Happy Birthday to Me

In honor of the beginning of my 50th year on this dying planet,
here are 49 things:

1 - By the time I'm 50 I hope to have a new job.
2 - If it is in my favorite city, I hope to move there and abandon my money-devouring vehicle in favor of public transit and my feet.
3 - I could take a year off and follow Gov't Mule around the country if I had the bucks.
4 - I have been weight-training and exercising for more than half my life. I hate to think I've wasted all that time.

5 - I've started to fear the day that I no longer have my 16-year old cat. He's a "senior" now, and I don't know how I'll deal with his ultimate passing.

6 - I'm not sure I like those artificial corks they're putting in wine bottles now.
7 - Among other things, the Australians make some damned good wine.

8 - My giant change jar is about two-thirds full.

9 - When I was nine, my father died.
10 - Don't wish that on any kid.
11 - I want one of those Dell Axim handheld PC's but I have no idea what I'd do with it.
12 - I have a box full of old cassette tapes that I need to transfer to CD.
13 - Herr's Kettle-Cooked Salt and Vinegar potato chips are the best snack food available in the world today.

14 - I have a box full of old VHS tapes that I need to transfer to DVD.
15 - Try Chipotle Ranch dressing on a ham sandwich.

16 - I have a box of old CDs that I need to transfer to mp3.
17 - I'm old enough to have gone through way too many music formats. I hope this digital thing is the last one, but I fear it is not.
18 - Weyerbacher's Blithering Idiot beer is fantastic. True to its name, it is 13.5% alcohol.
19 - Why do I have to pay for the Spanish channel and the shopping channels on my cable? I don't speak Spanish and I don't buy anything on TV.

20 - I really like those girls on the spanish channel.
21 - Can you believe there's a whole channel devoted to the weather?
22 - I kept all my college text books.
23 - Know anyone who needs some used college text books?

24 - I'd love to be able to afford to hire someone to come in and do my housework.
25 - When my soul needs soothing, I go to Washington and visit the East Building of the National Gallery of Art and the Hirshorn. I wish they were closer.

26 - I need to go soon.
27 - I don't like Monday Night Football on ESPN. It seems wrong, somehow.

28 - I don't like that Pardon the Interuption show, either. Michael Wilbon is a jackass who hates Philadelphia, and the other guy is a JBA - Jackass by Association.
29 - I just bought a digital camera. The last person in America, seemingly.
30 - I'm getting tired of Deal or No Deal faster than I got tired of Who Wants to be a Millionaire.
31 - Maybe one of the reasons I dislike George W. Bush so much is that I haven't had any since he has been president.
32 - I have also never had coffee.

33 - My Name is Earl is the best show on TV, but hardly anyone I know watches.

34 - Making up a list like Earl's would make a good Thursday Thirteen.
35 - There may be a few other reasons I dislike George W. Bush
36 - I took 4 of the photos on this post.

37 - I find it amazing that TV can advertise online gambling but not cigarettes.
38 - The Class is a very good show. It's very funny and has at least one hot babe. Monday on CBS.

39 - I think it's funny the way TV promotes Patricia Heaton as a "regular mom" who shops at Acme. She's really cool and everything, but I bet she hasn't been in a supermarket in 10 years. Do they think we're that stupid?
40 - I see bigger and bigger homes being built every day, and the storage facilities proliferate. How much stuff can people have that they can't fit it in their huge homes?

41 - I'm starting to get irritated at TV ads for state lotteries.
42 - I'm thinking about going to grad school. I should lie down until the feeling passes.
43 - I haven't had a real vacation since 1998, when I spent two weeks crusing the desert southwest.

44 - If I were younger, this list would be shorter.
45 - I'm 49, but I feel like I'm 30.
46 - When I was 30 I felt like I was 21.
47 - I don't remember how I felt when I was 5.
48 - Although, I remember hating to go to school and my mother tells me I couldn't wait to go.

49 - Next year, I hope I have something really good to put up for number 50.