30 Thanks for My 30th Birthday

One of my favorite qualities about Jennilyn is her spirit for celebration. While I often get bogged down with the details in preparation, she always looks forward to any opportunity to make a day special—especially if it’s something like a landmark birthday.

1. Jenni arranged to have Staci to babysit Kadie while Jenni and I had a date out before my birthday.
2. Treated by Vernier’s Hall Street Grill gift card to a quiet, upscale dinner for Jennilyn and I.
3. Restaurant-hopped over to Typhoon Thai food restaurant to get more food for Jenni, and enjoyed a delicious pineapple curry with jasmine rice.
4. Revisited Paradise Ballroom for a night of west coast swing dancing, just like old times. Thanks to Leah for paying my way in and Thuy for coming a long way out.
5. Took time off from work on my birthday to enjoy with Jenni and Kadie.
6. Read warm birthday wishes on Facebook and Gmail.
7. Jennilyn surprised me with a fixed-up accordion and bought me some new songs to play.
8. Chowed down a Guacamole burger at Red Robin.
9. Jack gave me two Transformer action figures to add to my work cubicle decor.
10. A fun dinner with the family at a Chinese restaurant. Still isn’t as good as Gold Coin in my opinion.
11. Cutting a round cake in squares and didn’t get too much flak from everyone when it collapsed.
12. Received birthday money from relatives.
13. Received a touching card from my mom and dad with Costco cash cards.
14. Visited Lenora’s Room for the first time for two straight nights of dancing.
15. Received a gift card to Fred Meyer from Vernier.
16. Vernier’s human resources department for decorating my cubicle with crepe paper that fell on me in stages throughout the day.
17. Jenni surprised me with a LAN party!
18. Drove back to work to borrow my laptop for the LAN party.
19. Scarfed down catered party-pack food from Daphnes with Jack, Jesse, Rick, Carla, Bobby, and Clark.
20. Comforting Jenni when she had a pregnant moment and baked the salad from Daphnes in the oven along with all the other food.
21. Geeking out with Rick about my modest game collection in a box.
22. Enjoyed a lemon chiffon birthday cake from Beaverton Bakery with great friends. Let Jenni cut the cake so it won’t collapse like the previous cake.
23. Went to Rick, Carla, and Jesse’s place for some LAN gaming. Thanks to them for opening up their home to a loud geekfest.
24. Playing Left 4 Dead with Rick and Bobby in versus mode and terrorizing to Clark, Jack, and Jesse.
25. Playing Left 4 Dead cooperatively with Jack, Clark, and Bobby until 4:30am and still not beating No Mercy on advanced difficulty.
26. Beating No Mercy on normal difficulty at 5am. Almost made it with everyone alive. Went back for Jack, got him on his feet, but the last Tank killed him and smacked me into the escape helicopter. Sorry bro!
27. Spent a day in Battle Ground with in-laws, Jim and Polly, for lunch and dinner. Geeked out on Jim’s new quad-core desktop machine that scored higher on Vista’s game rating than my new work laptop.
28. Generous birthday gift money from Jim and Polly.
29. Enjoyed a free movie from Hollywood Videos. Hancock gets a thumbs up from me.
30. A new pair of shoes from my Dad at the Nike employee store.

Now, if I could only get visions of fighting zombies with an auto-shotgun on top of Mercy hospital out of my head, I might be able to get off this high I’m riding for my week-long birthday celebration!

See photos from my birthday celebrations »