This year’s birthday was a low-key affair. I had to do a half day of work while her mother took her out shopping for clothes. Somara got some nice things, namely the pajamas of the Mutts characters, one of the last decent newspaper strips out. Then we had dinner this evening at her parents’ house with her younger brother’s family. Since we’re both trying to overcome illness, a chicken-noodle-type dish was the main course but we still had cake and ice cream afterwards.
What did I get her this year? The engraved iPod Nano from last year was going to be tough to beat and I don’t think I did very well, I went with three DVDs of series I know she enjoys because we turned off our Dish TV this Spring. The first one was an easy choice, the second season of the Muppet Show. The remaining two sets were the first seasons of the hit series Mythbusters and Dirty Jobs from Discovery which are both great examples of cable television delivering on the promise of education and entertainment. Personally I think Dirty hosted by Mike Rowe (you’ll see him shilling Ford trucks on commercials now) also serves as a good tool to get children to do better in school. “If you get lousy grades, you’ll end up working on an alligator farm or recycling Vegas buffet leftovers into hog chow!”
Why didn’t we do anything bigger like my 35th birthday? We’re going on vacation in a month for a wedding and other surprises (more details as they happen), then her sister in Florida is flying her out within a month. So I’d say we’re pretty tapped financially on any further travel until my 40th party in Vegas next Summer.
Still, wish a belated b-day along with Star Wars lead and probably the best Joker voice, Mark Hamil.