Thank you all for a fantastic surprise birthday dinner! Sophie rounded up a few of my close friends (Mandy, Elliot, Mike, Ben, Emile & Zhenya, Adam & Rae) and organized dinner at Buca di Beppo, in Palo Alto. Up until Sophie told me that we were going to Beppo’s for dinner, I thought that it would just be four of us. Something was definitely fishy, because you can’t really go to Beppo’s with only four people … but Mandy and Elliot were already with me at that point, and I couldn’t imagine how Sophie could have planned something without them being involved. I should have realized that they were in on it. :) [see adam's post]

Thanks to Dan, who (like last year) was the first one to wish me a happy birthday (he called at 12:07am) this “morning”. Amabelle would have won, but she called five minutes too early. :) Thanks to hedgie queen cyn, for making my birthday public. Thanks also to all of you who wrote and called! You all make me feel loved. :)

I had a fun morning, too. I drove down to Digidesign to lay down cello tracks for Melissa Rapp‘s upcoming CD. As usual, the other Eric was at the helm, twiddling with all of the cool audio toys.

As usual, I have photos to show.

Eric Miller and Melissa Rapp, in a studio

Me, with Eric and a drummer whose name I've forgotten

Elliot and Mandy, visiting!

Elliot, on the stairs

Mike, Rae, and Adam at Beppo's

Ben and Sophie (Buca di Beppo)

Mandy, Elliot, and Me (Buca di Beppo)

Emile and Zhenya, striking the same pose (Buca di Beppo)

Ben and Sophie, slouching (Buca di Beppo)

Ben and Sophie, no longer slouching (Buca di Beppo)

The entire surprise b-day crew, outside Buca di Beppo