Mid Life Crisis

Refugees run the seas 'cause they own their own boats.

I am trying to figure out when to start my mid-life crisis. In a year and a half I will be approaching 40. The typical midlife crisis occurs at 46 on average, but can range anywhere between 35 to 50. That is what wikipedia says anyway. So, I am a bit on the young side, but it certainly is an option.

At the moment I am not even sure what to do for my crisis. My wife is the most attractive sexy woman I know so I cannot trade her in for a younger hotter model. Plus I am not sure there are any other women who would put up with me. I can not get an expensive sports car because gas costs too much. I am forbidden from getting a moter cycle. My wife just won't let me, and as I said before she is hot.

What else do guys do in mid-life crisises? I just do not know. I have time I guess. Eventually I will come up with something.

My nose itches.

Another possible mid-life crisis activity is changing careers. That would be an option is I could figure out what I would like to do. I have blogged about not knowing what I want to be when I grow up and nothing has really changed since then.

Right now what I think I would like to do is stop working and moutain bike and hike full time. I do know how to make money at that, or I might really give that a go. Of course, with two small children (maybe I should say young instead of small.... Have you seen Tyler lately?), I would still need to spend most of my time where I could get home every night so I might get bored with the local scene, and then I would have to find another job.

Do some guys have little mini-retirements as mid-life crisises? That seems like the most realistic one I could try. But maybe I need to wait for the kids to get a little older. Then again, maybe not. I do know that at the moment I need a break from work. I am just too busy with my day job and my night job. I feel again that I wasted most of the summer away with work. And it is not just the time I put in. In fact it is mostly that I always feel tired and because of that I neglect things like mowing the lawn or paying myself or getting things fixed around the house.

I suppose I am not alone. Everyone feels overworked and everyone has trouble juggling home with work. Maybe that is really what causes midlife crisises.

Anyway... My nose still itches.

IE EG

Question: When do you use i.e., and when do you use e.g., and what do they mean?

Answer: The Latin abbreviations "i.e." and "e.g." come up very frequently in writing and would probably come up more often if people were more sure of when it is right to use "i.e." and when "e.g." is required. To me, the only way to figure it out is to know what they stand for.

i.e.

"I.e." stands simply for "that is," which written out fully in Latin is 'id est'. "I.e." is used in place of "in other words," or "it/that is." It specifies or makes more clear.

e.g.

"E.g." means "for example" and comes from the Latin expression exempli gratia, "for the sake of an example," with the noun exemplum in the genitive to go with gratia in the ablative . "E.g." is used in expressions similar to "including," when you are not intending to list everything that is being discussed.

Examples of i.e. and e.g.:

I.E. Id Est

I'm going to the place where I work best, i.e., the coffee shop. [There is only one place that I am claiming is best for my work. By using "i.e.", I am telling you I am about to specify it.]

E.G. Exempli Gratia

At the places where I work best, e.g., Starbucks, I have none of the distractions I have at home. [There are lots of coffee shops I like, but Starbucks is the only international one, so it's the only "example" that would work.]

Italics

I.e. and e.g. are such common Latin abbreviations that they do not require italicization.

Capitalization

If the form "I.e." looks odd, it's because both "i.e." and "e.g" are usually mid-sentence, surrounded by commas, so they are unlikely to be seen with sentence initial capitals

Keep it clean

This is a picture they have up in the mens' room at my current client.

If you cannot read it, here is what it says: "let's keep it clean, people"

"Please be courteous to your friends and coworkers by keeping this bathroom clean."

I wonder who decided we were such slobs that we needed such a sign. I also wonder if this considered that we the men's room users might get offended by the implication that we are such slobs.

Weird.