and it's My Birthday!

Thursday June 25th

Now I am 23. Hmm, funny to think it.

My birthday was fantastic.

Everyone I knew in Kansas City messaged me to say Happy Birthday and more than one group of people wanted to take me out.

At work, Jen made vanilla cupcakes with lemon icing. Brady treated me to a birthday "if you could cut that paper down, that'd be great". Wendy arrived at noon and she'd brought lunch with her. A delicious Indian inspired lentil soup. Around 1:30 we all took some time off in the office and ate lunch together.

As a side note, I forgot to mention on Tuesday a man came through the Crossroads selling oranges and grapefruit. He brought in some samples and lured us with their delicious taste and then used his mind control schemes to force Brady into buying a bushel's worth. He left with the money and we were left with 80 oranges and 20 grapefruit. Delicious though they may be, that many might be more than we can handle. I've been trying to give them away ever since.

Anyways, after lunch I printed some tags on the platen press before calling it a day.

Why the platen press is used for stationary - the biggest and most important difference is the speed. What would take hours to do on a Vandercook, takes only minutes on the platen. The reason being is the mechanism stamps the paper vs. rolling it over the type. By printing some tags I mean 500, and in reality I was going pretty slow since I'm new at using the press.

One other bonus (or drawback depending on what you're printing) the platen has over the vandercook is the size capability. If you're looking to do something small, say a card or business card, the platen is easier to maneuver the paper with. Something large or long would be harder to print. Brady has four platens. Three are motorized and one has a foot treadle. Which one am I using? Well I'll give you a clue, if it was all I printed on, I'd have buns of steel.

After work, Wendy took me out for a drink and Jen joined us. We went down the street to a little mediterranean bar called "extra virgin" and had cocktails. We eventually ordered some appetizers that included the world's best kabobs. Wendy was incredibly nice and paid for our drinks as was Jen who paid for the appetizers. Wendy had to go home, so Jen, her boyfriend (who'd joined us and Jen says looks like Lex Luther) and I went to the Czar Bar for another drink and roasted eggplant.

We hung out for a bit talking about the death of Michael Jackson before it was time for me to go and meet Halliday and Danielle at the Foundry. I got there just in time to have a milkshake before Danielle had to go to her sewing circle. Halliday and I remained to eat some excellent pizza with garlic on top. (I claimed the garlic as my birthday right)

Halliday and I parted ways and I was going to go swimming at Jared's house, but I fell asleep instead. Kind of a lame ending to an otherwise excellent twenty-third.

I forgot to mention that I received two sets of flowers. One was delivered to Hammerpress from my wonderful parents and the other greeted me on the stairs of my apartment. The second bouquet was from my Adam who made me feel very special and loved. He is the first guy to ever send me flowers that are in the form of a real arrangement, well other than my very thoughtful father.

Damn. Have I said how much I love Kansas City? It fits like a glove.