A Very Busy Birthday

The life expectancy of an American male is apparently around 76 years now... yesterday was my 38th birthday, so I figure I'm eligible to sit on my lawn and shake my cane at whippersnappers as they ride past on their rocket-skates or whatever.

That said, my birthday weekend was one of extreme productivity and activity! Saturday, we bought all our Christmas lights and decorations up around Chappaqua, and then ventured down the hill to Tony's Steakhouse in Hastings. After a big beefy/fishy meal, we went home and watched the Big Lebowski. We woke up at about 7am Sunday morning and went back to Target of Mt. Kisco to try to get the Nintendo Wii we were told would be arriving at store opening time. There were about 75 people already in line and waiting to get one of the 60 units, and we were told that they'd been there since before 6am. So, no dice.

We got home a little before 9am, and I checked craigslist... sure enough, some other person from around White Plains had been at *her* Target store at 5:30am and managed to get two of the coveted systems. After a little calculation of how much an hour of my time is worth to me, I decided that a $150 premium in exchange for not having to wait 3 hours in the cold, nor travel time, nor uncertainty and chasing the stupid things around the tri-state area like they're the Lost Ark was quite a bargain. One email to craigslist-secret-foo@craigslist.com and 15 minutes later, we were meeting near a Westchester train station with an envelope of cash. I'm happy to report that the box didn't contain a brick, and that the Wii is friggin' AWESOME.

After getting the wii (and another coffee!), we stopped in Yonkers to buy a couple of games for it, and returned home, and it wasn't even lunchtime yet! So much productivity!

Next, we got out the ladders, and started wrapping the house and our mini-willow in lighted goodness.

After that, I played Wii some more... it's so fun! Like, "giggle uncontrollably" fun. And active! You control things by waving the motion-sensitive controllers around, so things like boxing and tennis and punching crazy rabbits are like actually doing those things... very aerobic, and I'll be surprised if they don't have a wii-workout game for fatties soon. I can't wait to get home tonight and play some more.

Finally, we finished up the last stuff (paint retouching, and hanging the medicine cabinet) in our newly-reglazed bathroom... almost all the work was Maggie's, but here it is (it's not really that fish-eyed):

bigger versions of these photos are available on my flickr page around: here
Now, get offa my lawn, ya hippies!!!