The sense of humor comes in handy, especially when you have to put up with a husband and kids. But actually, 99.9% of the time, they are the best thing in my life. Then there are the moments when you have to laugh when something frustrating happens, because there's no point in getting mad about it. Which is why my son had the temporary nickname of "Mom's fountain of joy", while I was learning to be much faster with diaper changing...

So what are you trying to say, (pregnant) wives have no sense of humor?

I agree that getting an early start at programming is beneficial, but I don't believe it's necessary. I expect I'm quite a bit older than you, but when I was growing up, having access to a computer wasn't common. Maybe some of the more wealthy families had one, but not ours. I simply wasn't exposed to computers much in high school. After high school, I spent 6 years in the military, to earn some money to pay for college (even though I wasn't sure what I wanted to do yet). While I was in, I got a little more exposure to computers, and became interested. So, when I started college in my mid twenties, my first CS course was my first exposure to programming. There were some students that seemed to have a hard time, but I wasn't one of them. Some people have the thinking skills/talent necessary, even if they never had the exposure to the technology, and once they get that exposure and the opportunity to try, even if they're older, they do well. Even with no prior experience or exposure, I did very well, and finally graduated (Magna Cum Laude, even), and now I'm working as a developer, quite successfully. Sure, there are people who aren't cut out for CS, generally the ones who struggle in the intro courses. However, just because you didn't get an early start at programming, that doesn't mean that you can't be inclined toward it and excel at it.

Warning: the linked page is in Comic Sans. The goggles, they do nothing!!!

AFAIK, they're not actually applying a special tax to people because they're gay. It's putting kind of a fine point on it, but actually, they just give tax breaks to people for being married, and unfortunately, our government doesn't allow same-sex marriage. IMO, TRWTF is that the govt has any involvement in marriage at all. Only slightly less WTF-y is our tax code...

disclaimer: I'm a Libertarian, so I consider at least 90% of the government to be a huge WTF...

This is so true. I think companies that require these certifications do it for two reasons. Either they get some kind of special status for having employees with the certifications (e.g. "Microsoft Partner"), or they're too lazy to truly evaluate how well employees are keeping current, and the piece of paper is a shortcut for this. I think that a company that truly cares about the employees' skills more than a piece of paper could find better ways to evaluate. The certification just means that you can remember a lot of information and regurgitate it, not that you have a deep understanding of it, or the creativity to use it to solve problems in the best way. As someone who has never actually run a business, I humbly suggest that companies who want to encourage their employees to keep current start setting aside a certain amount of time each week for developers to take turns presenting something new they've learned to the rest of the team. Each developer would only have to prepare something once a month or so (give or take, depending on team size), and most people, I expect, wouldn't have a problem with spending a few hours to a day of their personal time studying/researching for something like this, especially if they get to choose the topics themselves. Plus, from the effort of one individual, and an hour of listening to the presenter and discussing, the whole team learns something new each week.

And if you have a Talkie Toaster (patent applied for)

It's not exactly "official", as you have to go to a third party, but you can file online free. I worked as a tax preparer one year, and from my experience, the reason most clients chose $tax_service instead of doing it themselves (paper or online) wasn't because they couldn't, but because $tax_service offered refund anticipation loans. Which means they get a check for several thousand, less a couple hundred in fees, the next day, rather than waiting a week or more for direct deposit of the full refund.

+1 Ironic...

proper spelling is a sign of a writer's respect for the reader of his work.

FIFY

I doubt that computers or game consoles have anything to do with it. I could read by 4 without any of that stuff. My parents both read a lot, and read to me. When I wanted to read too, they helped me learn.

EXACTLY! Sorry I don't have any mod points for you, you deserve a +1 Brilliant...

Rewarding preventive behaviors would be a good start. For instance, give a discount or rebate for people who join a gym, get regular checkups, etc. Even paying for these things outright would probably cost the insurance company a lot less than paying for the conditions that these behaviors tend to prevent... Any insurance companies out there doing this?

Don't worry, US citizens in my generation are in the same boat...

Don't worry about books that you feel don't apply to you, just use common sense. Treat her with the love and respect you want her to treat you with. Love and take care of each other. Don't ever forget all the reasons you love her so much now, and don't let her forget how awesome she is. Show your appreciation for even the little things. Always back each other up, especially if/when you have kids. Be dependable for one another, but don't take one another for granted.

fear != respect