Marriage turns genius off like a tap.

Re:Marriage turns genius off like a tap. by aantix on Wednesday February 06, 2008 @05:18PM (#110495)

I've always been the type that in order for me to learn something, I adopt a pet project. It brings context to the concepts.

I can remember staying the night at my girlfriend's apartment (she's now my wife). We enjoyed each others company. But when she would fall asleep, I would hop on to her computer and begin working on my own projects.

And she use to complain, in fact, get extremely angry that I was up "typing away" and that I needed to come to bed. My contention is that she's asleep so why should she care? I finally said, "Get over yourself. I have enjoyed working on late projects before I met you and will continue to do so for the rest of my life. Programming is my life. Deal with it."

And after a few fights and with me not backing down, it was no longer an issue.

The point of the story; if something is important to you, grow some balls and stand up for it.

To make a broad generalization, women have a tendency to put the relationship before anything else. But if in your world coding is just as important as cuddling, speak up and stand your ground.

Relationships and intellectual development do not have to be mutually exclusive.

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Re:Marriage turns genius off like a tap. by tyler on Wednesday February 06, 2008 @07:00PM (#110548)

I had a very similar experience. My wife hits the sack at 11-ish, and I'm up until 3 or 4 working on side projects. It has worked out very well for us.

I asked her to read "Hackers and Painters" while we were dating. She did and said that it made her understand why I am the way I am. So, if you're early in a relationship and want her/him to "get it"... I highly recommend the book.

I got to personally thank PG for it a couple years ago... but... thanks again!

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Re:Marriage turns genius off like a tap. by imsteve on Wednesday February 06, 2008 @08:02PM (#110578)

Exact same here. Except in my case, she wins more often than not. She has her ways of making me do things....

Many nights I have stayed awake, looking wantingly at my computer across the room while I hold her, asleep in my arms.

No, and there seems to be no reasoning with her on this issue.

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Re:Marriage turns genius off like a tap. by albertcardona on Thursday February 07, 2008 @10:23AM (#110948)

Get into the habit of going to sleep with her, but waking up early. Very early. You don't need more than 4-5 hours of sleep, even if you think so. Plus the early hours of the morning (4 o'clock onward) are silent, cool, and your brain is fastest after resting. Best creative hours.

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Re:Marriage turns genius off like a tap. by imsteve on Thursday February 07, 2008 @08:45PM (#111684)

Doesn't seem workable to me. I can't get into the zone as easily when I first wake up.

And yes, I do need more than 4-5 hours when I do it every single day, and I'll be working all day too.

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Re:Marriage turns genius off like a tap. by andreyf on Wednesday February 06, 2008 @05:49PM (#110515)

1) Einstein ended up getting divorced over his work. Is it worth it?

2) Sex is exhausting. Having it regularly is the real issue.

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Re:Marriage turns genius off like a tap. by eugenejen on Wednesday February 06, 2008 @09:19PM (#110619)

I don't think exhausting sex is the issue. But the feeling for no more being competitive for sex reduces the drive to work. And I guess raising children also took away time. Considering the case of Pablo Picasso. He still did great work but he never settled down in any relationship and always looking for a new girl like he was young.

I guess to refute the theory, we need to monitor testosterone levels of creative males for all his life. And after their death and 50 years later to judge the correlation of their testosterone level with achievements.

So shall we wait to see Serge Brin and Larry Page's declined capabilities in running Google? :-)

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Re:Marriage turns genius off like a tap. by imsteve on Wednesday February 06, 2008 @08:03PM (#110579)

I feel great for coding after sex, if it's with a partner that I haven't just started with. It's like a cloud has been lifted from my mind. A world of distractions are suddenly gone.

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Re:Marriage turns genius off like a tap. by cstejerean on Wednesday February 06, 2008 @08:15PM (#110586)

Reminds me of Cryptonomicon

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Re:Marriage turns genius off like a tap. by mironathetin on Thursday February 07, 2008 @10:25AM (#110950)

I don't think 2 is right. Not enough sleep, that is often correlated, is the problem.

We had sex yesterday, and today, before breakfast, I swam 1.5 miles (crawl) in a good time.

You may reply, the sex was boring...

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