This is the day that the Lord has made....

Famous People Born on January 11:
Actress Amada Peet born 1972
Singer Mary J. Blige born 1971
Husband, Father and all around good guy Donnie Castaldini
Singer Naomi Judd born 1946
The L'Esperance quintuplets

Significant events on January 11:
1787 - Uranus' moons Titania and Oberon discovered by William Herschel. (editors note: "Does anyone else find if funny that Uranus and moons are mentioned in the same sentence?")
1805 - The Michigan Territory was created.
1843 - Francis Scott Key, American lawyer and writer of the National Anthem died. (editors note: "Oh say ain't that sad?")
1861 - Alabama seceded from the Union. (editors note: "Why did we let them back in?")
1902 - "Popular Mechanics" magazine debuts
1934 - Amelia Earhart became the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to California. (editors note: "You go girl!")
1964 - The first government report regarding the dangers of cigarette smoking was issued by the U.S. Surgeon General, Luther Terry.
1964 - Billboard magazine publishes its first country and western album chart. At Number One: Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire album.
1969 - Shirley Castaldini gives birth to her third (and final) child.
1973 - Baseball's American League adopted the "designated hitter" rule which allowed another player to bat for the pitcher.
1974 - The world's first surviving set of sextuplets are born to Susan Rosenkowitz in Cape Town, South Africa.
1978 - Ibn-e-Insha, Pakistani humorist and Urdu poet died (editors note: "Gotta love that Pakistani humor!")
1980 - Rupert Holmes was at the top of the pop music charts, with "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)".
1995 - The WB Television Network begins operations. (editors note: "Should they apologize?"
2003 - Outgoing Illinois governor George Ryan cleared the state's death row by commuting the sentences of 167 inmates. (editors note: "MORON")
2007 - Bill Ford Jr. gives his entire share of Ford Stock to (then) little known employee Donnie Castaldini, who uses his new found fame and fortune to turn the company around financilly, making it the most successful business (of any type) in history.
And of course, every year on this date, the planets align, stars shine brighter and cats and dogs live in peace.

That time of year (revised)

It's approaching that wonderful time of year again. For 37 years now, on January 11th, planets align, stars shine brighter and cats and dogs live in peace. For one day. My birthday. Yippee.

My wife has asked me to post my birthday list.
"Post my birthday list?" I thought. "hmmm...isn't that a bit pretentious?"
Probably, but I'm gonna do it anyway but I'm going to also post the 'why' of the list item.
Without further ado, the birthday wish list of a semi-nerdy-geeky-but-ultimately-way-cool-guy.

1. The Communist Party T-Shirt. This is the funniest t-shirt I believe I have ever seen. I like funny things, and if the thing is funny AND clever, OMG it doesn't get any better than that! Threadless.com has tons of cool t-shirts...thumb thru the site and I bet you'll find something you like.

2. New addition to the "Galaxies Greatest Vehicles" collection. At work I have several models that I call the Galaxies Greatest Vehicles. These are: The 65 Ford Mustang, The P-51D Mustang WWII Fighter plane, a small scale model of the Millenium Falcon, X-Wing Fighter and a Ford GT40. I'd like this collection to grow, so whatever you think falls into this category would be shiny. Some suggestions: Millenium Falcon model, The Mach 5 from Speed Racer, another Mustang wouldn't hurt and Serenity.

3. Books. I read books in bunchs....I'll go through several books in a row then not read anything for a year. Well, that year is about up. The last book I read (I think) is book 4 in the Pendragon series. A good book. However, I'm looking for something different. I've been itching to re-read and finish the series of books from the Mythadventures series by Robert Aspirin. I started reading these in college and was upset when Asprin stopped writing them. After a few years though, he started again and I never picked it up again. These are books that my oldest son will ADORE so if you can find a set of them, that would be awesome! Another couple of books I'd like to read are by Wil Wheaton. He's got two, Dancing Barefoot and Just a Geek. I started reading his blog a few months ago and found that I really enjoy his style of writing. For those of you who don't know who Wil is, he played Ensign Wesley Crusher on the Star Trek: The Next Generation TV show.

4. Guitar Stuff. I'm working at playing my guitar more. I have a few guitar tab books (Bob Seger, Mtv's Top 100 songs, and I think one called 100 Pop Songs). I like to play songs I know (I know, weak!). I like a pretty wide range of music, from John Denver and Johnny Cash to Jimmy Buffet and Harry Chapin. I also needs some new guitar strings for my Acoustic. I love the guitar. I thank and credit my Brother in Law, John, with getting me re-interested in the guitar a few years back.

5. Finally, stuff for the house. I'm really, really (no seriously REALLY) hating to admit this, but I'm starting to get taken with IKEA stuff. We've got a couple of IKEA shelves, and I'd like to add a few more of the same to our collection. Whereas the shopping experience at IKEA is akin to stabbing myself in the eye (but only, like, twice), the range of stuff you can get and the inventive sundries are pretty sweet.

6. This falls under the category of: Please God?!?@?---R2D2