Happy 75th birthday to Charley Beamon, a high school teammate of Frank Robinson and one of the first black pitchers in Orioles history. I hope you don't get cheated out of birthday gifts by thrifty friends and relatives, Chuck.I hope that you've all had as restful and enjoyable a Christmas as I have. For those non-Christians among my readership, I hope your Friday was just tops. After a leisurely morning of exchanging gifts with my folks, I got to sit down to an early dinner with the extended family (my sister and her husband, and my aunts, uncles, and cousin). Later in the evening, we did our Secret Santa gift exchange and watched the first half of the Chargers-Titans game. It was a festive and warm day, and best of all, I didn't have to leave home. Having heard my parents' horror stories about being dragged from family gathering to family gathering in their youth, I've always been grateful that I was allowed to remain stationary on this holiday - the better to play with my new toys.
And what of those new toys? I did pretty well this year. My big gift was a Garmin GPS, so that I can meet my girlfriend for dinner in Annapolis without circling around the same few blocks aimlessly for half an hour...not to mention getting away from Camden Yards without winding up on the light rail tracks! I also scored season two of 30 Rock on DVD, A Hard Day's Night on CD, Bill Simmons' "Book of Basketball", and a few snazzy silk ties to wear to work (had to incorporate an old man gift in there somewhere). Oh, right, and the baseball card stuff. I received complete factory sets of 2000 Topps and 2005 Topps, as well as a $25 gift certificate to Dave and Adam's Card World. That should keep me busy for a while...
Now I'm wrapping up Christmas 2009 by watching the fine Yuletide film, A Muppet Christmas Carol. Good times.
