How I Spent My Sunday
Yesterday jmaynard and I went up to the Twin Cities and met up with my sistaur and her housemate, and our (sister & me) folks. This was a slightly delayed birthday gathering.
See, while we are not twins, as were we born a few years apart, we do have have the same month and day of birth. To avoid problems when younger, and to be fair to grandparents, and to avoid having two cakes at the same time (which sometimes happened anyway...) we tended to move the celebration to two different weekends. This worked out well, and also means that I'm not at all upset if something doesn't happen on the exact day. "Since when has my birthday been on my birthday?"
We met and ate at an Applebees and exchanged some presents before that, since we'd all arrived before the place opened. I now have a few more CDs than I did before, and more USB flash drives. All of that will be nice for my upcoming trip to RCFM. I also now have a photograph that includes not just my folks and my grandparents (on one side of the family) but also a couple of aunts, an uncle, and one of my great grandfathers. Unfortunately it was let slip to the waitstaff that the meal was a birthday celebration and the usual nonsense ensued. I find I need to have a nearly unpronounceable (first) name to tell folks should this ever happen again so there's a disincentive to make a big announcement. Of course someone will likely be "helpful" and screw that up. At least I had my earplugs.[1]
After lunch we went to a music store with a rather wide selection and a terrible name, the Electric Fetus. It wasn't just too loud (or I had put in my earplugs) but it would've been nice if the heavily scented candles and incense were someplace other than next to the door and one of the checkout areas. I think had a headache the rest of the day from all that. There were a few interesting things, but nothing that I had to have just then.
When we parted ways, Jay and I made another stop so he could pick up some stuff for work, and then we stopped again in Mankato where we picked up a USB trackball for the iMac which is now in the living room. There's not really enough space where it is to use a mouse.
The day was longer and more tiring than I'd expected, but good overall.
[1] Clarifying: I am not opposed to celebration. It's simply that the artificial nature of a restaurant pseudocelebration grates.