Happy Birthday to _jody744__ !

[Will Power]

Thank you. She will use it in the small garden (rhubarb, various herbs, raspberries, roses, etc.)

Idyllic JP. She's a lucky girl to have an intuitive father:thumbup:

 

[jimmyd1982]

Most of my own birthdays were pretty mediocre but yesterday my new baby niece was born while we were having my daughters bowling birthday party after turning 9 earlier this week. It was a pretty good day, the only problem is she keeps getting closer to that age where I'm going to have to start scaring the boys off.

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Nice thought, excellent gift too...

Hmm my story well let me start with a short story, my mom and dad divorced when I was two and my brother just turned one, so I never knew my real mom, in fact my dad and my 'new mom' never told us that she wasn't our real mom until my 'real' mom called one day when I was 18, that was a shocker, dad was in the army so we moved around a lot and took her a while to find us she said. My 'new mom' and dad had divorced, he made a career of getting married, he's on his 7th wife I think? lives down in Panama...we're not close. So my 'real mom' flew up to PA from LA to see us, a very strange visit indeed.

We've kept in touch through the years and it was only when I turned 40 that she commented to me that 'you know, you were born on my birthday right?' THAT is strange and ties in with those that thought it would have been good for you to have your kids on your Birthday!

But, my most memorable birthday was when I turned 25, out of the Navy, living on my own, didn't have enough money to drive any where as payday was the next day, had no food in the house, only a small can of chocolate syrup, so I poured that into a small pink bowl, not sure where that came from! and sat and watched tv as I ate my bowl of chocolate syrup on my Birthday...I will never forget that one and my kids love the telling of it as they can picture poor old dad sitting alone above my 80 year old land lady in the upstairs apartment feasting on chocolate syrup

G2

 

[pertinux]

Gathering for a Giveaway:

My goal is to wrap this up on Tuesday evening, then ship on Wednesday or Thursday pending communication with the winner.

If chosen, anyone in the US should be in good shape for delivery before 2/9; anyone who lives in far lands and/or on a Scepter'd Isle will obviously have to wait a little longer.

Meanwhile, the Randomizers are surveying the task at hand....

~ P.

 

[screened porch]

 

[Half/Stop]

Sarah I hope that 2/9/16 is the absolute most wonderful birthday you have ever celebrated! Thank you for this cool GAW. Thank you for all the wit and wisdom that you bring to the porch through your posts and comments. My most memorable birthday to date would have to be #54. This was the first that I celebrated with Pam by my side. I realized how truly blessed I was! If I don't win this little beauty I will be Blue with envy of the person that does!

 

[SpyderPhreak]

I'll toss my hat in the ring.

My most memorable birthday was my 18th. I had just begun dating my eventual wife a few months prior. As it turns out, her birthday is the day before mine. We went out for brunch at a really fancy restaurant (known for their fancy brunch) on a Sunday morning. It was the first time either of us had been to a restaurant so fancy, and we felt a bit out of place.

Our server offered us mimosas, but we declined and told her we were only 18. The part I remember the most vividly is that she refused to believe us, thinking we just had to be in our mid-20's! She was absolutely insistent, so much so, she brought us the drinks anyway. I won't disclose in public whether or not we drank them.

Looking back on it, I think she was just trying to be nice to us for our birthday.

Thanks for the chance Sarah! :thumbup:

 

[T. Erdelyi]

I just saw the mention in the other place Sarah and I'd love to share my most memorable birthday story with you all. Good luck to everyone else and thanks for the great giveaway.

When I was around 13-14 a lot of people near to me had passed away, friends, family and by the time my Old Man died in the plane crash in 75 with 5 other friends and family I was in a serious depression and it stayed with me well into my 20s as more family and friends were lost to, suicide, cancer, alcohol and the desire to go stupidly fast on motorcycles.

Well I met my future wife when I was 17 and we started dating when I hit 18, many nights we talked on the phone and in her room about my darkness and the feeling of doom I felt to be circling me like a vulture waiting for my last life's breath. Many nights she listened to me lament about how I highly doubted I'd live to see 21. With my lifestyle at the time, the people I tended to associate with and the risks I was fond of takin' I was certain I was goin' to die young and leave a good lookin' corpse if I was lucky.

I waited for the next two years after we got together spending my birthday night with her speculating how I would die and on my 21st birthday at about a quarter to twelve midnight and we were drivin' home to the farm when I pointed out that there was only 15 minutes left to the night and if something was gonna happen and I knew it would it was gonna happen now.

She made me pull off the highway into a stripmall parking lot and told me to shut the car off. She was so worked up she was in hysterics, (the heavy night of partyin' didn't help ) So I pulled off the road and after 10 minutes of arguin' I convinced her that the only way I'd sit there and wait was if she got outta the car until after midnight. My logic was at least if I was right about this moment I didn't want her gettin' killed or hurt with collateral damage or fallout. (Hey I said we were partyin' all night. )

She cried and stood under the overhang of JC Penny's and waiting till it was past midnight, then sobbing she came runnin' over to the car and as I got out to hug her (as I thought she was comin' to hug me) she started to beat on me with her closed fists screamin' at me for puttin' her through this because of my paranoia for the last couple of years.

I looked at her and said, "If I made it to 21 I'd live a long and happy life" we got married a little over a year and a month later and I've been happy to have her with me that night and all the subsequent birthdays since 34 of 'em so far.

That birthday will always be my best, I found my partner for life and we've been there for each other ever since. Together Forever/Forever Together

Hope the story wasn't too dark or depressing, keep in mind I am happy and that portion of my life is in the past. It's a testament to the fact that things can get better.

 

[T. Erdelyi]

SP I remember after we had been married about a year I took my wife to the fanciest restaurant in our area called the Buttonwood Manor, suit and tie place where the average dinner for 2 with wine was about buck and a quarter with a generous tip. Well I wanted to impress so I put on a suit jacket and a tie and made reservations for her birthday and when 4:00pm came we headed out on our birthday date.

Now I was raised very traditional hungarian and knowin' the proper way to eat, how to use the right fork, the high class way to behave when dining out. So here we arrive at 4;45 and I figure we could go to the bar ge a drink or two while they got the table ready. First mistake, high class restaurants don't have bars and you always arrive on time because there's no place to wait. So we sit in the parkin' lot for 10 minutes and when we finally walk in I could tell she was really uncomfortable.

We were the only couple in there under 50 and I mean we were way under 50 while the next youngest couple there were old enough to be my grandparents. The longer we were there the more uncomfortable my wife became. I asked her if she wanted to go somewhere else and she said no how could we leave? I told her to just watch and play along....

I motioned the Maitre d over and whispered in his ear, all of a sudden he snapped to, called one of the hostesses over and had her get our coats, mean while he had someone help my wife to her feet and had the valet get my car. He apologized profusely and told us he had hoped he would have the opportunity to serve us again.

We got out into the car and drove down the road. I was laughin' hysterically and my wife looked so confused, finally I stopped laughin' long enough for me to answer her question about what I said to the Maitre d?

I told her that I told him she was pregnant and certain smells brought on her morning sickness with projectile results and that there was something in the restaurant makin' her nauseous, (the fact that she was so uncomfortable bein' there and it showed on her face helped a lot ). We wound up goin' to the local tavern "dressed to the nines" where everyone else was dressed in work boots, flannel and denim. As much as we stood out dressed as we were, she felt more comfortable at the tavern than the place we were really dressed to be at. It was another great birthday.

 

[TsarBomba]

Phenomenal birthday stories, everyone, and another happy-early-birthday to our gracious GAW host! Those owls look like they might be sizing up that rabbit, though...

I figure I should offer my story, which is super boring and unnoteworthy compared to most in this thread. My 30th birthday was a solo endeavor, as I'd had a falling out with my most recent ex of the period and she even took the cat with her when she left. Of course, when you're younger, you believe something like a 30th birthday is the End Of All Youth and the beginning of a slow, painful death, so naturally I was overly sullen for the occasion, which happened to take place on a weekend so I couldn't even bury myself in my work to take my mind off it. Around 7 o clock that evening, just as I was starting to wonder might be the earliest hour I could reasonably knock off to bed, my best friend Suanne rang me up out of the blue, as if she'd known I needed to hear her voice. She had recently gotten married and was living quite a distance away, which didn't sit well with me, although our friendship has always been so strong and pure as to transcend distance and time -- as this whole incident proved once again. By the time we were done talking on the phone, it was well after midnight and the ignominious thirtieth had come to an end with me feeling signficantly better about life. Long story short, maybe not the most exciting birthday but I would say probably the most affirming one to date!

 

[pertinux]

I am fortunate to live within [fraught but doable] driving distance of the US Capitol, Washington DC, and on one of my more recent best birthdays a friend and I spent the week end there.

I enjoy visiting the various museums, including that, with no entrance fees, I don't feel pressure to 'try to get my money's worth'-- I can look and read and contemplate until my brain is full, then move on.

As cool and enriching as many of the museum collections are, I tend to tire of looking at Other People's Stuff, at which point I begin pondering the selection and presentation of the material. Yes, I am a high-maintenance museum-goer!

On the other hand, I have yet to tire of the public spaces, the monuments, the Mall.

On the February birthday week end in question, we were surprised by stunningly beautiful weather, lower 60s. I was able to do something I'd looked forward to for a long time (but was poised to kibosh, given the time of year and reasonable expectation of inclement conditions)-- walk the entire Mall, from the Capital building to Lincoln, and back again. What a tremendous birthday!

The Lincoln Memorial always, always moves me deeply.

A tidbit:

Daniel Chester French, the Memorial's designer, created the head on the statue of Abraham Lincoln-- properly lighted-- to look stern from the front, sad from the side. When he first saw the statue installed, he realized that "something had gone terribly wrong"-- the lighting.

The statue was designed to be lighted from above, via glass in the ceiling. Late in the process, a decision was made to use translucent marble instead, reducing the overhead illumination significantly. The combination of light streaming in from the large public doorway (and reflecting off the white polished floor) plus the light coming off the wide marble stairway and the reflecting pool itself, all added to strong upward glare on Lincoln's face.

Instead of looking stern and sad, Lincoln looked scared and surprised(!).

French and others spent four years raising money to install proper overhead lighting, so that we can all see Lincoln as intended-- and not as in the second image.

~ P.

(Image and information from The Statue Abraham Lincoln by Ernest Goldstein)

 

[supratentorial]

So what you're saying is that Daniel Chester French invented "myspace angles"

 

[GasMan1]

Amazing at the difference the lighting makes. i just skimmed through your post at first and i couldnt figure out Why the French were raising money for this.
It helps to actually read it all huh?

 

[r redden]

Sarah you have made us all winners here with this thread.:thumbup: I have really enjoyed reading everyone's stories.

 

[pertinux]

So what you're saying is that Daniel Chester French invented "myspace angles"

Why, maybe I am!

Amazing at the difference the lighting makes. i just skimmed through your post at first and i couldnt figure out Why the French were raising money for this.
It helps to actually read it all huh?

Oh, I don't know.

We're coming down to the end...

... I'll choose a winner of the pictured knife tonight.

~ P.

 

[Jack Black]

Fascinating post P :thumbup:

This really has been a fantastic thread, some really great stories :thumbup:

 

[NickelOak]

Just saw this. I'm in, if there's still time. Wonderful giveaway, regardless!

I met my now fiance several years ago shortly before our birthday. I say "our" because we have the same birthday one year apart. I used it as an excuse to get our shared friends together to go out for dinner. We began dating after that and moved in together 8 months later after we finished grad school. We have been traveling for her education and career since then and have been fortunate enough to see a lot of the world together. We're getting married this year, and she has turned out to be the best gift I could ever imagine. Her favorite color is blue.

The only downside to sharing a birthday with someone is that neither of us can pull the ole "I'm not doing the dishes (or whatever household chore)! It's my birthday!" on each other. Otherwise, every birthday with her has been a blast. When we lived in Europe, we usually went somewhere like Paris, Italy or the Alps near our shared day, so I have had several particularly memorable and special birthdays.

 

[SA Condor]

Thanks for the interesting read!! My most recent visit to DC was back in January 2013. We only got to spend a few hours, not nearly enough!! I hope to take my girls (all four daughters and my wife ) there again, but with at least a couple days to spend.

I am fortunate to live within [fraught but doable] driving distance of the US Capitol, Washington DC, and on one of my more recent best birthdays a friend and I spent the week end there.

I enjoy visiting the various museums, including that, with no entrance fees, I don't feel pressure to 'try to get my money's worth'-- I can look and read and contemplate until my brain is full, then move on.

As cool and enriching as many of the museum collections are, I tend to tire of looking at Other People's Stuff, at which point I begin pondering the selection and presentation of the material. Yes, I am a high-maintenance museum-goer!

On the other hand, I have yet to tire of the public spaces, the monuments, the Mall.

On the February birthday week end in question, we were surprised by stunningly beautiful weather, lower 60s. I was able to do something I'd looked forward to for a long time (but was poised to kibosh, given the time of year and reasonable expectation of inclement conditions)-- walk the entire Mall, from the Capital building to Lincoln, and back again. What a tremendous birthday!

The Lincoln Memorial always, always moves me deeply.

A tidbit:

Daniel Chester French, the Memorial's designer, created the head on the statue of Abraham Lincoln-- properly lighted-- to look stern from the front, sad from the side. When he first saw the statue installed, he realized that "something had gone terribly wrong"-- the lighting.

The statue was designed to be lighted from above, via glass in the ceiling. Late in the process, a decision was made to use translucent marble instead, reducing the overhead illumination significantly. The combination of light streaming in from the large public doorway (and reflecting off the white polished floor) plus the light coming off the wide marble stairway and the reflecting pool itself, all added to strong upward glare on Lincoln's face.

Instead of looking stern and sad, Lincoln looked scared and surprised(!).

French and others spent four years raising money to install proper overhead lighting, so that we can all see Lincoln as intended-- and not as in the second image.

~ P.

(Image and information from The Statue Abraham Lincoln by Ernest Goldstein)

 

[pertinux]

Okay, here we go, poor inside-at-night lighting and all.

I wrote each member's name on a separate card, double-checking against every post in this thread a couple of times (NickelOak, I caught your entry at the very last sweep through!)-- then kept all the cards face-down until the very end.

I shuffled multiple times, spread 'em out in neat array...

... then smooshed and swooshed them around again and again in a pile o'shuffle, gathered them up, and shuffled the Right Way some more.

I then turned to dice, using thrown results to dictate the number of cards in piles, the number of piles of cards, signify which pile(s) of cards in a given configuration to eliminate (or advance to the next round) in turn, and so forth.

Once I was down to six cards, I turned to shiny rock-lets, placing one of each pair of six different colored gems on a card and its matching gem in a draw bag.

The first three out of the bag, advancing forward:

I then put a matching stone for each of the three survivors back in the bag, drew again for the two final contestants, and here we are:

Time to flip a coin, and not just any coin (waves at Will Power):

Heads = the card to the left, Tails = the card to the right. Here we go:

Tails!

Ta da!!!

Oh, wait-- what's on the card.

jody744, you've won!

Congratulations!

[I'm follow up this post with an email to you.]

Thank you again, everyone.

~ P.

 

[SA Condor]

Wow!! That was some serious randomization! Congrats Jody and thanks Pertinux. I hope you have an awesome birthday!