It's Awkard

That's the comment I received from one of my students. "It's awkward having a male teacher with an earring. Especially one as old as you." Why the hell did I get up and go to school? Anyway, I'm glad I did. My day went well and everyone, especially my students, seemed to enjoy the fact that it was my 50th. One of my students called me a real risk-taker. If they only knew what my wife Patti had to say about the whole thing. Throughout the day I definitely got some great looks and comments. I have one small group of students that I refer to as my "executive assistants". This is my little group of students that come in early everyday to help out in the room. They are a great group of kids and are always wanting to do their best and help out anyway they can. They certainly help to keep me on task. These girls could hardly contain themselves when they came in this morning. They were laughing, giggling, and whispering the whole time. Finally one of them came up to me and asked if I had really gone out and got my ear pierced or if it was just fake. During the school day each of them came to me with some type of hand drawn birthday greeting. Sweet kids!

After school I went to the government center to renew my driver's license. I actually took a photo that doesn't look like a convicted criminal's mug shot. Very unusual.

I dropped my mountain bike off at the shop. Travis will set it up with a new Rock Shox SID fork and Chris King headset.

Patti and I then met at Biaggi's for another great Italian dinner and some fine wine. I absolutely love their butternut squash ravioli. I'm almost done celebrating. The Amigos, our wives, and some other friends are gathering this Saturday night at Claddagh Irish Pub. That could prove to be an interesting evening and it will provide me with a good opportunity to try out my other new gift. I'm particularly excited because Patti gave me a new camera for my birthday. An Olympus Stylus 850 SW. Great little (compact camera) that I can easily carry while out on the bike or while hiking. The camera has many great features and is advertised as being very durable. We'll see. It will probably take me until Saturday to figure out how to use it since I'm doing the same with the new cell phones we acquired a month ago.