Happy happy birthday, David

Well, it's birthday report time. Before I forget it all.

Last Tuesday I turned 26. It's the first in a long stretch of boring birthdays. 18 you get to vote, 21 you are considered an adult in some other important ways (like gambling and booze), 25 you get cheaper car insurance and can rent a car. And the next big event is when you turn 60 and get a senior discount at the movies. So from 26 to 59 not much happens.

Since Kate was working on Tuesday, we decided to spread my birthday out over the whole week.

Monday we went to Walmart to pick up a gift from Mom and Dad. I love the internet- Mom and Dad bought a present online, and we got to go pick it up at our store here in Ypsi. No wait for shipping, nothing. They got me an iPod, which is really fun. I've done facetime with them and with John, and one of these days I will add Sara and Adam and Sam and Mollie so I can facetime with the kids. Nothing solidifies you as best uncle like some video chatting.

Tuesday was my actual birthday. Rachel (the tech in my lab) brought in a delicious cake she had baked- it was like a Snickers ice cream cake. Peanuts, vanilla ice cream, caramel, and chocolate. Yum.

Wednesday the labs went out for a fun lunch. It was a place called Mark's Carts here in Ann Arbor. Basically, some guy bought a vacant lot and rents out space to 5 or 6 people who bring in food carts. Because this is Ann Arbor, it was all organic and sustainable and all that (which, as I learned from Jim Gaffigan, is just another term for "more expensive"). It was really fun, but probably expensive enought that I wouldn't eat there except on special occasions (but not too special...they are food carts after all).

Thursday was my "birthday" in that it was when Kate and I went out and had a special dinner. That makes it a birthday, right? We went to a barbeque place in Willis called Bone Heads. Their logo is a flaming skull and crossbones with a chef's hat. I kind of expected a divey-scary biker bar, but when we walked in, it looked like something between Grandma's house (not my Grandma, just a Grandma) and an old west saloon/brothel. The Barbeque itself was pretty good, but it's hard to please a couple kids from Texas with Yankee barbeque. The sides were fantastic. We got some delicious home made mac and cheese (with some special cheese, but I can't remember what), fries (which tasted pretty much like fries), cornbread (in the shape of a skull to go along with the theme) and the best fried pickles I've ever had. They were something else. On weekends, there is a live band at Bone Heads, and I can only describe it as "lounge blues." It was just a guitar, bass, and drums, no vocals, and they played sort of light bluesy-jazzy music. It was really fun and the guitarist was quite good.

And that was my big, fun birthday week. I miss anything big, Kate?