MAN What a weekend.We've been planning to do something for my birthday (which was on Sunday) but I had no idea that it would be anything like this. On Thursday evening we (myself, Deanne, Mike and Mindy) all met at our place at about 7pm. I opened some presents before we left. Mike got me this awesome marble thing called Frigits; it's kinda like a vertical marble maze that goes on your fridge. Mindy got me the Trivial Pursuit; Know-it-all edition which rocked and this great book called "How to Rule the World." Deanne got me two awesome comedy CDs, Dane Cook and Steven Lynch. We listened to them on the drive down to Magic Mountatin - HYSTERICAL! They're two of my favorite comedians. She also gave me seasons one and two of Red Dwarf on DVD. GREAT show, reminds me of my youth. So I made out pretty well :) Anyway, we drove down to Magic Mountain in the Passat and got there a little after midnight. I was impressed with my car, it took just over HALF a tank of gas to get down there. Not bad. Anyway, we stayed at an average motel near the park and awoke early-ish the next morning to head to the park. I LOVE Magic Mountain. Well I love roller coasters and they have some of the best. The Goliath, Superman, ahhh it doesn't get much better than that. We stayed at the park for about six and a half hours, had our caricatures drawn and then piled in the car to head back north. We stopped at Harris Ranch on the way back for some steak and arrived home at about....umm....10? Something like that. On Saturday Mindy and Deanne went to Ikea (damn Ikea) and Mike and I hung out and played video games before heading back to Tracy to watch the Quakes WHOOP Dallas. Then the marathon day, Sunday. We started by meeting Mike and Mindy at their place and then heading off in the Subaru for Napa. We found the Wine Train station pretty easily and had a look around before heading onto the train. Great views, great food, great company. We left about four hours later, tired but happy. Mike drove home and we bid them farewell before heading to our next destination; Deanne's parents house. We arrived there at about 5pm and had a great dinner (no....more....food.) I got some great gifts including some wonderful and much needed clothes, and an awesome paper plane kit from Darlene and John. We had carrot cake (my favorite) for dessert. Unfortunately we had to leave early to head to our NEXT destination. By this time I was exhausted. We arrived at Ken's shop at about 8:15pm where Bob, Bali, Brian, Ken and Dan were waiting. Ken was kind enough to arrange a little soiree so we headed to Chevy's for dinner (or in my case, half a dessert.) Bob and Bali gave me a really nice bottle of Champagne. We left at about 11pm and I just crashed when we got home, I was exhausted. Thankfully, I took Monday off...a day to recover...or so I thought. Deanne and I had the pleasure of hauling a bunch of crap to the Tracy dump and after she went to work, I got to go to the DMV! YAY! I get there and the line is out the door but Deanne assured me it moved quickly. So I'm there about 15 mins when I see the sign that says "Cash or Check ONLY." I have neither. So I swear under my breath and go to an ATM machine. I return to the DMV and get back in line. TWO HOURS later, I get to the front of the line and renew the registration on the two cars. The lady tells me the total fee....I was one dollar short. ONE FUCKING DOLLAR! I was about to go postal (how ironic) when the lady was like "Don't worry about it, I'll register the car and then just drop off a check in the deposit box whenever you get a chance." I was stunned....a DMV employee being helpful? Was this bizarro world? No...it wasn't. Actually it was...cos later in the day I found out that my insurance agent not only lived five doors down from me but was Bob's cousin...how weird is that? Anyway, I had an AWESOME birthday and I want to thank Mike, Mindy, Ken, Bob, Bali, Brian, Dan, my in-laws, John and Darlene, and especially Deanne for making it so wonderful. Mike took some photos of the weekend which I blatantly stole (Thanks Mike!) You can see them here.