More forgetfulness

I've certainly been neglecting friends and relatives this year when it comes to their birthdays.

My friend Carmen, whose birthday was March 3, had to wait until February for her Christmas present and will probably have to wait until June until her birthday card arrives.

You see, I make or buy birthday cards for people. I even address them, but then they get stuck in my car for weeks since I never have time to go to the post office.

Poor grandma, my aunt and my dad. They never got any cards at all. I did remember to call my grandma, though, a day later, but not my dad.

And no, I'm not pregnant.

Today, I was the guest speaker in a journalism class at Middlesex Community College (they had cake and everything!). When I got back to the office, I realized I'd left the power supply to my laptop in the classroom back at the school.

My staff and I scheduled a whole bunch of community meetings for next week, and were just about to publish the schedule in the paper for tomorrow, when - and hour before deadline - I realized Monday is my first wedding anniversary and I'm taking the day off. Whoops.

Oh, and I just pulled into my driveway at home tonight when I remembered I never returned my husband's movie to Blockbuster. It's still in my car.

Can I please order some extra memory for tomorrow? I would only need like 5 gigs or so.

December birthdays

Four of my friends also have birthdays in December. Usually, we do not have time do get together for everyone's birthday, so we try to do a group thing. This year, we tried planning individual parties, and, of course, mine got snowed out.

But on Friday night we all met up at East Side restaurant in New Britain, a German place more famous for its atmosphere than its food, to celebrate Justin's birthday.

The staff was all in Bavarian costumes, and as soon as someone at a table ordered a large jug of beer (one liter), the whole room would shout "ticki, tocki, ticki, tocki, hoy, hoy, hoy!"

The food was OK, but very expensive. And I made the mistake of ordering au gratin potatoes, when I should have just stuck with mashed. I am sure the wienerschnitzel would have been better than the pot roast I ordered as well. Oh well, at least chocolate ice cream was included in the price for dessert, and the beer was pretty darn good!

Another beautiful gift

A co-worker made this gorgeous quilt in green and purple for my birthday. Of course, as soon as I got home, the kitties played tunnels with it. When I tried to fold it up and tuck it away, they decided it was their new sleeping spot on the dining room table!

My bestest birthday present

My lovely husband and his mom got me this beautiful camera for my birthday - a Nikon D3000!

My birthday dinner

Yummy, yummy foods!

The 30th year of Viktoria

A year and a half ago, I wrote a blog post called The Years of Viktoria, where I named all my years from 1978 to 2008.

I'd like to add 2009 to that: The Year of Big Changes.

Not only did I get married this year, but I also had my stomach cut open and started a new job. I am not sure what next year will bring, but I think I read in a horoscope somewhere that it will be peacful and things will begin to settle down for me. At least that's what I'd like to believe.

I usually spend a lot of time on my birthday reflecting over years past and people I do not see anymore and why that is, but this year my birthday has been a pretty normal day. And it's been fun - and very relaxing. Of course, the two mimosas helped, as did the half-bottle of wine at Olive Garden.

Inside the presents

As requested...

This isn't nearly everything I got, but it's a snapshot of some of the stuff that cheered me up on my birthday when I was really sick and had to stay in bed all day.

Birthday prank

One of my co-workers has a birthday tomorrow. Boy, is he in for trouble.

This is one of the fun parts about working in a not-so-serious and completely unprofessional environment.

Our boss, for example, frequently visits the local toy store to buy prank items. She has a megaphone that makes your voice sound strange and a cow that we sometimes sqeeze and listen to over the intercom system. The sound is awful, kind of like an outdrawl squeel, depending on how hard you squeeze it and how soon you let go.

Our old publisher, in his office on the top floor, was once so startled by the noise he called the newsroom to find out what was happening. I can't even imagine how people would react if they were in the bathroom when the crazy cow started moo-ing from everywhere around you.

We've had the fart machine under different people's desks. Boy Scouts and prospective employees often take a step back when they see a realistic foot hanging from the ceiling tiles. We frequently move each other's cars in the parking lot and hide them from each other.

Someone got their entire car wrapped in cellophane a few years ago. The same guy once found his car filled with confetti. Six months later, confetti still flew out the vents when he turned the fan on, his wife told us.

I cannot tell you what we're planning for tomorrow since the birthday boy reads my blog, but like I said, he's in for a real surprise.