Saturday, 19 February 2005: I am so proud of my brother-in-law, Scott. He has taken the first step towards completely jumping ship from the Evil Empire of PCs to the Wonderful World of Mac.

Yes, he bought a 40GB iPod today. A beautiful way to start the transformation, indeed. Not only does he have an iPod with 25 more Gigs than mine, but he's got a color screen. It's awe inspiring, let me tell you.

Now, we just need him to go all out and buy a new Mac to replace his Gate's-of-Hell-Way desktop computer.

Thursday, 17 February 2005: Despite this rightfully being Katie's week for gifts (okay, I suppose I'm entitled on Valentine's Day), she bought a gift for me online and it came in the mail yesterday. It's something I've been wanting for a while and, even though Katie has repeatedly told me to buy one, I keep forgetting to go ahead and actually order. So, last night, she presents me with my gift... a T-shirt from CBGB (& OMFUG).

CBGB is a rock n' roll club in New York City (despite the fact that the name stands for Country, BlueGrass and Blues). I have always wanted a shirt from CBGB and have always wanted to see a show in their hallowed hall. That place is one of the most renowned names in rock n' roll. Almost any rock, punk, or underground act that is located on or near the east coast tries to play there. And many from even further away.

I really want to go there desperately. A T-shirt is a very good start. Thanks, hon.

Oh, and she got one for herself as well. While mine is charcoal grey, her's is red. Very cool.

Unfortunately, we have to exchange them both. They are cut pretty small and our normal sizes don't fit either of us. I dropped them in the mail today and hope to have the new ones back in a week or two. I can't wait to start wearing it.

Now, let's hop a flight to NYC.

If anyone out there would like a little more information about CBGB, check out this pretty exhaustive history of the club written by founder and owner Hilly Kristal. The website calls it "brief"; it is anything but.

Wednesday, 16 February 2005: Happy birthday to you... Happy birthday to you... Happy birthday, dear Katie... Happy birthday to you!

This morning, I woke her up with strawberry pancakes and her gift, a sapphire and diamond necklace. Really pretty and it looks good on her. I wanted to get her a necklace with a stone in it that matches some of the stones in her wrap. Of course, she followed up the thank you with, "now I just need the earrings!" This was followed by her goofy, big smile. The kind that says, "I don't really mean it, but if you were to happen to buy me some in the future, I wouldn't be opposed." Guys know how this goes.

Drop Katie a Happy Birthday wish.

Update: I met up with Katie for lunch today at Applebee's and, being the moron that I am, I show up at Chili's. Go fig, eh? Well, when I finally made my way to the proper restaurant, I arranged for the whole sundae and balloon treatment for Katie. When the balloons showed up, she got her typical shade of red, looked at me, and said, "I hate you" in the way that people being embarrassed would say it. Everybody within earshot was laughing. It was great. You could tell she loved it. She may have been cursing and swearing my very existence, but she loved it.

Monday, 14 February 2005: Happy Valentine's Day, hon.

I'm kinda sorry we already exchanged gifts as it doesn't really leave much for today. But, then again, Katie is working tonight so we wouldn't really have had that much time to do anything.

In fact, how did I spend Valentine's Day? After work, I was at the gym for a little over an hour. Then I ran a couple of errands. Next came some more home renovation as I hung a couple shelves in our office as well as the blinds and a valance over the windows. And all this handyman stuff happened during the commercials between segments of 24. Good episode, by the way.

Romantic, eh? Hey, nothin' says lovin' like working around the house, eh?

I'll make breakfast in bed for Katie tomorrow (didn't do it today because this is one of her only chances to sleep in; so I like to let her).

Sunday, 13 February 2005: It has been a while since Katie and I have been to the theater on a regular basis like the good ol' days. This weekend, we took a step towards remedying that situation. On Friday, we saw Hitch and on Sunday, we saw In Good Company. Both were pretty good films and worth the money we spent to get the tickets.

The only real downside was that we saw Hitch in a theater that we generally think of as rather ghetto in comparison to where we normally go. We had no choice because we wanted to see it that night and it was the only local theater with a showtime that worked with our schedule. So we went. And we will never go there again. Horrible sound and picture and it was full of teenaged girls shrieking into our ears from the row behind us. My god, what dirty whores. Heh heh. Couldn't resist.

If you're not catching my reference, read the 11 February entry below.