Lucky Sevens

At least some 38,000 brides thought so last weekend, according to a news report from Saturday that I kind of remember. People also flocked to Las Vegas and Atlantic City in record droves, undoubtably realizing later that a coincidental confluence of numbers doesn't necessarily translate into untold fortune. But at least some casino owners made a few extra dollars, and that's the important thing.

More significant, however, my lovely wife Shelly's birthday was last Saturday, as attested here by a beautiful botique of flowers from her friend Stefanie.

Realizing the old adage 'why compete with someone who's just going to kick your butt anyway', I shied away from floral arrangements as gifts, choosing instead an engraved jewelry box from Things Remembered. I will indeed 'remember' the reaming I took having it engraved... I'll hardly be able to forget. But Shelly's worth every penny and more.

We celebrated by going to Cheesecake Factory for dinner, joined by Law School Melissa (see previous blog entries, et al) and mother Mary Bibb. I decided on a nice personal pizza, and I wasn't sorry. Afterwards, we crossed the plaza to the movie theater and took in a viewing of Transformers. I was all ready for it to be cheesy (and it definately was, in parts; the film's about robots that change into vehicles, for goodness' sake!), but the effects were nicely done and the story was pretty entertaining. One down side was that there was about a half hour that I would have been happy to view on the 'Deleted Scenes' menu of the DVD (the scene where the Autobots are in the back yard, unbeknowst to the main character's parents, while he is looking for The Glasses goes on forever). Also, and this might have just been the theater's fault, but they had the volume turned up louder than crap- I seriously had trouble hearing people talk immediately afterwards. But all in all, I liked it. I might even want to see it again!

I received an email from Jen S. this past weekend, informing me (and a plethora of other people) that she's joined me on the blogosphere. You can check out her deep, intriguing reflections here. I was gratified to see that Shelly and I made the list of things to do in the next three years.

I'd like to take a moment to express my intense, heart-felt loathing for DMVs all over the country, both the institutions themselves and the detestable subsentients who staff them. Sorry, no details on that, but I'm sure I have sympathetic ears in the audience. Let's all just hope and pray my follow-up trip to the Ninth Circle of Hell tomorrow is my last for the foreseeable future.

Friday, Shelly and I will be flying up to Maryland, then on Saturday driving over to Brad's wedding in Salisbury. Needless to say, I won't be blogging, but I'll probably see most of you then. Hotel party at the Country Inn and Suites afterwards!

Hmm, what else? Can't think of much, but that's probably because of my splitting headache from screaming at the computer. This thing is taking me back to the Tandy 1000 days in terms of the time it takes to load anything. Finally I just pulled up the task manager and started shutting off programs. Could be my imagination (in fact, it probably is), but that seemed to help.

Sorry, I know this has been a short entry, but I feel the call of that mattress in my bones. See ya later!

PS- here's a good 'goose' picture I rediscovered tonight. Enjoy, and bemoan the fact that you don't have them near your house!