The whole day got a away from me so I apologize for not getting this posted sooner. Plus I will have to test the new WP 2.9.1 to see if it does scheduling of stories before I revert back to the default theme (Kubrick) or try a new one I slated for February (it’s even cooler than the one you see currently).
First up will be Deb’s. Not the one I know around the Austin, this would be the one I knew at Marquette and was housemates with during the crazy Summer of 1988. Her birthday was really yesterday but she still deserves a mention because she’s a really smart cookie, she has a PhD! I like to call her Dr. Deb. Not in jest, out of respect since she earned the title with all the school, research and writing under her (metaphorical) belt. I wonder if her husband’s parents (Neal) were excited that their son was marrying a doctor? I know mine would’ve been impressed. Now Deb may not be a medical doctor yet she has studied in the disciplines of Chemistry and Biology (or BioChem) which does contribute to progress in medicine. Hard stuff. Hopefully Deb got to be queen for a day with Neal and their kids catering to her every whim: dinner, movie, etc.
Next is a recent co-worker who joined the Enterprise team at Apple. Much like Dr. Deb, Kelly’s special day was yesterday, however, he very deservedly earned his electrons in Picayune. I don’t want to think about how hard my life would be without Kelly’s amazing expertise in Wikis, Blogs and general Web things in the Server OS. On the surface those things look easy, c’mon, it’s just a Blog or hey the Wikipedia people can do it. Not completely. The previous logic more along the lines of mistaking driving a car for being super knowledgeable on repairing said car. Kelly has also contributed to assisting me on tweaking the core Picayune which uses Word Press and is in the process of demonstrating how I can easily fix the name of another (semi-hidden) Wiki I’m hosting about music: I was experimenting, chose a title and now I want to convert it totally over to what Mark M (the winning choice) picked out. Kelly’s knowledge is beyond computers. He can easily clobber me about superheroes or Star Trek so I guarantee that he will be dragged to the annual trivia contest at Rogues Gallery by me. Who am I to deny Kelly a cool prize. If they allow teams, I have dibs!
Lastly is Melia whose birthday IS today. Melia is a mutual friend of Somara and me. Years ago, I had the (wonderful) opportunity to make her drinks and take her food orders during my final weeks at Kenny’s. Most days, Melia came in with her husband Tarl, daughter Ryanne and son Corrin (he was a baby then). Our relationship has been more than patronage, we got Melia and her gang to become part of the Sunday Morning Ritual at Einstein’s Bagels with Charles and the Simmons Family. A very warm, humorous and patient lady, especially in light of my poor math skills regarding how far an average person could run in 18.5 minutes (kilometers! not miles!); she often participates in charity running/jogging events. Then there’s her very forgiving nature for a dumb faux pas I made regarding her drink one morning. In my defense, I assumed something based upon the order along with patterns of other customers, nothing further. Now knowing her two children, they are up to something to surprise their mother with a big assistance from Tarl.
As expected, if you know any of them, drop them a (belated) happy birthday!