Total Hijack
Munk tell me about it, with the generation who is about to retire. They are always the ones who push for being early to work, not questioning the bosses, and they feel like your face at a workplace matters. Why would you want to be in a office when you can be in a plane typing up stuff for the next board meeting! Technology seems to be a huge barrier in the work place.

I can get the same stuff done with software at home, in my PJ's while sipping some coffee. I can compact the 8 hour workload easily in 3 hours and even get more work done. I think the older generation isn't very productive when it comes to time saving cuts and they think I am being lazy when I work from home heh. I try not to imagine the stuff the younger generation is going to be saying about OUR generation at retirement LOL " Mommy, cell phones?! I thought they were when the dinosaurs existed"

Look, I understand that it's some quirk in your personality that makes you look at things in terms of cost/benefit analysis, and that's part of who you are, and I'm not trying to take that away from you. But I think it would be worth it for you to at least consider the fact that many of the really awesome experiences in life do not make ANY sense when looked at from that point of view. I mean, having kids? Do the financial benefits outweigh the costs? Absolutely not! Even if you could put emotional benefits into financial terms and weigh things out that way, I think you'd probably just barely break even at best. And yet over and over again, you hear people say that it's one of the best decisions they ever made. And for those who feel that they do not want kids or that they regret the decision to have kids, it's still usually their hearts telling them that they'd be happier without them. Does the cost of travel outweigh the benefits? How do you put a price on that? If you take a trip halfway around the world and end up spending $10,000 but gain incredible experiences and memories that will last a lifetime, is that worth it? Or does the trip have to be below a certain dollar amount? Do you see where I'm going with this? You're going to miss out on so many things if you choose to live your life this way. I mean, dog ownership? Really? We adopt pets because we love them and they love us, and we shell out money for their medical bills for the same reasons. If have to do the math on whether the emotional benefits outweigh the financial costs, you shouldn't even think about doing it, in my opinion.

And by the way, you don't want to raise a child. You want to sponsor a child. Big difference.

*****

EDIT: I also just want to point out that you don't automatically gain some magical "legitimate relationship" status as soon as you get married. I absolutely hate husband-bashing and man-bashing in general, but if I say anything when other people do it, I get these knowing smirks along with comments like, "Oh, right, you're still a NEWLYWED." Er, while that's technically true, we were together for nine years before that, so I think I know what I'm talking about. But, unlike you, I refuse to laugh at the jokes and go along with it for the sake of my career. That's not respectful to my husband, and it's not respectful to the kind of person I want to be. No career is worth losing integrity for, in my opinion.