Comments (31)

By kilax, December 16, 2009 4:17 am

There was an interesting article about bad gift-giving and how it can be straining on marriages this Tuesday in the Wall Street Journal. I found it humorous, but also, disappointingly sexist – both for men and women.

The article gives the classic examples of “bad” gifts given to wives from their husbands – vacuum cleaners, over-sized sleepwear, cooking pots, golf clubs, etc. Those stories are always good for a laugh or two.

But I felt like the whole article made men sound like thoughtless idiots who don’t listen to their wives, think twice about what they are getting them, or care if they are given a “bad” gift. It made women sound like they are overly emotional about receiving a “bad” gift, elusive about what they want, and the perfect gift givers.

Well, I always say “stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason,” but come on*. I know this isn’t true in our relationship. Since we’ve been together (7 years) I have not been able to get Steven the “perfect” holiday** gift. First it was an XBox. Then a printer. Specialty items for the Saab. A nice watch. A Garmin. So on and so forth. Run-of-the-mill things. How do we measure the worth of a gift? By the excitement of the person opening it? By how much they use it? How much they talk about it? If they thank you?

Steven has given me amazing, thoughtful gifts. Probably the most amazing was the first thing he ever gave me – a handmade box for holding my drawing pencils. He made that!

So, I am not anti gift-giving or saying I am awful at giving gifts, but… maybe it’s not all that important, in the long run. Maybe it’s not something worth getting upset about. Maybe we should just be excited when someone was thoughtful and generous enough to get us something. You can tell when it is sincere and from the heart, not matter how good or “bad” it is.

What do you think? Are these gift-giving stereotypes true?

*I would love to see this article include some examples of same-sex relationships as well. I wonder what the gift-giving stereotypes are there.
**Steven, it doesn’t help that your birthday is THREE days before Christmas!

Comments (16)

By kilax, May 3, 2009 5:56 pm

My birthday isn’t until July 31st, but this is what I want:

The Forerunner 405CX, 405, or whatever cool version is out in July…

Steven has had his Forerunner 405 (Jack) since December 22, but really hasn’t started using it intensely until now, since we finally have weather that permits outdoor running.

We were already impressed that it kept track of our pacing and distance, and even figured out when we were running laps at the park, but when Steven connected Jack to the computer today and showed me the Garmin Connect website… I was blown away.

The website shows elevation, speed, heart rate, as well as a physical google map of your run! I cannot believe we haven’t looked at this until today!

Of course, many of you already know this… and have been sharing your maps/charts on your blogs, but wow. This is one cool little watch!

If you click here, you can see our stats from yesterday’s race. And if you click on the “player” button (and hit play), it will show a little video of our movement on the map as well as our elevation vs. speed (chart shown below).

Today is a “Yes, I love technology” day!

It’s also a “I am so happy my legs aren’t as sore as they were yesterday” day! My legs aren’t usually sore after a long run, but they were immediately yesterday. I was changing in the backseat of my car, and just lifting my leg up while in the sitting position made my calf cramp. We walked around for about an hour and a half after the race, so I am happy we just didn’t get into the car and drive home! I imagine that would have made it much worse.

I really, really, really think I am going to have to try ice baths after my long runs now. Anything that prevents injury and lets me keep running… brr!

Comments (13)

By kilax, March 10, 2009 5:22 pm

I love technology. But I hate how much it can control my mood. Examples:

• My laptop won’t turn on. I’m frustrated*.
• My laptop is frozen. I’m frustrated.
• The internet won’t connect. I’m frustrated.
• The internet is TOO slow. I’m frustrated.
• I forgot to charge my MP3 player. I’m frustrated.
• My heart-monitor watch battery is dead. I’m frustrated.
• The digital photo frame is frozen again. I’m frustrated.
• The universal remote is not working**. I’m frustrated.
• My cell phone won’t make calls. Or allow me to text anyone. Who cares…?

My cell phone decided to die out on me today. It wouldn’t work this morning, and now it won’t turn back on. This is probably the only piece of technology I should actually care about (since it could be useful in the case of an emergency)… but I don’t. I hate talking on the phone, and have a work BlackBerry if I really had to use it for an emergency.

But it made me think – I don’t like how impatient technology has made me become. I want things now now now. I always expect things to work. I get moody when they don’t. Should something inanimate control my moods? Probably not. But they do. That’s something to work on.

Update: Technology hates me. I got home and the garage door opener in my car and the keypad wouldn’t work to let me in the house. Ha. I think that might be because someone was messing around with the fuses though…?

*Frustrated can be interchanged with “pissed off” and “furious” in all of these examples.
**This could possibly be user error.

Comments (19)

By kilax, December 23, 2008 5:38 am

Yeah, so… that half marathon training I mentioned… it’s not going so well actually, uh… cough cough.

Maybe a week and a half before Christmas isn’t the right time to start a training program (EXCUSES! BS ALERT!). We were only home two nights out of five during the week, and out of the house all day Saturday. Steven still ran on Sunday night (he is doing great with the training), but I had that sugar overload, and felt sick even thinking about running.

Do I even deserve the awesome running gal necklace I ordered myself for Christmas? (Thanks, Kim! But uh, can you still call yourself a runner? You only ran once last week!)

I spend a lot of time imagining how things are going to be. When I was in college, it was what it would be like living with Steven. I also imagined what my first job would be like, what the wedding would be like, what the honeymoon would be like. I even think about simple things like what my evening, or weekend, or someone opening a gift will be like. I work out this optimistic, perfect scenario in my head.

Well, those things are never what I expect them to be, because they have other people involved. That’s just the nature of life. But my running is all about me. It is one of the only things I can imagine and actually see through on my own. Yeah, I run with Steven, but our records and exercise plans are still ours. Neither one of us controls the other’s routine, goals, or body.

So, maybe I should take more control. Since I actually have the opportunity to do so.

And I am sure I will. Once I have some actually freaking FREE TIME. Ugh. Really, I love the holidays, but they are STRESSFUL. Just because we aren’t hosting them, doesn’t mean we get to relax 100%. We have to drive there, fly there, get the presents there, pack the bags, pack the house… blah blah blah. It’s not fun. It’s a PAIN IN THE BUTT.

Hmm. Where did all of that come from?

Back on track. I bought Steven the Garmin Forerunner 405 watch for his birthday. (Yes, another watch. And yes, he knew what I got him.) Whenever we run outside, he is always saying how he wants to know our pace, and how far we actually ran and so on and so forth. Well, this watch will tell him all that. And more. I’m excited to do some long runs outside, with it. I mean, with Steven wearing it. Of course.

Think I’ll (we’ll?) actually run over the holidays though?