# Spouse Occupation



## Road Guy (Feb 5, 2010)

vote and discuss

My wife is a RN and an RD (Regisered Dietician)

while I am not skinny my wife does buy a lot of fruit, whole wheat, yogurt, etc, etc,


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## Ble_PE (Feb 5, 2010)

Ever since Mini Ble was born, my wife has been a SAHM. Before that she taught Spanish at a private language institute. She actually graduated college with a degree in Architecture and Spanish but took the Spanish teaching option.


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## Chucktown PE (Feb 5, 2010)

I thought we already had a spouse occupation thread. Mrs. Chucktown stays home withe kiddos, before that she was in marketing.


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## Melanie11 (Feb 5, 2010)

My husband is a teacher


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## wilheldp_PE (Feb 5, 2010)

Chucktown PE said:


> I thought we already had a spouse occupation thread. Mrs. Chucktown stays home withe kiddos, before that she was in marketing.


Yep...What occupation do engineers marry?


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## Road Guy (Feb 5, 2010)

link doesnt work?


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## Sschell (Feb 5, 2010)

^that link appears to be fried.

I'm not sure what to check... import export compliance analyst isn't on there... maybe I'll go with general business.


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## wilheldp_PE (Feb 5, 2010)

Road Guy said:


> link doesnt work?


It tends not to work when you delete the thread.


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## roadwreck (Feb 5, 2010)

sschell_PE said:


> I'm not sure what to check... import export compliance analyst isn't on there... maybe I'll go with general business.


I'd go with stripper, you know, just to be on the safe side.


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## Sschell (Feb 5, 2010)

Stripper for vandalay industries?


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## Fluvial (Feb 5, 2010)

I had to pick 'other'. My hubby is a mechanic by training. He is currently the head of vehicle maintenance for the City here.

I think we are a good team because he can do so many things which I haven't the foggiest idea of how to even start, and vice versa. He also saves us quite a bit of $ because of a lot of things he can do which we don't have to pay someone else to do.

My first husband was a finish carpenter.

My second husband was a computer analyst.


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## NCcarguy (Feb 5, 2010)

I had to check other, since I'm single, but I really wanted to check "Stripper"!!!!


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## Master slacker (Feb 5, 2010)

Ble_PE said:


> Ever since Mini Ble was born, my wife has been a SAHM.


That's the same as my wife since our little nugget was born. Unfortunately, we can't live like that for long. It takes money to live and we'll need that second income again before long. Oh, she's a paralegal when she is working.


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## MonteBiker (Feb 5, 2010)

Wife is a middle school math teacher but will be staying at home once Mini-Biker is born, at least for the first few years.


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Feb 5, 2010)

My wife is a post-doctoral fellow in biomedical engineering. Specifically, medical imaging as it related to cancer therapy. Her goal is to become a tenured faculty member at a university one day.

I put engineer since she's not a prof yet.


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## snickerd3 (Feb 5, 2010)

my hubby is a chemist so i chose "other"

congrats to those whose wifes are full time SAHMs. I did that for 13 wks, now only part time. needed to start using the brain again and be around other people.


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## Sschell (Feb 5, 2010)

mini snick is a person too!


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## MechGuy (Feb 5, 2010)

My wife has been a SAHM since all 3 of my little ones have been born. The oldest is 5, the youngest is 5 months. Although she does work from home a bit as a financial planner/accountant type. Before we had the mini-mechguys, she was a graphic designer. Her degrees are in metal sculpture and wilderness education..... but she wants to go back to school and be a teacher for special needs kids.

She's about going crazy at home by herself so I fully expect she'll run from the house as soon as all the kiddies are in school full time.


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## z06dustin (Feb 5, 2010)

These need to be multiple choice, for those of us who:

a.) have talented wives who do lots

b.) are mormon.


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## Master slacker (Feb 5, 2010)

How do you folks with SAHMs make it work financially? Between CC, mortgage, student loans, and insurance, breaking even in a month without a second income is tough. We don't even splurge on weekends. Do I really make that little?


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## ktulu (Feb 5, 2010)

My wife is in the admin/clerical category. Works for Auburn University. She sits at her desk and plays bejeweled all day.


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## MonteBiker (Feb 5, 2010)

Master slacker said:


> How do you folks with SAHMs make it work financially? Between CC, mortgage, student loans, and insurance, breaking even in a month without a second income is tough. We don't even splurge on weekends. Do I really make that little?


We have no student loans or credit card debt. We own our vehicles outright. We don't have cable tv or phones with data plans. When we looked at buying a house, we limited ourselves to what we could afford assuming my salary alone (less than 28%). We have spent the last several years preparing by putting as much into retirement funds as possible and increasing our savings. To this date, we have always lived off of my salary and just put hers into savings.


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## Ble_PE (Feb 5, 2010)

Master slacker said:


> How do you folks with SAHMs make it work financially? Between CC, mortgage, student loans, and insurance, breaking even in a month without a second income is tough. We don't even splurge on weekends. Do I really make that little?


I don't know about everyone else, but it works for us because we don't have any credit card debt, I'm the only one with student loans (wife's was paid for by her dad), and when we bought our house our combined income was less than I make now. When I started working at my current company my pay went up almost 50%, so that is probably the biggest reason. If I was working where I used to work, then there is no way this would have worked out.


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## Master slacker (Feb 5, 2010)

We don't have any CC debt either. I've never carried a balance in the 13 years I've had a card. We put 20% down on the house, always socked away money into savings about equal to her pay (after everything was paid, that's what we had left), but I can't expect to pay for another mouth, education, etc... by my salary alone. Man, I don't understand how fathers who make less than me do it. :wacko:


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## Dark Knight (Feb 5, 2010)

Mine is a Speech Therapist, or was. She refuses to go back to work because the language barrier. She does not even try. In the mean time I have had to take care of a family of 5...Now, with two kids in college and a High School sophmore....you can figure out the rest.


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## OSUguy98 (Feb 5, 2010)

SAHSTBM... (Stay-at-home-soon-to-be-mom)... She has a Bach. in Psychology, minor in Accounting (a 4.0 through college), but she wants to be an SAHM. So far we've made ends meet and have never fallen behind... No student loans, my car is paid off, I inherited my dad's truck... No "bad" CC Debt... the only CC Debt we have is the 6 or 12mo same as cash type (currently remodeling the bathroom) , and I pay the same amount every month so they get paid off a month before the offer runs out... We have a VERY low COL, compared to the rest of the country... and we don't really eat out much, nor go to the movies,etc... I work, we work on the house, and my wife shops yard sales 3 or 4 times a year... Occasionally we treat ourselves to something (I just bought an Xbox 360).... but generally, we end up putting away around $250-400 a month, and we're good with that...


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## MechGuy (Feb 5, 2010)

We've struggled a bit over the past few years on just my income. But that's mostly because one of my rental homes has had a low occupancy rate... I guess all the foreclosures didn't result in more people renting like I thought it would!

But we make it work. I've found over the years that we usually live within our means, whatever those are. So if my wife worked and more money came in, we'd probably buy more things that we wouldn't normally buy just because we could. I would hope that we would save more, but realistically we'd probably just blow more money on crap.


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## snickerd3 (Feb 5, 2010)

sschell_PE said:


> mini snick is a person too!


sorry i forgot the word grownup


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## Chucktown PE (Feb 5, 2010)

snickerd3 said:


> my hubby is a chemist so i chose "other"
> congrats to those whose wifes are full time SAHMs. I did that for 13 wks, now only part time. needed to start using the brain again and be around other people.


I think Mrs. Chucktown uses her brain, it's just different brain work. She spends a lot of time with our kids doing arts/crafts stuff, reading activities, etc.. They watch about 30 minutes of TV a day and that's it. It's almost like she's a preschool teach although they are in preschool. The four year old goes 3 days a week and the 2 year old goes 2 days a week.



Master slacker said:


> How do you folks with SAHMs make it work financially? Between CC, mortgage, student loans, and insurance, breaking even in a month without a second income is tough. We don't even splurge on weekends. Do I really make that little?


It is definitely tough. No student loans is the first thing, no other debt is the other. We've been renting for the last year and a half since my company bought my house in ATL. Have you claimed mine Master slacker on your taxes yet? That makes a huge difference. I make $85k a year, hopefully $90k next year and I have some other investments outside of retirement that will produce anywhere between $5k and $10k extra. Mrs. Chucktown did some contract work for her former employer before we moved and at the peak I think that brought in an extra $10k a year, but I was making substantially less then. I think you can make it on $80k pretty easily, and seriously, the coupon thing is huge. That will save us at least $4000 out of pocket a year.


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## snickerd3 (Feb 5, 2010)

Master slacker said:


> How do you folks with SAHMs make it work financially? Between CC, mortgage, student loans, and insurance, breaking even in a month without a second income is tough. We don't even splurge on weekends. Do I really make that little?


That's one reason we waited to have kids. Got my student loans and both cars paid off. All we have is the mortgage. Like other we pay the credit cards in full. Only reason we don't do the debit route is the discover cash back.


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## MonteBiker (Feb 5, 2010)

snickerd3 said:


> Master slacker said:
> 
> 
> > How do you folks with SAHMs make it work financially? Between CC, mortgage, student loans, and insurance, breaking even in a month without a second income is tough. We don't even splurge on weekends. Do I really make that little?
> ...


Slightly off topic... The Discover cash back is great. We put all of our purchases on it and pay it off at the end of every month. We just do gift cards for everyone for the holidays through them. We also just got our new stroller on sale using the gift cards from Discover for one of the companies that gives you an extra 25% in gift cards over the cash. For our nursery furniture, we gathered the 20% off coupons for the store and rang up each piece of furniture as a different purchase (making sure that we put all of the costs back on the discover card so we got the bonus points too) and then paid it off at the end of the month.


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## DVINNY (Feb 5, 2010)

My wife is the bigger breadwinner $$$$$ in the family, hence my shiney toys like my Camaro. 

I wish she made more $$

She probably wonders how she ended up with my pathetic arse.


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## MGX (Feb 5, 2010)

My girlfriend is graduating with a degree in Meteorology and going for a masters. I want to get married and have her study something $$$ like geo-petro-physics so I can collect from the couch and she can bring home the bacon.

any tips?


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## Master slacker (Feb 5, 2010)

Chucktown PE said:


> It is definitely tough. No student loans is the first thing, no other debt is the other.


The only debt we have are the house and student loans. Student loans are locked at 4.5% and 2.25% and mortgage is 6%. There's no need to pay off the student loans when CD's and 401k are paying out more than our debt interest. That would just be a bad financial decision. Besides that, the mortgage will be done in 27 years, student loans in 17, but I won't retire for another 35 years. Retirement funding &gt; debt killing.


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## Road Guy (Feb 5, 2010)

my wife was a stay at home mom for the first 4 years of our kid raising years, she worked some on weekends and every know and then at night. It was tough financially, and that was back when I made $40,000 a year and begged for OT.... I think thats work you either love or hate, my wife hated it to be honest I think..


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## csb (Feb 5, 2010)

I wouldn't be able to stay at home all the time. I'm also the breadwinner for our house...my husband's shiny toy is a '65 Mustang Fastback that got a new engine last year.


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## cement (Feb 5, 2010)

My wife makes the big $ for us. When we applied for our mortgage I had a job offer pending, but no pay stubs to show and the load officer said that I didn't need to work for us to qualify for the loan.

The wife said, "yes he does, otherwise I'd have to kill him"


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## Dleg (Feb 5, 2010)

My wife runs an environmental laboratory, but I clicked "stripper" just for the momentary thrill.

I have had two good friends who did stints as SAHDs. The first was a good friend of mine who's wife was the manager of a ritzy duty-free type store, I think it was a Chanel. He just kicked back and enjoyed himself taking care of the kids. They moved away to New York and she started making the really big $$$, and he got bored so he went back to school and got a law degree. Last I heard, his wife said "it's your turn now, MF!" and quite her job, and he's working his ass off now as a junior attorney at some law firm.

The other friend is an "MS, PE" - masters of science in physical education!!!! He was working (sort of) as a PE teacher, but his lawyer wife finally achieved her dream of going to work for the State Department, and now he is a SAHD living the high life in Brussels. Bastard!


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## DVINNY (Feb 5, 2010)

csb said:


> I wouldn't be able to stay at home all the time. I'm also the breadwinner for our house...my husband's shiny toy is a '65 Mustang Fastback that got a new engine last year.


you're awesome, .....

but shoulda got a Camaro.


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## MA_PE (Feb 6, 2010)

my wife stopped working and was a SAHM. She loved it and did a great job raising the kids. It was tough cash-wise but we survived. Once the kids hit Jr. high and then HS, I gave her a "gimme a break here time to get back to work." She doesn't like it but then again I don't like going to work either.


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## Supe (Feb 7, 2010)

MIAF is working as a waitress and having a hard time keeping up with her bills. She WAS a hairdresser, but the area we live in is so depressed she can't find work doing that anymore.


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## DVINNY (Feb 7, 2010)

There wasn't a category for my wife's job, so I picked Stripper. But who is the other stripper? 

She has a Master's plus, and is further trained in a medical specialty, but is a few hours and residency shy of a doctorate, so I can't put her down as a doc either. She would kill me if I put her down as a nurse, (not that there is anything wrong with that), so stripper works.

There should be a medical catergory for PA's, OT/R's, PT's, etc. Although, she won't show it but gets pissed if someone says "oh, aren't you a physical therapist".

It gets her when people assume she's a nurse too. She smiles and takes it, but I know better.

I guess it'd be like someone asking a P.E. "oh, aren't you an AutoCAD drafter?". (not that there is anything wrong with that)

Funny thing is, she mentioned staying at home after our 3rd one, but her and I both know that she'd go crazy in the house all day. She's a great Mom, but needs her time to do her thing too.

I take my hat off to all Stay-at-Home Mom's. I couldn't imagine trying to pull it off.


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## klk (Feb 7, 2010)

My husband is an engineer. we make it work because we're totally different types of engineers and our strengths tend to compliment each other (at least that's what I tell myself).


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Feb 8, 2010)

It's great to marry an engineer. At a party, you can stare at your spouses's feet the whole night rather than your own.


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## Dexman PE (Feb 8, 2010)

VTEnviro said:


> It's great to marry an engineer. At a party, you can stare at your spouses's feet the whole night rather than your own.


That is assuming they're out-going engineers.


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Feb 8, 2010)

She's a hell of a lot better than I am. I think she actually likes people. This may be a symptom of not getting into engineering until grad school.

I had to help her 'think like an engineer' when she started grad school. That was easy for me, I'm totally hardwired like that. She came from a pure science background.

I started taking MBA classes a few weeks back. It's a whole different mindset that is not natural for me.


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## Dexman PE (Feb 8, 2010)

VTEnviro said:


> She's a hell of a lot better than I am. I think she actually likes people. This may be a symptom of not getting into engineering until grad school.
> I had to help her 'think like an engineer' when she started grad school. That was easy for me, I'm totally hardwired like that. She came from a pure science background.
> 
> I started taking MBA classes a few weeks back. It's a whole different mindset that is not natural for me.


The problem with the MBA program lies in your last statement:



VTEnviro said:


> MBA is not natural.


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## TouchDown (Feb 8, 2010)

Master slacker said:


> How do you folks with SAHMs make it work financially? Between CC, mortgage, student loans, and insurance, breaking even in a month without a second income is tough. We don't even splurge on weekends. Do I really make that little?


In the time we were engaged before marrying (I had graduated and went to work while she was finishing school), I lived in squalor and paid off $25k in school loans in 1 year.

We got married and lived in an apartment for a couple years. Where I live has low cost of living. We decided we could afford a house instead of rent, and only saw our monthly payment go up by about $150 per month to own. Chose to go with a fixer upper - kept the payment low and we did a lot of changes to the house (lot of sweat equity).

Did that for 6 years, then moved to a bigger house as the family grew. My wife held a job until #2 came along, then became SAHM. Now we have 3 and he's almost 2 years old, and she mentioned the other day that she was feeling the need to do "something". Even until our kids are probably in Junior High, she'll be mostly SAHM. Doing a PT type job just to bring in a few bucks to pay some bills would be good. Even so, just because of where we live, we're in a 3200 sq ft (5 bedroom house) and our monthly payment (including taxes and insurance) is $1000.

Seriously, I could go work at McDonalds, and my wife get a part time job and we'd be able to pay bills.

I think it just takes a little time - get out from under as much debt as possible, and then be smart.


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## Dexman PE (Feb 8, 2010)

^^^ Agreed.

When my wife went back to school for all of 2008 (she had classes and residency requirements full time from mid January through Xmas graduation), we depended 100% on my income. She only qualified for enough student loans to pay for her school and I had to cover the rest. We had no credit cards, I was able to defer my student loans until she graduated, and everything else was minimized. We moved to a cheaper part of town so we could afford rent, and we basically had $100/week to cover food, gas, &amp; entertainment. Sounds like plenty until you factor in 2 kids under 3.

People quickly forget how much their spending adjusts to their income. This is why people who make $150k per year end up living paycheck to paycheck. My brother and sister-in-law have 2 kids (3rd on the way) and they live comfortably on 1/2 of only my income. It's wierd when my household income is 4x my brothers, and he's the one living comfortably. I just buy too much shit...


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## Ble_PE (Feb 8, 2010)

^That is exactly why every time I have received a raise, I automatically have that money deposited into my savings account that I never touch. This way, I still bring home the same amount since I only spend money out of my checking account. It helps to build up my savings too, which is nice.


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## Dexman PE (Feb 8, 2010)

That's what I'm doing with both my COLA raise as well as my wife's promotion money this year. We allowed ourselves to expand the budget last year, just because we were going crazy with the cuts we had to make the previous year. Now we're in a more comfortable position which allows us to start saving for a down payment on a new house. Our goal is to buy something mid-2011.


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## Master slacker (Feb 9, 2010)

We're people who never buy anything. We splurged on a tv only because my 10 year old, 20-inch tv decided not to turn on until the 20th time you hit the power button. We have 8 months of living expenses in the bank and whatever comes in that is beyond paying bills goes to the IRA. Once the IRA is maxed out (won't happen this year), some of the excess money goes to mini-Master's education and the rest into extra mortgage principal. Well, that's all in theory. We have yet to get past the IRA step. Maybe this year. :dunno:


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## Sschell (Feb 10, 2010)

hmmmm... my 10 year old TV decided to eat its own power button... leaving an empty rectangular hole... the remote still worked, but we took that as a sign it was time for an upgrade...


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## MGX (Feb 10, 2010)

My TV is almost of legal drinking age! Hope it hangs in there for a few more years!


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## Dexman PE (Feb 10, 2010)

sschell_PE said:


> hmmmm... my 10 year old TV decided to eat its own power button... leaving an empty rectangular hole... the remote still worked, but we took that as a sign it was time for an upgrade...


sounds like my parent's TV, except they still use it and I know why the power button is missing. My brother and I thought it would be a great idea to use our rubber-band guns instead of the TV remote (this was probably mid 90's), and unfortunately the only way this worked was if the gun was about an inch away from the button. After about 3-4 shots, the button disappeared into the case. I don't think my parents ever found out why it broke.


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## Dleg (Feb 10, 2010)

I still have a 13 inch TV I bought from Target while I was working there in 1987 - a JVC. Still works, but it only goes up to channel 25 or so. The picture still looks good, even. We were using it in the kitchen but our housekeeper's Samsung died, so she's using it now in her room.


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## DVINNY (Feb 11, 2010)

oh yeah, I'm still using that MEASLY 50" Plasma that I got a little over a year ago, the remote and HD work fine, but man....... the suffering.


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## Supe (Feb 11, 2010)

DVINNY said:


> oh yeah, I'm still using that MEASLY 50" Plasma that I got a little over a year ago, the remote and HD work fine, but man....... the suffering.


¬¬


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## Dexman PE (Feb 11, 2010)

DVINNY said:


> oh yeah, I'm still using that MEASLY 50" Plasma that I got a little over a year ago, the remote and HD work fine, but man....... the suffering.


How could you live like that, it must be rough. You're only slightly better off than my year-old 46" LCD. Good thing I have the Playstation3 w/ blu-ray disks &amp; 7:1 surround sound to make it tolerable.


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## Capt Worley PE (Feb 11, 2010)

Gosh, and we're still using 19" CRT TVs from 1992 and 1996.


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## Dexman PE (Feb 11, 2010)

Capt Worley PE said:


> Gosh, and we're still using 19" CRT TVs from 1992 and 1996.


I am running dual CRT monitors at work bigger than that (20").


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## Capt Worley PE (Feb 11, 2010)

Dexman PE said:


> Capt Worley PE said:
> 
> 
> > Gosh, and we're still using 19" CRT TVs from 1992 and 1996.
> ...


Braggart!


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## Dexman PE (Feb 11, 2010)

be careful, I'll overthrow the government. and I won't register with SC either.


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## Ble_PE (Feb 11, 2010)

Dexman PE said:


> be careful, I'll overthrow the government. and I won't register with SC either.


Don't worry, I'll send in your registration form. I'll even pay the 5 bucks for you too!


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## Dexman PE (Feb 11, 2010)

Ble_PE said:


> Dexman PE said:
> 
> 
> > be careful, I'll overthrow the government. and I won't register with SC either.
> ...


Ifyou have an extra $5 laying around, send it to Captain so he can buy a new TV.


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## Capt Worley PE (Feb 11, 2010)

Dexman PE said:


> Ble_PE said:
> 
> 
> > Dexman PE said:
> ...


ld-025:


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## Chucktown PE (Feb 11, 2010)

I know this is ghetto as hell but I'm thinking about buying a TV with my tax refund money. Mind you I will wait a few months but I can't stand our 25" CRTs any longer.


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## Dexman PE (Feb 11, 2010)

No, ghetto would be putting 22" gold plated rims on your 95 Corsica.


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## Chucktown PE (Feb 11, 2010)

Dexman PE said:


> No, ghetto would be putting 22" gold plated rims on your 95 Corsica.


I already did that. Priorities man, priorities.


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## Dexman PE (Feb 11, 2010)

Chucktown PE said:


> Dexman PE said:
> 
> 
> > No, ghetto would be putting 22" gold plated rims on your 95 Corsica.
> ...


:appl:

Carry on then.


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## Chucktown PE (Feb 11, 2010)

Dexman PE said:


> Chucktown PE said:
> 
> 
> > Dexman PE said:
> ...


I'm glad I have your blessing. I was thinking about getting some chrome 22s put on my wife's Acura MDX but then I thought, that'd be silly, you really need 24 inch spinners on a car like that. So obviously, she really wants the 24 inch spinners, and I really want the TV, which should I choose?

:dunno:


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## Dexman PE (Feb 11, 2010)

Buy the TV. Install it in the wife's MDX, then do a home improvement project that removes the wall between the garage and the living room. Everyone wins.


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## Chucktown PE (Feb 11, 2010)

Dexman PE said:


> Buy the TV. Install it in the wife's MDX, then do a home improvement project that removes the wall between the garage and the living room. Everyone wins.



Genius......pure genius. Except I don't have a garage.


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## Dexman PE (Feb 11, 2010)

Time to install some large pane windows then.


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## Capt Worley PE (Feb 12, 2010)

C-town subscribes to Donk, Bubble and Box.


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## Chucktown PE (Feb 12, 2010)

Capt Worley PE said:


> C-town subscribes to Donk, Bubble and Box.



What is Donk, Bubble and Box?


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## Chucktown PE (Feb 12, 2010)

Never mind, Google is awesome. Not as awesome as the 22" gold plated rims on my 95 Corsica, but still awesome.


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## FLBuff PE (Feb 12, 2010)

BTW, if you're really bored, WHILE AT HOME, Google bue waffle. Very NSFW.


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## Ble_PE (Feb 12, 2010)

FLBuff PE said:


> BTW, if you're really bored, WHILE AT HOME, Google bue waffle. Very NSFW.



I hate that google has spell check, cause I wouldn't have found it since it is blue waffle. uke: uke:


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## Dexman PE (Feb 12, 2010)

I just hate that these things keep getting mentioned. I don't know what it is, I don't WANT to know what it is, but because of stupid curiosity, I'll look it up. Dammit.


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## Chucktown PE (Feb 12, 2010)

I saw the blue waffle thumbnail on google images, it took me a minute to figure out what it was, :blink: but when I did figure it out, uke:


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## wilheldp_PE (Feb 12, 2010)

I just read one of the first couple of Google Links which happened to be some sort of medical dictionary. Once I read "vaginal infection", I stopped pursuing the image.


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## MGX (Feb 16, 2010)

From personal experience working years at an auto repair shop in the 'hood, priorities are as follows:


Buy a cheap, ancient Cadillac or GM full size. If all else fails a modern midsize will do.
Buy gold plated wire wheels with spinners, valid wheels must weigh a minimum of 116 lbs each.
Buy the biggest, loudest, most obnoxious car stereo.
After all this is done, buy car insurance. May be postponed if you rent your wheels, buy one spinner at a time or the fall behind on your payments and the repo man takes them.


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## Master slacker (Mar 8, 2010)

This is the 3rd or 4th time this thread has come to the top of the heap with no new post to show. The last post is today at 2:46 PM by MGX, but no new post by MGX is shown. WTF?


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## Supe (Mar 8, 2010)

Master slacker said:


> This is the 3rd or 4th time this thread has come to the top of the heap with no new post to show. The last post is today at 2:46 PM by MGX, but no new post by MGX is shown. WTF?


It gets bumped any time someone votes in the poll.


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## Ble_PE (Mar 8, 2010)

Every time someone votes it bumps the thread. Drives me crazy.


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## MechGuy (Mar 8, 2010)

I'm gonna make the topic worthwhile then. Back to talking about TV's -- I bought a 42" Sony rear projection LCD about 4 years ago. Worked great for 18 months, then I had to replace the lamp which cost about $200. Then I read the owners manual that says you'll need to replace the lamp every 2-4 years depending on useage. (Had I known this, I would never have bought this TV, even on closeout!)

A few months ago, a blueish hue began to overtake the screen from the lower right hand corner, slowly migrating its way halfway across the screen. At first I think the lamp is just going bad, and I'll need to replace it soon. So I wait to see if it goes out completely. Weeks go by, nothing. Then the Superbowl comes up, and I'm freaking out because I was having friends over to watch the game and I didn't want to subject them to my half blue TV. So I Google the symptoms of my TV, and come to find out there are several class-action lawsuits pending against Sony for having "knowingly" manufactured these types of TV's with defective optical blocks.

I call up Sony, tell them my TV's problem and what I have read on the internet about the optical blocks, and ask what they are going to do to fix my 4 year old HDTV that should last a lot longer than 4 years. They tell me that Sony is not liable to fix my TV since its past its warranty period, and that replacing the optical block can cost $800-900. The only thing Sony was willing to do was SELL me another LCD TV (not rear projection thank god!), at a discount.

What a crock, right? Not only will they not stand by their product that failed to work properly after 4 years, their only solution is to sell me another one of their products? Like I have any faith that it will last longer than 4 years!

So, I'm thinking of taking them to small claims to recoup the cost of my TV. I've read of others doing this successfully in a few different states.

I don't have anything really meaningful to state here...just wanted to vent about my crappy Sony TV


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## Master slacker (Mar 8, 2010)

Samsung plasma. PN50B650 FTMFW! :thumbs:


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## Chucktown PE (Mar 8, 2010)

MechGuy said:


> I'm gonna make the topic worthwhile then. Back to talking about TV's -- I bought a 42" Sony rear projection LCD about 4 years ago. Worked great for 18 months, then I had to replace the lamp which cost about $200. Then I read the owners manual that says you'll need to replace the lamp every 2-4 years depending on useage. (Had I known this, I would never have bought this TV, even on closeout!)
> A few months ago, a blueish hue began to overtake the screen from the lower right hand corner, slowly migrating its way halfway across the screen. At first I think the lamp is just going bad, and I'll need to replace it soon. So I wait to see if it goes out completely. Weeks go by, nothing. Then the Superbowl comes up, and I'm freaking out because I was having friends over to watch the game and I didn't want to subject them to my half blue TV. So I Google the symptoms of my TV, and come to find out there are several class-action lawsuits pending against Sony for having "knowingly" manufactured these types of TV's with defective optical blocks.
> 
> I call up Sony, tell them my TV's problem and what I have read on the internet about the optical blocks, and ask what they are going to do to fix my 4 year old HDTV that should last a lot longer than 4 years. They tell me that Sony is not liable to fix my TV since its past its warranty period, and that replacing the optical block can cost $800-900. The only thing Sony was willing to do was SELL me another LCD TV (not rear projection thank god!), at a discount.
> ...



Thanks for the info. I wouldn't have bought a Sony anyway because they're overpriced. I'm trying to help my grandmother navigate the purchase of a 42" LCD for her living room. She has a little 22" TV and it's about 20 feet away from the chair where she sits when she is watching TV so that's my next project


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## Dexman PE (Mar 8, 2010)

We have a 46" LCD from Panasonic (purchased at Sams Club). We really enjoy it and have not had any issues with it since we bought it for xmas 2008.


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## wilheldp_PE (Mar 8, 2010)

Sonys have always been overpriced crap with a great marketing department behind them.


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## DVINNY (Mar 8, 2010)

50" Plasma SAMSUNG, have had it for 16 months and it ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!


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## Dleg (Mar 8, 2010)

I'm still running a Toshiba 50" CRT rear projection set I bought in 2003. I calibrated it and went inside and disconnected the excessive sharpness circuits, and I still have not seen a flat-panel TV that outperforms it, IMHO. It's a fridge, but it gives movie-theater-quality images on Blu-ray. I know it will die one of these days, and then I will look at what's available - probably an LED backlit flatpanel. Hopefully not soon, though, because I couldn't afford a replacement at the present time...


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## Supe (Mar 9, 2010)

Pioneer Elite Pro plasma for the win. Hands down, the best picture I have seen on anything ever.


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## Master slacker (Mar 9, 2010)

Too bad they are no longer being made. $ for $, though, Samsung FTW.


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## Supe (Mar 9, 2010)

Master slacker said:


> Too bad they are no longer being made. $ for $, though, Samsung FTW.



Believe me, I have a Samsung in my living room, and while it's a great picture compared to most, that Pioneer is like looking out an open window. It's unreal. They can still be found though, but the price still reflects its abilities!


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Mar 9, 2010)

> I'm still running a Toshiba 50" CRT rear projection set I bought in 2003.


You should ask the Fudgeman about rear projectiles.


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## ironman (Aug 16, 2010)

i spend money on flying, if I were laid off I would freeze to death. I hope thats not to crappy of a way to go.


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## FusionWhite (Aug 17, 2010)

My wife just went back to part time at work (1/2 salary, no benefits) so she could go back to school to get her PhD in clinical psychology. So our income was cut by about 25% and our expenses are WAY up (tuition, adding her to my health insurance, books). Plus the stress level is high right now because shes working in the morning, going to class in the afternoon and coming home to finish up work/school work in the evenings.

The real kicker though is that after taking a summer class shes about 80% sure she hates the program shes in and may quit after the spring semester.


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## Master slacker (Aug 17, 2010)

Since the arrival of Mini-MS, the wifey-wife has been a stay-at-home mom.


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## jenni179 (Aug 17, 2010)

My husband and I are both engineers but our fields are completely different.


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## ElCid03 (Aug 24, 2010)

Dleg said:


> I still have a 13 inch TV I bought from Target while I was working there in 1987 - a JVC. Still works, but it only goes up to channel 25 or so. The picture still looks good, even. We were using it in the kitchen but our housekeeper's Samsung died, so she's using it now in her room.



Wait a minute!!! You have live-in domestic help? What on earth is the COLA supplement out there?


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## XOXOXO (Dec 21, 2010)

Oh how I wish I was married to a stripper!


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## DVINNY (Dec 21, 2010)

^^^ LOL

I'm sure that wouldn't be hard to do..... but ya gotta watch what ya wish for


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## bigray76 (Dec 21, 2010)

DVINNY said:


> ^^^ LOL
> I'm sure that wouldn't be hard to do..... but ya gotta watch what ya wish for


The hours suck, but the cash is good....


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Dec 21, 2010)

I doubt the hours are the only thing involved in sucking.


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## FLBuff PE (Dec 21, 2010)

POed Mommy said:


> Oh how I wish I was married to a stripper!


Granted! He's on his way over right now.


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## bigray76 (Dec 21, 2010)

Almost makes you want to restart the 'wish' thread, doesn't it...


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## Exengineer (Dec 21, 2010)

My wife is an RAI Coordinator (Resident Assessment Instrument) for the regional government here, making more than I did in my last engineer job (but I didn't work for the government). Doesn't bother me at all, allows more flexibility in what I want to pursue in the future.


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Dec 22, 2010)

^Canada has a government?


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## gt2004 (Dec 22, 2010)

I married a teacher who is becoming a stay at home mom in anticipation of our first.


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## Exengineer (Dec 22, 2010)

VTEnviro said:


> ^Canada has a government?


Oh yes, still very independent from Great Britain although part of the "Commonwealth."


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## jase (Dec 22, 2010)

my wife has a masters in library and information studies, but due to the economy, assigns claims to and manages insurance adjusters.


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## DreadPirateRyan (Dec 22, 2010)

Met my wife in college and we were in the same curriculum.

Unfortunately this means that we compete for any open engineering positions...(she won the last round).


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Dec 22, 2010)

Exengineeer said:


> VTEnviro said:
> 
> 
> > ^Canada has a government?
> ...


I was kidding! I like Canada, it's America's Hat. I've been to every province except NL and the Yukon as well. Vacationed in Canada a few times.


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## KevinA (Dec 24, 2010)

My wife works P/T from home as an accountant and does pretty well for a P/T gig. Our kids are 5 &amp; 7. We've trimmed our expenses back- 3 cars are paid for, plus I've got a company ride with a gas card that I drive 95% of everywhere I go. She has no student loans. I graduated with only $5k of debt that is almost gone, GI Bill covered the rest. My company crackberry is my only phone, no house phone. She has a pre-paid one that suits her just fine, and it's dirt cheap. No CCs.

Our house is nice, but older with a lot of sweat equity in it. It was a project when we bought it. We live pretty cheaply, but are comfortable and I still get to have plenty of toys. :beerchug:


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## MGX (Jan 4, 2011)

VTEnviro said:


> Exengineeer said:
> 
> 
> > VTEnviro said:
> ...


Spelling Canada is easy. C eh N eh D eh.


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## Desert Engineer (Jan 5, 2011)

Exengineeer said:


> VTEnviro said:
> 
> 
> > ^Canada has a government?
> ...



What does being part of the commonwealth entail?


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## Desert Engineer (Jan 5, 2011)

Exengineeer said:


> VTEnviro said:
> 
> 
> > ^Canada has a government?
> ...



What does being part of the commonwealth entail?


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Jan 5, 2011)

The sovereign right to double post, perhaps?


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## csb (Sep 15, 2016)

I quoted this thread at lunch, saying that the only occupations that engineers marry are SAHM, teachers, nurses, or other engineers. Thanks, eb.com, for having my back.


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## ptatohed (Sep 19, 2016)

While our kids are young, Mrs. ptatohed stays at home with them.  Kevin 6, Jason 3, Emily negative 2 weeks!  Before Kevin, Mrs. p was a teacher.


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## jeb6294 (Sep 19, 2016)

Mrs. jeb6294 is a paramedic...does that count towards nurse?

Ex-Mrs. jeb6294 was a useless POS. When the boys were young she quit to stay home with them...so why were they in daycare?


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## willsee (Sep 19, 2016)

jeb6294 said:


> Mrs. jeb6294 is a paramedic...does that count towards nurse?
> 
> Ex-Mrs. jeb6294 was a useless POS. When the boys were young she quit to stay home with them...so why were they in daycare?


My wife currently is a SAHM.  She would much rather work than do that though.

My kids go to mothers day out two days a week, during which she shops, doctor appointment, cleans house, batch cooks, works out, etc.  Also allows the kids to begin getting adjusted to going to school.  Also kids were frequently getting sick to where my wife couldn't work anyway. 

From the tone of your post I think there is more to your ex than that.  But that's what my wife does even with the kids in daycare/school/Mothers day out/whatever you want to call it.


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## snickerd3 (Sep 19, 2016)

100% SAHM and me dont equate either.  After the initial 3 months home completely, I needed to start flexing my brain again.  Partime work parttime SAHM was the best!!!!!  I was able to do that with both kiddos for the first year of their life.


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## jeb6294 (Sep 20, 2016)

willsee said:


> From the tone of your post I think there is more to your ex than that.  But that's what my wife does even with the kids in daycare/school/Mothers day out/whatever you want to call it.


Yeah, they were in regular 5 day per week full day daycare. She kept herself occupied by going out shopping.


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## SNAPE/SMOTT PE (Sep 22, 2016)

A little late to this game. My spouse is a stay-at-home parent. Was active military, just went into active guard when we had our first child. Made the decision then (special needs kid requiring lots of care) for me to be the working parent.


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## DuckFlats (Sep 22, 2016)

My wife works as an engineer. So chalk that up to another engineer marrying an engineer. We drop the little one off at daycare three days a week, and each of our mothers watch her the other two days.


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