Three-Oh

On Friday, I officially turned thirty and thus became officially untrustworthy to all the hippie-wannabees of the world. I thought at the age of thirty, I would start feeling more like an adult, or at least acting like one, but as anyone who was at my birthday party can attest, that's not happening yet.

The festivities started at Elmwood Park, where Vivian took me for a (mostly) unexpected birthday cookout with a bunch of our friends. We tossed Frisbees and water balloons, and I was able to escape nearly unscathed when the entire band decided to try to douse me sometime after dinner. We grilled hot dogs, hamburgers, and I got to make a fool of myself dancing to Hungry Like the Wolf on a picnic table. I got a bunch of gifts from my generous friends and family, including an "over the hill" gift bag from Lisa. That Teddy Bear will come in handy when I need to remind myself that I'm still really a kid at heart.

The day concluded, as usual, at JNO. I got a birthday jam and enjoying trying to dance around on the less-than-smooth surface of the St. John's Cathedral basement at Creighton University.

The next day, Troy and Merinda threw their annual twelve-hour barbecue down in Bellevue. Ben and Troy happened to share the same birthday, so we brought them both a couple presents and drank a number of strange mixed drinks in celebration of them both getting older. Alas, Ben still has to stay dry for one more year, but the rest of us got to try interesting mixtures of coconut, coffee, and chocolate liqueurs. Sarah and Corinne amused us all by trying to complete a game of chess with appropriately marked shot glasses, and then we all gathered 'round for a couple hours of Rock Band as midnight pushed on toward morning.

The rest of Labor Day weekend stayed fairly quiet. Vivian and I spent some time doing laundry and recovering from the festivities, and managed to sneak in a trip to Blair to visit our friends Dennis and Kara. Our big event was purchasing a new flat-panel TV. I have gone without television for the last six years or so, and I was actually quite hesitant about letting this 32-inch LCD "boob tube" back into my life. I think I'm going to enjoy actually being able to watch some of these shows I keep hearing about, particularly Heroes. I'm looking forward to getting this big screen mounted on our living room wall just as soon as I can borrow a drill.

Watch video from Troy and Merinda's party