So we got the video camera and it's my new favorite toy, although we've only filmed the dog so far. To see a hastily edited together video of Calli rocking out to Ben Folds, click here. Sorry, Windows Media Format only.
Also, as promised, here's the new Local Boy, which ran on Friday the 11th.
Dual Income, No Klue
If you ask ten people why they live in Goshen, eight will probably tell you it’s because of the good school district. The other two just had some money burning a hole in their pocket, or they like long, beautiful drives through the countryside to get to the supermarket.
Having been through the Goshen school system, I can attest that they learn you up pretty good. Wait, I’m sorry. They learn you up pretty well. The teachers are dedicated (random shout-outs: big ups to Mrs. Goldberg, Mr. Eisenhart, Mr. Karchawer and Kujo), the facilities are above-adequate, and they make these chocolate chip cookies in the high school cafeteria that are crispy on the outside but soft and not entirely cooked through in the middle that are just fantastic. To the high schoolers of this town: If they have figured out a way to bake the cookies all the way through, you have my deepest sympathies.
But what good is living in a town that might as well be called “Good Schoolsland” when my wife and I aren’t even able to take advantage of the best feature it has to offer? You see, for the moment at least, we are DINKs.
DINK, if you don’t know, stands for Dual Income, No Kids. Cute name, right? Unfortunately whoever came up with the acronym chose cuteness over accuracy, as the more appropriate DIBEMCYMNMYCINK (Dual Income, Barely Enough Money to Cover Your Mortgage, Never Mind Your Car Insurance, No Kids) just doesn’t sound as snappy.
Being a DINK is great. You’re responsible for no one but yourself. Sometimes not even yourself – I’ve been eating nothing but peanut butter for days now, and I’m pretty sure I have scurvy.
But in the back of my mind, I know that some day in the not-too distant future we’ll have kids. And when that happens the plan is for my wife to stop working, at least until our child can start nursery school (big ups to GAPNS!) or kindergarten (big ups to Mrs. Jankowski!). Then my days of DINKness are over. I’ll be a Single Income, One Kid, or SIOK, which doesn’t sound cute. In fact, it sounds like some sort of communicable disease.
“Doctor, this man has SIOK!”
“My God…can he even afford our treatment?!?”
If it’s this expensive to live in Goshen as DINKs, what will it be like when we have a kid who, as I understand it, might possibly need expensive-sounding things like booster shots? Hey, we’ve got to get this kid inoculated against SIOK.
Now I see why having a good school district is so important – you’re investing in your child’s education so that they can grow up and be successful and bail you out of all the debt you accrued trying to make them smart.
In which case I must be a huge disappointment to my parents, as I haven’t bailed them out of anything. So who’s the dink now?
I laughed heartily in my cubicle. I relate to Goshen. My Goshen is Milford. And we both share a Galleria of the Crystal Run persuasion. Look at the brights side, my Dinkish friend...at least your job kicks some major tail. As does your wife, I'm sure. And that all makes life PHAT...I have no acronym here. Just felt like typying phat in all caps.
Posted by: Mike on March 24, 2005 5:14 PM