Just A Guy and His Overwhelmed Wife

Posted on December 10, 2009 by Bruce Sallan

I have an overwhelmed wife. And, I suspect I’m the first guy who has heard from his overwhelmed wife how busy she is, how much she does, how tired she is, how under-appreciated she is, and how I do nothing. Well, it’s true. I actually do nothing.

I don’t take care of the boys, pay for our lives, walk our three dogs, pay the bills, clean up after myself and others in the kitchen, occasionally cook, often BBQ, do the CostCo runs, put gas in my wife’s car, tell her how much I love her, and how amazing her cooking is. Nah, I do none of that stuff.

Just A Guy, Oscar, Living With Felix

Posted on September 26, 2009 by Bruce Sallan

The other night we had some friends over and my conservation side came out when I began cutting our large napkins in half. We were having dessert, and I thought the napkins were too big and it was a waste. My wife was appalled and demanded I stop immediately. Our friends thought it quite amusing.

It represented another time when our Oscar and Felix differences came out (referring to Oscar the slob and Felix the neatnik in Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple,” though we’re not near as extreme as those two). I’m mostly Oscar, the messy one, but also the one that is maybe overly budget conscious. My wife is Felix, the neat one, who may be a bit anal about it in my view (in hers, she’s already let go of most of her sense-of-order and cleanliness needs by living with 3 boys and 3 dogs–I’m considered one of the boys).

It’s A Tech World, After All

Posted on August 15, 2009 by Bruce Sallan

I love technology. I hate technology. I get so frustrated with technology. All of the above. That’s my generation and definitely me. My friend Marty is a tech world wizard, while my wife is still using computers primarily for e-mail. I’m somewhat in the middle with my knowledge and depth of tech use and dependence, though my boys laugh at my attempts to learn anything new. But, it’s hard to resist all we hear about what every new tech gadget has to offer, especially for us men (a.k.a. boys and their toys).

When I get a new tech device, like a digital camera for instance, I am very excited by the purchase and I take it home with pride and eagerness. I carefully place it on my desk where it usually sits for a week or so until I muster the courage to open the box. Then, I take out the various parts of the device, and ask for some help to lift out the user manual. On viewing this lengthy document, in 42 different languages, I sit down discouraged, and place all the pieces and the manual on top of the just opened box, where it will sit for another week or two. A strong drink will finally give me the courage to start the learning process.