Happy Birthdays To Youse

Paul and Angie,

I don't know why it gives me such great pleasure to have recently discovered that in the midst of the respective Hill and DeWerff celebrations (of which may there be many more), there are two other births being celebrated this evening, many miles away. Somewhere nestled within the cozy liberal beltway of our nation's capital, the Stephanopoulos family is toasting many years of health to a man whose boyish charm still beguiles us whenever ABC decides to give him face time... George Stephanopoulos.

And if Wikipedia is to be believed, in some conservative corner of Connecticut (there can't be too many of them) Glenn Beck is celebrating the thing he loves (dare I say it?) even more than his country: himself. If there are cameras there, then I'm sure the tears are flowing already, along with the well-wishes (though, being Mormon, that's probably all that's flowing at that party...if you know what I mean).

So, to Paul, Angie, George, and Glenn... Happy Birthday.

(As a gesture of goodwill, I was going to link to the Writer's Almanac for today, but the poem they feature is about death--as most good poems are, I suppose--so if you click on the link, don't say you weren't warned. Still, the poem ends well. So may we all.)

A Happy (Belated) Birthday

To you, Hayley.
Sorry for the belatedness part of this. I have a feeling that is going to be a common theme here, though.

I thought that since June 9th was so many days ago, I should list some of the more interesting things that happened on this day in history, just to put everything back in context.

1856 – Five hundred Mormons leave Iowa City, Iowa and head west for Salt Lake City carrying all their possessions in two-wheeled handcarts.
1922 – First ringing of the Harkness Memorial Chime at Yale University.
1934 – Donald Duck makes his debut in The Wise Little Hen.
1957 – First ascent of Broad Peak (the world's 12th highest mountain).
2009 – Futurama's broadcast contract was renewed.

Actualy, it seems, historically, that June 9 is a pretty slow news day. In fact, the only other American listed on the wikipedia page for being born in 1983 on this day is, well, probably best left to other blogs.

So Happy Birthday, Hayley. Hay Lea. Heg Leah. (How fitting it is, etymologically speaking, that you are blonde.)

A Happy Anniversary! (May 27th)

To Erich and Rana, my brother and kind-of-sister. Congratulations on four years of wedded bliss. I don't know if you've been following tradition or not, but the fourth year you are supposed to give each other flowers, according to this site:
http://honeymoons.about.com/cs/shopping/a/anniversarygift.htm

If you haven't been keeping up the traditions, then this information is probably a bit disappointing to find out, considering that you missed last year's theme of "leather."

Too bad it was last year. Craigslist is currently full of bargains like this:
[from] http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/sfo/43708267.html

"I have one pair of slightly used assless chaps, size 42. Perfect condition, barely noticible stickiness.
Will trade for Spider-Man comics or equivilant."

I have some Spider-man comics with "barely noticeable stickiness," that would have been a perfect trade.

Hope things are well in Nashville. Happy anniversary!

a happy birthday! (May 29th)

Todd, social marketing guru, there is probably no one better to kick off this site than you, so have a great 2009. I think I'll celebrate the beginning of this blog with an acrostic that celebrates you, Todd. Enjoy.

Teriffic
Obliging
Digg
Dragoman

Really
Already used
My
Select
Eulogies on
Your first name.