Presents for An Engineering Wife

Hi friend,

62 engineers tried to help you foolishly to suggest a present for your enngineer wife. What she wants is a present that you select not what others advise. So think about soething yourself with out thinking what others told you . Sorry in so many years after marriage if you do not know what your wife wants as a present you are not fit to be her husband.

So please close this debate for hevan sake.

Chill V.I., and if YOU know what women want, write a book about it. You will be a BILLIONAIR!

Bricktop , The real problem is that no body know what a women wants.If you are realistic husband you must have learnt it with in short period after marriage . So you do don't have to worry what present to be given. Only thing is you must give present knowing very well that it will not be liked or appreciated. so I am not going to advice you what Christmas present you should give to your better half . I have finalised mine. We wish Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

V.I.Abraham -- You do not understand women, at least the kind we have in America. It is particularly difficult for us if we are engineers. They want us to be able to read their minds. But the very thing that would terrify them the most is if we could read their minds.

But I suppose you are right about the suggestions in one respect, that they are a list of things to not give your wife.

Ed Weldon

Ed Weldon,

Can anybody understand women? They are so unpredictable . Women all over world are same. I could not find any difference in US women during my two years stay in US. All the friends in the neighborhood weather they are European origin, Italian or French or African, Chinese, Indian or Japanese all women react similarly. Coming to the presents for women by their husbands no wife will be satisfied. So why to worry or break the head. Give anything you feel she may like. She may praise you curse you ultimately they may not like it from their core of heart as their expectations cannot be known or met. So why to worry give the one present what you feel your wife may like best and that fits your pocket.

Good advice.

Dear Abraham,

I think you are wrong about judgement of Asian women and other women. They are entirely diffrent than others. They respect their spouse, dont get harsh if their hubby doesnt call them after reaching office or forgets their birthday. That is the reason now a days many westerners look for Asian brides. They are lifelong partners however there are many exceptions too. Moreover there is vast cultural difference.

Dear Suresh,

Asian women( educated,earning ,present generation women) are no different. The old generation was different . Even in US it was same case. When women got educated and liberated they become conscious about their rights and importance in the family. The trend is clearly visible in our metros . This change is no way bad the ladies must become independent and self supporting to maintain their dignity. Asian ladies were submissive because of lack of education and exposure and male domination. The behavioural change of of the Asian immigrants in US is a clear example.

Husbands have no special right to come home late from office with out proper reason. If he come late wife has all right to show her protest . If she doesn't do it then it is a mistake on her part.Will you tolerate if your wife come late from her office with out proper reason. What I believe is in a civilised society husband and wife has equal Rights and responsibility

Suresh / Abraham

You both are right. As Suresh says, many of Indian women are much tolerant, as majority are still not well educated (forgive me Abraham, if we see total percentage including all women of India... including those from rural areas, percentage is still not good enough). Thus they are more tolerant and submissive.

But picture has changed to urban areas, where more and more women are educated and not so submissive, when they are self supporting. (Sorry Suresh, this is the fact). Thus, you see more diverses in urban areas. But still even with this freedom (from self made bindings) which came with education, Indian women are achieving more balance than western women.

Both sides have good and bad aspects, difficult to decide. But, the good effects of education obviously over balance the bad effects.

Just to compare, 85% women from China are said to be self supporting and less tha 25% women from India are self supporting. All western world hangs in between, probably. This make the whole difference.

Dear Abraham,

I agree with you that Indian educated women are independant. But they dont behave in same manner like western women. In Mumbai or Pune there are many working women they toil whole day in offices and factories and come back home and do house chores.They remain as the part of the joint family or just family lifelong. They dont nudge their hubbies for trivail matters. Well it is our culture and we are lucky to have peacfull family life.

I agree with you too. Many women in Urban India are balancing both the fronts ... home and office where they are working, thanks to our culture (not the men including me).

But it is the fact with the rise in education and self support financially, the rate of diverse is on rise in India.

I fear a serious culture clash in the making...

Hooker

LOL, Hook, LOL...

I am very surprised how many of you guys think this is all about money.

I really thing that a gift from the heart no matter what the cost is way more appealing to a woman than any amount of money you could spend. I have at time spent a great deal of money on things for my wife and never got the reaction out of her as I did when I made something from my own to hands.

Unless you have a wife that thinks its only about dollars and cents. If thats the case the blow the wad, but I do feel sorry for you if she is really that way.

I have been married as stated above for 26 years and all women may not be like my wife but she would shoot me if I bought her a huge diamond but loves it when I get her a simple silk rose wrapped in a ribbon an put in a Small milk white vase.

I just think its the simple things that matter and maybe because we both came from simple means.

Oh and a really mushy note to go along with the simple thing you made, that give a brief description of what you were thinking when you made it really pumps it up a notch.

Think about it.

Hi Tigger

The lovely one had one of these and the wheels came off. The result of too much shopping. You can't just pick one of these up at the corner store so I turned it into a 4WD "Potato Porsche". All the parts were at hand and 4 hours later she was out there again and could shop to her hearts content. Roller skating is not one of our strengths, so we are not going to miss the one which has now found a second life. I'll find a use for the other one. Maybe mass production?

Have fun all of you, be Merry!

Give her something that looks nice , breaks down easily- may be an old vintage gadget - and reparable. may be an old HMV gramophone with LP and pins- which she will not be able to get, will keep on breaking down and keep you free to pursue your hobbies (Just take care to lose the scent - and the lipsticks on the way back)

Keeps her busy in repairing and quibbling over it.

I agree women are same everywhere and they do have the sixth sense (may be the motherly instinct) and they have an eye on the back of their head (or an apparent one) - and they are sure that we have eyes everywhere else.

I don't think on the matter of women any culture clash will take place - Their culture is same every where - reminded the case of the pajamas - it happened with a dress for me (not once) - then i found a better way - let her do the shopping- i just flash my card.

Do you hear an MCP grunting (may be ) - but over here they love us to pay - even in non gift seasons

How about a nice little 2 seat roadster:

Lotus Elise

Boxster

Panoz

You could probably get a Corvette real cheap.

My wife is the same way. But she likes a day at the spa or an hour long message. Even gift certificates for a manicure or pedicure should do.

The OP didn't say if this was a birthday or Christmas present, but if it's Christmas, I can tell you what we did.

We had an agreement that there was to be no exchange of gifts on Christmas morning, other than stocking stuffers.

Soon after the holiday, we would go shopping and buy gifts that each other wanted, taking advantage of the post Christmas sales.

Gadgets. The latest portable GPS, PDA, or mp3/video player etc. Look for gadgets!

On a personal note....this is really not the place to source gift ideas for your wife! What I do continually throughout the year is make notes about things that she may mention she would like to have. For every significant event such as anniversary, birthday, Christmas, I would then have a list of three to four options to choose from. Sometimes I can't decide and I just get two or three items.

Good luck

Tigger --

I think you may have already accumulated the raw material for a present in this very thread.

With some creative editing and formatting, maybe including some favorite old photos, it would give you something to show her just how much you love her and a piece of humor you both can laugh over for years to come.

Ed Weldon

Give her a big burly millwright. She'll appreciate a dude who can show her how her perfectly engineered square pegs can fit in her perfectly engineered round holes and vice-versa.

Very good idea about not giving appliances. My wife divorced her first husband after he finally gave her a Christmas present after 21 years of marriage; a set of butcher knives. He did not see the problem. Anyway, do not give her a vacuum cleaner, even if it is a double bagger. Google for "doghouse" video.

Some of the best gift advice or website suggestions:

• Travel or a trip seems like a safe bet, especially if you have time to plan a good one.
• Ask for a list and if you get a list stick to it.
• In-house fabricated gifts are as effective as outsourced items and can be more sentimental at a fraction of the cost
• Gifts with sentimental attributes with attached mushy documentation (note or card) are especially effective in extracting tears of joy.
• www.brookstone.com
• www.engineersedge.com
  http://www.giftsforengineers.com/
• http://www.levenger.com
• Foryou-forme gifts are bad (e.g., cigars, power tools, night vision goggles)
• Practical Engineering Wives do not want practical gifts such appliances or cleaning tools anymore than other wife types

Now I need some gift ideas for my girlfriend / mistress.
Should the gift be more $ or less $ than what I gave my wife?

Is giving them the same present a good idea to avoid slip-ups later on?

How will they know anyway?

Just kidding

A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to All!

ROFL!!!! Hhahahhahahhaaa!

Hi Tigger - For the engineering husband, I suggest a book, "Planet Google: One Company's Audacious Plan to Organize Everything We Know" (NPR link here - interview with author archived on web site) by New York Times journalist Randall Stross. Hoping Santa will bring that for me. :) - Larry

If I was married, I'd probably have an opera-loving wife, by the looks of my luck so far.

Then, she would probably drag me to the theatre to listen to four hours of glass-shattering howls, and enjoy my face of pain to oblivion;

Then, she would drag me to a fancy restaurant, to seal the humiliation by forcing me to eat all kinds of weird and exotic sea-food items;

BUT, I'm not married, (divorced for twenty-five years) and so, I buy my own presents, and treat myself to all kinds of stuff.

I'll probably die alone. Not everybody is born lucky.

When it comes down to it, we all die alone .

So, why the frown ? It's a blessing. Do I need on my death-bed all the leeches and the naggers who were supposed to haunt me in during my entire lifetime ?

Enough is enough.

It's more a quizzical look, with sideburn things.

Lucky fellow! I envy you.

Thats why your name is YUVA(l).

In Indian language, YUVA means young.

Hi Yuval,

Probably you did not have that much patience or you could have lived together now also. Probably you did not give a second thought about your final decision for divorce ,the ego problem( which is the normal cause for all marriage failures) could have been sorted out.All ifs and buts it is the destiny. From the way you expressed ,I feel you are unhappy to be alone now.

" She may shout at you ,scream at you ,blame you , bother you ,complain against you but still cannot live with out her "