Two for Tuesday

When I woke up this morning, I knew I wanted to write about one specific thing in particular. Then, when I visited one of my favorite daily dalliances introduced to me by my brother-in-law Jeff, woot.com, I knew exactly how to steal something from their website today and re-purpose it for my needs. On this Tuesday, I would like to wish a very, very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to two of the most important people in my life - Maureen and my dad.

I strongly recommend that when you develop your network of loved ones, you do your best to coordinate as much overlap as possible between important dates like birthdays, because it minimizes things that you need to remember. The possible negative flip side to that is that if you miss one of these overlap days, you have now upset two people with whom you need to frequently interact, but then you just need to make sure that you absolutely do not make this error. In this respect, Maureen is extra good because her mom and my brother have only one day difference in birthdays between each other. I'm not sure which is more important - love or memory convenience - but if you can get both without having to choose, then you've won the game of life.

To start with Maureen and to add a dose of well-deserved sap to my blog - of all the people I have met in my life, I believe that she is truly the only one outside of my immediate family who will be able to regularly deal with me and my many quirks on a daily basis, while also forcing me out of my periodic idiotic ways. She's supportive, witty, bright, thoughtful, and beautiful. I am lucky to be marrying her and I couldn't be happier with the way things have gone over the past several years.

To move on to my dad - not many people could be more selfless for his wife or children than my dad. He seriously spent about 8-10 hours over the past weekends calculating the cost basis for mutual funds for tax season in which he and my mom have scrapped, saved, and invested for many years of my life at the detriment of their own personal pleasure. I haven't done much to deserve this level of unfailing support and assistance, but all of his children know and appreciate all of the things that he does for our family despite when we make fun of him about technology.

A very happy birthday to dad and Maureen and to all other people celebrating something on March 3rd. Next year for your birthdays, I'd like to give you a stock market that is 50% higher. How much do you suppose that costs?