How to bullet proof your relationship
 

If you really want to find out if you can spend the rest of your life with someone, design and build a house with them. I just got off the phone with an anal retentive friend who is building a house with his fiance. It turns out they both have AR tendancies and it appears they are complimentary. Pete and I on the otherhand prefer things less finished, more rough. I love to build stuff and as long as its functionally sound I could care less that its a quarter bubble off. Pete does her share, gets her input, and doesn't get bent about the little things. When you read books by people who build together you always wait for the other shoe to drop, one or the other of them made all the choices and the house becomes the individuals, not the couples. Then you get the footnote about who moved out to find themselves...

So if you think you want to spend forever with somebody do the big project and see if it blows you apart or galvanizes you.

It's a shame there's not a bullet-proofing process that costs less than a couple hundred thousand dollars... ;)

i spent a summer building houses in TJ, mexico... those houses only ran about $600 each.

Does that include the booze?

Somebody here must've done something that does the same thing with no money down. Seems like hiking the Appalachian Trail or some other intense experience could do the same thing.

hee hee hee.

I've heard and believe that the acid test for a relationship is to travel together. Doesn't have to be overseas, though that may count as aqua regia, just get in the car and spend a week or two driving.

If after travelling you are still speaking to one another, then there is a pretty good chance you will make it as a couple.

Griff, I'm told the AT or PCT will work too. And if it all falls apart you'll be mighty buff while you look for a new SO. (unless you keep eating as though you are still hiking. I've seen a bunch of friends turn into michelin men overnight when they didn't get the fact that they were no longer burning 7000 kcal/day and kept eating like there was no tommorow) :greenface

Go canoeing with your girlfriend or prospective mate for a 2-3 day trip , if you can work togather as a team and have fun , you have a FINE chance of makeing it in a long term relationship .

My evil twin wants to add:

"keep your pimp hand strong"

Whatever that means

What zippyt said.

here's proof of my conoe test , a series of pics from my and Carols ( Mrs Zippyt ) first canoe trip , it was a 3 day trip with interconected friends ( some of her friends knew some of my friends ) , we will be married for 16 years the 24th :biggrin:

My wife and I actually did this before we got engaged. Took a road trip from St. Louis to Myrtle Beach S.C. It's a good test. 19 years later we're still telling each other "I'm not tired of you yet."

zippyt, I like the frame around your photocollage. Neat!

go on tour with the greatful dead.

What's a fox like Carol doing as a Mrs Zippy? ;)
I've seen a whole bunch of divorces that started as remodeling projects.

They should have remodeled first!