Linkstew

It's my Birthday, I'm currently in Vancouver, and I probably haven't gotten any birthday presents yet if for no other reason than logistics.

There are other reasons I don't get birthday presents, though.

Not only do I not usually ask for presents, but people I know tell me I'm very difficult to buy presents for, because I tend to buy what I want as soon as I want it.

This is generally true.

To make matters worse, I usually tell people who ask me what I want for my birthday that I don't want anything, and that if they insist on giving me something that they should just give me some money. Sure, giving money takes the thoughtfulness out of gift giving, but if they're asking me what I want, then they weren't going to give me a meaningful gift in the first place.

This year, however, between my recent Snowboard purchase and my vacation plans, and the sudden realization that I need to start saving towards a PowerBook G4 if I hope to buy one this fall, I've been making a conscious effort to not make so many arbitrary purchases.

On that note, here are five things I've considered buying in the last month but have decided to hold off on. (In other words, if you're dying to give me something, here are some ideas.)

• Sonic Adventure 2 Battle for the GameCube. I mainly haven't bought this because I've been so incredibly busy that I just wouldn't have time to play it.
• Sonic Advance for the Game Boy Advance. Same as above.
• Super Mario World for the Game Boy Advance. Same.
• The Adobe Design Collection (which includes Illustrator 10, InDesign 2, Acrobat 5, and Photoshop 7 for the fantastic educational price of just $386). I've held off on this because 1. Photoshop 7 isn't actually out yet, so I'd have to wait around for it anyway, and 2. This is the regular academic price, and the bundle isn't going to go away any time soon.
• A PowerMac G4 bundle. ;-)

Despite all that, though, when my parents asked me what I wanted for my birthday this year, I said "money," because I want to subsidize my snowboard purchase and vacation as much as possible.

I'm leaving for Whistler tomorrow (though I won't actually get there until Monday afternoon).

Here's our agenda, for those playing along at home:

• Sunday, 3/24 - Flight leaving Oakland at 11:30 am, arriving in Seattle at 1:35 pm.
• Spend the night in Seattle with Rick.
• Monday, 3/25 - Amtrak leaving Seattle at 7:45 am, arriving in Vancouver at 11:40 am.
• Monday, 3/25 - Bus leaving from Vancouver at 1 pm, arriving in Whistler whenever it gets there.
• Tuesday, 3/26 - Drop 1 mile.
• Wednesday, 3/27 - Drop 1 mile on the other mountain.
• Thursday, 3/28 - Drop 1 more mile.
• Thursday, 3/28 - Train leaves Whistler at 6:15 pm, arrives in Vancouver at 9:15 pm.
• Spend the night in Vancouver.
• Friday, 3/29 - It's my Birthday! Celebrate in Vancouver for the day.
• Friday, 3/29 - Amtrak leaving Vancouver at 6 pm, arriving in Seattle at 9:55 pm.
• Spend the night at Rick's in Seattle.
• Saturday, 3/30 - Do stuff in Seattle.
• Saturday, 3/30 - Flight leaving Seattle at 4:10 pm, arriving in Oakland at 6:15 pm.

On the bright side, it looks like the forecast is a few degrees warmer than it was last time I looked.

I'm not even taking my laptop with me. I might take a book or two, but I don't know much reading I'd actually get done, considering the company. Basically, I won't be worrying about the real world until March 31st. If you have to get in touch with me, you're just out of luck.

However, though I'll be gone for the next week, I worked out a deal with my own worst enemy so that there'd still be at least one update a day.

You know, being reminded about Bakersfield almost makes me wish I were going home for Spring Break instead of going to Whistler.

Almost, but not quite.

Wait a second. In just two weeks, I'll be somewhere where the weather has been hanging out between -5 and 5 degrees???

Oh wait, that's Celsius... Damn those Canadians! At least it's not as bad as I thought. But maybe I'll still look into getting some new socks...

So I've seen something like... one episode of South Park, and it's odd... I didn't see the movie this summer. But I'm going to go see South Park The Movie tomorrow night at Wheeler, because they're showing it for 3 bucks. You can't beat that, even if it sucks. And I've heard that it's not bad.

Besides, it's got Canada jokes. How could it possibly go wrong?