Well, my birthday turned out to be a fine one. So fine, it has taken me a couple of days to recover from the relative excitement of the day. Try to remember that I may have turned 46, but I am still in 70-year old mode. So going to lunch with a couple of my graduate students and then dinner at a local farmer’s market was enough excitement to wear this old codger out.
The day started at 7:45 am with the King family traditional birthday opening salvo. Presents on the dining room table complete with balloons and themed decorations. My theme was slightly less realized and coherent than what my kids often get, but the Star Wars plastic table cloth and paper plates set the mood. We had to start the presents early so that my son could enjoy their opening before he went to school. I received a fleece jacket (that I have worn day and night since, as a true septuagenarian would), a t-shirt that reads, “I support the right to arm bears” (a joke that would likely cause a certain segment of the population here in SC to shoot me, if they got the joke), and a DVD/BlueRay combo pack of the Lion King. A fine haul, at least for the opening salvo.
A few hours later a couple of graduate students came and picked Miss Daisy up for lunch. It was a dissertation meeting. I DID NOT make my students take me to a BBQ restaurant for lunch because it was my birthday, I haven’t had BBQ in months, and I can’t drive. We talked about important stuff! And boy was I full when the meeting was done.
When I got home, the present I ordered for myself had arrived via Amazon.com. Yes, that’s right. I ordered my own birthday present. Some might think that ordering my own present is a little sad and pathetic. I’m OK with being sad and pathetic because it was something I have been really wanting. And given my recent heart surgery, it will help with my recovery on down the line when I start getting back into shape. Let’s call it a cardio-rehab tool.
OK, so what I got was a Sigma BC 2209 MHR sTs. I know, right? Awesome! For you non-cycling nerds out there, it is a wireless computer that I put on my bike. It does everything but make julienne fries. It does the usual stuff—time, distance, speed, calories burned. It also keeps track of cadence (pedaling RPMs), altitude, and it comes with a heart rate monitor. Cadence and heart rate are two key variables that lots of cyclists use to efficiently train. The only thing I didn’t get with this little beauty is a power meter and Google maps. Hell, I’m just a couple-of-times-a week rider. It would be silly of me to go overboard and get a computer that does more than I need! Oh, and I got the docking station and computer software, too. That way after I ride I can geek out and download all those data to my laptop…and do all sorts of nerdy things with them.
Did I mention it has a heart rate monitor with it than I can use while walking, too? My doctor hasn’t told me I need to monitor my heart rate as I exercise during recovery, but I am sure he will when I see him in a couple of weeks. I’m just planning ahead.
I haven’t actually taken all this goodness out of the box yet…because I can’t actually ride my bike for another 6 weeks. As that day gets closer, look out!
After reading the instruction manual from cover-to-cover a friend stopped by to give me a gift and visit. I have a lot of good friends, and Kyle is definitely one of them. He visited me almost every day when I was in the hospital with the heart infection and really wanted to come visit me while I was in the hospital in Charleston. For my birthday he got me a big ole jug of Jim Beam Black, aged 8 years (its older than my son, so it’s got to be good). Now, I wasn’t given any dietary restrictions (note the over-consumption of fatty meats on this day), but I was told not to drink alcohol. Being the exceptional friend Kyle is, he immediately opened and sampled the Jim Beam for me…he pronounced it excellent. I am certain it will come in handy later in my recovery.
After Kyle left, it was time to go have dinner with my wife and kids. My friend Deirdra had given me a gift certificate for BBQ from a really good BBQ truck here in Columbia—Bone-In Artisan BBQ on Wheels. We find it at the all-local farmer’s market at 701 Whaley every Wednesday. Since I had pork for lunch I was really hoping for the brisket for dinner—you know, mix up the species. Unfortunately, it was sold out by the time we got there…so I doubled up on the pig. By the way, it is bad to go hog wild on pork BBQ during the Days of Awe in the Jewish calendar? I suppose I will find out.
After pigging out (pun intended), we headed back home for one last birthday event—cake. Now my wife has gluten issues so I had baked a gluten-free cake for myself before we left for dinner. Don’t start on the sad and pathetic thing again. I like my birthday and wanted to make sure I had a nice one…not that my family would ever forget to bake me a cake. I was just trying to pitch in. Anyway, I used a mix for the cake. We have had it for quite a long time and it was expired. A few weeks ago my wife and I had a, um, spirited discussion about whether the cake it made would be edible. I insisted it would be. I’m also the guy that will leave dinner on the stove overnight and eat it for breakfast.
When we got home my kids helped decorate the cake. It had some fondant pumpkins and scarecrow-like things on it, purple icing and orange sprinkles—sort of an autumn theme (told you my birthday theme was a bit diffuse). We lit the candles, did the song thing and then dug in. I swear that cake was inedible! It tasted like salt was used instead of sugar. Really, I couldn’t eat it. Does sugar turn into salt over time? I’m still not convinced the cake failure had anything to do with the expiration date…but that cake was bad. It was the one flaw in an otherwise great day. That cake is still sitting on the counter…untouched…just thinking about it makes me squirm.
All of this was not the limit of my birthday fun, oh no. As predicted, I got some digital love from my corporate friends. Here is a heart-warming greeting from my dear friends at Disney Movie Rewards:
Now I never really knew I had a lot of friends at Disney Movie Rewards, but it sure sounds like I do. I’m suspicious, though. If they really are my friends, why did they call me a valued guest? When Kyle showed up with the Jim Beam, I didn’t call him my valued guest. It makes me think these folks at Disney Movie Rewards aren’t as close to me as they imply. As if the strange valued-guest birthday greeting wasn’t nice enough, they included as a gift 100 Bonus Points. I don’t know what the hell the bonus points are for, but I am always grateful for a gift. If anybody can use them, let me know.
I also got this swell greeting from my “team” at MapMyFITNESS. Sure it is a little less personal because my name is…omitted from the greeting, but it’s got that perfect mix of birthday wish and guilt that makes you sure it comes from some, uh, entity that cares. And the picture is downright cute:
Hi ,
Happy Birthday!
The MapMyFITNESS Team and the 823181 members in the MapMyFITNESS community want to wish you a Happy Birthday!
May all your fitness goals come true! 26and don't forget to log that piece of cake in the Nutrition Center!
Stay fit,
The MapMyFITNESS Team
The MapMyFITNESS Team
I also got another little something in the email. It wasn’t really a birthday greeting, but somehow it fit into one of the themes of my birthday. I am signed up to receive special offers and coupons from our local Earth Fare grocery store. Serendipitously, on my birthday I received the gift of free bacon:
All in all, it was a fine day, but you can see how all the BBQ and bad cake and general excitement could make an old-timer like me need to rest up a few days.
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