No prizes for guessing which one is an Economist.

Just read a fascinating article in Slate. It accurately describes a situation I've gone through with Valerie:

"Friends of mine, a husband and wife, once argued over the price of a packet of cakes bought at a convenience store. She complained that the cakes weren't worth the price she had paid. He pointed out that she had bought them—albeit grudgingly—knowing exactly how they tasted and that, therefore, they had to be worth what she had paid. No prizes for guessing which one of them is an economist."

I give kudos to Valerie for trying to think like an Economist. She has used terms like "zero-sum", "free trade", and others (correctly!); her willingness to wade into the world I work/think in means a lot to me. It is quite a shock to me when she points out that I have fallen for the "sunk cost" fallacy!

Now I just need to learn how to appreciate the more subtle aspects of graphic design!

Wedding Research

If I mentioned Wedding Research to Valerie, she might think I had taken an interest in choosing flowers or cake (I like cake!). However, the Wall Street Journal recently ran an article featuring some statistics of successful marriages.

Enjoy!

Marriage is like pancakes, sort of

I realized, recently, that marriage is like pancakes. Not in the gooey warm goodness, but in my interpretation.

See, pancakes are something Nana makes on cold Sundays or during the week either for breakfast or sometimes lunch (she also makes waffles). Pancakes with melted butter taste delicious with real maple syrup. And when I thought of pancakes, I thought back to my Nana making pancakes in her kitchen. Recently, I added Mr. Dennis Underwood to that mental picture; he makes excellent pancakes as well. Just recently did I realize that pancakes are also cakes that are made in pans. I had never realized my substitution for the dictionary definition of pancakes. Nana's face does not appear in the dictionary (but it should).

I don't know if I thought of marriage as I thought of pancakes. I knew I had a great Mom and Dad (Hi, MOM!), but I never really peered into or examined their marriage. They were just Mom and Dad. Mom helped with the homework and made me work at the copy machine at Delta. Dad took me to school in the mornings and made stuff in his shop with me. I'm oversimplifying, but this is a blog, not an autobiography (for sale at a later date; a MUST read!!!). They were best friends, but I don't think I understood exactly what a marriage was.

But in the past few years, my idea of marriage has shifted from a legal contract between two people (thanks Economics!) to become more like pancakes. Even before I left for college, I began to look at people deeper. Not at their interaction with me, but how they interacted with their spouse and with others with their spouse present. I'm proud (and thankful) to say that I have found some great marriage mentors (or honor couples!) that have adjusted my perception of marriage to become less like a legal contract and an economical living arrangement to that of pancakes.

Wedding by Proxy

While Val would not go for it, wedding by proxy sounds interesting. I'm not sure I would participate, but it does provide a valuable service to US citizens that are outside the country, like our military men and women. It also seems to make the participants a tidy sum of money.