The Answer Is: 42!

Fans of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy know what 42 is: it's the answer to the "Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything."

Deep, huh? Hey -- just don't forget to bring a towel!

But for me, in addition to being the answer to all that exists ... 42 is the age I've become. Yes, I'm now more than well acquainted with being in my 40s. Wow! Can't believe I've been on this planet for so long. I wonder how much longer I'll be here, and what comes next?

Exciting to find out!

But in the meantime, I'll keep on enjoying life here on Earth. The above photo was a self portrait I took on my previous birthday last year. It was right before I was set to fly off to Morocco for a week. One of the best trips I've taken, in addition to this one I already blogged about of course. I'll write up my Morocco trip report soon here, so stay tuned for that.

Anyway, fast forward to this year and now I'm one year older. Which is fine, I don't mind. I still consider myself young anyway. I certainly feel it!

I ended up spending the evening at a quite excellent Turkish restaurant in Kip's Bay. Wow! It was such a great dinner, and best yet -- I got baklava for dessert. Yum!!!

Afterward, we went to a nearby theater to see the latest Spike Lee joint: BlacKkKlansmen. I was super impressed with this movie. It's so good! I'm currently trying to recommend it to everyone. You should check it out, too, if you get the chance.

Overall it was a pretty good way to turn 42. Before heading out to dinner, I took my annual self portrait for posterity:

My Happy Time of the Year is Here!

Oh, thank the Seven that September is finally here!

I thought it might never come, what with how blastedly hot and humid it's been around these parts for the past 3 months. This has been a hotter than normal summer for the New York City area, and oh how I've suffered because of it. I hate the heat! Yeah, I'm sure I mentioned it before more than a few times on this blog. But it bears repeating.

Well now that summer is unofficially over thanks to the passing of Labor Day yesterday, that can only mean one thing: MY BIRTHDAY IS NEAR!!!

Yup, it'll be upon me in a few days, and I'll be turning 42. It's the meaning of life, the universe, and everything, oh didn't you know? That number is. So how can I possibly be nothing but thrilled about being 42? Truth be told, I have no hang ups over growing older. I'm happy, successful, and living comfortably. More importantly, I'm still in excellent health!

So basically this means I get to enjoy the day for what it is: a celebration of my life on this planet for the past 42 years. As an eternal optimist, this is the only way I can view the occasion.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll have more to say after the actual day has come and gone. Stay tuned!

In the meanwhile, this past weekend I traveled upstate to visit my sister living in Hudson, New York. I got up early in the morning and rushed to Grand Central Terminal to catch the first Amtrak train smoking and heading north. The main waiting area, pictured above, was very quiet and subdued for being just before the start of rush hour. I had about an hour to wait for my train, so in the meantime I had breakfast at a nearby indoor diner, browsed a newsstand next, and then finally had some time to snap photos with the camera gear I had brought with me.

See, I was going to visit my sister and to see her baby girl -- my first ever niece! -- who has just turned 6 months old. I had seen her shortly after she was born, of course, but now she would be wide awake, sitting up, and even playing with toys. So I knew I just had to bring my camera for the occasion. I won't post any of her pics here, but suffice to say that my niece is quite the cutie! OMG, she is so beautiful and very adorably chubby! I couldn't be any happier for my sis, and she's being such a great mom. Our mother would be so proud of her if she were alive today.

It was great seeing my family, including my auntie and her husband, again. We all had dinner at a nearby restaurant in town, and it was great to have that connection.

Eventually, though, I headed back to the city. While sitting in the dining car having a coffee by the big windows of the train, I saw so much beauty upon the waters of the Hudson river that I had to pull my camera out and snap off a few shots. Because the train was speeding like a bat out of hell, however, I had to adjust the shutter speed on my cam to a fast enough rate so as to minimize the blur:

Considering that I shot this through a dirty, smudgy window ... I think it came out pretty decent. I love sunset light! It makes every landscape photo look so surreal and gorgeous!

So, now that summer is drawing to an end in an official capacity soon -- what are you looking forward to the most about the coming Fall season?

Me, it's jacket weather. I love jacket weather! I know it may sound silly, but I've always felt most comfortable going out in the world in a jacket or hoodie with big pockets. That's the key, see: pockets! I need to have pockets on me when I go out, and jeans or trousers alone just don't cut it. I have like a billion things to carry, and I detest schlepping along a backpack or satchel to carry them in with a fiery, hot passion. So more pockets help, yes.

Am I the only one who loves jacket weather for this reason?

Happy July!

Ugh!

So here we are, in the thick of summer. My least favorite season. And as a new month begins, as if to really hammer the point home, we've had one of the hottest days here in New York that we've had in quite some time. It reached 100 degrees today. Arrghhh!! I'm so mad. That is just not civilized weather for this part of the world. And this was actually the 3rd day of 90-degree+ temps here, with two more still to go. It's official: we're in a heat wave!

Yay.

Still, I'm trying not to let it get me too down. Luckily our Independence Day is this Wednesday, so that's nice. The holiday will help break up the week, plus I'm taking an additional two days off after to give myself a really long weekend. That helps improve my mood greatly. Although, it will still be ass-crack hot in this city during those days, but at least I can go to a movie or something. Someplace indoors with copious amounts of AC.

Anyway, how are you all doing? Pleas let me know. I hope you're off enjoying holidays of your own, wherever you are.

I'm going to try to use this month to do more writing on my spare time. And, sure, I'll get in a little photography here and there. I'm debating whether I should splurge to upgrade to a new camera. It's going to cost me over $800, and I'm just procrastinating over pulling the trigger on such an expensive purchase. I mean, I already have a camera, right? I've been using it pretty heavily for the past 3 years, but alas I just feel I've maxed out its limitations. It's really meant for an amateur, and I feel that my skills have taken me beyond that level by now. I guess I have a few weeks with which to make a decision. Dilemma, dilemma.

Speaking of which, I took this photo of myself in my apartment just to test out a few new editing techniques. Pardon the flexing, I'm not great at posing myself and I didn't really know what to do with my hands. Also, I had just finished watching the new season of Luke Cage on Netflix, so was feeling a little "extra" with myself, LOL!

Stay tuned this week as I'm working on a long travel piece about my trip to the rainforest of Panama. It will basically be a day-by-day account of all the fun I had and adventures I went on while vacationing alone in the province of Bocas del Toro. There will be plenty of pics!

So anyway, that's going to be coming here to this space soon. But in the meantime -- I hope you're all having a great summer so far!

More To Say On Introversion

*gulp* It's getting tight in here. Halp!!!

At the very tail end of 2014, I wrote this blog entry describing why "I am the way I am." Among other things, I took the time in said entry to go on about this idea of introversion. About how it's not the absence of social skill, nor is it the fear of interaction. But in fact, an introvert is someone who feels drained of energy when interacting with large groups of people in a social setting. Particularly if those people are not close loved ones or friends.

I've been thinking about that blog entry a lot because of a recent experience I had over the 3-day holiday weekend. While attending a BBQ/cookout being thrown by my sweetheart's parents at her childhood home this Labor Day, a bunch of us started debating the latest big-issue topics of the day. Stuff like Transgenderism, Black Lives Matter, the Kardashians ... and other very important subjects. Now, I must preface all that I'm about to say by first revealing that these people are all close to me. They're like my second family, and I've known them for going on two decades now.

My Quick(ish) iPhone 6-Plus Impression

(Insert stand-up routine here).

No, not that kind of impression.

What I'm holding up there is my newest phone, Apple's iPhone 6-Plus, which just came in the mail last Wednesday. Which is around 5 days after the phones first went on sale at stores nationwide. This was the usual upgrade after my 2-year contract commitment expired with AT&T, at which time I became eligible to replace my existing phone -- Apple's 2012 iteration, the iPhone 5.

Do You Remember . . .?

A typical September day in New York's Central Park.

. . . SEPTEMBER!!!

Yup, it's that time of year again. My favorite of them all, in fact . . . the month to beat all months. Yes, friends, my favorite time is finally here! I love September, and now I'm very happy. Happy not just because I was born in this month, but because it marks the end of that most hated season of all -- Summer!

Now, yes, we still have 3 more weeks of official Summer to go, but psychologically flipping the calendar from August is all it takes to get me in the Fall mood. For me, summer is over NOW! And thus commences one of my favorite times of the year, that stretch between Labor Day and Christmas Day. It doesn't get any better.

So where other people are starting to slow down, dress warmer, and prepare to hunker down for a long Winter ahead, my body is just waking up and starting to get the juices flowing. I'm more productive during this time of year, especially mentally. The months of July and August are just one endless foggy gap in my memory that I try to put behind me. Nothing of worth has ever happened to me in those months. Except get married, of course. And on second thought, we all know what a bad association that is for me now, so you can scratch that off the list.

So, yeah, nothing good at all happens to me in the Summer. Blech!

Although my friend Yvonne has beaten me to the punch and already put this up on Facebook -- I don't care! I have to share this video here on the blog. It's a tradition, dammit! Come celebrate with me this favorite month of mine by clicking on the video below. This song perfectly encapsulates how happy I'm feeling right now. In fact, it's seriously making me want to get up and dance:





Yes, you know you can't resist the beat, either. You just KNOW your feet are getting happy and want to move to the rhythm. So go ahead and DANCE!!! It's a joyous occasion.

Hey, hey, hey-eh ...
Ba de ya, say do you remember?
Ba de ya, dancing in September!
Ba de ya, never was a cloudy daaaaaaaaaaay . . .

The iPhone 5: Why I'm Not Underwhelmed

Well, my birthday came and went without much fanfare as usual. For those into details, it was a week and a half ago on Sep. 7th, and I turned 36. And while I didn't do anything on that day except complete one more revolution around the Sun, I did bake brownies in celebration. So that's something!

Anyway, seeing as how it is my birthday, and also seeing how I've had my current iPhone 4 for over two years now, I thought it was nice of Apple to schedule a major unveiling of their latest iteration of this popular product line around the same time. As a mild technophile I always suspected I would be getting the next iPhone anyway. Not just because I was due for an upgrade, but because I really do enjoy the form factor and GUI of Apple phones. So it was a no-brainer that the iPhone 5 would be this year's birthday present to myself. All I needed to see was a reasonable improvement over my current phone. That's it.

And that's not only what I got, but a bit more.

The iPhone 5 (left) vs. the iPhone 4 (right). Fight, fight, fight!

Boozing It Up, Weekend Edition

Well, it happens once in a blue moon . . . but I went out and had a few drinks over the weekend with my best bud, T. It was in celebration of his 35th birthday, and he's big into single malt whiskeys. So we headed over to a cozy establishment on the Lower East Side he's been wanting to take me to for a while now -- The Whiskey Ward.

It's located at 121 Essex Street, close to Delancey but also not very far from Houston St. The Whiskey Ward is one of those old-timey saloon type of bars, the ones where you feel like you've stepped back into the days of Prohibition and need a password in order to enter. It has a mind-boggling and extensive menu of not just whiskeys (including single malts, blendeds, and scotches) but a various assortment of bourbons and ryes as well, along with the requisite pilsners and lagers on tap -- wheeeee!

As you can see, the atmosphere is pretty chill. Dim candle lighting, a jukebox in one corner, and a fairly live billiards table in another corner. I also liked the large oaken cask barrels which served as tables as well, which is where T and I sat. We decided to have one "whiskey flyer" each -- which is a tray with three round slots into which three glasses are placed and you choose the different whiskeys you want to fill them up with. T picked out single malt scotches as our 3 choices-- a 14yr Oban, an 18yr Bowmore, and a 15yr Laphroaig un-chill filtered "signatory" scotch. Wow! That last one was definitely an experience.

The bartender was kind enough to label each one with a marker on the wood. But of course, no serious drinking can be had without a trusty chaser chosen first. As usual, I tend to go pretty heavy with my chasers -- so I fell back on an old favorite that was on tap, Guinness Stout. To me, nothing beats Guinness! I have to get it at least once every time I go out drinking.

When we arrived at the establishment roughly around 8:30 Saturday night, the place was only sparsely filled with regulars. However, by the time 10:00 rolled around it started to pick up HEAVILY. Pretty soon, it was standing room only. But I have to say it was a nice mix of patrons at this pub -- mostly twenty- and thirty-somethings like us. T and I slowly sipped our way through the three scotches in front us, chatting about this and that. They were pricey, the drinks (though not obscenely so), and I wanted to savor the distinct flavors among the different brands. But I have to confess that my chaser didn't last very long:

Here I am looking rather put-off by the sad state of affairs that is an almost-drained Guinness. Poor me!

We got a couple more rounds of excellent single malt scotches after the initial three went the way of the dinosaurs . . . although for the life of me I cannot remember their names. I know one of them was an Aberlour, though. That one was SMOOTH!!!

But alas, eventually the evening got late and we had to bow out just as the joint was really starting to get jumping. We were both starving, though, so we stopped off at a nearby Japanese Ramen shop for some grub. It was really good--exactly what I needed at nearly midnight out in NYC. Yes, it truly never sleeps here; you can always find someplace to go to in the Big Apple regardless of the time. It's one the many reasons why I can never leave here, I think. It annoys me to no end when I go to other places, even major metropolises like Paris or Rome, and discover that everything seems to shut down shortly after sunset. WTF is up with that?

Guess it's just the New Yorker in me. We expect things A CERTAIN DAMN WAY . . . DAMMIT! :)

But, yes, I had a good time. Happy bornday to my bestest friend! We have to do it again sometime, T, for sure. I won't turn 35 myself until September, but perhaps we can find an excuse to go back before then?

Yeah.

Down And Out In TJ

Earlier this week, I promised that I would relay the tale of the time my best friend, Tarrell, and I headed over across the Southern Californian border for a night of wild drinking and debauchery in the *fine* Mexican town of Tijuana. Note that the asterisked word is being emphasized to denote sarcasm.

Well, today I think I'll tell you this story. Fair warning now: this will be an extremely LONG telling, so you might want to pace yourself and perhaps not read this all at once.

It's okay, I won't take it the wrong way.

Reason Number "Nth" Why My Wife Is Awesome Sauce!

I present to you, Exhibit A:

That, good people, is my very own 18-bottle dual temperature wine refrigerator! My wife got it from Wine Enthusiast as my birthday gift this year, and I have to say I'm positively ecstatic! It's a pretty nifty upgrade from the traditional wooden storage rack I had shelved away above the kitchen cabinets:

It solves a nagging worry I've had ever since I started getting into wine drinking a year ago -- which is: How do I keep my wine from going bad when it's being stored in such a blistering hot and sunny environment as my cooking corner? This is a problem because some of my bottles--namely, the most expensive ones that still need a few more years to properly age--need to be stored long-term. With fluctuations in seasonal temps around here, not to mention the furnace heat from my range top, oven, George Foreman grill, and rice steamer combined, it's a veritable battle field for wine bottles.

Hence why this wine fridge is one of the more thoughtful and useful gifts I've received in a long while. First off, it stores 18 bottles -- which is 6 more than the capacity of my old rack. Secondly, the fridge is divided into two zones with their own dedicated temp controls via the touch-screen interface on the door. The top half chills in the range of 54 to 64 degrees Fahrenheit, which is ideal for storing reds. While the bottom zone chills from 46 to 64 degrees Fahrenheit, and is ideal for storing whites.

Right now, I have the top zone at 60 and the bottom one at 48. It took roughly 16 hours for the fridge to cool down from the room temp of 86 degrees to my specified levels, but now that its been optimized my wine is kept in a nice constantly chilled and dark environment 24/7 and all year round. The fridge also uses very little electricity and is super silent to boot!

As you can see, I already stocked it almost to capacity with all my favorite wines. Now, mind you, I don't actually drink this all at once. I usually have half a glass of red with dinner, which means one bottle lasts me one whole week. The whites and the more expensive reds are kept in reserve for special occasions, since sweet whites like Riesling or Zinfandel are the only wines my wife seems to enjoy. Those or a nice, subtle Rose. The reds are mostly imported French varietals, with a few hearty southern Italian reds thrown in for good measure. I almost never drink Californian wines. For some odd reason, I just haven't acclimated to them yet, although I know I should. As for the whites -- those come from all over Europe: Italy, Germany, Poland -- and even Romania!

I'm not a wine expert, or even connoisseur. You can call me a wine beginner, in fact. But I think this fridge is a step in the right direction. I just opened up one of the newly chilled bottles--a Palazzo della Torre 'Veronese' from Allegrini--and allowed it to warm up gradually to room temperature. The bouquet, from what my amateur nose could detect, was more alive and fragrant than the same bottle I opened up a few weeks back, and which had been roasting atop my cabinets all summer long.

Yeah, I think I can get used to this new arrangement.

Yay for the wine fridge! And YAY! to my awesome wife!

Funny, I Still Feel 21

Well, I've certainly come a long way since that very first birthday. This is me pre b-day bath at my grandmother's house on Cortlandt avenue in the Bronx, where I lived for almost the first 2 years of my life. As you can see, I got my birthday hat on and I'm ready to PAH-TAY!

Happy September, Y'all!

September 1st. I thought I'd never see you!

This has been one hellishly hot summer. More than any previous year, I've been looking forward to September finally rolling around with a vengeance. And now it has!

Of course, my fondness for the month has less to do with changing weather trends as we head closer to the Equinox and more to do with the fact that it is my birth month. And, yes, I know that I'm biased here, but really . . . September babies ROCK! I don't think I've ever met a Virgo I didn't like, or at least admire, on some level. I like 'em so much, I even married one -- booyah!

And to think, I was originally scheduled to be born in November. Whoa, dodged a huge bullet there. I don't think many of my current friends would like a Scorpio-factored David. Nah-uh.

So, I'm in a generally happy mood today. August is my least favorite month of the year; it's long, HOT, and has no holidays whatsoever to break up the monotony. So good riddance! September, by contrast, is one heck of an active month even if you don't have the fortune of being born in it like me. You have three holidays (one major, two religious); the aforementioned Fall Equinox transition; it's the start of back to school for the kiddies (at least, here in NYC); and, of course, the start of the new TV season for many shows.

Regarding the last: while I don't watch a lot of tv these days, I'm always on the lookout for something new and exciting. I've mentioned some of the ones that have caught my attention both here on the blog and on Facebook, so I'm not going to rehash them now. But hopefully these new additions to the lineup won't let me down like last year's abysmal crop of failures (FlashForward and V, I'm looking right at you!).

But perhaps the most significant importance of this month is that it means no more traveling for me for the rest of the year. Yes, it may surprise some of you, but while I do so love traveling the globe in search of culture and adventure, the planning and plotting takes a lot out of me. Since I have a healthy distrust of travel agencies, I plan every single aspect of all our trips completely on my own and with no outside help from anyone. Add to the fact that I like to learn a little of the language of whichever country we visit before we arrive there, and this means that a lot of the time I should be spending writing is instead caught up in ironing out our travel plans. This year alone we traveled to 4 distinct and separate countries for a combined total of 10 cities in all. But, aside from a possible drive up to Vermont this Fall, I'm glad to say that our traveling days are over in 2010.

Next year will most likely see us visiting new and exciting destinations (and, I can't rule out yet another return to Paris), but for the next 4 to 6 months at least we're done. Finally I can return to my writing, which I've already done with a recent short story I'm in the process of finishing up.

So, yeah. September. Gotta love it. A time for settling down and getting to the business of finishing up the year. I look forward to lots of writing, a couple of birthday cakes here and there, some new potentially exciting tv shows, and the blissful dropping of temperatures. Jacket weather, that's what I've been dreaming of these past few weeks! Cool, autumnal breezes and changing leaves.

Ahhhhh . . .

It Comes But Once Every Year, It Does

Ah, yes, it has come upon us ladies and gentlemen . . . that fine time of year where the Earth has completed one more rotation around the sun since the day I first opened my eyes to the wide world around me and thought: Fer god's sake, PUT ME BACK IN!!!

(Actually, in all probability, I probably preferred it out of the womb being that I was apparently in a rush and was born 2 months premature.)

Anyway, yes, today is my birthday obviously. I turned 33. No big deal, really. I like getting older for some reason. Makes me feel more accomplished. And so long as I'm still able to run 6 miles and lift increasingly hefty and dangerous weights with no problem, guess I have no reason not to be happy on this occasion.

So, here's to me on my day. Despite all the odds, I'm still here and going strong! :)

And here's a closer look at the fabulous cake Lisa got "commissioned" for me, courtesy of Billy's Bakery here in NYC:

And here's the evidence of my awesome b-day haul:

Yup, just like with the Apple iPhone my wife got me last Christmas, she has turned me ever closer towards the dark side, folks! Truth be told, I never would have deigned to stoop so low as to buy a Nintendo Wii outright. What true hardcore gamer would? But secretly I am very happy to have it. Setting it up was a breeze, and connecting it to the Internet via my wLAN even easier. Wii Sports is insipid, and I got bored of it after just 30 mins. But to be honest, I wanted the Wii mostly for the Virtual Console, which allows me to purchase and play TONS of old school Nintendo and Sega games, among others.

Those who know me and my gaming habits well know which classic game I purchased first. It's listed at Number 1 on this list for those who don't have a clue.

I'm still playing (and enjoying the hell out of) Batman: Arkham Asylum, so unfortunately the Wii is going to take a back seat for a little while. But not too long, I think.

To all the people throwing well-wishes my way on Facebook -- thank you so much! You guys bring a smile to my face. :)

As for the rest of the day's plans?: not much, really. It's Labor Day, so I'm going to grill up some burgers and dogs, and corn on the cob, too! But seeing as how there are no good movies worth a damn to watch out right now, I suppose spending all day at home ain't so bad. ANd I took the day off tomorrow, so as to properly enjoy my b-day while everyone else is at work. Heh-heh, yup. I'm spiteful like that!

1st Birthdays

I recently attended the first birthday of my nephew, Chandler -- Lisa's sister's son. It was held in her Grandmother's backyard in the northern Bronx. Of course we got there on time and were almost the only ones there. Because of, you know, BPT (Black People's Time), LOL!

So this only meant we had more time to play with Chandler by ourselves. His parents were busy trying to get things organized.

As you can see, here he is looking very tired. He was sitting listlessly until we got there, probably thinking: is anyone going to show up for my party? Aww!

So Lisa gave him some watermelon, and that pepped him right up. This boy loves to EAT!!! The minute he senses food in the vicinity, he gets happy.

Now the first guests are starting to trickle in. He's going to greet them.

A gentleman always shakes hands with his guests. He sure got around on those chubby legs -- meeting and greeting people and charming them with his smile. He was around 3 seconds from dancing to the music here.

Here he found the snacks and grabbed hold of a cheese puff, which he proceeded to play with in his mouth for like 5 minutes until it was soft enough to swallow. He was a hit with the bigger kids who came by. They all had a blast.

Eventually Chandler's mother came and got him so that the cake cutting could commence. He was stunned by all the faces staring and singing at him here. (ha, ha)

See the devilish smile on his face as the cake is cut? He doesn't know what's going on, but he can bet it tastes yummy!!!

Lisa's younger brother came by with his newborn, our second niece. Her name's Ariana. Don't you just want to pinch those cheeks? Everyone was in love with her, and I got the honor of holding her for half the night. She drooled all over me!

All in all it was a fun, though, exhausting day. I don't know how parents do it!

Forgot My Own Birthday!

Yikes!!! It seems I do this every year now. I start thinking of my birthday coming up a month in advance, and for every week afterwards will think about it once or twice. Just last week I posted here about my upcoming b-day, in fact.

But lo and behold, I completely forgot that I turned 32 today! It took for Lisa to call me from work at the hospital (she works the night shift) to remind me -- ACK! The funny thing is, I remember what I was thinking last night about today:

Hmm, it's Sunday. That means I have to go to work on Monday. Damn. What do I need to do tomorrow before my week-long vacation's up? Let's see: finish writing up my latest short story; play some more of Metal Gear Solid 4; finally sort the laundry I did last Friday (ugh!); and, oh yeah, write out some bills from last month.

Not once in all that planning did I take into account that this day was supposed to be something special. In case you don't know it, I don't hold any special significance to my birthdays. If it had fallen on a work day, I would still go to work. Last week I promised myself I wouldn't run on this day, but now that it's here I can feel my body wanting to stick to my routinely scheduled 5-mile run later. So I'm sure I'll be doing that after all.

We're not doing anything special on my day. I insist on this. I still make dinner for the two of us the way I always do. And I specifically asked for no gifts this year, because I honestly can't think of anything I need. I'm serious. If I were to get a gift, it would be for something I forced Lisa to get for me just for the sake of gift giving. And that sucks. As of right now, there is no one thing out there on the market that I truly desire. I was briefly contemplating getting an iPhone, but can't justify the cost plus the additional charge of upgrading my existing AT&T account to cover the data fees for it. So, nah, none of that please.

I'm keeping it decidedly low-key today. It's a lazy Sunday, so I don't mind. If it were Saturday, and Lisa was not working, I would most likely go out for dinner in Union Square or perhaps even at the South Street Seaport (haven't been there in a while). But today is more the stay in and watch a movie type of deal. So that's what we'll do.

So . . . happy 32 years to me! :-)

Birthday Month Coming Up!!!

The only thing bad about being married to a fellow Virgo is that we're barely done eating the first birthday cake by the time the second one comes around. Okay, well on second thought . . . maybe that doesn't sound so bad after all. I mean, there's worst dilemmas one must face in life, right?

Luckily for me, my b-day comes first in the month (9/7), while hers is almost 2 weeks later (9/22). So this means I get to determine the coolness of her gift by what she gives me on my own b-day beforehand. (ha, ha -- just kidding)

But it does bring up something I hate the most about this month, and that is dealing with the anxiety of picking out just the right gift. Lisa is hard to shop for because she *NEVER* drops hints about anything. And I'm telling you, I keep my ears and eyes open for it all the time. Basically it boils down to me having to ask outright: TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT!!

In the above pictured b-day, I went all out for Lisa and surprised her with a yummy cake, flowers, stuffed animal, and various baked goodies in tins. And that wasn't even her present! It's funny, but as I get older I'm starting to enjoy more the giving of presents rather than receiving. Probably because I usually just go out and buy whatever I want whenever I see it, rather than waiting for the appropriate gift-giving holiday to roll around.

Is anyone else like this? Is it a pain trying to shop for the S.O., or do you have a secret knack for picking the right gift? Care to share your secret?