
VIEW AT YOUR OWN RISK. Sorry in advance, blog police!
November 14th, 2006 at 08:53 pm 1163537635
November 14th, 2006 at 08:55 pm 1163537706
Dontcha love computers! I got the error. What kills me is when the computers go down at my credit union, I can't get MY money even if I write MY check on MY account until they have the computers up. I had to go elsewhere to cash a check to get my money. I understand it, but it was weird.
November 14th, 2006 at 09:23 pm 1163539410
Not sure what to think about the chair though - LOL.
November 14th, 2006 at 10:16 pm 1163542614
i'm just going to point out (in case folks aren't looking closely) that the last picture does in fact show an empty OJ bottle LESS THAN 3 INCHES from a trash can.
granted, i try to recycle cans & bottles if possible, but if they don't go in the recycle bin AT LEAST PUT 'EM IN THE TRASH!!!
November 14th, 2006 at 10:22 pm 1163542925
November 14th, 2006 at 11:29 pm 1163546960
November 15th, 2006 at 01:18 am 1163553505
Glad to see he is finally getting it!! Baby steps.....
November 15th, 2006 at 03:54 am 1163562872
And your DH has a Dr. Pepper fixation?
So many questions, so little time.
November 15th, 2006 at 01:11 pm 1163596298
husband has the awfullest looking orange chair? Is there an
orange chair code he is violating?????
I think i'ts rather 'cute' that he has chosen to decorate his lil' area w/the red & white motif of Dr. Pepper...strangely I do not see any Starbucks cups laying around that you could use against him w/your father. Do you
just not understand the issue of LEVERAGE tinap???? I do so love that
you are documenting his lack of trash manueverability though!!
November 15th, 2006 at 02:52 pm 1163602357
Baselle: yes, apparently my client uses time travel. i worded my response regarding this 'error' as diplomatically as i knew how. hard!
Baselle/Lux: DH doesn't quite have a Dr. Pepper fetish, but it's the only diet soda he thinks is drinkable. life is just easier if i keep bubbly in the house for him to drink, and at the rate he goes through sodas i gotta get diet in him whenever possible. his dad's a diabetic, so i'm trying to reign in the sugar thing.
re: a nearby potty: the one downstairs is currently out of commission, so DH will sneak outside at night and go off the back steps! even better is the fact that we have a motion light out there, and DH has been 'caught with his pants down' so to speak a time or two the past couple of weeks! Haaaaaaaaaaaahahahahhahahahaaa! he finally mentioned to me he wants to turn the sensitivity down on the light, all non-chalant like *g*
November 15th, 2006 at 07:06 pm 1163617577
I do have a question though: how did your DH realize that he did not have to spend that much money? See, I go to work everyday, take my lunch with me, and my average spending for the week must be close to $5, if that. DH on the other hand HAS TO HAVE cash with him at all time. And guess what? Yes, he spends it. On what? No clue... but it's gone anyway. So again... how did it happen? and I've tried to "I can do it, so why can't you" line, but it just makes things worth for some reason
Didn't even pick up on the "Today is November 14th... the report hasn't run properly on 11/15 and 11/17". Duh!
November 15th, 2006 at 07:20 pm 1163618457
November 15th, 2006 at 07:36 pm 1163619389
lau, i didn't get DH to realize anything, but i refused to say anything while he drooled over those golf clubs! i didn't offer for the house to pay for them, but i also didn't tell him we couldn't afford them or anything like that either. since i control the house money i guess he figured if he wanted 'em he was going to have to get them for himself... good boy!!!
granted, as soon as we were out of the store he started talking about how his allowance was all gone for the week, but hey: he's a grown man and chose what to spend his money on. if he doesn't get lunch, it's not really my issue. if he weren't so weird about left-overs (HATES 'EM!), he'd never have to worry about lunch.
BA, the nasty crap around the chair was my whole point in posting the pictures... sad, ain't it? it's kinda hard to see since my dishes are white, but in the picture w/ all the soda cans there are 2 plates, 2 bowls, and a mug. what the hell...
November 16th, 2006 at 02:37 am 1163644647
You know, that was a totally disturbing response wasn't it? Um, nevermind. Ignore!
November 16th, 2006 at 03:30 am 1163647850
and completely OT, but does anyone remember the seinfeld episode where they talked about guys that were "tall, thin, and neat", and then jerry realized he was in fact tall, thin, & neat? HAHAHA!!! almost as funny as steel magnolias saying all gay guys were name steve, rick, or dan and had track lighting... became even funnier when 2 steves and 2 ricks i knew in college all came out of the closet...