Monday, March 25, 2002


I had a great 41st birthday yesterday and a very lazy enjoyable weekend. I slept in till ten oclock on Saturday morning. Then I lolled around watching TV and doing computer stuff till it seemed about time to go to REI to spend my dividend! I got all sorts of neat stuff: a locking carabiner, a NOLS wilderness first aid book, a new Eagle Creek wallet, a padded glasses holder, a light weight coffee mug for backpacking, a rain hat, and a new really soft comfy pile jacket. After REI I headed to Footlocker shoe store to buy myself some new tennies. I got some New Balance tennis shoes. I have been enjoying wandering around in them. They are very comfortable and light weight and way cool looking! At night I watched Stanford lose to Colorado in the NCAA regional finals. It was a very close and exciting game. I just wish Stanford could have won.


Sunday was my birthday and I got up at 9 a.m. and then drove to Hobbees at 10 a.m. for brunch with D. and L. I had my favorite Sonoma Browns dish (hash browns with tomatos, chicken breast, pesto, and cheese), a tall glass of apple juice, and a couple cups of coffee. The conversation was great and the three of us kept exclaiming about what a good decision we had made to cancel the backpacking trip since it was so wet and miserable out most of the weekend. After brunch D. took off and L. and I went to see the movie, The Lord of the Rings. I really enjoyed it. It was very much like I remember the book. We had heard it was rather violent but to both L. and I who are fans of the book it seemed to very much match the book. There is a bit of violence in The Lord of the Rings. After the movie I drove home for a small break and then headed to Santa Cruz.


In Santa Cruz I went to K. and W's house for a watch the Oscars and celebrate my birthday party. We had great fun making fun of the Oscars and groaning when the films we liked were beat by films we thought were poor. We ordered pizza and had lots of munchies. M., D., and A. came by to join us at different times and left at different times. It was good to see M. and D. and to meet A. By the time the Oscars ended everyone but me, W., K., and their housemates were gone. Then W. remembered about the cake so we finished off the evening with cake and I had a cup of coffee. During coffee I had a nice long talk with W. about work problems. It was good to bounce my woes off someone. When I finished my coffee I headed home. It was a great birthday and a great weekend despite the fact we cancelled the backpacking.