All good advice, but the most important thing is communication. When I'm mad at my wife, I let her know why. When I'm upset about something she does, I tell her. When we do things together that I enjoy, I make sure she knows how I feel. When Fallout 3 shipped, and I disappeared for a week, she knew it was coming. It's all about communication.

If it's not quite a supernova, but more than a regular nova, does that make it a sidekick?

I'm an employee at a company that is rapidly expanding (ie went from 6 to 11 employees in a 2-month span, plus outsourcing projects). My bosses right now *can't* pay me outlandish wages and still have the resources to manage our rapid growth. I'm not speculating -- I've seen the budget sheets. So what do they do? They give the employees perqs to make our lives easier, and keep us happy. My cell phone plan is paid for. We have a pool table and a nice TV for when we need a break. There are snacks and caffeine (drug of choice for code slaves!) in the break room. Quite frankly, I'd rather have my life simplified as such than make a bit extra -- but then, I'm in the industry because I'm lazy.