Birthday

Today is my birthday - the big 2-5. I've been alive for an entire Quarter Century and I've got to say, it's been a really good 25 years! I've had a pretty amazing life, have gotten to travel a ton, and have done more in 25 years than I could have asked for in a lifetime. I am lucky, because somehow, even through the years that Bush has been in office, where I've learned that the world doesn't always move forward towards a better tomorrow, but yet gets there in a series of forward and backward stints, I am very happy to say that I still haven't lost my naive optimism that we will, kind of like the stock market over a loooong period of time, always move forward as a species. I even think we can solve global warming.

Given that it's my birthday, it's only fitting that yesterday, Nathan gave me a "present" in the form of unsolicited knowledge. It turns out that the organism I fear the most is quite prevalent, complete with daunting fangs, in Tanzania:

King Baboon Spider

I can't help but think that perhaps my fear of spiders will actually serve me well for once!