Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

I love you even though you are crazy, because I am crazy too.
I love you even though you hate doing dishes and laundry, because I hate them too.
I love that you are silly ( see picture) because it makes me laugh, and I am silly too.

but most importantly...

I love you even more today than I did last year at this time.

Happy Birthday!

Love,
A.

Agreed..

Sinken, party of two..

A couple of evenings ago (Saturday) A. treated me to dinner at the House of Blues downtown. I got to see Mason Jennings for the fourth time, after eating the best meal I've ever had in my entire life. Seriously. I have to thank A.'s boss Thomas Blaige for rewarding her for her hard work and effort through her first full year with the company. He managed to pull some strings and get our dinner and show upgraded. We ate in what is called the 'Foundation Room'. It had some very chill decor that would truly please Mason Jennings himself. There was a little mix up with our tickets and dinner package when we first arrived, but it became clear that everything was ok once they had realized that they had misspelled A.'s last name, Sinken. The Foundation Room had a Buddha-esque theme with incense, statues/busts, with dim candle-lit, lounge areas. I've never eaten at a restaurant where the portions come out in courses. Multiple eating utensils are foreign to me as well. The assistant server even came out and used some magic rolling thing to clean the crumbs off the table. What?! Unreal. For my first course, I had prawns, and they were amazing. I was kind of curious about them because I had never had them before. My second course was a vinagrette salad that had lettuce that was so soft, it could melt in your mouth (A. can confirm this). It was crazy good. For my main course I had the Alaskan salmon, and A. had the halibut. Once again, best salmon I've ever had. For dessert, we split a richly flavored caramel-chocolate something or the other. After dinner, we took the elevator down, and security took us to our seats right as Mason Jennings came on stage. Some folks were on our stools, and they were beheaded and thrown into a furnace. On our seats were two 'Reserved for Sinken' labels. Mason played a majority of his new songs from his new album 'In the Ever', and a few popular ones from his previous albums. It was a really good show and a great dinner, and I don't know if I'll ever have another to top it. It was really fun to live that high class for an evening.
D.

No Trucks Allowed, You Too Widdle Guy

Everyone with light, two axle pickup trucks be forewarned. The myth about ALL trucks not being permitted to use Lake Shore Drive is true. I learned this today upon my return trip from dropping A. off at work. I've been taking LSD for about two years now, and have never had an incident. I've even passed 'peace officers' on LSD and haven't given it second thought. One would assume with just a few bold, vague signs that read 'No Trucks' that the intended warning was for those with commercial tags, or those with more than two axles or more than four tires on two axles such as box trucks, dump trucks, dually industrial pickups, etc., but this is not true. It is understandable that the law for this was created with good intention. It eases up the flow of traffic during rush periods in and out of the city at peak hours, and may probably eliminate certain types of accidents, but is it really necessary for domestic, daily driver, non-commercial, LIGHT pickup trucks to be banned from using the road?
It is almost a joke when you consider it for a while. The most irritating part of the whole incident is the fact that my Tacoma is considerably under the weight and size of say, a Hummer, or a Ford Excursion, or a Chevrolet Suburban, and these vehicles are free and clear to drive up and down LSD. I feel that if there is going to be a law pertaining to pickup trucks traveling up and down LSD,some revisions are necessary. The police officer stated that the law dates back to the twenties. Maybe we should consider that this is 2009 and people drive trucks as daily driver vehicles, and for the purposes of general transportation. The non-commercial endorsement on my tags should be a blunt indication that I am not moving farm equipment, servicing home appliances, or hauling materials to and from a construction site. In the end, I honestly believe it comes down to two real reasons. Out of state plates, wrong place at the wrong time. This situation wasn't even about my actions while driving. I am a criminal for owning a type of vehicle. All my nonsense is explained here at the Municipal Code of Chicago title/chapter 9-72-020. The substance which would be used in court would be under part B where it states that "when such vehicle is designed primarily for carrying freight or other goods and merchandise". That's the nail. Any other part of the whole thing could be argued. Weak Chicago. Weak. Why do you have to bust my balls?
D.

iPod Irritations

I think only magic can explain the phenomenon going on inside the inner workings of my beloved iPod. For some strange reason, the first song on EVERY album has vanished. I've plugged it back in and synchronized it, and now it appears that every first song, and any song that I play disappears after I play it. I guess this is a good way to get to all those albums I've added and never got around to listening to, but lets hope they suck, because I'll never hear them again (or at least until I figure out what is going on).
D.