happy birthday

Not today, but close ot this day, I celebrate a birthday; this one is my 58th. I've been whining about that number: first, that it's as large as it is (You know how you get to be 58? Don't die.), and second, that it's such a boring number. Last year was my Heinz Varieties birthday, and next year is the first of a pair of twin primes, but the only thing I can imagine to do with 58 is 2x29, and it's just too boring.

However, The Excellent Wife (TEW) came through. I had been hinting... well, no I hadn't; I pretty much outright told her that I'd like the White Shred Kali Chakra Plus helmet and a winter cycling cap from Walz, and there they both were this morning; I gave the helmet a maiden voyage today on a 24-mile ride to Coppermine and the Main Street Cafe. The cap fits underneath the helmet, which was a surprise; my old helmet gave me headaches when I tried to put a hat underneath... but the Kali is certainly better made than the one it replaces, so maybe the fit is just better, too. (And bless TEW for her good sense: one of those Walz caps is the most repellent plaid, but that's not the one she got.)

After the ride, we had a bit of a date: I wanted to go to Arthur's in Morris Plains (we'd been thinking of going there and then forgetting to plan it for years), and to extend the trip a bit, we looked in at the Morris Museum. The museum was mostly a disappointment: mostly kids exhibits and local artists... except there is also the Guinness Collection of Mechanical Musical Instruments and Automata, for which there is a live show and demonstration at 2pm each day.

That's one of the nifty automata; it's a clown who magically removes his head and materializes it in a box on the table, complete with blinking and moving eyes. The demonstration shows how, in a pre-digital (and mostly pre-electric) world, people saved music, and gave machines the data and energy to play it, and how they made entertainment devices move. The docents were knowledgeable and engaging in that geeky way that lovers of a topic have. That show was worth the $10 admission; the rest of the museum manifestly was not.

Then on to dinner at Arthur's in Morris Plains.Arthur's has been there for a gazillion years; I remember going there for burgers in the 80's. The draw for me is a 24oz. steak (TEW had a smaller one). The steak was good, and gone before I came up for air. TEW once asked me how much steak I would eat, and I said as much as she would put in front of me. Now, Arthur's also offers a 48oz. steak, and I may have to go back sometime just to see if I can do that. It would be an exercise in intellectual curiosity, but the results might be fatal. (TEW says she likes the steaks I grill better than the one she had at Arthur's... but you can be sure she's not puttin' no 24 ounces in front of her husband. So I don't feel it's a fair comparison.)

How did I get to be 58?