my marriage is being ruined by a generator! Help!

[Anonymous]

OP, your husband likes his computers. Is this issue more about how you envision him with a hobby that you and baby can't participate in, the "All we see of him is the back of his head for the next 18 years" syndrome? I'm the wife of the PP posting about your cuteness. I'd urge you to get a good gennorator, one that will power not only his computers but the rest of the house. This way you'll have heat, lights, fridge, tv things like that. The more you spend, the more circuits you get and hence the more you power. Also, the gennorator will need to be checked by the gas company so you'll know from a third party that it is safe. They can be loud, but are not that bad, just view it as another sound to get used to. Sell your husband on the argument that his current gennorator is too big for you to move and hook up and you don't want his computers to crap out if he's not home. That should get him to pay attention if the computers are as important to him as you say. I'd be curious to know how you would like him to compromise. Compromise isn't "do what I tell you, damn it!" Also think too about if you really do say no to his big ticket purchases. There is the "No dear we don't have the money but let's save up, and think about this" and then there is the "hell no, we are never going to get one of those". The second option can kill your love for someone. Life has to be worth living and like a song from the 1930 says "When you kiss a dollar bill, it doesn't kiss you back". Think about if there may be some truth in what he's saying about you always saying no.

[Anonymous]

A generator should be a minimum of 15 feet from the house with the exhaust pointed away from the house. You should also buy a carbon monoxide detector which will give out an alarm if Carbon Monoxide inside the house rises to dangerous levels because of the generator. For running servers, your husband can look at buying a UPS (uninterrupted power supply) insetad which runs on batteries.

[Anonymous]

DH and I have been talking about getting a generator. A couple of years ago when we had all of that snow and ice and schools were closed for a week, we lost power for DAYS. Neighbors with a generator were the only ones with HEAT in our neighborhood. It's WINTER. I wouldn't let go of that thing if I were you. Heat is a nice thing to have with a baby in the house. Pick a different battle.