I’m dragging a bit today, but it is very much for a good reason. Yesterday was takaza‘s birthday and I wanted to make sure that we celebrated properly. I got him a nice gift (along with the software to run on his iPad) so now anywhere he can get wifi access for his iPad he has access to our U-Verse DVR at home. We’ve had a Slingbox for years, but it’s fallen into disuse since it required laptop access. Dan uses his iPad about 70% of the time and his laptop 30% of the time, so this seemed like an appropriate gift.

To celebrate Dan’s birthday, I invited some of our friends to join us for an evening of dinner and bocce at Pinstripes in Northbrook. We had a blast – the food was excellent, and the company was better. The appetizers alone were fun – we ordered a bunch of them and shared them around the table (makes me want to investigate a tapas place more!), and the entrees were quite tasty. My beef tenderloin was perfectly-cooked and had a great sauce.

After dinner we adjourned to one of their indoor bocce courts and enjoyed a civilized hour of alternating between playing bocce and enjoying some excellent desserts. (Also, a note to players: that little ball is called a pallino, a boccino, or jack. It is not, however, ever called a snitch 🙂 In hindsight, I realize that I inadvertently left a few folks off the invite list – I apologize! No slight was intended, it was merely my own absent-mindedness.

We didn’t get home until 11 PM, and didn’t get to bed until 11:30. Still, it was worth it and we had a great time. Now that the Big Event Crush (MFF, Thanksgiving, wedding, Dan’s birthday) is over, I can breathe a little bit before starting to stress over Christmas and Wuffmeet!