Joy and I noticed some others celebrate their birthday for days.  Justine did 28 days of Justine and Sara celebrates for two weeks before and after her birthday.  Since we are older we needed to scale that back a little.  Anyway I would like to thank Joy for making the days around my birthday wonderful.  Here are the details.

Wednesday April 9th, the Birthday eve was celebrated at a place called The Beer Market. Thy have a very extensive beer selection.  There where twenty beers on tap.  I sampled all the IPAs, a couple of Wiessens, and one bottle of Samichlaus. The Samichlaus was their most potent offering.  I remember reading about this beer ten years ago, but never thought I would get to try it.  Well, it is very strong.  The body was full and on the sweet side.  It is a good thing that is was sweet or the alcohol taste would have been overwhelming. Lizet, a coworker, really enjoyed the Lindemans Framboise they had on tap. She and I share a birthday.  I have worked with a few people that share my birthday.  Joy drove me home the Beer Market so I could really do a good sampling.

Joy Commentary:  Rich definitely enjoyed his night out at The Beer Market.  We had good company and food for the evening.  It was several beers and  five and half hours of fun.  Good thing I drove though.

Thursday was a little slower for some reason.  Joy and I went to the DMV so I could renew my license.  She was worried that it would take a long time, but the DMV in Woodstock is ranked number one in customer service. They are very busy, but extremely efficient.  I was out of there in 20 minuets. I then washed my truck.  Then I was allowed to open my gifts. They gave me a metal work bench, diamond plate peg board, a stress toy that says Boss on it, a collection of gourmet salts, and Vietnamese Cinnamon. For dinner, we went to the best BBQ place in McHenry County.  It is called BBQ King. They are located just off the square in Woodstock.  It’s a busy place.

Joy Commentary:  Who know that a DMV could be so exciting.  From the time you walk in the door until you leave, they keep you moving.  Of course, I discovered it was a great place to people watch.  In the 20 minutes there, I got 5 or 6 good stories on my observations.

Friday is my Bowling Day.  Joy joined me at bowling followed by a visit to Sports Page, our favorite sports bar.  They have the best Buffalo Chicken Wings.  She also got me Birthday Donuts for work.  In my old group, people would bring in donuts for their birthday.  I am trying that idea out on my new group.  I am not sure if it will stick.  They just don’t seem to eat that much.

Saturday, we finished the Birthday celebrations at the Schnitzel Platz.  Bob Beilfuss and Hank Mitchell were playing popular German fest music. This went well with the fine German food and Dunkle Wiessen we where drinking. Even Ricko was enjoying the food and music.  He was our designated driver for the evening.  He did a fine job of getting us back home after the festivities.

Another shout out to Joy for making the past week very special.

Joy Commentary:  Think he’ll remember all of this when it’s my birthday?  Happy birthday, darling.  Glad you enjoyed it.  Sorry, but I could resist the urge to edit the content a bit.