Happy Birthday!

A birthday is a happy thing. And tomorrow is mine! My family celebrated today with a wonderful feasting and very generous gifting. As for the cake, Texas Sheet Cake has been my favorite for a very long time, preferably made with real buttermilk by my Mom.

Here is what I got:

First, of course, the Music:
Bare Naked Ladies (the band, by which I mean, their most recent CD), Are Me
Charles Mingus, The Very Best Of...
Newsboys, Go
John Coltrane, Blue Train (One of the best classic jazz albums ever.)

A new pair of Wolverine boots! This is my footwear of choice year round, pretty much.

A Radial Engineering ProDI, which is kind of a geeky technical device, but a thing of beauty nonetheless. This company makes, among other things, the best direct boxes available. For the curious and/or perplexed, this is a device that will allow me to interface my acoustic/electric guitar to a PA system or studio environment with an extraordinarily high degree of quality and goodness. What I like about RE is that they take a relatively basic device that really serves a pretty pedestrian function and apply high scientific and engineering values to its design and manufacture. I just like it because, for what it is, it is the best possible example that exists on the market today. I am very pleased.

A very generous cash gift from my beloved Grandmother

A gift certificate to a local retailer.

The American Heritage Pictorial History of the Civil War, which well satisfies my enjoyment of both history and art.

Many thanks to all!

Oh...that picture above is a random scan from the Bare Naked Ladies cover art...pretty groovy. And the music is great.