One of Greg’s favorite outlets for creativity is planning birthdays and special events. Every year, my birthday consists of clues and puzzles leading me to presents or surprises. A few years back, I received mysterious letters from all incarnations of Batman, theming the gifts together. Then it was characters from recent books we had read. Last year, I got presents from the Baudelaire orphans from Lemony Snicket’s series. Definitely puts my “Here’s a DVD,” approach to Greg’s birthdays to shame.

This year is a huge mystery. All I know is that I had to clear my schedule from Tuesday to Sunday and I had to pack a bag for all those days. I need summer clothes, a bathing suit, outdoors clothes and some nicer clothes. I must admit I’m a little nervous but definitely excited.

Tomorrow we leave at 9:30 in the morning for an unknown destination. I saw Greg back a DVD player and a bunch of board games. The book, 10,000 Places to See Before You Die was at his side all week.

Your guess is as good as mine. But I’ll keep you updated via Twitter. Follow Greg and I: @srobleto and @robleto.

On the first floor of our condo lives a spy… we’re pretty sure. Here’s the burden of proof:

• He’s lives in DC, spy capital of the country (according to the video in the Spy Museum downtown).
• He’s seldom home. In fact I don’t think I’ve seen him in over a year. His place it mostly kept by his two sons, or at least we think they’re his sons.
• He’s secretive. When the AC was broken in our building, and the repair people needed to get in this place to fix some pipes, he refused. He finally caved after a two week standoff (plenty of time to move whatever he’s hiding).
• He’s multi-lingual. Back when our mailbox said “KANG” he stopped Selena in the hall and started addressing her in fluent Korean. When she told him she wasn’t actually Korean but Chinese, he switched over to fluent Manderin.
• The government has run background checks on him. We got a notice in our mailbox from a government agency asking all we knew about our downstairs neighbor.
• He’s got guns, or at least a big closet that you can see from outside him home that looks like it could hold guns

Now, I know you are probably thinking, that could all be coincidental, that doesn’t make him a spy. Well, let me give you the final piece of the puzzle:

• It’s more fun to think he’s a spy.

There you have it, case closed.

Ever since we watched The Mist and other such films about the world ending, Greg’s been working on his zombie contingency plan. While I have continued to let this be one of Greg’s pet projects, I couldn’t help but notice some of the changes that were happening around the house.

I thought the cushions that came with the couch we bought were so hideous that I wanted to get rid of them. Somehow, they re-appeared out of storage and made their way back into the house. Now, they’ve migrated to the attic after a brief layover in the study room. When asked why they were back in the house, it was because, “if we need to hide out, we want to be comfortable.”

Another day, our building shut off the water to do some maintenance and we used bottled water that day. After the water was turned back on, I had noticed several bottles were missing. I found them later on stashed away under Greg’s sink behind bottles of Clorox.

The baseball bat that lived under our bed for the longest time was replaced with a heavy duty and more accessible Magnalite flashlight. Apparently, someone “couldn’t get to the baseball bat fast enough.”

Greg recently went to a firing range with some web buddies. (Geeks Love Guns, they called themselves.) He suddenly decided now was the time to prioritize learning how to shoot. And where he had never before shown interest in my martial arts, he was suddenly supportive of the fact that I took up boxing.

While I’m really glad that Greg is taking an initiative in learning survival skills, I’m just wondering if I’ve missed some signs of the apocalypse, particularly in the past few months. If the world is ending, will someone please let me know?

Kids washing cars

Whenever I see the hand-made sign that says “Car Wash Today” I stop in, so I can support a good cause. Not too long ago, on Kirkwood Highway in Delaware, I pulled up and a whole team of kids started cheering. I later learned that with the exception of 2 or 3 parents I was the only actual customer of the day.

As the kids got started I asked the mom and dad chaperoning about what they were raising money for. Mom told me about the baseball team these kids were part of and trying to get to a tournament out of state. Dad, however ,was unable to converse as every few seconds he was turning back to the kids with instructions like “No, don’t.” “Spray the car, the car.” “You have to use the sponge, here like this.”

Inevitably, after his instructions didn’t take, he started just following behind the kids. As the oblivious kids working their way around the car with their carelessly light attempt at washing, he followed behind diligently scrubbing. I was so amused, I tipped generously and wished them luck in their tournament and quietly wished the dad luck with the rest of the day at the car wash.

Hello friends, are you on Netflix? If so, please friend Selena and I by using this address:

http://www.netflix.com/BeMyFriend/PB1XxNWogrGGgAP3MwgE

Thanks so much,

Greg

PS. I think it’s ridiculous that a major Internet competitor like Netflix does not have a friending system that would let you search for people you know by either importing your addressbook or just typing in their name. The fact that you have to take friending out of their site and into a separate media (like blogging or emailing) is a colossal misstep on Netflix part, and leaves a major hole for a new competitor to come in and offer a better experience. Okay, getting off the soapbox now. To conclude, it’s asinine that we have to request this via our blog instead of on the Netflix site, but please friend us on Netflix.