Happy Birthday to me (for last week!)

It was my birthday last week. I turned the big three-oh. Peter and I went on a nice boat trip down the Thames to Kew Gardens, and then had dinner at a yummy gastropub in Kew. Mmmm!

When Peter asked me what I'd like for my birthday, I always said "Kitties!", so he adopted these guys. They are shy and haven't yet told us their names. Let us know if you have any suggestions about what to call them.

Below are other presents from Peter (the stackmat, speedstack cups, and flowers that is - the cubes were added for visual effect). I finally have my own stackmat!! My speedcubing buddies will appreciate how exciting this is, but for those who aren't speedcubers, you probably need a brief explanation. The stackmat is the official timing device for WCA competitions (WCA is the World Cube Association). This means I can now practice my start/stop technique for my next cube competition. Cool.

My speedcubing buddies will also have noticed the speedstack cups on the stackmat. These were part of the stackmat pack. My best time on the Cycle Stack so far is 24.15 seconds. I reckon I could get down to sub-20s with some practice though (haven't practiced much at all).