Birthday No. 39

I turned 39 today. Fire off some rockets. Or don't.

Brought donuts for the newsroom. Allowed myself to eat a hot fudge malt and fried cheese curds for lunch. Probably will go out to dinner tonight with the family. Maybe have a few fingers of the super nice scotch some very kind friends gave to me over the weekend.

A very good day, all in all. Low fanfare. Fine by me.

It's natural, I suppose, to think about birthdays past on a birthday present. I was doing some reminiscing as I drove into work, and again during my midday fried cheese run. And there was that downtown train.

After all that, here's five good ones.

7. Aug. 18, 1977 -- Stood in line to see Star Wars at the Belmond Theater. It was the first real movie I watched in a theater, not counting Saturday Christmas shopping matinees of The Three Stooges and that time we went to the drive in in Mason City to see "The Three Musketeers."

10. Aug. 18, 1980 -- Received an Atari 2600 (OK, it was a Sears Telegames, same diff). I hooked it up and it didn't work, (panic) so my dear, sweet mom drove me straight to Mason City, where we swiftly exchanged it. I was playing Defender by early afternoon. I stopped two weeks later when school started. My attention span has been shrinking ever since.

13. Aug. 18, 1983 -- Received a Walkman (OK, a Sanyo, same diff) and Quiet Riot's "Metal Health" on cassette.  My hearing started to diminish that day.

I also made my first ever trip to Adventureland in Altoona with my buddy Dave, who had been there tons of times. I was terrified of riding the mighty Tornado roller coaster. The first time we stood in line, it worked out that we got the front car. Dave, ecstatic. Me, less so. Got over it in 5 seconds and rode it 58 more times that day. Or something like that.

30. Aug. 18, 2000 -- My wife threw me a really great party at a farm house we were renting. Really took the sting out of 30. My youth and vigor have been slowly diminishing ever since.

0. Aug. 18, 1970 -- Born into this world at Hancock County Memorial Hospital in Britt, Iowa, via c-section. Pretty important day for me. Parents' disposable income began shrinking at that moment. Malcom Jamal Warner, Theo on "The Cosby Show," was born on the same day. Now you know.

Share your own best birthday stories.