hey dudes

well, I finally joined the blog. naturally, i must apologize for the delay, but i am very slow with these things lately. too much school.

the birthday celebration was pretty entertaining. hillary made me do something, so we just put together a little gathering with my pals at a bar. as always, it is tough to know how the 2 worlds of friends (meaning sais friends and pre-sais friends) will get along, but obviously it all went smoothly. i had a really nice time, and I think all the people there did as well.

as for the presents... it was a very functional birthday. Ms. Webber warned me that I would not be receiving romantic presents, but it was exactly what i had needed. most importantly, i got a small suitcase with wheels. She tried to give it to me before the trip up to New Hampshire, but I insisted on waiting until Thursday, and when I came back, i had decided that I would no longer be traveling with just a duffle bag. I was impressed that she remembered my previous complaints about my duffle bag that frequently became impossibly heavy, since we hadn't taken a trip since a weekend in July.

You will all be pleased to know that my second present from Hillary was a coffee grinder. as most of you know, it took me one week of grad school to decide to start drinking coffee, but now I have decided it fits nicely into the category of "comfort foods," and I really enjoy it every morning. now there is hardly a chance that i will return to the caffine-free world.

hope all is well. i am looking forward to seeing you all soon.

cwm