What a birthday!

Maria has been smugly secretive all week about my birthday present.
She took today off and would tell me only that we were going to Indianapolis on a mystery birthday mission.
First, we had to stop by the county clerk's office and hand over $1,200 in support money to be channeled to her ex for keeping their son. (See earlier rants.)
Then it was off to the Fashion Mall at Keystone at the Crossing.
Still clueless, I followed Maria's lead and we went up to the food court for a quick lunch.
Then we headed down to the mail level stores. I guessed we were headed for a clothing store, but secretly hoped I was wrong because I don't especially want any new clothes.
We had visited the Apple store on previous occasions to drool over the spectacular big screen monitors and she suggested we stop in again just to remind ourselves of how cool they are.
So we went into the store and were ogling the stuff - I'm a dedicated Windows user, but I have to admit there are some pretty cool things about Macs. I just don't like their operating system.
Next thing I know, Maria has buttonholed a salesguy and tells him, "I want to buy a 60-gig iPod,"
Holy shit! I never saw that coming.
She got me up to speed by telling me that my sons Sean and Steve were in on the surprise, explaining that Sean suggested the iPod and Steve signed on without hesitation.
So I picked out a black one, an AC charger, car charger and impact resistant black rubber case. Maria used my Treo camera to snap a photo of me being blown away with iPod in hand and I e-mailed it to Sean and Steve. I also phoned them, getting Sean's voicemail and having a delightful conversation with Steve during which granddaughter Lisa wished me a happy birthday. Next stop was an Office Depot where we picked up a USB 2.0 card reader so I can use the iPod for image storage with a digital camera.
Sean returned my call and gave me some cool iPod tips, including the advice not to buy the expensive Apple TV cord, since a cheaper standard cord works just as well - they're just not color coded the same.
I spent most of the afternoon and evening loading music and finally hung it up with 825 songs aboard - hardly scrating the surface of the 15,000-song capacity.
To say I was stunned would be a serious understatement.
Damn fine way to turn 61.