Thirty

Happy Birthday Peter!

Today you turn the big  30.

You do not seem to think this is awesome, but I do. 

Remember when we could not wait to turn 16.........19......21.  Turning 30 is a milestone but, it doesn't change who you are.

Let's look at this in a couple of ways.

Mathematically

30

multiplicity/divisibility---1,2, 3, 5, 6,10,15,30

29+1= 30


Grammatically

Thirty

Historically
 I did some hunting on the net to find some fun factoids.  Lets take a look at some about the year you were born.

1981 Many notable technological advances happened in 1981 one of the most exciting was the First Flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia. This was also the first year that the Word Internet was mentioned and MS-DOS was released by Microsoft along with the first IBM PC. On the world stage the events that captured the imagination included Lady Diana Spencer marrying Charles The Prince of Wales. In Politics a little known group before Solidarity inspire popular protests and a general strike in Poland and the government in the UK starts the process of privatization of Nationalized Industries which is later followed by many other countries around the world.

Cost of Living 1981

How Much things cost in 1981

Yearly Inflation Rate USA10.35%

Year End Close Dow Jones Industrial Average 875

Interest Rates Year End Federal Reserve 15.75%

Average Cost of new house $78,200.00
Average Income per year $21,050.00
Average Monthly Rent $315.00
Cost of a gallon of Gas $1.25
Sinclair ZX80 $199.95
19 inch Color TV $399.95


Events

• Air traffic controllers strike causing chaos in the US and The US President Ronald Reagan Fires Them
• Ronald Reagan becomes US President
• Researchers find the wreck of the Titanic in the North Atlantic
• Muhammad Ali finally retires with career record of 55 wins and 5 defeats
• Sandra Day O'Connor is nominated to become the first female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
• The first American test-tube baby, is born

Technology

• Scientists identifyThe Aids Virus
• First Flight of US Space Shuttle Columbia
• The European Rocket "Ariane" is launched
• IBM in US launches it's first PC which uses Microsoft Software MS DOS
• The term INTERNET first mentioned
• Post It Notes launched by 3M Corp
• The Worlds Fastest Train The French TGV goes into service between Paris and Lyons
• China Clones the first fish ( Golden Carp )
• Artificially Produced Insulin becomes the worlds first genetically engineered protein to treat human disease Diabetes
• MS-DOS released by Microsoft

Popular Culture 1981

• MTV (Music Television) is launched August 1st
• Simon And Garfunkel Reunite for concert in New Yorks Central Park

Popular Films

• Raiders of the Lost Ark
• Superman II
• Nine to Five
• Any Which Way You Can
• Arthur
• The Cannonball Run
• For Your Eyes Only
• On Golden Pond
• Chariots of Fire

Popular Musicians

• John Lennon
• Blondie
• Dolly Parton " 9 to 5 "
• Sheena Easton
• Diana Ross and Lionel Richie with " Endless Love "
• Olivia Newton-John With " Physical "
• Roxy Music
• Bucks Fizz
• Adam and The Ants
• Michael Jackson
• Queen
• David Bowie

Born This Year 1981

Jennifer Tisdale
Allison Crowe
Britney Spears
Justin Timberlake

Major World Political Leaders 1981

Australia Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser Brazil President João Figueiredo Canada Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau China Chairman of the People's Republic of China Post Abolished France President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing Till 21 May
France President François Mitterrand From 21 May


Germany Chancellor Helmut Schmidt India Prime Minister Indira Gandhi Italy Prime Minister Arnaldo Forlani Till 28 June
Italy Prime Minister Giovanni Spadolini From 28 June


Japan Prime Minister Zenko Suzuki Mexico President José López Portillo Russia / Soviet Union Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars Leonid Brezhnev South Africa Prime Minister Pieter Willem Botha United States President Jimmy Carter Till January 20,
United States President Ronald Reagan From January 20,


United Kingdom Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher


While it may seem a little daunting........

30 is just a number. 


Please remind me of this in 4 months. 


Live it up and have a great time!

"Last Friday Night"

"Yeah we took to many shots......"

"and we danced on table tops......."

Ok maybe not. 

But we did have a pretty good time.

Last Friday I went out with some co-workers for a birthday party.  It was Karaoke in a small town bar, just outside the city I live in.

It was fun!   We had a big group of people,  which made for a very lively night.

To kick off the fun the Kraoke DJ proposed to his girlfriend.  Most of us were in a state of "is this really happening?" shock. 

The Birthday girl AB, did a line of shots shortly after I got there so she was pretty much gone by the time the Karaoke actually started at 9pm.  Which made her feel like the owner of the micophone and every 30 seconds or so you would hear a high pitched "woo woo" no matter what song was being sung.

At one point early in the evening my camera was hyjacked and some interesting pictures insued. A few that are not going to be posted here.

Once the camera was back in my possesion we did get some really nice posed shots.   

"This Friday night, Do it all again!"

O.C.P.- Organizationaly Compulsive Personality

I would not say that I am a neat freak.   I like things organized, tidy, and in order.  I am not over the top about it, because life happens and things do get a little out of hand. Case in point last night. 

I looked around our house as I was eating supper and noticed that the place was completely destroyed.  Toys everywhere, papers all over the counter, empty boxes from various Pampered Chef deliveries, un-opened junk mail.....the list goes on.   

So I asked Peter to help me  pick up after supper.  I started out by doing the dishes and he began picking up various toys and what not and finding homes for things.  Towards the end of our cleaning spree, once the vacuum was put away and we were starting to get our relaxation groove on, I noticed that Carter's wooden puzzles were on the coffee table with only a couple pieces in them.   I knew right away where the rest of the pieces were.  In the course of picking up the toys Peter had simply thrown them into the toy basket instead of putting back into the puzzle.  

My sometimes dormant O.C.P. kicked into high gear and there was no way that I could relax until I dumped the toy basket out and hunted down every last piece.    

As I am in the process of dumping the basket Peter came in  and stared at me. 

I said, "I have to find the puzzle pieces.  We don't just throw them in here.  I can't handle it." 

He responds, "OK" , turns and walks downstairs.  It was not the first time he has encountered me in a situation like this.

I admit that I have a small O.C.P. problem and things like that bug me.  I don't want to try to fix this because, I like being organized and knowing where things are.  "A place for everything and everything in it's place"......not always the gold standard at our house, but we get what we get. 


It may not matter to some people that there is a separate rubber tote with decorations for every holiday. It matters to me.  I know that when it is time to decorate for Halloween all I have to do is get out the tote marked Halloween and in a matter of minutes I will be done.  (It's a longer process with Christmas as there are like 7 totes...............yeah I roll like that.)


So this is a shout out to all the people with an O.C.P. problem like mine. 

Proud to be O.C.P

It's a badge of honor.  Wear it proudly!