It's that time again!  James is celebrating his 39'th birthday for the third time today.   Happy Birthday James.  Hope you are well and that you are taking today off to relax and enjoy yourself. 

Well this weekend has been half-busy. Went to see my Mom on Saturday... Friday was a rough day for her too since it was her and Dad's wedding anniversary. I helped her rake leaves and we got the pictures off her camera for her. She seems to be enjoying her new point-and-shoot and has been taking a lot of pictures.

We had a little cake for my birthday and then I told my Mom about something I had seen on YouTube--the story of Charles Ingram, who cheated at "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire" and won the $1000000 prize--he eventually ended up in court and was sentenced to 18 months (suspended) and had to pay fines. It was an interesting story--here are the links if you want to watch it (the entire documentary is about 75 minutes):

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQoNWw0G2AY
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XpDMxyFakY
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOOhfQk5-58
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q0K_I4DMX4
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obswP-3JFss
Part 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFpBLsLCMQ8
Part 7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve5lx_LowaI
Part 8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU14bYbJWVw

Mom loves game shows like Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader, and so forth, so she found the story interesting too. We got back here pretty late Saturday night.

Sunday was the slow day. Patty went to Pickety Place with her family and I stayed home with Lynnea. She had a friend over and they seemed to have a good time. I did some photo work, played some video games, and enjoyed my new birthday gift.

Last year, my trusty old SAMSUNG YP7 MP3 player went through the wash in the pocket of my sweatshirt. :( So I was without a player for a long time. Sometime months ago I came into a little money (probably a gift from someone--don't remember now) and Pat asked if I wanted to replace the MP3 player. But at the time I felt it was better to put the money in my photography business account. There's still a couple pieces of equipment I am trying to save up for.

But over the ensuing months I realized just how much I missed having music whenever I wanted it, especially when I go to sleep. So, having received a little birthday money, I decided on Saturday to go out and get a new one. It's a Sansa Clip (4Gb)... and I can fit almost my entire song library on it. (No iPods for this music lover!) Plays great, and it includes an FM tuner and voice recorder for those rare moments when I want to take notes.

Let's see what else has been going on? I've been watching the election polls with trepidation I *really* want Obama to win... 8 years of Republican mismanagement has been more than enough. I'd like to finally see universal health care become a reality in this country. I'd like to see a serious move away from fossil fuels. I'll probably run a blogathon on election day.

So here it is around dinnertime on Sunday, and I am trying not to think about work tomorrow. Figured I'd write a blog post for y'all. It's been forever, it seems, since I was blogging regularly.

Oh, I've had Mara and Kennis knocking about in my head again recently... I may write a little more of their story at some point.

Today the lady of my life is another year older.

Happy birthday hon!

Let's go out to breakfast! 

I just found out that today is the birthday of my old friend Mike.  Mike and I met in college some 20 years ago.  I was a CIS major and he majored in math.  Here's a picture of Mike from a get together we both recently attended where we talked about (among other things) cameras and photography.  Years ago I encouraged Mike to pursue a degree in computer science, and recently I've been encouraging him to move up to a DSLR camera.

He's a good guy, and I hope he has a great birthday.

Happy Day, Mike! 

Please join me in wishing one of my best friends, James Burke, a pleasant birthday.  I met James about 22 years ago in college and haven't regretted a single day of knowing him since.

This past Saturday we attended a birthday gathering in honor of James turning 40.  We had a good time socializing and watching game 3 of the world series.  It was great to see all my friends again, especially James, who was as charming and witty as I remember him always being.

Happy Day James!  Don't work too hard.

Please join me in wishing one of my best friends, Maggie Burke, a pleasant birthday.  I've known Maggie a long time, and I value her wisdom and insight, and enjoy her company.  Hope you have a great day Maggie!

BTW: I *have* been reading your blog btw, just not leaving comments.  Always a pleasure to hear your thoughts.

Just wanted to take a brief moment here to wish my friend, Tom King, a Happy Birthday!  Please join me in wishing Tom a pleasant day.  This is one of those special birthdays, a real milestone, because my good friend Tom is turning 39... again!  Congratulations buddy!

Happy Day my friend, happy day.