22

Yesterday was my birthday. First off a big thank you for all the cards, facebook/myspace messages and emails; a real delight to receive, especially when it was such a hectic day.

I was in work at 8am until I met with my professor at 12:20. Following guidance from him, I spent the afternoon in the Library preparing a demo for a presentation I would give later in the evening. I had class from 4-7, gave my presentation, got positive feedback, and went for a very quick beer with my programming team at Chevy’s. Back to class from 7-9:30pm where we had a number of talks on different algorithms, of particular interest was the talk on genetic algorithms.

Then I drove home, and stumbled into the house completely drained and very hungry! I hadn't seen Madeline all day and was yet to open any presents, but it was worth the wait. Madeline had prepared a lovely meal, and had my present laid out on the table...a scrabble board spelling out the words "Stanford B'Ball Tickets"!!! There was a little confusion as I misread it as Stanford Ball tickets, which would have been a little disappointing, but after clarification, euphoria set in!

So this Saturday, we're going down to Palo Alto to watch Stanford host Northwestern. It's an evening 'tip-off' so we're hoping to sneak a little Thai food in either pre or post. Best thing ever! I don't like to go on about it, in fairness it's a little embarrassing, but check out the Stanford Men's Basketball website, and think about any premier sports teams in Durham. How much cooler would Grey rugby be with press conferences?!

So for my birthday, I decided it was time to replace my dead camera, to make these entries more visually appealing. Although it should be here by Thursday, I’m not holding out much hope because of Amazon.com payment issues. Should it ever arrive, I will be the proud owner of a Panasonic DMC-FZ7!

It's nice to have had an afternoon with little else to do but pen a blog. I had lunch on a bench in the quad, sat in the warming sun, listening to the Ricky Gervais podcast and watching humming birds dart around. Yesterday I fell asleep on a different bench but in a similar situation. That takes my "locations I've fallen asleep in, on campus" up to 3: the J Paul Leonard Library, the Ceasar Charves Student Center and a bench in the quad. I wonder where the 4th may be...

I'm going to do some revision for a biology exam I have tomorrow, then go to a class from 5-7 and then home. Hope eveyone is well. Ben x