Birthday and other stuff

I had my birthday party last Saturday at Mitchell Park in Palo Alto. Thanks to some advice from a friend, we made the important decision of reserving a table ahead of time. Had we not done that, we wouldn't have been able to get a grill, which would have certainly been a disaster! On the negative side, the reservation cost us $10. On the positive side, you don't have to arrive at the park insanely early to get a table, so all things considered, paying $10 is better than showing up 2-3 hours early for a BBQ!

Thankfully, a bunch of friends I don't normally see showed up. Tony, a family friend, was generous enough to tend to the grill, so I was able to easily socialize and toss the football. Fern, from my fraternity, made the trip all the way from San Francisco. Aditya, also from MIT, also came by with his girlfriend Jill. In total, we had about 20 people show up. My brother Eddie and his wife Jean stayed late and we ended up playing tennis afterward along with my friend Robert, who I normally see when I play ultimate frisbee. Afterward, we ate at Patxi's pizza for dinner. If you aren't familiar with Patxi's, they used to manage a Zachary's Pizza in Berkeley, so their Chicago style stuffed pizzas are very similar. It's convenient because Patxi's is in Palo Alto.

I also played ultimate frisbee on Sunday and then two hours of tennis today. So for the first time in quite a while, I played sports 3 days in a row. I wish that would happen more often! Tennis today went better than expected. We had perfect weather, so Robert and I were able to rally for 2 hours more or less non-stop. My down-the-line forehand was really on. I think we would have played even longer, but the base of my thumb started to blister, so I had to stop. I played with my 85 sq inch Wilson Pro Staff. Normally I use my Babolat Pure Drive, but I broke the strings on Saturday and haven't restrung it. For that matter, I also haven't restrung my 95 sq in Pro Staff, so I was really using my last resort backup racket. However, the 85 sq in version is still a good racket. After all, Pete Sampras won most of his titles with that exact model. I have a tennis stringing machine, so I'll have to bring that out some time.


Pearlin and I went to Lullaby Lane today to work on our baby gift registry. They have a nice store and very knowledgeable staff. When looking at baby carriers, I actually liked the comfort of the Moby wrap. Instead of using a backpack style carrier like the Ergo, I think the Moby wrap is more comfortable, and not terribly complicated. It certainly looks intimidating on the surface, but once you try it yourself there really isn't much to it. One nice touch they have at the store is heavy teddy bears to simulate babies. I was able to get a good appreciation for what it feels like to carry an 8-pound baby using both the Moby wrap and some other baby carriers, so I really felt like I made an informed decision. They also have 2 rooms dedicated to baby strollers! Even better, the sales guy was extremely knowledgeable. In fact, he's qualified to do car seat safety inspections!