August 19th

Twenty six years ago today I was born and this is the first birthday I have ever spent at work (or school for that matter). I have been working (at least during the summer) since my sixteenth birthday thus I have had 10 previous opportunities to work on my birthday and have avoided each of them. I know this is kind of a lame topic but I'm sitting at work, waiting for the day to end and realize this is not the way to spend a birthday. My colleagues and I all went to a nice lunch at the Bootshaus overlooking the river and it was a perfect day for sitting on the deck and celebrating the day.

As a summer baby, I have had some pretty good birthdays. As a kid, pool parties were always a possibility but hardly happened due to the weather. I had more than one outdoor party though and I recall one at Papa Ginos, although none were actually on the 19th. As I got older, I've spent my birthday at an amusement park, at Alton Jones, on the beach, on Block Island (with Patrick), and last year on vacation (Oslo). As is the German way, this year I will be hosting an American style birthday BBQ in my honor (it's kind of weird to throw your own birthday party as an adult but that's how it is, make your own cake and bring it into the office too) on the weekend. There will be hot dogs and cheeseburgers and watermelon if all goes as planned.

I always took the day off. This year, my birthday fell on a very quiet Wednesday and I couldn't justify using the vacation day since I am trying to save as many as possible to carry over into next year so I figured I'd try the office thing. Besides, pathetic as it sounds, what else would I do when everyone else is working, the lake is not fun alone and we are too far from any ocean, the only place I would spend the day alone. My boss even suggested I leave after lunch but I figured I would wait for Patrick to pick me up so here I am, waiting. He's up to something but the only thing I know is we have a date this evening.

Well, here's to 26. I'm officially over the hump and getting closer to 30 everyday. In order to document the first year of my second quarter century, I am going to start (and finish) a Project 365. I am not sure if this will be the main place I post the photos but I'll at least put some up here, maybe a weekly photo post. I haven't taken today's photo yet but it will be forthcoming and potentially document previously mentioned surprise.

I'm over working on my birthday so I'm off to enjoy the rest of the day while the sun is still shining.