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Another year older and another year slower. Not quite. So yesterday was my birthday. One of the best things about my "special day" isn't so much about me, but more about Jen. As with most birthdays, you get gifts, but gifts for me can be tough. Sure I have a list of things I want or "need" all the time, but generally I get them myself, or they're too complicated to find and very impersonal to give as gifts.

"Happy birthday honey! Here's that wool insulated boot liner you've been wanting all winter!"

Yeah not so nice. So Jen has to figure out things I'm not expecting, are quite personal and appreciated as gifts. It's not an easy task. Each holiday, miraculously, she succeeds. This birthday was no exception. She got us tickets to the Mountain Stage, which is coming to Philly May 15th. For those that don't know, or take the time to click the link, the

Mountain Stage® is an internationally-distributed weekly, two-hour live performance music radio program produced by West Virginia Public Broadcasting featuring some of the world’s greatest artists in an intimate and relaxed atmosphere with a live-broadcast edge.

Taken directly from their site. I'm not a loyal weekly listener, but if I'm around and have access to the show via XM or XPN, I enjoy listening. Though produced by West Virginia Public Broadcasting, it's not a hillbilly redneck country show. It's gifted performers doing intimate shows for live audiences. There's something really comforting in it for me. Maybe it's because it is a West Virginia thing and I have roots there. Maybe it reminds me of folk shows and small performances I saw in the hills of WV when I was a child, though the show obviously isn't always recorded in WV. I'm not sure, but I like it and I really like the fact Jen recognizes this and provided us a means to be a part of it.

Yeah she's the best. I guess the true gift every year is her.

In addition to the tickets, we went to see 300. We hadn't been to the movies in two years. It was quite a treat. At first we weren't sure about 300 with all it's blood, gore and action, but looking around, there didn't appear to be much better. It turned out pretty good. We both enjoyed Sin City and 300 being another Frank Miller story, how could it be bad? It wasn't as gory as I expected, though my perspective may be a bit twisted in that category. The cinematography was awesome. The shots were how I would imagine different scenes in my head - huge, bigger then life only in the movies (but for real) kind of scenes. The glory, heroics and fierceness for which the Spartans stood (at least in this story) was inspirational. It will be good to remember the Spartan creed this summer - Spartans do not surrender and Spartans do not retreat - when I'm suffering away on some ridiculously long race in the ridiculous heat and humidity.

-b