From Wikipedia: A person's Golden or Grand Birthday, more commonly referred to as the "Star Birthday" occurs when they turn the age of their birthday.

Today is my golden birthday! I am thankful to God for the blessings and opportunities I have received so far in my life, and I am thankful for all my family and close friends, who have helped me become the person that I am today. A year like this only comes once in a lifetime and I intend to make the best of it; so look out world...I'm coming at your head on!

Here I am, sitting on a park bench on Washington Street a little while after I left the office. My day was interestingly busy today. I did not get to take my lunch break at work until 4pm. Things kept on coming my way so I was unable to make it to the gym as I usually do during lunch hour...but I got a lot of things done.

My friend was running late so I got my laptop out of the car and started to blog about my day. People walking by kept looking at me funny...black man with a hoody on top of a 50 cent beanie, sitting on a park bench in a middle of downtown around 6:30pm on a Tuesday evening, with a laptop on his lap, 2 feet away from a silver bmw...hmm, clearly something had to be wrong with that! Whatever people...give me a break!

Anyway...I went to Dexter's for some drinks with some friends, we then headed to Bento Cafe for a late night sushi dinner with a few sake shots in the mix, and enjoyed some good conversation. Good times!

This morning I attended an interesting mass service at my neighborhood church, Saints Peter & Paul, in Winter Park, FL. During today's gospel sermon, the preacher made a humorous allusion to religion and politics by telling a short story that gave everyone a good laugh. This is how the story goes...

After many years of service in the government, a senator (this is fictitious) passed away and headed for the afterlife. Upon arriving through the gates of the afterlife, a Saint welcomed him and said: "We don't see political figures like you here very often! Because of this, you will spend one day in Hell, and one day in Heaven, and decide for yourself where you wish to spend eternity."

The senator agreed and took the elevator down to Hell. When the doors opened, the scenery was just beautiful. It was nothing like what he had imagined. There was a golf course, and all of his senator pals from the previous life were there. The senator joined in on the fun, played a few holes of golf, enjoyed some laughs, good food, drinks, and music, and overall had a wonderful time; even the Devil came out to party.

When the day arrived to an end, the senator took the elevator from Hell back to the gates, and took the elevator up to Heaven. When he arrived in Heaven, things were peaceful and relaxing. Free of doing as he pleased, he sat on a floating cloud, listened to harp music, and watched the angels fly by all day. When the day finally came to an end, the senator went back to the gates of the afterlife and communicated his final decision to the Saint.

He said: "You know, Heaven is really nice, but I think I like it better down in Hell." The Saint then granted his wish and led him down to the elevator back down to Hell. The Senator was very excited to rejoin his comrades. When the doors opened, things were different. It was dark, red hot, and filled with suffering, sadness, and nothingness.

As the Devil welcomed him, the senator said: "Hey, wait a minute, what is going on here? This isn't how things were yesterday! It is hot as HELL! What happened?" The Devil responded: "Yesterday we were campaigning my friend...and today, we got your vote!"

I have played dodgeball once when I was 13 years old...Let's face it, it not your usual weekend sport hobby (could be for some people),  but apparently, I am a lot better at it than I thought! I guess my soccer and basketball background have something to do with it.

 

My company (Mindcomet) participated in this year's Orlando's Corporate dodgeball tournament on August 15th 2008. We did pretty well, and had a load of fun. Out of 64 teams, we were just about in the top 12. Our team name is Balls of Destiny, and we wore pink high socks and pink headbands!

My pics on Picasa

Mindcomet's pics on Flickr

This past Friday, I invited and hosted my good friends Colleen and Brittany, which are also my coworkers, to join my girlfriend and I for a cool and cozy sushi dinner at my place.

Colleen brought a bottle of Chateau Ste Michelle, a 2007 Columbia Valley Riesling, and Brittany got us a delightful Fu-Ki Sake bottle, just perfect for the evening. 

My girlfriend, Anabela, amazed us with a full course sushi meal, and I handled dessert:

Drinks for the night: Watermelon Martinis, Apple Blueberry Martinis, and Apple flavored Sake.

Entree: Miso Soup, followed by a Hiashi crab salad, and Green Mussels.

Sushi Rolls: Naruto Maki, Extreme Roll, Dragon Roll, Volcano Roll, Smoke House Roll, Crunch Crab, Shrimp Tempura, Philadelphia Roll, Dancing Eel Roll, Fantasy Roll, and Bubba Roll. 

Dessert: French Crepes, stuffed with vanilla ice cream, fresh strawberries, chocolate chips, home made whipped cream, with a drizzle of home made chocolate syrup on top.