My 33rd Birthday.

My birthday was April 8. I turned 33 years old!

I don't really celebrate my birthday. Partly, I don't like the attention. But mostly, I feel guilty if I receive something, because in the past people have had different expectations in return. (If you ever get a gift or even a note from me, it is unconditional. Or at least it should be. :)

So this year I didn't say anything about my birthday (except Facebook does), but I figured I should tell my roommate, Peter. I told him, and he generously took me out for dinner at Fu Man Dumpling House. Peter, thank you! The dumplings were very tasty, although I think they use a lot of MSG.

I started seeing a counselor in the fall, for "family matters." (I would say more, but I'm guessing the "family" doesn't like sharing publicly about stuff like this.) Anyway, my counselor said I should treat myself on my birthday. What's a treat for me? A new car? A PS3? Disneyland?

From Birthday meal

I decided that a special treat for me would be to buy the most expensive salad at Panera Bread. Perhaps you would have to know my family growing up, especially my dad, to appreciate this. Anyway, it was one of their "Signature Salads" (oohhh), and it had salmon in it (more oohhs). I also added a cheese pastry, since it was on sale.

In the picture you can also see my iPad. (I was reading "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini. Reading books on the iPad is revolutionary, by the way.) To the left is my pill bottle--but don't worry, it's just multivitamins.

What's funny to me is how my $500 iPad was not a treat (it's for "work"--really!), but my $10 meal was. Sometimes the best things in life don't make any sense. :)

From Library sale

I also went recently to the Seattle Public Library's spring book sale. It's big. And cheap; most books are $1. My dad would have loved it. I tried to restrain myself from buying books just because I knew they were a good deal; I already have more stuff than I need. (Who wants my Nintendo Wii? It's fun but I never use it anymore.) I bought 4-5 books for myself, but they might also become gifts. The one that I am most excited about reading is "Christianity for Dummies." (Yes, a real Dummies book!)

Since it was my birthday, I should give a clear update: I'm still single, no kids, no paid job, no clear career, and I still don't call myself a Christian but I like reading about Jesus. Do I feel old? Sometimes, like when I compare myself to others. But actually, I think this is the happiest I've ever been, and my life has been very blessed overall. I know, I know, we'll see what happens when my bank account runs out. But, I am really glad I chose this path. So please be merciful.

The iPad Cometh.

As soon as the Apple iPad was announced, I decided to buy one. I pre-ordered the cheapest one from the Apple Store and said I would pick it up at the Apple Store in the University Village. I was curious to see what the lines would look like, so I showed up half an hour early.

There were two lines: one for people who did not pre-order, and one for those who did.






Here is the line for those hoping that the iPad doesn't sell out...







... and here is the line for those who pre-ordered. You can see the Apple Store in the background, all the way to the left.

It took me about an hour to get through the line, and that was fine because I could meet the other Apple fans.

So far, I am not sure what to think of the iPad; I have only played around with it for a couple of days. However, there are two iPad programs ("apps") that I want to mention.

The first app is based on those wooden mazes that you have to tilt back and forth to move a marble through. The app is a digital version of those, and it's called, "Labyrinth 2 HD Lite." ("Labyrinth 2" is the sequel to the app "Labyrinth"; "HD" is a convention to show that the app is for the iPad, and "Lite" is a convention to show that this app is free but there is a more expensive version with more features.)

My grandma used to have one of those wooden mazes, and I remember spending hours every summer trying to conquer it. The app does a great job of simulating the wooden maze: you simply tilt the iPad to move the marble, and the physics and sounds are spot-on.

But what's really cool is how the app does things that can't be done in the physical toy. For example, there are multiple mazes (hundreds in the $8 version of the app, and you can make your own). Even crazier, there are all sorts of gadgets in the maze that do things that are, well, magical. For example, one gadget resizes your marble, and another gadget duplicates your marble. But again, everything else seems so realistic, that it looks like . . . magic.

The second app that I want to mention is one I haven't even used: it's an astronomy app called "Star Walk." Star Walk has a feature that is just mind-blowing to me: you can go outside at night, point the iPad (or iPhone) up at the sky, and the app shows you that portion of the night sky . . . enhanced. By enhanced, I mean it labels stars, constellations, planets, and I think it can even show you things you *could see* if you had a better telescope, like nebulas and galaxies. And the program's only like $5.

From iPad debut

I wanted to mention Star Walk because it made me think of my dad, who used to like taking the family out for astronomy lessons. My dad was also a big fan of the Apple Macintosh, and it was one of the few things that I can think of that he splurged on: Dad probably paid more for our Mac 128K than he did for our cars. Also, the Mac is the only thing I can think of where my dad did not buy the cheaper alternative: i.e., a PC. For everything else, my dad always bought what was least expensive or on sale: cars, shoes, fresh food, canned food, books, toys, furniture, clothes, vacations, haircuts . . . .

Perhaps for my dad, the Mac was not really a more expensive PC; perhaps the Mac was qualitatively different, and qualitatively better.

I wish my dad were around to see the iPad. Maybe he would have bought two. He would have brought them to Blue Canyon to help us find the planets and learn the constellations. He would have gotten a kick out of that.