A happy birthday

Chilling on livejournal this morning. A trip to the lounge where I saw a bit of buggy* for the first time ever. Walked by as they were setting up for the mobot competition+. Saying hi to all sorts of people in computing services**, looking at the relocations and the departures. Browsed through the booths*+. Played a round of Tichu+* where bbailey and I barely pulled a surprise upset on and (at least, I think those were the teams (surprise because I started off with a tichu that I was totally incapable of pulling off, our hand scores monotonically increased for the first 3 or 4 hands). I then filed my CA taxes, and realized that since I expected a refund from MN all was cool on that front. And if not, it’s only a 4% penalty.

Burrito from the restaurant formerly known as pollo rey. Wedged on a lounge couch, wedged between the marvelous and the admirable , browsing the web at random, and surfing conversations. After showcasing ‘s icons, while pulling up ‘s for ‘s enjoyment, managed to pull my attention off the lcd (quite the accomplishment on her part) and to the ex of mine (and her former TA) who was grabbing a beverage from the dispenser in the room. I then managed to grab his attention, garnering a look of much startlement, and a lengthy conversation ensued. It reminded me of why we had dated, which is always nice, though I would not go back, even if that were an option, which it’s not, so all is well.

Chatted and hung out further in the lounge, then back up to my host house++ for dinner with my little sister who footed the bill at a snazzy new asian place. Then back to her place, with a brief detour back to the host house, where I saw a game of Puerto Rico being played, of which, much to my wistful dismay, I was unable to partake. Instead, I got my butt soundly kicked in a game of Scrabble with Jane while her husband Joe was doing the armor-smithing quest for his high level WoW paladin. Mom and Dad called to wish me a happy birthday.

Then back to the host house, where I subbed in for a game of tichu, and played a couple hands of mu before the others headed off to poker at shadyhouse (another nearby geek domicile). This has been one of my better birthdays over the past several years.

* buggy is one of the spring carnival traditions at cmu. Basically a buggy is a tiny, light, aerodynamic, low to the ground wheeled thingy that people build for a race (also called buggy) in which big men push the buggy after small women get into it to pilot it. The men stop pushing once gravity takes over. The women pilot around a small course with tight turns next to campus.
+ the mobot competition is a contest to build a robot which can navigate some painted lines on a sidewalk, including a couple of slopes, branching paths, and a loop. It took a while for a successful one to be built, and now it’s a race. Another signature spring carnival event.
** computing services is my former employer, a significant non-academic department of cmu.
*+ booths are the final signature tradition of cmu’s spring carnival. Basically most of the frats, and several other student organizations are given a theme, and they build small structures, which should be somehow related that theme. Booths are judged in various categories including adherence to the theme, and creativity.
+* tichu is a card game vaguely similar to Euchre or Bridge, but more interesting than the former (don’t know bridge).
++ my host house is the chateau d’ bbailey, chris, and , though soon it will be passing out of our known circle of friends and into the hands of pitt students. I lived here a couple of summers, once in ’99, and then in ’00. My computer lived in the basement (and I spent enormous amounts of time here) from the time I moved back to pgh from chicago until I left for the bay area. The coffeetable, one recliner, and a rug were all owned by me immediately prior to taking up residence here. I’ll be sad to see it go, but nothing lasts forever.