Yes indeed, I did actually turn FORTY on Thursday!

I have to say, my birthday really did surpass my expectations.

I didn't have any sort of party, although I did get some pretty nice gifts.

I spent the evening with my girlfriend, which was pretty much what I wanted more than anything. Although I was feeling a little under the weather, I soldiered on and we went out to a very nice restaurant downtown called Veritable Quandary. Although we sat next to a somewhat noisy party of senior citizens, the ambiance was pleasant and the waitstaff were extremely attentive. We had bacon-wrapped dates as appetizers--and even though my girlfriend is technically a pescetarian, she did have a couple of them (how cool is that?) I also had french onion soup and pork tenderloin stuff with house-made chorizo sausage, corona beans & cipollini onions. Tracy had grilled trout with fingerling potatoes, dungeness crab with an apple/pear/arugula slaw. Even though I'm not very keen on fish, I thought that was pretty tasty as well. She gave me all sorts of interesting gifts, including a work-excuse magic 8-ball.

Today, I got my TV after a two-week wait. The thing is fucking huge--maybe a little bit bigger than I really want. Being a plasma, it runs really hot and I almost have to keep the window open when it's on. I got my surround-sound connected, as well as my DVD, VCR and video game systems. I popped in my Iron Man DVD and I pretty much got my hair blown back like in the old Maxell ad. I'm still working on deciphering the byzantine remotes that run both the TV and the DVD/sound-sound system. Football looks awesome as well.

My girlfriend brought over a couple new pet rats she bought so Aria could take a look at them. Needless to say, she fell in love with them. I talked with her mom about the possibility of get some for xmas, but she's not too keen of having a cage to clean out. If Aria steps up and agrees to take care of them, I think it's a possibility. Unfortunately, there really isn't enough room at my place for ani-mules. Oh, Aria also made me a mug for work--and it's really nice as it's a bigger one than the tiny one I have on my desk now. In the winter time, I like to have a hot chocolate to start out the morning and this looks to do the trick!