Skip to main content

The Fifth Way to Ask

I'm sure everyone wants to know what happened with my "example" from Four Ways to Ask.  Turns out there was a fifth way I hadn't considered.

There's the option where your wife never even reads your blog post and you take care of the problem yourself.

In my example, we ended up at school and I picked up Rachel's blankets and brought them home.  It wasn't until after we got home that Erin read the blog post.

The problems with this solution abound.  Not the least of which is that I had to do something to solve the problem.  What do people take me for, a helpful husband and father?

There's also the problem that I wasn't able to "educate" my wife in the ways she made a mistake.  I couldn't even make it a subtle chastisement.

In the long run though, I suppose this is really the best solution.

There was nothing we could do to have the blankets washed before school.  It was just fine to wait and solve the problem without causing any grief.  Besides, it turns out it was my suggestion to wash the sheets Monday, so, in some small way, it was my fault for not magically getting the blankets without entering Rachel's classroom.

Truly though, taking care of the problem yourself really is the best answer.  Why cause grief when you can actually support your spouse, or someone else, by solving the problem and simply moving on.  It's those behind the scenes support and help which, in the long run, change the world.

Just so you know, Erin enjoyed pointing out how I was partly responsible.  She also did realize she forgot to pick the stuff up, but decided it wasn't that important.  Not that important that our daughter slept in her own filth, I'm not sure I agree (but I'm a guy, we do everything in our own filth).

So, in all it worked out very well, and I think I have to recommend this fifth solution.

Peace,
+Tom

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Red-Gate SQL Compare

Every now and then I come across a program that becomes so ingrained in my daily work that I hardly know how I'd get by without it.  I'll probably break down a couple over the next few days, but for database work, I have never found anything as good as Red Gate's SQL Compare and SQL Data Compare .  Essentially these tools let you compare two SQL Server databases (all objects, users, permissions, functions, diagrams, anything) and update changes to whichever database you want.  This is amazingly useful for deploying database changes to a test or production environment (do it to production with ridiculous care, even though it will generate a SQL Script for you and run all updates in one transaction), and making sure everything is synchronized. For releases we can just generate the compare script, confirm that the changes match the updates we want to go out, and store it all in one place with the release details.  This is true for both the structure and the d...
6 comments
Read more

Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Microsoft Access

I've answered this question in some form or another far more times than I care to count.  Most often it's a question of "why do I need a fancy Web application when I can just build this myself in two days in Access.  I mean, the data's already in Excel."  So I figured I'd post out what I threw together, I know I've missed some points. Overview Microsoft Access is an ideal solution for relatively small datasets and a limited number of users. From the Microsoft Web site: “As a desktop database, Access is well suited for small, departmental applications. These applications may start as one user’s project. For example, an employee realizes that productivity can be increased if a paper-based process is automated with an Access application. Other users in the department recognize that they can take advantage of the application if additional features are added. As more features are added, more employees run the application. As time goes by, more and more Access...
8 comments
Read more

Portrait Innovations

I mentioned in a previous post that I surprised Erin with pictures from Portrait Innovations of Rachel, Colin and (a few) of myself.  This generated more comments than 99% of my posts receive (read that as I received one comment).  Because both Erin and I have gone separately and had great experiences with the company, I figured I would spend a post explaining how it works, what's different from Sears and a professional photographer, and why I like them. Great Shots Erin and I went to Sears a LOT when Rachel was born.  We went every month to track her growth.  So far Colin's on an every 3 months cycle (second kid, life sucks, get over it and quit whining to me about being "fair").  One of the things with Sears that kind of bugged me was the set positions.  You know, laying on the floor with head propped on arms, sitting on stool cross legged.  While I think having some set poses are a good idea, at both Sears we've used, it's too extreme....
8 comments
Read more