Some days, all you really need is to wake up late, eat a large breakfast, goof off, putter around the house, do some cleaning, play games, eat a hot dinner and laze around until bedtime.

I think everyone should get to enjoy a day like this, fairly regularly. Heck yeah.

Shortly after 6pm, from the east side of town, looking west towards downtown Portland and the West Hills, I was treated to an outstanding sunset. A beautifully layered cloud cover filled most of the sky, and through the gap to the west came all the gorgeously red sunlight you could want to light up the underneath of those clouds.

On the way home, fellow pedestrians were commenting on it. During the walk all I could think was, “Of all the days to leave my camera at home.”

Please, somebody, tell me you got that splendid vista on film or memory card…

So let’s see…

• One replacement motherboard (for Wendi)
• One replacement video card (for Wendi)
• Three sticks of RAM (for Wendi and Erica)
• One set of earbuds (for Erica)
• One music CD (for Erica)
• One Nintendo DS game (for Alex)
• One PS2 game (for me)
• One memory-card reader (for me)
• Two computer games (for Wendi)
• And one refurbished PS2 (for me)

Not bad for a day’s haul, eh? Now I get to assemble a working (I hope) computer for Wendi, since I’ve had half of one at my place for a couple of months now…

Maybe having more money can’t fix all, or even half, of my problems… but having the tax refund money in the bank certainly makes certain worries far less pressing.

And now, for a weekend of peace and quiet and geekery.

One last present arrived late yesterday afternoon, in the form of Mt. St. Helens blowing her top for a while. Sure, years from now nobody will remember the exact date of this eruption or think of it as anything but part of “that string of eruptions that took place between 2004 and 20??,” but I think of it as a touching display of affection from Mother Nature nonetheless. An old chat buddy of mine sent me a pic of it, no less:

If I can’t have fireworks, I might as well have a volcanic eruption, I always say.

I turn 33 today. Huzzah, and stuff. A year older, five or ten minutes wiser, I figure.

But really, it’s all about the nifty stuff. Let’s see… some comfy and stylish bedding, a cute picture to help decorate my room (in addition to a Swiss Army thumbdrive), a copy of “Eats, Shoots & Leaves,” a DVD of low-budget zombie movies, some money, some snackies, and various well-wishing emails. Not too shabby, I can’t complain.

Here’s hoping my living situation will be such that I can pull off that 33-and-a-third party in July…