Postcards from the Funny Farm

Whenever I talk with young single women I am always amazed when they say they can’t find anyone. For me, it took until I was 32 to find my wife and get married and before that I was always trying to get dates one way or another. I was always proactive and when Sarah came along … boom! It was the time that was meant to happen. Maybe you’re single or know people who are and want to be married. I say, in the advent of online dating, nobody has the excuse of not having any prospects! In my guest blog over at It Might be Love I discuss in an often humorous fashion how I met my wife through Yahoo! Personals. It’s entitled: “Does Anyone have to be single anymore?” And as far as Yahoo! Personals goes, I’m all for passing out advertising pens

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When service is bad, where do you draw the line and ask for a refund? I’ve usually been one to suck it up and just not use the service again but recently I found myself turning over a new leaf. Sarah and I went out on a date Friday night for one of those fancy pizzas that costs more than lobster. That was great, I enjoyed the service and the food. After dinner we wanted to go see a movie. I told her I wanted to see “Iron Man” because I like Robert Downey Jr. and because I read several reviews saying it was a great flick. Though it wasn’t her top choice (Sex and the City of course was her request) she acquiesced since it is my birthday Monday and we went to see Iron Man. It might be safe to say it looks like a guy’s movie.

Okay, I lied. We never got to see it. We were quickly told it was cash only since the credit card machines were down. I went across the street to the atm at a liquor store and it cost me $3.50 in fees. The theater was packed and gang thug types were all over the place. A few of them were actually starting to rap out loud. That was annoying and rude, but when we got to our seats and realized there was no air conditioning (it was about 100 degrees) I had my fill at that point. I approached the 20-something manager and he started giving me a hard time because I wanted my cash back. Not that I have anything against 20-somethings, I have some respected friends and colleagues in ther twenties. This guy, I do not respect. He kept offering me credits. I’m telling you, I will never go back to that theater again. The manager had a pin on that said “Philly Rocks.” Well, maybe he should go check out some Philadelphia jobs. Anyway we are lucky there are two theaters up here in the high desert so we have a choice. We listened to some great music on the HiFi on the way home and the night ended up okay. Have you had a time when you drew the line and asked for a refund?

I had a different sort of “www” this evening, I walked around Wal-Mart with my wife. She is amazing. When people talk about meant to be, I think of her and I. I had a bad day today and all I wanted to do was come home and veg in front of the TV. She made me get up off my butt and do the necessary shopping at Wal-Mart for the week with her we have been putting off. At first I was really grumpy but after just a few sentences with Sarah, my troubles began to lift. When I got home, I blogged about it on my new personal blog, Damien at the Speed of Life*.

I don’t know where I would be today without my wife. She listens and echoes back what I say. She offers editorial when she sees fit but mostly she’s highly supportive of the things I say or do. The internet is a great place to make money, but it can never offer what a simple walk with wife can in a million years. I usually don’t write gushing posts like this but I wanted to share with you all in a sort of personal diary fashion how important I feel she is. I have a feeling some of you can relate and we should celebrate it!

Do you have someone in your life that keeps you centered? Share about them in the comments won’t you?

*Note: Some time ago I started a new personal blog/diary at this url: damienatthespeedoflife.wordpress.com Stop by and say hello.

The blogger from In Good Taste asked me to write a guest blog for his clean and impressive Wordpress.com blog. It was no stretch with Sarah’s help. She does a lot of recipe/nutrition type stuff on her blog. Anyway, together we made a pretty good presentation (if I do say so myself). If you are interested in reading my guest blog “recipe” there, the url is linked below:

url: ingoodtaste.wordpress.com/2008/03/25/healthy-tasty...

If you are interested in having me guestblog for your blog for free, read the page explaining the process and contact me. Thanks! I hope to hear from you. Guest blogging is a fun and great way to assist bloggers in practicing writing, networking, and affiliate marketing.

When Sarah and I went to the movies this week we were struck by how many cars were in the parking lot. “Ahhh it’s Spring Break.” I said to her. Kids are out in full force this week. Although I was the teacher of some of them, I wasn’t. I chose to teach “Spring School” for a week, which always has its agonies with ecstasies. I get paid 27 dollars an hour to teach hand-picked students whatever I and the Principal decide is worth the time. My class did test prep in English Language Arts and also a bit of mathematics. Traditionally the kids at my school do better on the Standardized math test than they do on the Language arts, so my minutes followed suit. I saw great growth even in just the four days. I had 13 students who came every day (I didn’t have even one absence which is a record for me!). It was very helpful I thought and I know the test scores will show the results of this agony, its not easy getting up for this when you know you could be on break.

Now for the ecstasy:

Since tomorrow is Good Friday and there are no classes then, Spring School has ended for the week! I am thrilled for the chance to play with my kids on the carpet and have a nice family Easter. We were supposed to drive down to my folks’ house but I am thinking that is going to be a little tough for us. Both the girls (9 mo. and 3 yrs) are coughing with runny noses and quite frankly: my wife and I are spent! Hopefully they will understand. We are looking forward then to a nice Easter at home, maybe an egg hunt in the backyard … sky’s the limit! I remember when I was a kid my parents used to put the Snack Pack puddings that came in little aluminum cans in my easter basket. Vanilla, chocolate, tapioca, butterscotch … those things were so good, and for breakfast nonetheless LOL.

What kind of work are you done with? Did you get pudding as a kid like I did?