ElJuski
Staff member
wait, you live in the DC area?
Today is my last day of salaried employment with my current job, tomorrow I go hourly. On the plus side, I don't have to have my FTE manager sign off on my hours unless I go into OT, but the chances are I won't be making the same amount of money in coming months as I am now, due to what will probably be slower months ahead (this month was actually really busy because people didn't want to deal with the death of their loved ones during the holidays, insofar as that meant contacting MSFT). Hopefully I'll be able to beg project work off of some of the busier teams to fill up any potential downtime, but this is just one less reason that my wife and I are inclined to stay in Washington.
I just scared the crap out of myself. My computer would not POST. I was finally able to get the machine to do the line item boot. It was hanging up on my iPod that I just plugged in so it would charge.
GasBandit
Staff member
That's happened to me, too, on one of my machines I have to make sure a certain USB external hard drive is unplugged when I reboot it or it won't post.. just keeps rebooting after the memory test.
I think my toddler stepped on my laptop. Now if it moves even in the slightest my whole screen begins to look like...like...well, you ever have an old NES catridge and you stick it in and the screen goes crazy? Like that except I just can't blow on it and fix it.
It's doing it while I type this post!
It's doing it while I type this post!
I feel ya buddy, Due to strange circumstances, I've gone a week without proper antipesperant, and i had al kinds of weird smell. ( inb4 ewwws, I was borrowing my girls tiny roll on sick thingy, no match for my manly sweat though.)
GasBandit
Staff member
... maybe she liked it?Of course, all this leads me to wonder whether my wife noticed, and if so why she didn't say anything?
ElJuski
Staff member
so, I finally get an e-mail back from my ex re:my goddamn Undeclared DVDs I want back, and she finally got around to telling me why she all of a sudden just lobbed off all contact with me, blocked my number, etc, and the answer is hilarious: "You were being too immature and I'm too busy to handle all of your drama". Because, you know, maturity is completely and mysteriously ceasing all contact with someone you've been seeing for four months after a minor argument.
I never knew crazy could take the shape of such a hot girl.
I never knew crazy could take the shape of such a hot girl.
So I take it this was your first relationship? Cause otherwise, I'd have to laugh at that comment for hours.
Oh and Juski, immature? She must be crazy
ElJuski
Staff member
Hahahaha. You got me there. I mean, but I'm not that kind of immature, knowmsayin? And yes, my judgment was clouded. Dat assssssSo I take it this was your first relationship? Cause otherwise, I'd have to laugh at that comment for hours.
Oh and Juski, immature? She must be crazy
Added at: 02:19
ps, this last little thing confirms two things 1) DC girls are weird and 2) Never, ever, bang a co-worker. Ever.
I think I'm going to have to take my wife's debit card away from her and force her to de-link her bank account from her iTunes account; or just have her change her direct deposit to my credit union so she has to ask me for money. In the last 8 days she has spent $250 on audio books on iTunes, and $150 on snacks/lunches for work. I'm eating fucking cup-noodle and drinking the free crappy coffee and OJ at work, and today for lunch she bought: apples, pretzels, croissants, chocolate, ice cream bites, wafer cookies, and whoppers, plus Emergen-C and Airborne and spent $50. The kicker? Last night before leaving work (when I was trying to see if we had enough money for me to buy a full tank of gas or just enough to last until payday - it was the latter) I noticed that she'd spent $250 on iTunes and $100 on food for work. We discussed it, at length, when I got home. Not 12 hours later she got up, got ready for work, left the house, and went straight to the grocery store and dropped another $50 on junk food.
The biggest problem is that she's a stress spender. And right now, we're stressed because we're trying to move and pay off some major bills and we need to spend less money. So in order to alleviate her stress about spending too much money, she spends more money. Eventually, she has no money to pay bills with and they go to collections, and she can never pay the collections, and they go to court and her credit (and now mine) is fucked. And she wants to buy a house. I can get her to intellectually understand that we'll never have a house if she doesn't stop fucking spending money like it's going out of style, but I can't stop her from doing it anyway. And it's not like I'm a saint when it comes to saving money. It took me seven years to get to the point where I didn't treat my overdraft protection like a $500 spending allowance, and to be responsible enough to have a credit card that I don't go over limit on, and that I pay every single month. But damn it! I'm scrimping and saving, changing insurance companies for better rates, giving up food that I like because we can't afford it, buying cheaper dinners, not going out to eat more than once a month or so, trying to find more fuel efficient routes to get to work (unfortunately mass transit, while an option, is more expensive than driving and takes just as long to get to work), crafting exquisitely intricate budgets to try to get us out of the hell hole that was created by us both being unemployed (and her past spending problems) without having to fucking declare bankruptcy (we actually don't own enough/owe enough to actually consider doing this) and as soon as money hits her checking account, it's spent. And it isn't even spent on material things. It's not like she's buying clothes or shoes or purses or outerwear, or anything that she has anything to show for spending all that damn money on. It's spent on audio books and junk food.
The biggest problem is that she's a stress spender. And right now, we're stressed because we're trying to move and pay off some major bills and we need to spend less money. So in order to alleviate her stress about spending too much money, she spends more money. Eventually, she has no money to pay bills with and they go to collections, and she can never pay the collections, and they go to court and her credit (and now mine) is fucked. And she wants to buy a house. I can get her to intellectually understand that we'll never have a house if she doesn't stop fucking spending money like it's going out of style, but I can't stop her from doing it anyway. And it's not like I'm a saint when it comes to saving money. It took me seven years to get to the point where I didn't treat my overdraft protection like a $500 spending allowance, and to be responsible enough to have a credit card that I don't go over limit on, and that I pay every single month. But damn it! I'm scrimping and saving, changing insurance companies for better rates, giving up food that I like because we can't afford it, buying cheaper dinners, not going out to eat more than once a month or so, trying to find more fuel efficient routes to get to work (unfortunately mass transit, while an option, is more expensive than driving and takes just as long to get to work), crafting exquisitely intricate budgets to try to get us out of the hell hole that was created by us both being unemployed (and her past spending problems) without having to fucking declare bankruptcy (we actually don't own enough/owe enough to actually consider doing this) and as soon as money hits her checking account, it's spent. And it isn't even spent on material things. It's not like she's buying clothes or shoes or purses or outerwear, or anything that she has anything to show for spending all that damn money on. It's spent on audio books and junk food.
My computers do that when my Droid is plugged in also.
If what she really desires is the actual spending of money, you might want to show her Dave's thread about that Cracked article and then follow up with a listen to the RadioLab story about the marshmallow test.
Also, Librivox has tons of free audiobooks.
--Patrick
Also, Librivox has tons of free audiobooks.
--Patrick
I know, it sounds like someone who grew up without any money and got into the habit of spending as soon as money came in. The crazy thing is though, she didn't grow up poor. Her father is a partner in a major local engineering firm and her mother is one of the state's leading authorities on developmental child psychology and makes a butt ton of money off of it (well, she used to, now she takes too many state cases and rarely gets paid by the state's insurance company, but she's still upper-middle class). The biggest problem is that her parents never let any of their children fail on their own merit. Bought a car and can't pay for it? Here's some money. Put an entire apartment's worth of furniture on credit and it's about to be repossessed? Here's some money. Got a credit card, maxed it out, never paid the bill, and now you're into collections for 3 grand? Here's some money. I don't know how her brother developed the financial intelligence that he did, but she and her sister both have this issue, only her sister does it with material goods and she does it with junk food. Her brother, on the other hand, has more money than he really knows what to do with (he's currently dumping it into his house and vehicles or trips to various locales around the world, when he isn't bailing his two sisters out).
My parents never let me go homeless, but they let me go hungry a time or two when I blew all my cash on games or stupid shit and I learned to make sure I had enough money to buy things I need first and then store some away for a rainy day before spending money on fun things. My parents' other trick was to pay something off for me, but then make me do house work or menial labor for them to pay them back. I got really good at not over-spending as a way to avoid having to mow the lawn (we had a two acre lawn and a riding mower, but if I was working off a debt I didn't get to use the riding mower) or spend a week carrying building supplies around from one corner of the property to the opposite corner. I just wish there were some way to provide the same sort of lesson to my wife - but I can't think of any chores that are undesirable enough that we don't already have to do.
M
makare
If she is stress spending, and with all the junk food maybe stress eating?, might want to see if there is a counseling service that could help her.
I am the same way. The less money I have the more I want to spend. It's something I talk to my counselor a lot about. It is a product of my anxiety produced ocd behavior.
I am the same way. The less money I have the more I want to spend. It's something I talk to my counselor a lot about. It is a product of my anxiety produced ocd behavior.
Thanks Steiny, that should be helpful. We both know she's never going to be able to completely fight the impulses to spend on her own, and since we know why she's spending we've been trying to brainstorm other things she can do to alleviate stress and come up with a weekly reward of some sort. Strangely enough, neither of us really considered doing a date night as the reward - which should work well because there's a really good sushi place close to home that we both love (though, her more than me, I really only like California or spicy tuna rolls so far), but we can get a satisfying amount of sushi there for $30 plus a tip, or I can splurge on a really nice dinner in once a week (I can make a really nice dinner come in under $20, it just takes prep time and planning).
Man, I hate this girl. We are like polar opposites: for her, it's always important stuff, we have to save the planet, and I love my friends, and politics and dolphins, always for show, always holier that you. I like phylosophy and politics and ethics and religion... to think, in silence, and try to figure them out. But when I'm in public, I like to have fun, and be nice, and have people be nice to me, and enjoy stuff. It wouldn't be so bad if she wasn't one of my close friend's girlfirend.. but maaaaan. Today she made a group on facebook to plan his boyfriend's birthday and everything was a frigging opera, the good was emoticon filling madness and the bad was dry and teacher like! chill, lady!
I mean, I just asked for stand up comedy routines to listen on youtube... and she recommended some collections of serious talks about the environment and politics and how we are killing all animals. Aaaaaargh, oil and water.
Also, we are both attention whores, so our egos collide.
I mean, I just asked for stand up comedy routines to listen on youtube... and she recommended some collections of serious talks about the environment and politics and how we are killing all animals. Aaaaaargh, oil and water.
Also, we are both attention whores, so our egos collide.
M
makare
The only thing that works for me is actually buying something. But I have learned to be content with cheaper things like low quality makeup or nail polish. Even if I am going to treat myself with a special night at the end of the week with friends or something I still don't feel satisfied unless I have bought something that fulfills my buying impulse. Just spending isn't enough it has to be on what I want. If I put off the little spending for too long I really splurge and then I feel horrible about it.
That is just me though. She might be different.
That is just me though. She might be different.
fade
Staff member
I don't get the Coldplay hate lately. They have vocals that are interesting, play more than tired old G-C-D progressions, and their lyrics are usually deeper than the equivalent of "I'm obsessed with this girl". Is it because they're popular? I've heard people discount bands because of that, but it just doesn't have any bearing on the music itself. The Nickelback hate I get. They sing plain, unsalted drone rock with braindead lyrics.
Added at: 00:31
(I understand you were questioning the categorization as punk...this was a tangent)
Added at: 00:31
(I understand you were questioning the categorization as punk...this was a tangent)
fade
Staff member
Yeah I know it is, and I know they aren't technically. I was using it more to describe what they sound like than what they're classified as.
fade
Staff member
Don't get me wrong, I'm not screaming at the airport when they get off the plane or anything. I just didn't think they deserved that they've become the new thing to hate. Mostly because I think they're one of the few mold-breakers that managed to make it big. Chord rotations that are different, a vocal range that goes beyond a quarter octave, refrains that break the main song patterns, non-trad instruments... None of that can make their music sound any better to you if you don't like them, but it seems to go beyond dislike to "I want to rape Coldplay's babies".