Three things on Tuesday morning

I have some scraps wandering around in my head that don’t rate full posts of their own, so I’ve decided to inflict them on you en masse. This may become a recurring feature. You have been warned.

I tweeted this on Monday morning:

He’s not on Twitter. He doesn’t even have a computer. But would you wish my dad a happy 80th birthday today anyway ☺?
And a few of Twitterville’s fine citizens actally did so:
trishheylady@florinda_3rs Happy Birthday @florinda_3rs dad! You’re looking awfully young! I won’t sing; that is my gift to you. ☺

average_jane@florinda_3rs Happy Birthday to your dad!

bermudaonion@florinda_3rs Happy Birthday to @florinda_3rs‘s dad!

Mjfrig@florinda_3rs Of Course! Happy birthday to your dad. He survived 80 years without a computer. He doesn’t need one now! 🙂

whostheboss@florinda_3rs give your dad a big high-5 for me. 80 is quite an accomplishment

JenniferPerillo@florinda_3rs Happy birthday dad!

ET2U@florinda_3rs How sweet! Happy Birthday to him! ♫

TiBookChatter@florinda_3rs Happy Bday to Florinda’s dad!!!

BethFishReads@florinda_3rs Happy Birthday to @florinda_3rs‘s dad!

Nicurnmama@florinda_3rs happy birthday to your dad! hope it is a great day!

The greetings were duly passed along to the birthday boy, who was very pleased to know that the blogiverse was celebrating along with him. Thank you all! If you’d like to hear all about his big birthday party, the story is at the LA Moms Blog today.


It bothered me a lot last year that blogging – including, ironically, book blogging – seemed to have taken a big bite out of my reading time, and although I don’t make official New Year’s resolutions, I started 2009 with some ambitions to focus more on reading and book reviewing. While I’m lagging far behind some folks, I’m posting my tenth review of the year on Thursday, and I’m currently reading my eleventh book. I’m pretty pleased with how it’s going so far, and wouldn’t feel too bad if I could stay pretty close to this pace – it’s at least slightly less pathetic than last year.

On that note, here’s something for “Teaser Tuesday” from book #11:

“I had seen this man around for a few weeks now. His handsome, intelligent face and dignified bearing reminded me of the actor Morgan Freeman, minus a few teeth.” (page 133)
Home Girl: Building a Dream House on a Lawless Block, by Judith Matloff

That “dream house” is in New York City, which might not be all that surprising – but it’s in the West Harlem neighborhood, which is. I’m not too far into the book yet, and I’m curious to see how this all comes about.


“…all I want is a couple days off!”


It’s a personal tradition of mine to take the day off from work on my birthday – and I don’t let a little technicality like having it fall on the weekend get in the way! I’m having a birthday of my own this coming Sunday, and we’re spending it – and the day before, and the day after – at Disneyland. (And then I’m taking Tuesday off to recover from Disneyland.)

This year, Disneyland is offering free admission on your birthday, which was what gave me the idea in the first place. Then we decided we would buy multi-day tickets and make a weekend out of it, since the kids have a school in-service day on Monday; we live just far enough away from Disneyland to make an overnight stay appealing. The catch is that with a multi-day ticket, your birthday is already paid for, so you can choose from several alternatives to the free admission;

  • A birthday FASTPASS® exchange card for a certain number of attractions at both Disneyland® Park and Disney’s California Adventure® Park for birthday celebrant and up to 5 members of his/her party; or
  • A birthday fun card in an amount equal to the price of a 1-Day/1-Park ticket for certain purchases including select merchandise, tour experiences or for Disney’s PhotoPass® on-site services at participating locations at Disneyland® Resort; or
  • A 1-Day/1-Park ticket for you to use any time until your next birthday.

I’ll be showing up at the ticket booth first thing Sunday morning to stake a claim on Option #1.

I’m not planning to bring my MacBook, so I’ll be taking a few days off from this place and Google Reader, too. I haven’t decided whether I’m going to schedule posts for that time, though, so you may or may not even notice that I’m gone.

So…what are you thinking about this Tuesday?

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12 comments

  1. Disneyland is so smart because with every person that goes for free on their day, they know other tickets will be purchased to go along with it.

    You are going to have so much fun! Have a funnel cake for me! We are going in May.

  2. Kathy (Bermudaonion) – Thanks! It will only be my second time going. Growing up in the Southeast, I’ve spent more time at Walt Disney World than at the original park, and it will be nice not to rush through this visit.

    Ti – True. And they also know that people frequently want to spend more than just one hectic day there, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re giving away a lot of those “alternatives” to free admission too. (I had originally figured we’d do the one hectic day. My husband suggested making a mini-vacation – which is also my birthday gift – out of it.)

    Would you believe that this Southern girl has never eaten a funnel cake?

  3. April – I am definitely looking forward to skipping a few lines :-). We’ll only be able to use the Fastpass exchange on Sunday, but that’s also the only full day we’ll be there, so it works out.

  4. Jill (Softdrink) – Thanks :-)!

    Mike – It’s a very long day with a 1.5-hour (more or less) drive each way, so it’s much more relaxing to spread it out, and the timing is good.
    I hope everyone has a good time – but especially me, since it’s MY birthday party :-)!

  5. It sounds like your dad had a nice birthday, Florinda. I love that he wanted a party! 🙂

    I hope you have a wonderful birthday as well. Spending the time in Disneyland sounds like the perfect way to celebrate. I will be attending a Angels baseball game on my big day. I think I shocked my husband when I told him I’d ordered tickets already. Haha!

  6. Wendy (Literary Feline) – A baseball game isn’t a bad way to spend a birthday either, but I’d pick the Dodgers :-). My son’s birthday is in July, and he’s spent quite a few of them at the ballpark.

    It looks like we’ll have nice weather for this weekend at Disneyland, too.

  7. I thought it was time we visited Angel’s Stadium since we’ve never been–plus, the tickets were cheaper for the better seats. I wouldn’t mind catching a Dodger game this summer if we can though.

  8. LF – I don’t know that we’ll make it to a game this year. Sometimes I wish this wasn’t a major-league area; I think going to minor-league games is actually more fun (and since the ballparks are smaller, I can see more of the action without needing the Jumbotron!).