31 has now ended and 32 begins. My birthday ended up being a 3-day event that started on Saturday. While I cleaned the bathroom and vacuumed the apartment before my parents' visit, Erika baked my birthday cake. I had picked out a cinnamon swirl cake and for some odd reason caramel coconut pecan frosting. It sounded good when I picked it out at the store, but the tastes don't really match up. My parents got here about 1 and we had lunch. That afternoon we went to the movie theater to see The Astronaut Farmer. For dinner we went to a Japanese restaurant. After returning home, we played bowling on the Wii for a couple hours before they had to leave to go to the hotel. The next morning, we all went to Barnhill's for brunch before touring campus and the Strip.

That afternoon I took a nap. You know how getting older makes you tired. After my nap, I took care of the bills while Erika made me dinner. She made fried chicken for the first time and did an excellent job. I spent the evening enjoying my new gamer chair I got from Erika's parents and playing on my laptop during the ever so boring Oscars.

My actual birthday was busy, busy, busy. I was in and out of my office every other hour. I had to teach a class at 9:30, go out to lunch with the department, go to my topology class and then headed home a little early for presents and cake. After opening presents, we drove up to Birmingham to eat at P.F. Chang's for tasty, but expensive Chinese. My birthday wrapped up with a Billy Joel concert. Although he looked like he was 70, he put on a good show.

But the fun didn't stop there. I got one more present today. After battling a never-ending sinus thing, I went to the doctor to see what the deal was with my ear. It has felt like it was stopped up for a week. Well, it turns out I have an ear infection. Happy Birthday from my body. So now I get to take these two horse pills twice a day to get rid of the infection and the congestion. I'll just be glad to hear normally again.

Since Erika tagged me, here's 10 random facts about me.

1. Stitch is my favorite animated character
   
2. I used to practice wrestling moves on my sister since wrestling is fake.
   
3. I was arrested for riding around with my friends while they were bashing mailboxes. (I did not participate.)
   
4. I fractured my arm when I was 4 years old. I tried to rock in my kiddie rocking chair which my mom had placed on the couch while vacuuming.
   
5. I remember eating Boo Berry cereal the morning that my sister was born.
   
6. I own more about 700 video games (PC, all Nintendo consoles, PS2)
   
7. During my freshman year of college, my name was drawn for a contest at a UA basketball game for 2 tickets to anywhere in the continental US. (I picked NYC)
   
8. I flew to the upper peninsula of Michigan to meet a girl I met on the Internet. (before I met Erika)
   
9. My favorite number is 13.
   
10. Dan Marino was my idol growing up.
    

My Valentines Day was very low-key. So low-key in fact that I didn't even celebrate it. Erika had to go out of town for a funeral and wasn't due back until Thursday. So I had my choice of activities to partake in. I could go to Birmingham to see Everclear which wasn't an option before. I think only Cowboy Mouth and Sister Hazel are worthy of a Valentine date. My second option was going to the baseball game, or I could stay home and watch Alabama play against Florida. Basically my decision was made for me. Since Erika took my car to the airport because her car is about one pothole away from completely falling apart, going to Birmingham wasn't an option. It was freezing yesterday (not that it's any warmer today), so I decided quite early that I didn't want to sit outside watching baseball. That decision was solidified as the baseball game was moved to 2 PM. I guess they realized no one would come that night due to the cold and Valentines Day.

So I ended up staying at home. I had to stop by Target to pick up wrapping paper for Valentine presents. Of course I can't seem to go in Target without buying more than I needed. I went in for wrapping paper and walked out with a Japanese dog statuary and an African buffalo carved into soapstone. Had my birthday not been two weeks away, I would have come home with some Target exclusive Transformers too. I got the wrapping paper too.

My evening consisted of wrapping Valentine presents, deciding what players to waive from my team for the upcoming APBA baseball season, and playing hockey and Wii sports. I went to bed a little after 11 only to be waken at 2:30 to learn that Erika's flight had changed to a slightly later flight. At 3:30 I got another phone call, this time from Priceline saying the flight was cancelled. So I had to call Erika and pass along the news. Over the next hour I got a couple more calls and finally learned that Erika wouldn't be back until Friday night. Even this isn't a sure thing since Erika has to fly through DC. Hopefully they will have dug out of the ice there and things will be ok.

Needless to say our trip to New Orleans for Mardi Gras has taken a hit. Erika won't get to see Better Than Ezra and now must search for someone to take the tickets. Erika managed to cancel our room for tonight, but we may end up canceling the whole thing if something happens that Erika isn't able to make it back before Saturday. Best we can do is cross our fingers and see what happens.

Some days, I wish I had a cameraphone. Since I don't I replicated a sign a saw on one of the side doors of the business school. What are they teaching there? I'm not sure if they are giving out young children for sacrifice or offering the fountain of youth.



Also, never let a pregnant lady control the thermostat for a whole wing of a building. The thermostat was turned down to 63 and she wasn't even in the building!!!!

Some days I hate news reporters. It seems more and more, they go out of their way to scare people by giving them half the facts. Today on The Opie and Anthony Show, they played a TV news report citing that a Nintendo DS can be used by sexual predators to talk to children. How you ask?

Nintendo DS has a built in chat program called "Pictochat" which allows people to connect and talk. Combine this with uninformed parents and a national scare is created. I want to shoot the person that decided to do this sensationalist piece.

They talked to several parents who had no idea that their child could possibly talk to other people on their DS. The reporter set up a connection in the living room of a home and was talking to a woman's daughters who were upstairs. he was asking all kinds of questions including asking for names, schools and addresses while the mother looked on. The girls knew they were talking to the reporter down stairs yet she was SHOCKED to know her daughters were answering his questions. Why? It was a set-up! Holy cow woman! She helped set this up and then is surprised that her daughters trust her judgment in who they should talk to?

While children talking to a sexual predator through a Nintendo DS is possible in theory, it's practically impossible. What they fail to tell either of the mothers and the general public is that the connection must be made between 30 and 100 feet. I'm no expert, but I'd be willing to bet if a sexual predator is that close, you'd know about it. Not only that, but hardly anyone even uses "Pictochat". Even in busy places, I've never seen a single person in a "Pictochat" room.

Much like there is a less than 1% chance a cell phone can interrupt onboard instruments in a plane, the same can be said about a DS being used by sexual predators to contact children. Could it happen? Yes. The likelihood it will happen? Slim to none. Stop trying to scare people with your sensationalism news reporter. You disgust me.

What a pretty day. It's about time the sun came out and provided more than just light. I realize Mr. Groundhog didn't see his shadow but I didn't think spring would be here so soon. I know it will get cold again sooner rather than later so I will take advantage of what's provided.

It was awesome walking to class without a coat on, seeing people studying in the grass and playing frisbee. I saw some pretty interesting sidewalk scribbles as I trekked to class. Someone had managed to chalk a message in a Times New Roman font. Impressive.

And as usual, I was confronted with the usual jerks who feel the need to walk two and three people abreast on the sidewalk, not waning to budge. I get sick of this. The last time I checked, sidewalks were not one way streets. I watch it out my window and encounter it almost every day.

Whether it's two sorority girls blabbing about their hook-up of the week or people walking for exercise, no one wants to give up ground. Will it kill you to move over enough for oncoming traffic to pass? If you insist on walking beside your friend perhaps you can walk in the grass. Why inconvenience me because I'm walking alone? Maybe I should just ram the next person that doesn't move or takes that silly half step over. Look at me. Even turning sideways I can't fit through the one foot space you just created. Don't look at me in shock when I brush you aside with my shoulder. I'm just claiming the walking space that is rightfully mine.

This blog may sound funny coming from a self-proclaimed 12 year old (12 going on 32), but I'm really getting sick and tired of people my age acting like they are in junior high school. Over the past year, Erika and I have lost contact with people that were in our circles of friends.

I've really kept things bottled up over the past nine months about the sudden disappearance of a couple I considered to be good friends. We accepted them as they were and spent many a weekend at their house socializing. The only reason they never came to our apartment was because one of them had a major cat allergy. We would always have fun playing games and chatting. A visit always involved food, and would always contribute as much as possible to the gathering. We even spent several weekends during spring break last year helping them move from one house to another. At one point last June, the couple attended a conference in Germany. We made plans to get together once they returned, but for weeks we never heard from them. E-mails went unanswered, as did phone calls. We basically gave up wondering what the hell happened.

About a month later, Erika saw a member of the couple on campus and plans were made to get together and catch up. That was basically the end of any communication from them. We called and left messages about meeting them, but none of them were returned. Greetings on campus were met with scowls and slamming of doors. To this day, we have no clue why they stopped talking to us. We extended the hand of friendship and got slapped in the face. I doubt we will ever know what happened there despite our attempts. What ticks me off the most is they kept one of our board games. Neither of us has gotten the gumption to ask for it back. Honestly, I don't know what they'd do to it before giving it back even if they acknowledged the request.

Thinking that to be a unique occurrence, I was quite surprised when a very similar event happened today, only this time it was of the virtual variety. Today my friend count on Myspace dropped by 2. I probably wouldn't have even noticed for a few weeks unless Erika hadn't asked me about my friend list. Turns out two of her [what she thought were] good friends decided to delete both of us as friends. Personally I don't care as I had met them once, but Erika had connected with them pretty strongly and I guessed I would get to know them in due time. After Thanksgiving, this friendship started sliding. Erika had spent Thanksgiving with one of them and hung out with the both of them over the holidays. After returning, she realized that the person she had stayed with for a few days suddenly dropped Erika out of her top friends list. I know that sounds really petty, but it was a concern especially since Erika had bonded with this person, so she thought. The questions went out asking if something was wrong, especially since their was a bad vibe before she left. She was assured nothing was wrong. But, over the past two months, both of these friends have been strangely quiet. Then today, out of the blue, the delete button was pressed. Obviously something had been wrong for months. But rather than be an adult and talk out the problem, both of them hid behind their little Myspace pics like pansies.

Both of these ordeals just make me want to scream. I don't understand why people don't have the courage to step up. If something was said to hurt your feelings then tell me. Chances are it was a misunderstanding and I'll try to smooth things out. Even if it wasn't a misunderstanding, letting me know why you are mad and not speaking is the more mature thing to do.

In the case of the second scenario, even though I wasn't really friends with either of them, the least they could do is tell Erika why they suddenly lost interest in a friendship. But knowing what I do, I'm certainly not surprised at either of them in terms of maturity level. Delete me, never speak to me again, I don't care. But at the very least, you owe Erika an explanation. Do you have what it takes to write a simple e-mail or message to say here's what went wrong? I doubt that you do. Myspace is your friend. You can sit here all day long hiding in your little world not caring about any one but yourself.