I took yesterday off because it was my 39th birthday and I quite firmly believe that one is not meant to work on one’s birthday, if one can help it at all. I had high intentions of spending some quality time with my remaining XML assignments and my laptop. But alas, I succumbed once again to the lure of Civ IV. And besides, it was my birthday. See earlier note regarding no work on birthdays.

I have received a number of lovely gifts, including a gift certificate to Amazon (I see some new knitting books in my future!), and the completion of our set of all 8 seasons of Red Dwarf on DVD (I also see lots of Red Dwarf watching in my future – Richard and I really do love that show), lots of books (of course), and a Flying Spaghetti Monster for my car, because I NEEDED one, oh yes I did. It can go right beside my cat Fish magnet, and also the pirate Fish that Richard got and extra of, and handed off to me. Now all I need are an alien Fish, and a Cthulu Fish, and I think I’ll be all set with the full Nerd Pantheon.

Due to the distinct lack of kitchen, the fact that my older sister is currently off in San Diego doing a marathan, and the fact that my mom (and her new knee) are still not very mobile, there was no grand family gathering. Instead, we went out to The Melting Pot for dinner, where we ate huge amounts of veggies dipped in cheese fondue, and followed those with all sorts of goodies dipped in dark chocolate. And then we came home, and because it was my birthday, I got to do something I’ve been wanting to do for a while now, and that is to rearrange the bedroom furniture (You have your version of fun; I have mine. Heh). While I am antsy to also finish off painting the library and cleaning and puttying and painting the baseboards, that part of the downstairs improvement must wait until the kitchen is completed and the cats have somewhere else to go, but rearranging furniture could easily be done. Of course, this meant that I got practically no sleep last night, since now that the furniture is all moved around, the cats had to explore everything all night, and include a running commentary on the whole experience. Luckily I have the rest of the weekend for them to get over the new arrangement and for me to recoup my sleep, and to finally tackle those darn XML assignments that still remain to be done.

But first, there are some new books to be read, and freshly baked bagels to be consumed (I did an early morning run to our local bagel place) and cats to annoy, and possibly some more Civ IV to be played. Because yesterday was my birthday, after all, and the non-working part of birthdays can sometimes be allowed to spill over onto weekends, if one plans it carefully enough.

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Oh, and as an aside, our phones mysteriously started working again. Neither we nor the contractor can figure it out, but so far (fingers crossed) they seem to be playing nicely again, so perhaps my theory regarding the squirrels was right all along.