GETINHERHEAD BLOG

Want to Earn $100,000? All you need is a Priest and....

Money can't buy you happiness, right? That being said, if you woke up and found $100,000 extra just sitting in your bank account, I'm guessing you'd be pretty happy. (Or, at this time in our lives, a mortgage banker with a direct line to Mr. Paulson.)

Yes! You'd be thrilled! You'd think of all the things you could do with the money: patching the house, retiring the old car, paying for a kids education, starting a foundation, etc....

Well, if you are in a good marriage, congrats - you just found the $100K.

David Blanchflower, a Dartmouth professor in economics (and, coincidentally, a member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England), found out that a good marriage is worth the same as finding an extra $100K in your pocket.

Granted, nothing is truly free. But, if you are in a good marriage, at least it's fun earning the dough.... (And, yes, this is old news but new to me. Thank you DAM!)

More Wienies = More Better

Does your relationship have a wienie in it? Do you care enough to add one (or many) in? Personally, I think the more wienies you've got, the better off you'll be. (Thanks for the great story, Mark!)

These are NOT Date Movies!!

Kate and I enjoy watching movies. In fact, since we found Netflix, one of our favorite date nights is to choose a good flick, make a great dinner, get the kids to bed, and cozy up on the couch. (Last night's Amazing Grace really got us talking - it's a great movie.)

In picking our upcoming date movie, we often visit Rotten Tomatoes - a great site for reviews and ratings. I had a lot of fun reading through a recent blog post regarding their top 'anti-relationship' flicks.

(Let's hear it for Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, and Glenn Close - the King and Queens of relationship disaster!)

"War of the Roses" has always been on of 'can't turn it off late night flicks' list. It has a ton of dark humor, great physical comedy, Devito is absolutely hilarious, and there is an actual message in the end.

While I wouldn't suggest to watch a lot of these 'anti-relationship' movies in a row - you don't want to give your loved one the wrong idea - sometimes its fun to see what is on the other side of good relationships.

Enjoy!

More Chocolate = More Sex?

Its always a little funny to find things about relationships in The Economist, one of our favorite mags. However, they've recently reported on the link between chocolate and sex. While it is not conclusive, I would love to find out if there truly is a causal link or if it is just a coincidence. If there truly is a causal link, we'll be upping our cocoa intake!

Happy Valentines Day everyone.

You Stink So Good

I'll admit it: I've pressed my face into Kate's pillow and taken a deep breath when she's been away. Something about her scent is just comforting. I always thought this was a little embarassing but it turns out I'm not a nut job but just following my natuarl instincts.

I just came across an article linking the smell of a person and your attraction to them. Turns out, it comes from an evolutionary imperative - reproducing healthy kids. (This was also covered in the recent Time issue concerning relationships. More on those articles later.)

Here's how it works: A gene called the major histocompatability complex (MHC) helps us stave off infections but also changes odors in ways that we humans can detect. To figure this out, researchers lined up a bunch of three day old tshirts and had subjects take a sniff and rate the attractiveness of the wearer. They then compared the MHC genes of the testers and the owner of their most "attractive" tshirt.

The result? Women preferred T-shirts from men whose MHC was most different from their own. The researchers believe this makes sense. The more diverse you are from your mate's MHC, the better the immune system your off-spring should enjoy. (This attraction is also the same for gay and lesbian couples.)

Now, Kate has always posited that modern deodorants mask our natural scent, hurting our ability to chose the right mate with our sniffers. (One of her fabulous college roommates wrote a paper entitled, "Phermones: The Scent More Powerful Than Chanel." So, this has been on her mind. I know, I know - the things we talk about....)

I'm happy to report Kate looks to be wrong on this one. The evidence shows women with similar MHCs favoured the use of similar commercial perfumes. In otherwords, they are picking the perfumes that augment their natural scent. I would guess that men do the same with deodorants.

If you want to figure out if you smelled the right person, you can use ScientificMatch.com, a company started on these principles. It ONLY costs $1995 per person. Or, if you want a cheaper method, just take a whiff.