Sighs......marriage

[andrelamont]

Its not about reason or logic now, but pure emotion...so you are sort of screwed.

What you could do, is drop ever so subtle hints ( like leaving web pages open on computers/tablets ) talking to her about the MS press conference, visiting stores when the new phone arrive. give her the video file from nokia's event


...and then maybe you could get a new Christmas gift....else get a new phone and have the old phone mounted in a clear box so that it shows her that the gift will never be forgotten.

 

[Fiann]

Dude I feel for you. My wife still has her iPod 1! ONE!! Because I bought it for her six years ago and had her name etched into the back of it.

Mind you that I got it when we were going out, and we've since been married, so her name has changed. Thus it is an OLD IPOD with her OLD NAME that she will never use again.

I keep asking if I can sell it to Gamestop and I just get stonewalled.

Easy enough solution. Give her a new iPod touch with her new married name laser etched onto it. Now the old one will be just taking up space. Honestly, GS isn't going to give you anything for an iPod 1 with someone else's name on it anyways (or in general). Maybe you can talk her into letting you sell it on Craigslist or something for $40 and use the money to take her out to eat. Or just let it sit in a drawer if it makes her happy.

So this is for you married men out there and you female phone owners. Am I looking at this wrong? I mean I did buy my Lumia. To be honest I was thinking about waiting until late next year to get a WP8 phone so it?s really not much skin off my nose but I was wondering what you all thought about this.

Three approaches for this:
1) Sell the Lumia now while you can still get a bit for it. Use the Focus until you can get your new WP8 device. Relegate it back to backup status.
2) Sit down with your wife one evening after you've made dinner, done the dishes, and put the kids in bed while she takes a relaxing bubble bath. Explain to her that you really appreciate how she bought you the phone and it was a really awesome gift, one of the top two WP available at the time. Now, this is the tricky part. You know your wife better than us so you'll have to figure out exactly how to put it without hurting her feelings. Point out that it is currently sitting in the drawer as a backup for you, her, or the kids. Explain that while you certainly could sell the Lumia for money towards it, you feel that the Focus would be worth more since it is unused (I'm assuming Sammy just sent you a refurb one instead of actually fixing your old one and returning it). By selling the old one and using all of that money towards a new WP (since buying it outright is clearly too expensive), the love that the old one represents becomes a part of of the new one. It's like when a loved one dies and you donate their organs, a part of your loved one still lives on in the organ recipients. Whenever you use the new phone you will be reminded of her love for you because she made it possible. Also, since the Lumia is the better device, you want them to have the best one.
3) Forget about selling it. Buy your new Lumia 920 and give your Lumia and the Focus to your wife and kid. You get the new phone, wife and kid get new, upgraded phones, you didn't have to sell your wife's gift. Everyone's happy.

 

[Old_Cus]

Gentlemen thank you so much. You have given me both some insight and laughs.

I believe I have found my way out. This weekend she confessed that two weeks ago when on her last business trip she lost her Kindle. This is important because I gave it to her for Christmas. It’s funny how life can hand you opportunities. She was afraid that I would be upset because she had been so careless. I took her hand, looked right into her eyes and told her that I understood and we were going to replace it immediately. I also took the time to explain to her that electronic equipment wasn’t the same as jewelry or keepsakes because so many things could go wrong and that they weren’t meant to have a long life to begin with. I used my phone and her Kindle two examples of this. We ordered her a new Kindle and I told her that it didn’t matter that it wasn’t the one I gave her because the important thing was I wanted her to be happy. Knowing that she was happy with the device she was using was enough for me.

I am happy to report that I am now free to get whatever phone I want whenever I want it and if I want to sell the Focus I can (but I won’t, no need to push it). In the future I think I’ll just let her buy me ties or shirts for Christmas.

Thanks to all that offered advice, the brotherhood is alive and well.

Larry (not my real name)