I was in a rush yesterday, picked up the kids from daycare, and asked my wife to drive us home so I could jot something on her Valentine's Day card.

Deciding to go with a poem, I wanted to refer to her, but not by name. I *meant* to write 5'10" but instead I put 6'5". Heh--later that night when she read it, she raised an eyebrow and said, "So who's this tall broad you're so in love with?" ;)

Damn. Now I have to follow up with flowers or something today.

Smooth -- how'd you manage that? I can see transposing or something, I don't get how you can get 6'5" out of 5'10".

At any rate, that sucks. Heh. In a very amusing way, that is.

Yeah, beats the hell out of me. I don't know how it happend either.

Maybe she's just lying? You know, trying to get flowers or sympathy or somehing... Yeah, I bet that's it!

Yeah, I'm sure that's it, Tim. Women are always making crap like that up. It's just never quite right, no matter how hard you try. Know what I mean? If you get chocolates, they're stale. If you get flowers, they're either the wrong kind, color, or she's allergic. Etc. Etc. They make this stuff up to get more presents. I think you're on to something there, Tim.

Ahh, you've stumbled on the first rule of dealing with women: you can only earn demerits. Do everything right - ride up on a white charger, sweep them off their feet, take out the trash, bring them flowers, spend time with the kids, make plenty of money, etc. - and you have simply met expectations. Miss one of those, and you get a demerit. So, you can never gain points, only lose them.

Hmmm...I detect a study coming on...

So, does anyone know just exactly how many demerits gaming is worth? I mean, if I play a game when she's home, what is the penalty? I'm sure it varies from wife to wife...

I think it goes way beyond varying wife to wife. It also depends on mood, what they had for lunch, what happened while you were at work or out somewhere, etc.

I found a great way to avoid demerits though. I write game reviews for a magazine and get PAID for it. You wouldn't believe what that getting paid to play games thing does for your gaming time and your avoidance of demerits! :D

--Dave

"You wouldn't believe what that getting paid to play games thing does for your gaming time and your avoidance of demerits! :D"

Dave, this thought has occurred to me several times. I'm working on it...

Well, when I was writing for GamePen we got really crappy wages. So crappy, in fact, that my wife was prone to slapping 50 cents down on my desk to out bid GamePen for my time. ;)

Ouch!!

Yeah, I'm sure my wife would do the same thing...