Category Archives: birthday

Happy Birthday to You

Today is the Son’s 21st birthday. It sure doesn’t seem that long ago that he came into our lives. Seems like only yesterday he was a small helpless bundle that fit in the palm of my hand and the crook of my arm. Now he’s well over 6 feet tall and a young man.

Last I heard, he and his buddies were off to do a bar trawl at midnight followed by a day of festivities today. It is amusing the changes brought on by changes in liquor laws. When L and I were younglings, the 21st birthday wasn’t celebrated big time. Why? Well, the primary reason was that the Vietnam War had driven the drinking age down to 18. (The infamous “if you are old enough to die for your country, you are certainly old enough to drink in it” line of reasoning.) So it was the 18th birthday that was the big celebration. I suspect that celebrating the 21st leads to a bit more maturity and restraint than the old 18th birthday parties. I can only hope. {*grin*}

The last couple of years have seen the Son mature and becoming more responsible and adult. So rather than merely being of age to drink, he has truly become a young adult.

Happy Birthday – I’m proud of you.

In honor of the occasion, I think the Beatles’ Birthday lyrics are fitting:

You say it’s your birthday
It’s my birthday too, yeah
They say it’s your birthday
We’re gonna have a good time
I’m glad it’s your birthday
Happy birthday to you.

Yes we’re going to a party party
Yes we’re going to a party party
Yes we’re going to a party party

I would like you to dance (Birthday)
Take a cha-cha-cha-chance (Birthday)
I would like you to dance (Birthday)
Dance

I would like you to dance (Birthday)
Take a cha-cha-cha-chance (Birthday)
I would like you to dance (Birthday)
Dance

You say it’s your birthday
Well it’s my birthday too, yeah
You say it’s your birthday
We’re gonna have a good time
I’m glad it’s your birthday
Happy birthday to you.

Wild and Howling

No, not my birthday celebration. The wind. What did you think I was talking about?

So yesterday I turned another year older (all of 57 years and the gray hairs were all earned). Four days from now L will have her birthday and join me in being older. (Notice that I did not say how old she was? A gentleman never discloses a ladies age. Just kidding.) The upshot of all that is that our real birthday quasi-celebration will be tomorrow night with our moms. Sort of splitting the difference if you will. 

It is funny to grow older. My friends and I were all convinced we’d never make it to age thirty in those halcyon years when we were sure we knew everything. Now we all laugh about it and remember those that are not still with us. One friend thinks that the fact we are all still alive is proof that we weren’t living life to the limits. Of course he then has to back down a bit when we point out that he is still with us and hasn’t led an exactly sedate life. {*grin*}

On a more serious note, you might have noted that Twitter shut down Twitdroyd and UberTwitter access today while at the same time pushing a commercial tweet for their new Twitter Mobile. Sounds like idiocy on the part of Twitter to me. I always figured people should be able to chose their own favorite method of using any service. A few more stupid moves and Twitter will be removed from my universe forever. (Facebook and MySpace already shot their own toes off and are long gone from my universe.)


Finally, I read a good joke today and thought I’d share it and leave you smiling.

B and T worked together in a factory and were both were laid off at the same time.   So they went to the unemployment office together.

Asked his occupation, B said, ‘Panty stitcher. I sew da elastic onto da ladies cotton panties.’ 

The clerk looked up panty stitcher. Finding it classified as unskilled labor, she gave B $300 a week in unemployment compensation.

T, when asked his occupation replied, ‘Diesel fitter.’

The clerk looked up diesel fitter and it was classified as a skilled job. So, the clerk gave T $600 a week in unemployment compensation. 

Later, when B found out, he was furious! He stormed back into the office to find out why his friend and co-worker was collecting double his benefits.

The clerk explained, ‘Panty stitchers are unskilled labor and diesel fitters are skilled labor.’ 

‘Wut skill?’ yelled B. ‘I sew da elastic on da panties. T puts dem over his head and says, ‘Yeah. DIESEL FITTER’.

That Was The Week That Was

Am I the only one here old enough to remember that TV show? (Even I remember it only from reruns on late night TV; it originally aired on the BBC way back in the early 60’s. I seem to remember seeing it as late night filler on a Boston UHF station in the 70’s.) In any case, it supplied a catchy title so the memory space it occupies in my mind is not totally wasted. For the insanely curious, go read the Wikipedia synopsis at That Was The Week That Was.

Last week I mentioned that I would write about the beautiful printer/scanner I won from the wonderful ladies of Aiming Low and HP. Late last week I finally got it unpacked and set up. (My delay was making it dangerously close to losing my tech geek card – true geeks must drop everything to play with any new piece of equipment!) Setup was trivial since it has built in wireless connectivity. And the photo prints are spectacular! Thank you Aiming Low and HP! Oh, it also looks pretty nifty as well:

Nothing like all black with a neat little touch screen to appeal to the tech geek in me.

L was home this weekend and we had the big thirtieth birthday party for my friend the writer to attend. A group of friends, great BBQ, two kinds of cake, and pie – the ideal way to say happy birthday. It doesn’t seem possible that he is that old. I have known him since he was in high school and it just doesn’t seem to be that long ago. (I suspect that is a symptom of aging – everything seems to have happened just a moment ago. When you are young, it seems like everything is yet to happen in the far distant future. The older you get, the faster things seem to happen.) In any case, Happy Birthday Bryson!

Time for Molly and I to head out for our walk. I think Molly will trust me by now. This morning it was time for her annual veterinary checkup and vaccinations.  She and I hopped in the truck went to the bank where the drive up clerk gave her a doggy biscuit. Molly thought that was pretty neat. Then we drove out to the clinic and Molly could smell all the dogs and cats and other critters in the gravel parking lot. That really excited her. She led me in the doors and sat with me in the waiting room. But when it came time to sit on the scale and she really didn’t want to be still. But we got through it and into the exam room.

That was when all those things that she blames me for happened. The cold stethoscope to the chest, the thermometer up the rear, and of course the three shots. All while I am holding her against my chest and beginning to look like I sprouted a white fur coat from her shedding on me. We came home and she carefully spent most of the day sleeping across the room from me in my office, raising her head to be sure I wasn’t up to another sneaky trick whenever I moved. By this evening she was willing to let by-gones be by-gones and was rubbing furballs all over my legs. So I think it is time for us to go. {*grin*}

Happy Birthday To L

Happy Birthday to L
Happy Birthday to You
(You look like a monkey
And live in a zoo)

I just can’t leave that last stanza off. Must be all the bad influences when I was growing up. As I mentioned before, today is the lovely L’s birthday. The five day span of me being the old coot to her young damsel is now over for another year. You can help celebrate by leaving a happy birthday comment for her. I have it on good authority she will not see this until tonight.

First up in our celebration, a Monkee video. The Monkees were/are one of L’s favorite groups and a teenage heart-throb of hers. In fact, a revival with three of the four Monkees is one of the few occasions that L ever successfully drug me to a teeny-gum concert. So here they are in their heyday:

You know you are getting up there when this cartoon applies to you. (Nudge, nudge, hint, hint.)

Happy Birthday L
Many Happy Returns