Today is my birthday, so it’s going to be a mellow day.

I’ve been working many hours night and day including weekends, so today I’m taking a day for myself.

I share a birthday with a couple famous musicians:

• Elvis Presley – East Tupelo, Mississippi, USA
• David Bowie – Brixton, London, England, UK

I think it completely rocks that I share a birthday with “the king of rock and roll” and also David Bowie.

Speaking of David Bowie, what is he considered in the music world?

As an added bonus, there are also some World famous events that have taken place on this day in different years as well:

1790 – George Washington delivers the first “State of the Union Address” address in New York City.

1958 – Fourteen-year-old Bobby Fischer wins the United States Chess Championship.

1973 – Watergate scandal: The trial of seven men accused of placing bugs in Democratic Party headquarters at Watergate begins.

1977 – Soviet space mission Luna 21 is launched.

1982 – AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions.

1987 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 8.30 to close at 2,002.25 which was The Dow’s first close above 2,000.

So there you go, my annual “happy birthday to me” post with some added value for my trivia friends and readers… and now off to eat cake!

Well Christmas is coming to a close and I figured why not do a Christmas 2006 wrap up post.

This is the first year we’re not with other family members and it’s actually ok with us… nice and relaxing without all the “family fun” and bah humbugs

In the picture, you can see I’m wearing my WordCamp 2006 shirt and yes before you comment, I know that I’m not smiling in the picture… I was barely awake and I’m sporting my Don King morning hair. At least I’m upright and have a shirt on.

Ok, on with the post… for gifts I received the following (not in any special order):

• Handmade scarf (gray in color)
• 2007 Ford Mustang wall calendar
• Tripod for my camera and video recorder
• Trivial Pursuit DVD Pop Culture Board Game
• RC car parts (tires, chrome rims, alignment tools, foam inserts)
• 2007 “Far Side” comic desk calendar
• Black & Decker Auto Wrench
• 2 shot glasses for my ever growing collection
• Duracell Pen Light (with batteries included)
• A wide variety of boxer shorts with fun messages on them
• Woppers candy
• Reeces Pieces candy
• $100.00 USD Visa gift card (w00t. time to buy some clothes)
• Lubriderm Daily Moisture Lotion (perfect for cold weather)

One of the shot glasses says “Hawaii” on it and the other one has a sexy girl posed on it. Hubba hubba.

A couple of the fun messages on the boxer shorts are:

“You shook me all night long” and “I’m smart but I work with nuts”.

Good times. I’m looking forward to wearing them around the house.

Around 1:00 PM we finally made some food for breakfast… ok, a late lunch… we made scrambled eggs with shredded cheese, an entire pound of bacon (I love bacon) and toast with butter and jelly.

All and all it’s been a pretty nice and relaxing low stress day. I plan on taking it easy over the next couple of days as well. I put in a ton of hours for work and personal projects, so now I’m taking some time for myself and my lady… and the dog too

I hope everyone is having a Merry Christmas and a happy holiday.

For those of you who don’t celebrate Christmas, I hope you’re having a good day as well.

Growing up over the past 30+ years, I’ve seen, heard and experienced so many amazing things in my lifetime. Not that I’m old but damn, a lot of things have transpired in my life looking back and I’m only in my early 30’s.

I’ve done a lot of good and I’ve done my share of bad… yes folks, I am human and have made my share of mistakes and bad choices… as Albert Einstein once said “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”

The title of my post is Alphaville “Forever Young” and that’s what you’re about to experience… a grand piece of music from my youth and days gone by… I’ve even included the lyrics after the video if you care to sing along. Enjoy.

Let’s dance in style, lets dance for a while. Heaven can wait we’re only watching the skies. Hoping for the best but expecting the worst – are you going to drop the bomb or not?

Let us die young or let us live forever. We don’t have the power but we never say never. Sitting in a sandpit, life is a short trip. The music’s for the sad men.

Can you imagine when this race is won. Turn our golden faces into the sun. Praising our leaders we’re getting in tune. The music’s played by the madmen.

Forever young, I want to be forever young. Do you really want to live forever, forever and ever.

Some are like water, some are like the heat. Some are a melody and some are the beat. Sooner or later they all will be gone. Why don’t they stay young?

It’s so hard to get old without a cause. I don’t want to perish like a fading horse. Youth is like diamonds in the sun and diamonds are forever.

So many adventures couldn’t happen today. So many songs we forgot to play. So many dreams are swinging out of the blue. We let them come true.

Forever young, I want to be forever young. Do you really want to live forever, forever and ever.

Lyrics and Music Copyright © 1982/83
Alphaville: Marian Gold, Bernhard Lloyd and Frank Mertens

As most of my friends and readers know, I’m a huge fan of classic video games; you know the ones that took a single quarter to play from the early 1980’s to early 1990’s.

Most of the video arcade games from back then actually had some entertainment value and didn’t involve being a gangster or a car thief. Amazing.

The sad thing is almost all of my favorites are virtually impossible to find in a modern arcade but thanks to projects like MAME and my personal video game collection, I can play them any time I want.

Ok, moving on to the reason for this post… last night I was talking with a few of my classic video game collecting friends about what we felt were our personal top 20 games that we actually own either the full upright or cocktail table version in our collections, so without any further delay, here is my personal top 20 list:

1. Ms. Pac-Man
2. Tempest
3. Pac-Man
4. Centipede
5. Galaga
6. Asteroids
7. Star Wars
8. Donkey Kong
9. Tron
10. Joust
11. Donkey Kong Junior
12. Robotron: 2084
13. Defender
14. Space Invaders
15. Frogger
16. Battlezone
17. Galaxian
18. Space Duel
19. Q*bert
20. Dig Dug

It’s great having my own personal arcade. Everything is set to free play. No quarters required. I’ve spent many years and 1,000’s of dollars to restore and revive my childhood memories of the local arcade.

I’m a hero to the kids in my neighborhood when the garage door is open but sometimes I have to be a bully and kick them out. I’m not a baby sitter… but it is nice to let the youth of today see what real arcade fun and entertainment is all about.

It does take up a lot of room having full size games in my garage but it’s so cool when I have friends over for a BBQ or just to hang out and remember the days of playing Galaga as a kid.

When I was younger, I based the amount a band “rocked” by thunderous crashing guitars and drums. Well, this simply isn’t the case anymore… so what has changed? Me.

In recent years, I’ve experienced a great collection of music I wouldn’t have given a second chance 13 years ago during my MetalGlamMulleted Days in Southern California.

There are so many multi-talented musicians and clever songwriters with an on-stage energy that rivals any huge, impressive sound and light production around. That’s what is impressive to me now.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love thunderous crashing guitars and drums but there’s a lot more to music than just that. Just my two cents.

Now back to your regular scheduled program… oh and ROCK ON!!!!

Don’t go to bed angry with the ones you love and care about. If there’s a problem, do your best to work it out before you go to bed. If you’re sorry, say you’re sorry. If you love someone, tell them. If you forgive them, tell them.

Life is to short and you might never get the chance to tell someone you’re sorry, that you love them, care for them or you forgive them. I made this mistake before when my grandfather died this past March and I’m so sorry I did not spend more time with him during his last days. I will not do it again… so with that said… I want to say “I’m sorry, I love you, I care for you, I forgive you.”

This post is meant for my family, friends and loved ones… you know who you are.