Category: thisnthat

Questions Couples Should Ask (Or Wish They Had) Before Marrying

Relationship experts report that too many couples fail to ask each other critical questions before marrying. Here are a few key ones that couples should consider asking:

1) Have we discussed whether or not to have children, and if the answer is yes, who is going to be the primary care giver?

2) Do we have a clear idea of each other’s financial obligations and goals, and do our ideas about spending and saving mesh?

3) Have we discussed our expectations for how the household will be maintained, and are we in agreement on who will manage the chores?

4) Have we fully disclosed our health histories, both physical and mental?

5) Is my partner affectionate to the degree that I expect?

6) Can we comfortably and openly discuss our sexual needs, preferences and fears?

7) Will there be a television in the bedroom?

8) Do we truly listen to each other and fairly consider one another’s ideas and complaints?

9) Have we reached a clear understanding of each other’s spiritual beliefs and needs, and have we discussed when and how our children will be exposed to religious/moral education?

10) Do we like and respect each other’s friends?

11) Do we value and respect each other’s parents, and is either of us concerned about whether the parents will interfere with the relationship?

12) What does my family do that annoys you?

13) Are there some things that you and I are NOT prepared to give up in the marriage?

14) If one of us were to be offered a career opportunity in a location far from the other’s family, are we prepared to move?

15) Does each of us feel fully confident in the other’s commitment to the marriage and believe that the bond can survive whatever challenges we may face?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/17/fashion/weddings/17FIELDBOX.html?em&ex=1167627600&en=00414ce499267c1d&ei=5087%0A

Jimmy Dean Pancakes and Sausage

From the package description:

Jimmy Dean full-flavored sausage inside a sweet pancake covering – it’s fun on a stick. Just pop these sweet treats in the microwave for less than 2 minutes and you’ll have a hearty breakfast or snack that’s not only filling but easy to eat and enjoy.

Comes in Chocolate Chip and Blueberry flavors too!

– Got my copy of Karaoke Revolution: American Idol. I AM Kelly Clarkson!

– New camera or new purse ?

– LA Food Show has chicken and waffles. Their vanilla-infused waffle batter is pretty freaking fantastic.

– My music collection has somehow lost almost all hip-hop and r&b goodness. What’s out there now that’s good? I can’t stand the Akon stuff that all the cool kids seem to like these days.

– Dick in a box comes to t-shirts. But this classic is still the one that I want.

My friend and I went to Bombay Garden in San Mateo for their buffet lunch today, and were met at the door by a large group of 12+ people. We were suprised that the place was sooo popular, but since we were really craving Indian food, I went in to go talk to the guy at the counter to see if people were putting their names down on a list, and to see how long the wait would be.”No list,” he said. “It will be about ten minutes for two.” Satisfied, I went back outside and waited patiently to be called over. We saw a bunch of open tables, so we figured they were just in the process of seating the large group.

Five minutes later, a couple walks up to me and is expressing surprise at the line outside the door. “Is there a list?” the girl asks me. I tell her no, and that I talked to the guy at the counter, and he said it would only be a ten minute wait. We’d been there for five minutes, I said, and it looks like they’re finally starting to seat parts of the large group.

She walks inside, talks to the same guy at the counter. This time, the guy looks at one of the empty tables, and points her over to one of them. The two of them walk over without a second thought.

I notice this, and I immediately go up to the host and ask why they were seated first when there were so many people ahead of them, including the rest of the large group, who had been waiting for close to 20 minutes. He points me to an empty table, but I ask him why the rest of the group still hasn’t been seated. He goes ahead and seats the group, then seats my friend and me.

There are several things wrong with this series of events:

1. That there was no list. It’s fairly standard for most places that once there are people waiting outside a restaurant, a list is kept of names and party member counts so that the host can organize seating and make sure people are seated based on availability and arrival times. The host did neither of these.

2. That the line-jumping happened. The host knew there others in line ahead of these two, including another party of two. Yet he pointed them to their seats as soon as they asked, even though he had told me to wait.

3. That line-jumping almost happened twice. Once I raised the issue with the host, he pointed me to my seat, even though there was still a group in front of me waiting, and there were tables available for them. It took me saying something before this group was seated.

4. That the girl didn’t say anything. The girl spoke to me maybe 30 seconds earlier, yet when the host seated the two of them first, she said nothing, even though she knew full well that there was another party of two in front of them. In her defense, she might have thought that I hadn’t talked to the host and that it was my mistake for idiotically standing in line without telling the host. But that doesn’t mean she couldn’t have done something to improve the situation.

Honestly, it’s not a huge deal that this happened — it’s a minor injustice, if you want to call it an injustice at all. I know people tend to act in their own best interests most of the time. But this would have been a miniscule thing to concede. It doesn’t require much effort to speak up to make sure that people are being treated fairly, even in something as trivial as a lunch line.

Why Getting Married Kills Your Social Life

it’s one reason i’m pretty excited at the prospect of getting out of it!

After almost 3 years on the Movable Type bandwagon, I’ve finally hopped off and switched to WordPress. It wasn’t a conscious decision – it just so happened that my new webhost offered a 1-click installation for WP, and after struggling to remember how to set up an MT blog, I said, “screw it!” and tried out WP.

I’ve been thrilled ever since. I’m going to have to do a little more tweaking to get everything behaving the way I want, but all in all, I’m quite happy. Setup was a breeze, I’m discovering more and more nifty plugins to expand WP’s extensibility, and I haven’t gotten a single spam message yet! So far, it feels like a happy medium between something as easy-to-use like Blogger and something as complicated and powerful as Movable Type.

Hopefully, this will be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. =)