Girlfriends and wifes, how do YOU cope?

Hi, my name is Margrit, and I have known "slawney" (my husband) for 10 years. He asked me to write something to you about how I cope with his audio interests, so here it goes. Usually, things go pretty well since he has his own listening room and listens pretty quietly, and I like the music he likes. The last time I had to cope with his audio hobby was when our cleaning woman accidentally plugged one of his American CD players into our German electric outlet. He was really upset when he came home from work and saw this, since the CD player didn't work. The poor cleaning woman did not want to admit that she had broken the CD player for fear of having to pay for it (she just wanted to listen to some CD of Polish music I got on my last trip to Poland, because our cleaning woman is Polish herself and is a little homesick), and there were moments when I thought Jay--oops, that is what I call him, he did not want me to tell you my nickname for him--suspected that I myself had broken his CD player and was not telling him (I like the Polish CD too and sometimes I do not know how to plug all of the components in the right way, since he has so many different colored cables, and changes the cables around on my little stereo and even my TV and VCR alot, for some reason...). One thing that acn get out of hand is when we are travelling around in Europe in a big city and Jay starts going record shopping. I can tell when he wants to do this when he takes out the hotel telephone directory and writes down the addresses of the record stores in town in his notebook and then starts to look at this long list of records that he keeps with him all the time. One way I cope with this is by asking him to give me a definite time when he will be finished shopping for records before he goes into the store. It also helps if there are some nice women's clothing stores or furniture stores that specialize in modern Italian furniture or lighting near the record store, because then I just go shopping myself. To conclude, I think Jay is a wonderful husband and I like that he has this audio hobby rather than some of the hobbies that some men in German have. I have to get back to my work now, so goodbye, it has been nice having the chance to write to you, Jay seems to spend alot of time lately on the computer, and I think he writes alot of things here.

Bravo!

Yes, Thank you for the insight Margrit. You have done well Jay, yet another instance of opposites attracting.

What a wonderful lady. Thanks for sharing your experiences with us.

She doesn't ask, and I don't tell. We've been married for over 17 years. When we dated and lived together (gasp) she knew I was a 'audio nut', her words. Since I'm the bread winner, she doesn't bother me much. When the UPS truck pulls up, she just e-mails me at work and says "what did we get now?" I explain the new toy, but never discuss pricing. That's on a need to know basis, and she don't need to know. She'd probably flip if she knew I was spending what I spend. She can look at a $5000 amp, and really believe it only cost $200. Precious, ain't it. What they don't know, don't hurt them. You guys that share your hobbies with your wives are very lucky. Mine still thinks I'm nuts, everything sounds the same to her. I don't care for her taste in music either. Oh well, that's life.