hey So our network is being entirely reinstalled and upgraded and funkified and moved into new lodgings at the brand spanking new IIDMM, or Institute for Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine, or as we call it, The Institute, this weekend. So we are going off-line at 4pm today and are only expected back in cyberspace on Monday at 6am GMT. Between now and then, I will officially increase my age by one (1) calendar year. Now I'm not writing that here so that everyone is obliged to comment on it; however, my family and I are still big into gifts on birthdays and Christmases and suchlike, so anyone wanting send loads of swag is more than welcome to do so. My mate Andrew the Poet-Accountant is in much the same boat - he and I are 366 days apart, with him being the old fart and me being the boyish, wide-eyed, wet-behind-the-ears sprog. If 1976 hadn't been a leap year, we would have been on the same day, I guess; still a year apart, though. Fact of the matter is he is a mere 367 days away from 30, and is beginning to panic somewhat. We are trying to get together for a big pre-30 bash next June and I have suggested Cancun, party central, as our location. Quite a few of my mates are 30 next year, the other 5 of us are only 29 then, so we want to get to Mexico before they officially have to grow up. Craig wants to go to London, having lived there for the last 4 years, for the big bash; Stephen the boring-ass doctor (and soon-to-be anaesthetist) is keen on Florence for the culture (booooooooring!), Andrew wants to go to Chicago, for some reason and Mario is up for "whatever." Anyone keen to sound off for a location? Please feel free to comment as such. And please motivate your choice if you do. Like so: I suggest Cancun because where else can we go surfing and swimming and drinking and gambling and drugging and whoring if not there? Ironically, that was my exact pitch when I suggested Cancun, much to the abject horror of Stephen and Andrew (both of whom are horribly religious and moral). Craig was like "Mexico? Why Mexico?" and I said "Dude, summer break!" and he knew exactly what I meant, which goes to show we watch far, far too much Yank television here in .za. Still, suggestions welcome. And gifts welcome (and encouraged). In the interrim, I will be testing my other good mate Grant's Theory of Birthday Pulling Power, which basically hypothesises that you are at your pulling-power peak around your birthday. With bashes planned for Friday and Saturday night, dinner on Sunday and another on Monday, it's all just paaaaaaaarty weekend, so in theory there will be ample opportunity for some research. -d-