A Glimpse into my mind

* I have managed to survive 40 years on this planet. (Which when you consider how sickly I was as a child and had my first anaphalatic reaction at 6 mos old, is rather surprising).
* Birthday Lunch with both my Bosses as a great Italian place.
* Birthday Dinner with Katie at a new to me sushi place.
* Lots of love and snuggles from my four footed family members.

So far it's been a pretty quiet and uneventful day.

Yesterday I got the birthday calls from my car dealer (old family friend who calls on all his clients' birthdays and anniversaries) and my uncle Alan.

This morning I was greeted by Grimm with an Elvis style puppy sneer and a sneeze. I think that was "Happy Birthday Momma".

Today my boss gave me a potted Gerbera Daisy plant. And he didn't even know that next to apricot roses, gerbera daisies (of any color) are my favorite flower. So bonus to him. My co-workers got me a cake and the 8 tech guys gave a rather poorly harmonized rendition of "Happy Birthday". It was cute and touching.

Tonight the girls are taking me to dinner at Red Lobster and then to do my favorite Birthday tradition - go see the new Disney movie. So nice of Disney/Pixar to release Wall-E on my birthday this year.

( more thoughts )

Tomorrow Grimm and I head to Pax. Not sure if one or both of the girls are coming with me. But it will be nice to go. And since they are allowing dogs, Grimm can be social too. Which is always a good thing.

So, back to the grind for a little longer and then off to enjoy the weekend.

Have a good weekend all.

My birthday is at the end of the month.

If anyone is wondering what I would like/need, and would like to get me something/go in on something for me, I need a new full sized futon mattress. The one I have is going to be condemned as a bio-hazard and thrown out when I move. dicea knows a place here in Buffalo that sells them for reasonable prices. If interested maybe you can contact her or bakestondone. Not having one will limit the amount of crash space I can offer to people in the future (and moving weekend).

Other things I need: shower curtain rod for the guest bathroom. Weed wacker.

Yeah, I feel old when I sit and think that all I want for my birthday is a stupid weed wacker or shower curtain rod.

Go to Wikipedia and look up your birth day (excluding the year). List three neat facts, two births and one death in your journal, including the year

Interesting facts:

1709 - Peter the Great defeats Charles XII of Sweden at the Battle of Poltava.
1950 - The United States decides to send troops to fight in the Korean War.
1967 - The world's first ATM is installed in Enfield, London.

Births:

1880 - Helen Keller, American spokeswoman for the deaf and blind ( d. 1968)
1932 - Anna Moffo, American soprano (d. 2006)

Death:

2004 - George Patton IV, American General (b. 1923)

Holiday and Obsevance: National HIV Testing Day in the United States.

So I slept in today. Wooo hooo. What a novel concept. Got dressed and headed over to the girls' place.

dicea when out with me to have some fun in the name of my birthday (which really isn't until Monday but so what). The first thing we did was go over to Forest Lawn Cemetary, which is a HUGE cemetary here in Buffalo filled with lots of famous dead people. I took my camera with me and we went and explored only a small tiny bit of it, probably about 1/8 the total amount of it, and shot two full rolls of b&w film. I'm hoping to be able to turn at least some of it into a tarot deck, or at least a artistic exhibition based on the tarot. I don't know if I will get all the cards done or not. but others have only done a few cards in their artistic pursuits. (see ursulav and her website Metal and Magic. she's an amazing artist and her lj is a hoot to read. If you don't already read her go now! But she has only done a handful of cards in her wombat tarot).

After exploring and taking lots of pictures we went for something cool to drink and food and then went to the zoo. I love the zoo. Buffalo's is nice because it's small and it doesn't take all day to see everything. Also, it's damn hot out so it wasn't real crowded. I like the Rochester zoo more because they have more of the types of animals I like to see (wolf pack, penguins) but Buffalo is really nice. This time I shot 2+ rolls of color. Dicea is saying I should do a cemetary deck and a zoo deck.

We will have to see how the pictures come out first though. I need to be brave and let someone else develop my b&w film as I can't get into my old dark room. OK it was my fathers. But still. The basement where it is is packed with all of my deceased grandmothers kitch so I can't get to the room. And that too is full of... well frankly... junk.

I promise faithful readers that once I have money enough to get them developed I will share with you the pictures I took today and ask for your opinions.

Until then... I need a shower to cool off and get the sunscreen off my body.

Think of me as I go get wet.