August 12

Today, I am 27. I'm feeling more than a bit old. I'm at the point where a birthday isn't that big of a deal; and, during the course of the year, I often forget just how old I am. 26, 27, something like that?

Did you know that on the exact day of my birth, IBM released the very first PC? Or that 882 years before that day in 1981, the First Crusade ended? That on August 12, 1883, the last quagga died, that on August 12, 1908 the prototype Model T was built, that on August 12, 1977 the Space Shuttle Enterprise took its first free flight, or that on August 12, 1990, Sue the Tyrannosaurus rex was discovered?

See all that, and even more, here.

It's been a good birthday so far, and even though I'm about to jump on a red eye, it's a red eye to Maine, which makes it all worth it. It's unfortunate that the day before my birthday, our president had to go and be an asshole, again, but them's the breaks. Nobody got me this (at least not yet), but I am consoled to think that nobody has been gifted with that.

Here's a house, Clingstone, that I would love to live in; reminds me of the Barnacle, done with elegance. The New York times wrote about it the other day.

But this, right here, is my real dream home. Tracy probably won't let me make us live in this, but I fully intend on building a hobbit office once we settle down. I don't know how best to do it, my building skills are may not be that great, but it will be mine, oh yes, it will be mine.

Time to go – I have a flight to make. I'll leave you with something that shouldn't, by any means, work at all, but ends up being almost sublime.

Enjoy.

Happy birthday.