This time of year it behooves me to make plans that allow me to enjoy my birthday. To that end I’ve lined up two things so far.

The first is a long standing tradition, which I try and share with my wonderfully crazy friends. A lot of folk have birthday traditions, and bike people often go on a long ride. Since my birthday is in winter, and often, the start of some of the worst winter weather this concept has it challenges. But I manage every year to at least get on a bike, outside, and uphold the tradition. We have a theoretical goal of riding one mile for each year of my age, however it often works out closer to kilometers. Other, um, enhancements to the ride have varied with temperature and terrain. Anyway, in theory the ride is on or around the 15th depending on weather and availability. Let me know if you care to join…

The second way I’ve prepared this year is with the following form (I wish I knew where I got it from. If anyone knows please let me know.) In jest, of course… but I have included a printed version of this with gifts I give, although there is a disclaimer about response time in the small print which you can’t see in this image.