Great Presents Can Soften The Blow

One of us turned 60 a few days ago. I won't say which one of us. I will say that I am a lot younger than Dan. A LOT younger.

However, the pain was alleviated somewhat by some truly great presents.

First, the girls at Dan's office in DC sent him a Kindle 2. For those who are not true citizens of the 21st century a Kindle is an electronic book which can receive downloads directly from Amazon of literally hundreds of thousands of books, no computer required. It is the greatest thing ever and something which Dan and I regularly fight over using.

Second, John Nelson did all the work to set up Skype for Dan. He downloaded the program on my computer and bought the camera needed for Aby's. It was a very surprised and excited Dan who got his first video call at 11:00 am on his birthday from the three cutest kids in the world. Since then we have made fabulous use of Skype by watching Capri and Rome play Rock Band. They are both drummers although Capri actually sings as well. I still haven't figured that out since she cannot technically read.

Third, Josh made a surprise 36 hour visit to La Quinta. He arrived late Friday night, well after Dan was asleep and nearly gave his father a heart attack the next morning. He had to get back to DC Sunday but it was great to have him here no matter how short the stay.

Finally, Dan and I spent four days in Vegas seeing family and playing golf. It was a treat for me as well since we stayed in my favorite hotel, the Encore, where I would gladly live. Golf for me consists of riding in the cart and taking pictures which was quite delightful since one of the courses he played was Wolf Creek in Mesquite. It is really exceptionally beautiful.

All in all, I think it was a good birthday. It was certainly a good string of gifts!

Let The Celebration Begin

Thanks to Aby, I am finally a member of the 21st century population. Apparently you are not actually a person unless and until you have a blog. So, contrary to what Dan says, I AM PEOPLE! (Considering my size, I may be two or three people.) While you may not initially be inclined to set off fireworks just because I am now a "blogger," I vote for good times whenever the least of reasons presents itself and this is just possibly the least of reasons.

I have a goal with this blog and it is very simple: to keep the kids and grandchildren informed of what we're doing and how we're doing it. That's it. No insights to the human condition, no epiphanies as to my place in the world. I do, however, reserve the right to vent.