Yes, those are my feet

The following blog post is in response to GHR Episode 118, “Matrimony vs. Mancaves”; and the subsequent comments in episode 119.  If you haven’t listened to them, please do!
To start with – in regards to my wife putting a bid on a house without me seeing it – you have to look at it from our point of view.  We had been looking at houses for months, only finding one house that we both agreed deserved a bid.  That bid expired because the owner was dragging his feet and it was an estate sale, plus we didn’t get a good vibe from the realtor or owner.  After all of this house searching (we walked through probably 20 houses) my wife had a good idea of what my expectations were in a house.  While I was at PAX, my wife looked at another house and fell in love with it.  She said it had everything we needed, but there were multiple parties interested in the house and we needed to act immediately.  I’ve known my wife since elementary school, nearly 25 years.  There is no one I trust more.  However, she does not have a critical eye for the “nuts and bolts” aspects of home ownership.  Things like, how old is the furnace, how old is the roof, how many layers of shingles are on it, are there any water issues, etc.  These are the things that I look at in a house.  That being said, for those of you that don’t know, there are two parts of negotiating a house – the sale price – and the home inspection.  After the home is inspected, you negotiate what repairs are required before you move in, or how much money the owner will take off of the sale price for you to make the repairs.  If both parries don’t agree, you can void the sale contract.  Knowing this, I trusted my wife and allowed her to place a bid on the house.  It turns out that there were a couple issues that turned up during the inspection that would have allowed us to back out, but we decided to buy the house anyway, as a team.  I feel that if that level of trust doesn’t exist after 10 plus years of marriage and knowing her as long as I have, then we shouldn’t be married.

For those that feel my email was selfish/whiny (Scooter Dad!), I agree.  That was my point.  I know it was a selfish point of view, I was simply being honest and asking if I should even broach the subject with my wife.  Turns out she listened to the podcast and agreed with Samantha that I’m lucky to even have a man cave.  She did however agree to put up blackout curtains.  Everyone knows a good cave can’t have any natural light.

Also, Mrs. Vicjo’s comments about her ipod gift struck a chord with me as well, as I get in similar discussions with my wife.  Mrs. JD took a rock in her windshield and it cracked.  She told me about it, I had gone through the same thing last year with my car.  She went ahead and called the glass repair place, they came to her work and replaced the windshield.  One night she decided to use this against me, saying that I should have been the one to call and get the windshield replaced.  First of all she doesn’t let me drive her car.  Secondly, if she had asked me to do it, I would have gladly taken care of it.  Since I never drive her car, I forgot about the windshield until she mentioned that she had it repaired.  Same thing goes with “alone time”.  If you want some time to yourself without any kids, just ask.  I’ll gladly make dinner for the kids while the wife goes for a walk or takes a bath.  I’ll take the kids grocery shopping on weekends, no problem.  But don’t complain about it if you never ask for help.  I know – “I shouldn’t have to ask, you should just offer to help.”  Wrong.  Don’t work that way.  Communication is a 2 way street, no mind reading should be required.  Ask and ye shall receive.  Otherwise don’t whine about it.

Finally, EA.  Charging $10 for online play is crazy.  They are simply trying to take money out of Gamestop’s bottom line.  That’s it.  EA’s argument that they should be paid for providing online access to their games is flawed.  They are paid, when someone buys a new game.  The cost of the game allows for EA to maintain servers for online play.  Just because the owner trades in the game and someone else buys it used, EA was still paid originally when the game was bought new.  It’s not like the number of users are multiplying – the number of game discs remains the same.  One disc = one user (ignoring piracy).  EA’s stance is that the ability to play online is not transferrable, and it’s BS.  The only thing this will do is hurt used sales of EA’s games, along with hurting the consumer who relies on buying and selling used games to supplement their gaming budget.  Shame on you, EA!

The views expressed in this post are the ramblings of a dbag and are in no way the views of the Gamer Husbands™.