Man, oh man. My weekend is officially screwed.

As I might have mentioned once or twice, Cara's birthday was last weekend.

The stereotypical image that most people have of gamers is either a plump and pasty teenage boy surrounded by empty Mountain Dew cans or the image of a plump and pasty middle aged guy who lives with his mom. [I'm not talking about you of course] Slowly, but surely, this stereotype is being turned on its head.

I’ve never considered myself “abused”. I always had a bed to sleep in, clothes on my back and food in my stomach. I can count on one hand the number of times that I was spanked. But, the more I thought about it, the more long forgotten memories came flooding back. Hours spent alone in my bathroom as punishment for some small transgression. [I got smart and started hiding books in my bathroom cabinet] Months of hardcore grounding [ie, no tv, no phone, no reading, no visits with friends] for things that actually only deserved a couple of weeks of punishment.

When’s the last time that you can remember receiving a Thank You note? I’m talking an honest-to-God, handwritten, [not emailed] stamped and mailed Thank You note. It’s been a long time for me. So, you can imagine my surprise when I received one yesterday. A few weeks ago, PBN held a “blog blast” where I wrote a love letter to my SUV. I won a Passchal bag via random drawing for my post and had been waiting patiently for my prize.