From my sister.

1. What time is it? 4:48P
2. What is your name? Roberto
3. Any nicknames? Mandinka, Dinky, Dinkus, Grinas
4. Mother’s name? Freda
5. Number of candles on your last birthday cake. 56
6. Date that you regularly blow them out? May 7
7. Pets? Fat orange tabby named “Sunny”
8. What is your favorite drink? Non-alcoholic: Diet Pepsi; Alcoholic: A good port dessert wine
9. (a) Tattoos? No
(b) Body piercing? Ear
10. How much do you love your job-scale of 1 to 10? N/A
11. Birthplace? Alice, TX
12. Favorite vacation spot? Las Vegas, Nevada
13. Ever been to Africa? No
14. Stolen any traffic signs? No
15. Ever been in a car accident? Yes
16. Croutons or Bacon bits? Garlic croutons
17. 2 Door or 4 Door car? 4 door
18. Salad dressing? Kraft White Cheddar Ranch
19. Favorite pie? Joni’s Chocolate Cheese Pie
20. Favorite number? 7
21. Favorite movie? When Harry Met Sally
22. Favorite Color? Gray
23. Favorite Holiday? My birthday
24. Favorite food? Good fried chicken
25. Favorite day of the week? Sunday
26. Favorite brand of body soap? Neutrogena
27. Favorite TV show? Monday Night Football
28.Toothpaste? Whatever Joni brings home
29. Most recently read book? Moe Berg’s biography
30. Perfume/Cologne? Grey Flannel
31. Favorite Smell? Bacon frying which means breakfast is on the way
32. What do you do to relax? You really don’t want to know
33. Favorite fast food? Viet Namese sandwich
34. When was your last hospital visit? This past April 2004. It’s been a tough personal year.
36. How do you see yourself in 10 years? Ten years older, hopefully a bit wiser. Still trucking along!
37. What do you do when you are bored? Play Links 2001 golf sim on the computer or play with the cat.
38. What presents do you enjoy receiving? I’m not too big on presents, but the gift of time (time spent writing me a personal letter or email or spending time doing something) is always appreciated.
39. Furthest place you will send this message? Everywhere, it will be on the Interneck!
40. Who will respond the fastest? My brother, Manuel
41. Least likely to respond? My brother, Fred
42. What time is it now? 4:47PM

Now send this to worthy friends with your own information, and to the person who sent it to you. The theory is that you will learn many little known facts about your friends.

Today is Robert’s birthday and here are a few photos of but one of his birthday presents, a Sony Vaio FX-250 laptop. It’s not as fast as my Vaio, running 800MHz compared with my 2.6GHz. The hard drive is small, 10GB, but because it is hooked into our wireless home network, he has access to files on my laptop (when it is networked), and the Big Guy (our desktop with two hard drives, one of which is devoted entirely to MP3s). His other present, somewhat visible in the photos below is a Harmon Kardon speaker system complete with subwoofer. Now my boy will have sound too!

We’ve got him set up in the dining room, which we don’t really use for “dining” anyway. I had bought this old piece at auction several years ago for its bookshelf features. Notice the shelves, with sliding glass doors, below. The desktop swings out and up (which is kind of a hindrance). This piece actually did come from England because I remember when I first brought it home and started going over it with Liquid Gold, I found two unused 3 pence postage stamps in a crevice! Note his kewl new ergonomic mouse pad with gel wrist rest. I bought one for me to use at home and one I’m taking to work with me on Monday.

So be warned, he’s armed and considered extremely dangerous! Look out, Internet, here he comes!

Not much to tell, which in itself is GOOD news, I suppose. Robert has been able to stay out of the hospital, free of urinary tract or other infections. He’s been seeing his doctor regularly, trying to maintain his diet and keep his cholesterol down.

We bought a new barbecue grill the other day and both weekends, Robert has fixed a fine feast. Babyback ribs, sausages, a thick T-Bone steak from the butcher, some inexpensive beek ribs, and some chicken wings. Yum!

I bought him an older (800 MHz) Sony Vaio Laptop, it’s not quite as fast as mine (2.6 GHz), but with it he can surf the Net, check his email, login to our home network, and just piddle around. He’s promised to start learning the Internet and upkeep this site and even has expressed an interest in setting up some other sites where he wants to write. Let’s see what happens. Stay tuned!

Our cat, Sunny, is still fat as ever. We lost little Simon, my sweet old Maine Coon, last Thanksgiving. He was getting up in years and it was time. I will miss him so. But Sunny fills the void and has grown closer to both of us.

We still plan to get the Accord converted with hand controls so that Robert can eventually drive again. Right now, we cannot foresee him driving by himself, but it would be nice if we could take turns driving on long road trips. Plus, I know he enjoys driving. Me, I think it is a chore, an ordeal, to be avoided at all costs when possible.

Hopefully the next post you see will be Robert’s!