I got my birthday present last week. My girlfriend (Sarah) bought me a new grill, and it’s a dandy!! Big ol’ stainless steel unit with a gazillion burners and gadgets that I’ll never figure out. We’ve been ‘seasoning’ it quite a bit too!

For the real day gift, Sarah cooked me one of her gourmet dinners. Roasted duck with a wonderfully tasty orange flavored sauce on a bed of couscous that she mixed up with fresh basil and other stuff that I don’t really know what it was (but it was supper good). Then a buddy of mine donated a couple bottles of wine for the dinner. A 99’ Marietta Angeli Cuvee (one of my all time favorites!) and a desert wine (01 Dolce’) that I dare not ask how much it cost. Then there’s the new dirt bike I picked up a couple months ago that the lil lady doesn’t know about yet (I was supposed to give that up last year, so SSSHHH).

I decided against a big party that all my friends wanted to throw me. I’ve got too much to do to be loosing a day all hung over with a dirty house to clean. So the party comes when the basement is finished, or so I’ve been informed anyway.

Thanks for the toast Tom. Ya, too bad you’re too far away to help. I’ve got to pack all those friggin boxes of tile downstairs!!

Well hi-ho-hi-ho, off to find the knee pads…….

Thanks again everyone. It’s a very kind and unexpected gesture.