Manfred von Richthofen
Yesterday, I turned 26. I've now outlived the famous Red Baron, but only at the cost of failing to achieve any similar degree of public recognition. Blast! In any event, I had a most profitable birthday. The loot:

Star Wars
Darth Vader Voice Changer hemlet
Risk Star Wars Clone Wars Edition
Episode III clone trooper helmet sticker

Books
Sarah Vowell, Take the Cannoli
Steve Martin, The Pleasure of My Compnay
Charles Brooks, ed., Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year - 2005 Edition

CDs
Duvall, Oh Holy Night

DVDs
Star Trek: First Contact
Star Trek: Insurrection
Space Ghost: Coast to Coast - Volume Two
Space Ghost: Coast to Coast - Volume Three "This is 1997"

Awesome. My thanks and love to my brother, sister, mother, and father.

City of Angels
More on my vacation soon. For now, let me just say that we played many games of Risk and taught the Belle of Texas how to play euchre, the temperatures in Los Angeles were cooler than they are here in Grand Blanc, and here are five words guaranteed to make you jealous: the Triumph of the Narwhal.