A Very Happy Birthday

Thanks to all of those who sent along their best birthday wishes, turning 30 was an enjoyable experience.

Mrs. Poop bought me a bunch of things, including a shirt (the short sleeves are particularly short and the guns aren't looking as good as they used to), a new pair of sunglasses (this is a gift for her, she hated looking at my old ones because the paint was starting to chip around the nose) and a scratch-off ticket.

She picked the ticket with the poker theme. Basically you get 5 2-card hands (Texas HoldEm) and the "champion" gets one. You need to reveal the board (flop, turn and river) and beat the champion. I got several junk hands but also got jack-ten of diamonds, one of my favorite suited connectors and ace-7 which figured to be favored over a random hand. Unfortunately the champion was holding ducks meaning I was behind but had two overcards on all five of my hands. A king came in the door, then an ace, putting me ahead, but the champion 2-outed me by hitting a deuce. When a king hit the turn the champion filled up and I was left drawing to 4 outs, a king or an ace for the bigger boat. A 5 hit the river and Mrs. Poop wasted $5 on a scratch off ticket.

My last gift was a GPS system. Since I am always making wrong turns due to bad guesses and inattentive driving this is a welcome if costly gift. It should certainly help us as we begin our summer of Poop (more on that later this week).

The day ended with a Mets victory, which is just about the best way a day can end, so I am happy and hoping my 30s will be as good as my 20s, which started oh so long ago.

I hope Damino who shares a birthday and 30 years ago shared a nursery with me (we were born in the same hospital on the same day), also had a nice day.

Dirk Nowitzki was born on June 19, 1978, but I don't think it was at Staten Island Hospital.

Other June 20th birthdays include:
Nicole Kidman, 1967
Paul Goydos, 1964 - Dirtbag
Dickie Thon, 1958 - Suffered one of the worst sports injuries I ever saw when he got hit in the face by a Mike Torrez fastball.
Cyndi Lauper, 1953 - Best known for "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" but "Time After Time" is a much better song
John Goodman - 1952
Bob Vila, 1946
Lionel Richie, 1944 - The lead singer of the Commodores is unfortunately better known for his solo work and even more unfortunately, he's even better known as Nicole Richie's dad
Terry Funk, 1944 - The King of Hardcore
Brian Wilson, 1942 - Lead singer of the Beach Boys though he did not sing lead on my favorite Beach Boys song, former song of the week, "God Only Knows"
John Mahoney, 1941 - Played Marty Crane on "Frasier" where he was constantly upstaged by the adorable dog, Moose who played Eddie