Good Times: March 2, 2012

Ginger surprised me with an unbelievable birthday present. She bought me a plane ticket to Boston to visit one of my best friends, Manoj. (And she simultaneously was able to boot me out of the house; house smart is that?)

Manoj, Vidya, Amit (8 yrs) and Diya (4 yrs) were amazing hosts. Amit and Diya treated me like family, calling me Ken Uncle. I had a chance to paint and build a red race car with Amit and read Dora to Diya. We played lots of games: card games, charades, lateral thinking games and the game Ryan Ferrel taught me that I don't know how to explain (actually - just too lazy too explain).

Amit is very mature and intelligent. He must take after Vidya. One example: it was taking a long time to paint the car, especially the white parts which required multiple coats. When I suggested to Amit he take a break, he said, "I'm not afraid of hard work" and he continued to toil away.

Second example: when I said something that perhaps was over his head, he responded, "I'm too young to understand what you just said. Can you explain it to me so I can understand it?"

Diya is very sweet, eats bowls and bowls of Cheetos and loves giving kisses. I started getting them toward the end. She has enough for everyone. V

idya, I commend her for feeding me 4 times a day: breakfast, lunch, snack at 5 p and dinner at 9 p. The food, Indian of course, was incredible. Even though she turned down the heat, I still had my water, Kleenex and yogurt ready to douse the spiciness. Vidya is a wonderful cook. I remember fried rice, mushroom curry, chicken tandoori, noodles, rice dessert and who can forget the delicious pistachio cake. I have a feeling Amit ate most of it (and the mozarella sticks at Rain Forest Cafe). The breakfast selection was amazing as well - donuts, croissants, toast, muffins and Manoj's special Western pepper omlette.

Manoj and I, despite the chilly weather, had a great time. I didn't know Chucky Cheese could be so fun. Probably because I whipped Manoj's butt at every game -- yes, every game. (Ok, he beat at one game of virtual ping pong.) I can never remember our specific conversations, but as always, they were random and offbeat. We also played basketball at the Y (well, not really...I was trying to help Manoj learn how to shoot from 2 feet away from the basket), Starcraft, saw a good movie (X Men First Class) and a movie I remembered being better when I saw it the first time (Sliding Doors) and a lot of the old 80s cartoons (Spider Man and his Amazing Friends, Superfriends).

Manoj surprised me SC2 as a gift, and Vidya gave me parting gifts for my kids and Ginger. How amazing is that?

Thanks Ginger (and my family), and Manoj's family for an unforgettable birthday gift.