Another Domestic Update from the Wife

Ok, so Matt always comes out with these controversial, idealistic posts that generate comments.. but for those of you who wonder about what our daily lives are like (aka, the womenfolk), here is a typical day:

5:15 am Alarm goes off the first time.

5:25 am Alarm goes off the second time. Hopefully we actually get up this time, followed by Matt getting ready and me making coffee and breakfast.

6:36 am Matt leaves for work, and I go back to bed.

After that it gets a bit sketchier. Generally I watch an episode of Dance Wars on the internet while I do the dishes that I should have done last night, followed by procrastinating and then lunch. Sometimes I run errands; today I checked the mail, took the trash ($1.50 per 30 gal. bag) and the recycling (free! we are so environmentally conscious now..) to the "convenience center," went to the commissary (hopefully we'll make grocery budget this month.. could be close, but I did remember to bring my reusable shopping bags. I told you we were environmentally conscious, plus they double bag EVERYTHING at the comissary, which leaves you with a MOUNTAIN of plastic bags very quickly), stopped by Sonic on the way home (Happy Hour!), looked for jobs on the internet, attempted to clean up the guest room since we'll be having a guest this weekend, and hung out with Matt when he got home.

So yeah, that's the daily frame work of our lives.

Now, I think I'll close with something inflammatory just to make sure I get some comments to this post... umm...

If you don't spay or neuter your pets, then you're a bad person!!! ...or a breeder. Whichever.


EDIT by Matt: In order to avoid upstaging Helen too soon, I'm posting a promised article on my thinking blog.

The new banner...

About the fancy new banner to your left...

I've spent the last few years talking about how modern scientific thought has become a church unto itself and that it persecutes any "heresy" that dares suggest that Darwin wasn't the greatest thing since sliced bread. Well, Ben Stein is now my favorite person alive... except Helen. Go watch the trailer and you'll see why.

IF YOU'RE A CHRISTIAN AND YOU DON'T SUPPORT THIS MOVIE, THEN YOU'RE WRONG!!! You should at least go buy tickets at the movie theater. Don't worry, I'll harass you mercilessly until you buy a pair of tickets and give them to somebody. I'm dead serious. People complain about "them good fer nuthin' young 'uns" on the news and they help the children in China. If you don't support the spread of Christian thinking in your own home, then you are a hypocrite and you're building a future for your children that will be worse than persecution; it will be Godless.

Get off your butt.

I'm only yelling at those of you who are sitting on your butts. If you already are off your butt, then good for you, now go yell at someone who isn't.

Exciting news...

Well, exciting for me, anyway. As you may know, I'm VERY interested in computer graphics and making the kind of 3D effects that you see in movies like Spiderman. IN pursuit of this endeavor, I bought a copy of Lightwave from Matt Kelling about 4 years ago. It comes with a thing that looks like a USB drive which you have to have plugged into the computer while you're using the program (it's called a dongle and is a means of verifying that I have a legitimate copy of Lightwave and not an illegal duplicate). Unfortunately, I lost this critical device about 2 years ago. Ever since then, I've kept the software in the hopes that I could buy a replacement dongle or otherwise fix my problem.

Well, while I was in Iraq I got REALLY serious about this whole 3D graphics thing and I decided to find out about buy a dongle. It was going to be $200. Not awful, but I still want to upgrade from version 8 (which I have right now) to the latest version, which would cost an additional $400. That's a total of $600, which is ironically the same amount that I payed Matt in the first place. Well, I hemmed and hawed for the year that I was out there using my absence from general civilization as an excuse to not buy the software and do LOTS of research about my options. Well, I can continue with Animation:Master (piece of crap), or I can buy a new copy of Lightwave. But if I'm going to buy Lightwave all over again, then I might as well consider buying something else. Well, Lightwave has several peers. Maya was at the head of the pack as far as quality goes, at $1000. Lightwave fell close behind, at $600. 3D Studio Max was also a contender at $900, and Autodesk brought up the rear as my least favorite, at about $1200. Either way you slice it, it's a LOT of money. This gave Helen hives (not really, but she hates spending money, especially lots of money). I reassured her that I wasn't going to buy anything without weeks and weeks of thought a research and she still had hives (not really, but I have to tease her). I reassured her that I wasn't going to buy anything before I came home from Iraq and the hives subsided a little. Then I got home from Iraq.

Now firstly, I should reassure all 3 of our readers that I do in fact "wear the pants" as it's often said. I make the decisions and Helen graciously and respectfully carries them out. To her credit, she enjoys this arrangement and maintains her own dignity with grace and royal poise. This is another way in which my father and I are very similar (and it confuses my mother a little): yes, I expect Helen to do what I say, but I would much rather that she agree with me that what I'm saying is correct. When my dad tries to convince my mother to come alongside him, she often mistakes it for being "wish-washy." Anyhow, the point is that I wear the pants, but I try not to be dictatorial. Helen is not inferior to me, nor should any other man think that Helen is to submit to him (only to "her own husband"), and I try to make decisions WITH her. Like this spending LOTS of money thing.

So, I tried to help her understand why I was interested in spending lots and lots of money and why it wasn't like buy a game or spending money on a hobby (I intend to support our family doing this). Well, the cool part is that not only did Helen understand what I was trying to do and support me (once she understood it), but I didn't even have to spend lots and lots of money!! That's right, I found everything that I needed to make Lightwave work on eBay for $120!! It's brand new, it's never been opened, the seller has great reviews and it's even cheaper than buying a new dongle!

Needless to say, I'm very excited about getting mail on Monday or Tuesday because I have both of those days off from work. If it doesn't come then I'll still be excited, but it won't be quite as cool because I won't have a bunch of free time to play with it.

Anyhow, that's the news from Lake Woebegone.

Happy One-and-a-half Year Anniversary!

Today is our one-and-a-half year anniversary, and it also happens to be Valentines Day. So I got home from doing laundry at a friend's house (thanks, Jackie!) to find my wonderful husband had cleared out the last of the post-moving clutter, so now my house actually looks homey, and a lot more presentable. Isn't that the best Valentine's gift ever? I have such a great husband. Now if we could just find the camera, we could put up pictures of the place for everyone...

Adjusting..

Well, the last week has been interesting. It's been interesting to see some ways that I've changed in the past year, but it's been even better for both Helen and me to see how each of us has stayed the same. There was a little bit of concern about how much we would have changed after a year of being apart, and it's been good to see that we haven't. It's also been interesting to adjust my habits. After doing, quite literally, exactly the same thing in exactly the same way for 367 days in a row, it's been difficult to adapt to this new routine. I should be all reaccquainted in the next couple of weeks. I've started back at work, but I'll probably change jobs again in about another week. It's good to be back in a routine that I'm familiar with. It's helped the transition a little. Helen has been absolutely perfect. She's been so careful to take note of my differences and my new neurosese. She's been so good at caring for me and taking care of all the logistics of daily life while I get used to being a "non-combat" Marine.

I appologize for the delay on the promised movie reviews. I'll try to get to those and a few more in the next few days. I've got a long weekend coming up soon, so I should have plenty of time. So, there you have it. In the words of the good Dr. Seuss "That's all there is, there isn't anymore." Except that there will be more later... Oh well.

Well, I'm back...

I got back Monday and I've been enjoying not being in Iraq anymore. I was immediately surprised at how nice of a home Helen was able to make in such a short amount of time before I got back. She bought a bunch of really nice furniture and at really good prices too. The most expensive part was the bed, which I'm happy about because I've been ready to sleep on a real mattress for the past year or so. It's also been really good eat her fantastic cooking too. To put it simply, I'm very glad to be home, and I'm very glad that I never have to deploy again (well, there is fine print, but that is unlikely). I'll be sure to post more in the future, but right now I'm taking my time getting used to being not in Iraq anymore. More later...

Going Home, Goine Home...

Yeah, it's a song, but that's probably not the first thing that came to mind. Nope the first thing that came to mind was "Yay! Matt's going home!" In which case you would also be right, so it's a win-win situation, really. So yup, that's what's going on at the moment. I'm traveling, and Helen is courageously setting up our home in NC with my two friends who so graciously accompanied her on the long trip from Tx as well as sticking around for several days to help her get things situated. I really cannot express how comforting that is to me. Anyhow, I can't tell you when I'll be home, but I can tell you that it will be soon. I'll be sure to post and let everyone know that I made it home safely, but you can bet your bottom dollar that posting won't be my first priority ;-) Well, I'm going to go eat breakfast. Y'all behave until I get back...