Flight Stories

Brian and I are regulars on the planes of Southwest Airlines. By planes I meant jets. I didn't want anyone thinking that Southwest Airlines has some rolling fields somewhere that we like to hang out on. Anyway, we pretty much fly with them whenever we can. The planes all fit Brian's guitar in the overhead, they are usually cheaper (especially since they don't charge for bags), and we have a companion pass through their rewards program (one of us flies free). Those reasons combined with the fact that their commercials make us chuckle makes them our favorite.

Tomorrow we are flying in to Atlanta and unfortunately since Southwest didn't buy Airtran fast enough, we have to take another airline. We always seem to run into unique experiences when flying different airlines, especially when we fly with tomorrow's airline. I won't tell you their name for legal purposes, so let's call them the 4th letter of the Greek alphabet.

One time we were flying to LA and I was seated next to a rather large gentleman who was in The Hell's Angels. I don't know that for a fact, but he had the word "Hate" tattooed across his fingers, and he was reading a book called "Angels of Hell." I shouldn't judge though, for all I know he could've been a Shriner. Anyway, he fell asleep next to me, and they announced that the in-flight film would be, Flicka, the touching tale of a girl and her horse. When it came on I was so tempted to wake the guy and say, "Hey man! Flicka's on!" I had to weigh whether I wanted a cool story to tell or keep all of my teeth in place. Needless to say he slept peacefully and I enjoyed Flicka.

I normally carry our CD's on to the plane in a tomato box. Usually, I get stares and the occasional, "Are there tomatoes in there?" One day we were getting on the plane, and the flight attendant (fancy term for stewardess), said, "What's in that box?" I responded that it was CDs, and she in turn asked if it would fit in the overhead. I assured her that the box would fit and in fact was smaller than most suitcases they allow on. At this point, I thought we were having a lighthearted exchange, but then she got serious.

"It's not a suitcase though."

I said, "No, but it fits."

She responded again, "It's not a suitcase."

Brian said, "But they both carry things, right?"

Once again, "They're not the same. It's not a suitcase."

At this point, I couldn't contain myself. I said, "Ma'am if it will make you feel better, I could put a handle on it." It ended with her telling me not to get smart. It was kind of ironic. It started with her getting frustrated because she assumed I wasn't smart enough to understand the difference between a tomato box and a suitcase. Then it ended with her not wanting me to be smart. I'm not sure what level of intelligence I was supposed to have on that particular flight, so I just spent the time reading Sky Mall and commenting on how cool it would be to have a head massager.

Hopefully, this weekend, I'll be reporting on our event, and not the flight. Odds are though, you'll hear something about the flight.

Dave

Hey Roomie

One couple I forgot to thank yesterday for The Awesome Tour, were Jason and Kelly. Jason was my roommate in college, and as many of you know, the inspiration for our "The Diet Song." He and his wife Kelly were nice enough to let us crash at their house for the weekend and drink their green milk. Don't worry, it wasn't bad milk, or some sort of concoction that turned me into a plant-like substance so they could eat me (Troll 2 reference for the 3 people that got it). They were very hospitable and things were only awkward on Saturday night when we walked in on them. . . watching The Last Song starring Miley Cyrus. I still can't erase that from my mind.

Before I went to college, my grandmother told me that she was praying that I would get a Christian roommate. I wasn't very faithful then and remember saying, "Good luck, grandma. It's a pretty big school." What I didn't realize at the time is that when my grandmother prayed for something, it happened. For instance, I'm not going to say that she prayed against Y2K, but I wouldn't be shocked to find out she did. Anyway, I got to school and my roommate was a jolly young lad from Cazenovia, NY, named Jason who was a Christian.

We hit it off right away, to the point where the first night of our college career, we were joking around so much that everybody thought we had known each other since high school. We both had very similar senses of humor, and an addiction to video games. We were reminiscing how, when the fire alarm would go off at 3 AM in the dorms, we'd be the only ones not in our pajamas outside, because we were up playing Madden. Jason would usually get up and make an announcement to the freezing students, that I was offering my pants for $10. I probably got offered more money to keep the pants on.

We spent our whole college career being roommates. There were some other guys that joined us those 4 years, but it was always Jason and I. After school, we've kept in touch pretty well. We were in each others weddings. One day, Jason told me he was going on Weight Watchers. This wasn't anything new. In college he had tried Atkins, and would bring bags of bacon back to our fridge. There was so much bacon in our room that we had to hang an "Unclean" sign on the door to warn our Jewish friends. Anyway, he was excited about Weight Watchers, because it's a lot like Fantasy Football. You just have to keep track of the points. A year later he lost 75 lbs. I'm still waiting to see the commercial with the picture of big Jason next to thin Jason and the disclaimer, "Results not Typical."

I've heard so many horror stories of college roommates, that I guess our relationship could be classified as "Results not Typical." Of course, he likes to remind me that he was the answer to my grandmother's prayers. Anyway, we are both married and have kids (his 2nd one is on the way). This weekend, we joked about stuff we did in college and laughed how different life is now. For instance, he's thin so it's less funny when he does a cartwheel. People just point and say, "Whatever. Just another skinny guy doing a cartwheel." Also, when we talk now it usually has more to do with kids, and our wives than the glitch he found in Madden, or Irene from the Sadler dining hall.

Normally I'm not too serious with this blog, but I'll end this one saying, make sure you appreciate the solid friendships you have. Circumstances and priorities may change, but a solid friend is always there to hear you out, challenge you, or sell your pants for $10.

Dave

The Awesome Tour

We just got back this weekend from what we deemed "The Awesome Tour." We performed shows with Omaha Comedian Scott Muilenburg, and even had an appearance from Albany's favorite son, David Rice. We advertised it as "A tour of Awesomeness. . .and Scott Muilenburg."

Our first show was at SUNY Cortland. On the way we stopped for some caffeine, at a coffee shop that is either astronomy themed or woodland creature themed: Starbucks. Scott was going to buy one of those bottled Frappuccinos, that you can get anywhere, but Brian convinced him that most people purchase actual Frappucinos when at Starbucks. Scott stepped up to order and asked for an "Iced Frappucino." We didn't think anything of it until he clarified with the barista, "That's an iced one, right?" I don't know if they make warm Frappucinos in Omaha, but let's just say we had some fun at Scott's expense the rest of the journey. We promised we wouldn't tell anyone about this misunderstanding, so let's keep that between us.

Even though it was freezing, I'm pretty sure we warmed the hearts of students at SUNY Cortland. Great crowd, and we unveiled our new "Rockenspiel" bracelets. We are proud to have the Rockebspiel message being spread now via the wrist. It used to be the wrist was an avenue for telling time. Now it's an avenue for hearing how you can be rocked.

Friday night, we did a show at The Salvation Army in Watertown, NY. I don't want to say how the show went, but here is an actual quote from an audience member, "I'm so glad I wore my Depends tonight." We are all glad she did. After the show we played a riveting game of dodgeball and some things happened that I'm not too proud of.

We played a game where the only person left on the other team was a young, adorable, 6-year-old girl. My aunt who was officiating, said the game was over. I argued that there was one person left, the little girl, but she felt it would be unfair. I know it was a little girl, but I really hated that there was no closure on that game. In the next match I got a ball, sought out the little girl, and knocked her out of the game. Was it worth it? Was it a little excessive? Was she not even paying attention when I hit her? Let's just say there was no argument at the end of the game.

Finally, we performed at my alma mater, Syracuse University. It was in the Jabberwocky Cafe, which is a fun little room, that didn't exist when I was there. I think people got a little uncomfortable when I made some controversial comments about our beloved mascot, Otto the Orange. I was just expressing my concern that he's a mutant orange, and maybe not as intimidating as other mascots. You can fear other mascots like bears, lions, or tigers because they can maul you. What fear does an orange cause? Acid Reflux? Hey other team, I hope you didn't just brush your teeth, because the Orange is coming to leave a bad taste in your mouth! I'm just saying.

Anyway, a special thanks to Scott Muilenburg and David Rice for joining us on the tour. Also, thanks to Mike McQuitty and Omar Hopping for setting up the shows. Stay Awesome Central NY!

Dave

Hanging with Nolan

I have a 2 1/2 year old son named Nolan. It's been pretty entertaining to hang out with him, since he's saying and doing a lot of funny things, and has pretty much caught up with me in maturity. Here are some fun tales from the last few weeks.

The other day, I was working on some stuff on-line, my 4 month old was sitting next to me on the couch, and Nolan was milling around the living room. All of a sudden Nolan grabbed my Bible that was laying out and brought it over. He said, "Daddy's book!" I firmly said, "That's right, now put it down!" I'm kidding. He recognized that it was a Bible and started flipping through it. He then said, "This is Jesus' book." Then he wanted to sing the Jesus songs. I started with some Gregorian Chants, but he was more down with "The B-I-B-L-E" and "Jesus Loves Me."

Anyway, after we sang, he continued to thumb through the Bible. I sat there and thought, "Wow. This kid is awesome. He's going to be a pastor or something." He then picked up a small hard cover book, and chucked it at the 4 month old's face. I don't know what to think anymore.

Nolan has been taking swimming lessons and I have had the pleasure of going in to the pool with him. First class, we were late and I rushed him so much in the locker room, he cried, through half the class. I cried the the other half. We just had our last class last night and things have really progressed. For one of his final lessons, they wanted him to lie on his stomach over my hands to practice kicking. He was hesitant at first, but I told him it was kind of like flying on the water. He spent the rest of the time floating around shouting, "To infinity, and beyond!" I may use this technique down the road. In 16 years, you may hear a car pass by with the driver shouting, "To infinity and beyond!"

Finally, we sat down the other day and watched The Jungle Book. Nolan didn't want to watch it, but I talked him into it. He didn't want to see the tiger, so I skipped all of those parts. Even though that takes away the driving force of the film, it slimmed it down to just under an hour and was quite enjoyable. Nolan was into it and I leave you with this short video as evidence.

Dave

The Madness of March is Upon Me

I have been watching way too much College Basketball since Thursday. I used to think they called it "March Madness" because of all the crazy buzzer beaters and upsets, but I'm beginning to think it's a real disease that is caused by too much viewing. I'm pretty sure I've spent more hours this weekend watching games, then I had credit hours in college. I'm actually writing this as I'm watching the Syracuse game. I went to Syracuse, and I may go back because I still have some eligibility left. Sorry, that was the "Madness" talking.

So, besides delusions of collegiate glory, what else can the "March Madness" cause? Well, when I close my eyes I see faceless silhouettes running pick and rolls, I called my wife for traveling when she was bringing in the groceries, and I'm pretty sure there was a llama in my back yard that only obeyed commands in Portuguese. That last one might have more to do with the cough medicine I was taking for my cold. I hate to make excuses though. I'll try english commands later to see if they work.

I made a bracket and am doing OK. So far only 1 of my Final Four picks is gone. I actually have Syracuse and BYU in the championship game. I picked Syracuse for obvious reasons, and also I think I get a discount on my loan for that. I picked BYU, because I really like to say "Jimmer" and hope I get to as long as possible. For those of you who know what I'm talking about that joke makes sense. For those of you who don't, you find it funny because it's nonsensical. That joke is genius.

I'm a little concerned, because tomorrow things will go back to normal, and I will more than likely go through some form of withdrawal. Right when I am starting to feel normal, Thursday will come and I'll fall off the wagon. Luckily, I'm on the road starting Thursday and won't be watching as much. I wonder if there is some sort of patch for "March Madness?" I'll ask the llama. Does anyone know how to ask for a patch in Portuguese?

Dave

Tulsa Man. . .Tulsa

I am in Tulsa, OK right now and I know what a lot of you are wondering: Did you win some sort of dream vacation? No, I’m here for a planning meeting. Brian and I will separately be emceeing morning shows this summer for MOVE, a high school conference put on by Christ In Youth (CIY).

These events will be happening all over the country and they’ve hired a bunch of different comedians to emcee. We will be getting together today and tomorrow, at a cabin outside of Tulsa and planning all of the morning sessions. I can’t help but wonder though if this is some ploy to get a bunch of comedians alone in a cabin, and see how they respond to various emotional and mental challenges through the introduction of costume characters and props for research or reality TV purposes. I don’t know. I guess I should’ve read the fine print in the contract better.

We are coming up with a few different aspects of the morning show. I don’t want to give them all away, but one is a character that will act as our assistant in the show. I have come up with a few characters and here they are:

-Pete the Unpopular Merman- Mermaids and Merman are half human, half fish and usually depicted as top half human, and bottom half fish. Pete (or female version) is bottom half human, top half fish. Not as popular as other Merfolk.

-Martin Van Buren our 8^th President-Not sure where this could go, but he’s obscure and had cool hair.

-Hank Bieber- Older, less popular, less cool brother of Justin Bieber. Still wears Thomas the Tank Engine Pajamas, only listens to the High School Musical 2 Soundtrack, and enjoys cheese puffs with ketchup.

So those are my character ideas. We’ll see what else people come up with. If we don’t use these you may see them some day in a Dave and Brian video or a nightmare.

Dave

Junior High Glock Revolution

We had a great time this weekend at the Breakout Conference for Youth For Christ in Saratoga Springs, NY. We got to meet some great junior highers and leaders, staff and volunteers for YFC (www.cdyfc.org), a speaker (Gilbert Hernandez), and Chris Ames Band (www.christopherames.com). We laughed, danced, and had a glockenspiel revolution.

I feel bad because I'm pretty sure this was the first time a lot of these kids had been exposed to a glockenspiel. It makes me wonder if all of those "Save the Music" commercials were a waste of time. The teens were blown away by this amazing German instrument and couldn't get enough of it. Don't be surprised if you start hearing about a glockenspiel boom in upstate NY. One teen told me that she and her friends went to Walmart, asking if they had any glockenspiels. Surprisingly the employee in the blue vest had no idea what she was talking about. I wish I could've been there.

Junior Highers really like autographs, and they like them on anything. If I had known that I'd be signing so many autographs, I would have worked harder on my handwriting or legally changed my name to something shorter, like the letter "I." This weekend I signed CDs, pictures, Ipods, arms, guitar pics, wristbands, shirts, and one kid's stomach. The teens who's arms we signed, were concerned about the signatures washing off. I encouraged them to go straight from our table to a Tattoo Parlor so that it wouldn't be an issue. I haven't gotten any phone calls from angry parents, so I assume none of them did it.

We really enjoyed our time at Breakout and enjoyed hanging out with everyone. Thanks so much for the opportunity!

Dave

Junior High

Brian and I are on the road this weekend in Saratoga Springs, NY. We are performing at the Youth for Christ Breakout Conference for Junior High. As I left my house I told my son, "Daddy has to go to work this weekend, to rock kids' faces off." He looked at me very seriously and said, "Yes. Ok."

It's hard to describe the energy in a room full of hundreds of Junior High kids. Have you ever seen what happens when you put a Mentos in a 2 liter of Diet Coke? When we took the stage, we used our typical intro which goes like this:

Dave- We sing very important songs that are going to change the world.

Brian- Yeah. We're a lot like Bob Dylan or Justin Bieber.

The place went nuts. There was a mix of girls screaming and boys booing. When it died down, I said, "Sorry, we didn't realize Bob Dylan was so polarizing." Our segment went really well, and it looks like it's going to be a great weekend. We sold some CD's, took some pictures, and signed some kids arms.

As I finish this, I want to say that the people of Japan are in our prayers. When things like this happen, I realize how fragile things can be in a moment and how foolish some of the things I get mad about really are. It definitely puts the water in my basement into perspective. Donate money, go help if you have the opportunity, and most importantly pray.

Dave

Excuse Me, That's my Mail

Someone apparently hacked into my email yesterday and changed my password, so that I could no longer access it. I was able to get back in to my electronic mail today, and I did not like what they had done with the place. They moved all of my stuff, they changed the curtains, and pretty much let the dog out without a leash.

All of my emails from my "SENT" box and my "INBOX" were in my "TRASH" box. My Inbox had 2 messages from some sort of India travel agency telling me they got my emails and would be in touch soon. I really can't wait to continue that correspondence. My Sent box had 1 email, sent about 40 times, and each time sent to about 50 people. The email was about what seemed to be a fantastic financial opportunity that people could be a part of and all they have to do is share some personal information. It sounded pretty legit to me. My only concern is that the creator doesn't seem to have an email, because they had to steal mine. Who knows, maybe they are so busy with this financial opportunity, they don't have time for their own email.

They also took the time to change my settings, so that whenever I went to compose a new email, their financial email kept popping up. It was also showing that it was being sent from another email. I would like to thank this hacker, because I didn't even know that sort of thing could be done on my email.

Needless to say, I changed my password. I also had to go through and change my password on every sort of account I had. So hopefully my email is safe, my Ebay account is safe, and most importantly my Nick Jr account is safe.

Dave

Let the Rain Fall Down

As was referenced yesterday, we had some water infiltration in our house. Basically, much like our children, the rains came from heaven, entered our home, and made things very wet. I entered our basement on Sunday night, and noticed there was a small puddle of water on the floor near our stuff. I recognized right away that it wasn't part of our stuff, because we usually keep our water in the fridge.

My wife and I started moving our things so we could clean up. I had my wife do most of the lifting, because she owed me from her 9 months of non-lifting during pregnancy. Anyway, I ran to my brother-in-law's to get a wet/dry vac, and by the time I got back, the puddle had grown and multiplied. I'm not a scientist, but I was pretty sure this had something to do with more water.

I started vacuuming and when I came back from emptying it, I noticed the water had gotten deeper and had pretty much spread throughout the basement. I was beginning to feel like there was something wrong here, or I had fallen victim to the Wet Bandits. My wife called a sump pump guy and I continued vacuum holding in my tears for fear of adding to the water.

It turns out the sump pump works, but we couldn't figure out where the water was coming from. As my wife was on the phone she noticed this at the base of our wall:
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There were several of these founts coming out of the base of our wall, and they flowed steadily for at least 4 hours. We didn't have any little dutch boy's thumbs around, so all we could do is let it flow. We decided that vacuuming wasn't keeping up with the flow so we started trying to push the water into our sump pump.

I show this video to display my flawless technique and also, my beautiful rain boots. Their my wife's, and before you say anything, chew on this: Is it weirder that I'm wearing my wife's boots, or that we have the same size feet?

So all of the water has now departed from our basement. We're hoping it was just a one time visit, and are working on making that a reality. I don't really spend too much time in my basement, so it was nice to have this opportunity to loiter there a but.

Dave

The Dork Anthem Revisited

I apologize for my relapse in lazy blog writing. I have been fighting this cold, and also have experienced a little bit of a flood in my basement. As a matter of fact, as I write this there is a 2 year old going through a screaming fit out of some sort of possession upstairs. What I'm saying is that this whole adult thing, really has put a hinderance on my writing stupidity here. That's still no excuse though for letting you fine folk down. I apologize and will try harder.

I'll discuss more about the basement flood tomorrow. It's not the end of the world, but let's just say that if Kanye West were here, he'd have some very pointed things to say about how George Bush feels about my family. Anyway, tonight I'd like to draw attention to a milestone in the world of Dave and Brian.

It's been just over a year, since we released our 1st music video for "The Dork Anthem" on Youtube. It has reached over 77,000 views and been featured on countless blogs, new shows, and FunnyOrDie. We even got to perform at an Anime Conference last August. That was the first time I shared an elevator with GI Joe and a girl with pink hair and purple tights, and I was the weird one.

For the most part, the video has been well received. Unfortunately though, there are some who did not get the light-heartedness of the video and decided to go on verbal tirades. This is by far my favorite comment we have ever received on anything, let alone the video. It was on a blog called, Geekology:

I've never commented before, but in my personal opinion, as someone who visits this site daily, I HATE this video. I think it was not only a waste of footage and space on your website, but it made me sick with it's fake overblown attitude, predictable lyrics, hackneyed cliches, AND BEER COMMERCIAL INSTRUMENTALS. I was literally on the floor vomiting for half an hour. I even watched the entire video in some blind hope that it would have a redeeming quality. it did not. By the time the video ended I was hemorrhaging from my brain to my anus.

Screw This Video. I love you, man-who-chooses-what-to-post. You are a king, but this was and is a piece of crap choice. You've made my potential future children cry and beg to be let back on their holo-game systems

This person said they were "literally vomiting. . ." Literally means they were actually doing it. I don't consider what we do "art," but if it is causing this kind of reaction, maybe it is. I remember Brian's response after reading this was, "Man, if our video did this to him, I can't imagine what the earthquake in Haiti has done to him."

Well, anyway, thanks to all of you fans, who have made this video so popular. Feel free to give it another watch and pass it along for old times sake. We are working on plans for a new video and a new EP. We hope to have those things moving this summer in to next fall. Keep an eye out.

Dave

Straight up Illin

It seems like 2 times a year, I get sick. Usually, I start to feel it the night before, struggle through an evening of temperature change, nausea, congestions, and hallucinations. There aren't really hallucinations, but it gives me a good excuse to talk with my imaginary friend, Lamar. Anyway, I then spend the next day feeling awful and pretty much passed out in bed. Then by the next morning I feel fine.

This is what occurred in my life starting Wednesday night and all the way through last night. It used to be when I was sick, I would just lie on the coach and watch Judge Judy, and my Soap Operas, or "Stories" as I call them. Now that I have kids, it's a little harder to do that. Also, now that Mark Hapka, or Nathan, is no longer on Days of Our Lives, what's the point? I went to high school with him, and played his dad twice in school plays. Some find it weird that I played his dad. Don't worry, usually the girl playing my wife was good looking, so the real question people usually had was how did he end up with her? Anyway, Booh, Days. I haven't been this upset since Sammi kidnapped baby Belle.

Where was I? Oh yeah, I was sick yesterday. I knew it wasn't going to be my day. Even the episode of Curious George that was on involved him chasing a jazz singing germ through his own body. I hadn't felt that connected to Curious George since I used to hang out with this guy who always wore a yellow hat. I had to take my 2 year old to school in the morning. This involves me carrying the 3 month old in his carrier down a packed hallway of parents and crazed toddlers. I was so out of it, and it was so heavy, by the time I got to where I needed to be, I was waiting for David Bowie to show up in tight pants singing with some Muppets (Labyrinth reference for the kids).

I ended up calling my mother-in-law to come over and help watch the boys, so I could try and get some sleep. Lots of people like to make hack jokes about their mother-in-laws, but you won't see me doing it. I like to think that mine are original. Actually here's a good one that gets my wife too: "People are always telling my mother-in-law that she looks so much like my wife, they could be sisters. She always takes that to mean she looks young enough to be her sister. What if they just really mean my wife looks really really old?" Don't worry, they won't get too mad at me. I've been sick.

I ended up in bed at like 8:30 PM last night. That worked out nicely because NBC just ended up running a bunch of repeats of The Office and not any new comedies. I'm not going to say it was because I was sick, but between this and the Curious George thing, I can't disprove that my body may be in tune with television programming. I woke up this morning not 100% but pretty good. The best way to describe it is, if yesterday I felt like I got hit by a truck, today I feel like I got hit by a Mini Cooper. Anyway, feeling better and ready for the weekend. Until next time, Lamar.

Dave

Wiki the Pedia

So, believe it or not, when I am writing these blogs, I often go to Wikipedia for my knowledge. I'm willing to bet that you guys aren't looking for this blog to be a hard fact finding Pulitzer Prize piece, so I don't mind going there for some guidance. I'm sure I could use other reputable news sources like CNN, The Today Show, and 20/20, so as soon as they're done talking about Charlie Sheen, I'll check them out.

Anyway, there is some crazy stuff that people have taken the time to document on Wikipedia. Last week, I mentioned that you can look up Presidents' Day in Botswana. Today I was doing research on Ultimate Fighting, and I came across a page dedicated to explaining what a Groin Attack is. Surprisingly, it's very effective in self defense.

I once had thoughts of adding something myself to this beautiful site. My cousin's husband, Steve (I unnecessarily put his name in there so he and his wife, Mel, will know it's about him), claims that he is the inventor of the Orange Sherbet Shake or at least he was the reason it came about. Apparently, he requested one as a lad just outside of Buffalo, and not too long after, the ice cream shop was carrying them. If this is enough to make him the founder of the Orange Sherbet Shake, then I can be credited for Weekend at Bernies 2. After I heard his claim, I went home and was going to create a Wikipedia page, claiming Steve to be the founder of the Orange Sherbet Shake, but when I started looking into it, the process seemed too complicated and time consuming.

With that being said, it blows my mind the things that people have taken the time to document. Here are some things that you can find out about on Wikipedia: Steve Guttenberg, Small Wonder (TV series), glam metal, National Hockey League, Altoona Curve, My Pet Monster, Arch Deluxe, and Whatzupwitu.

There isn't a Wikipedia for "Dave and Brian" yet. I guess we're too complicated for people to try and explain.

Dave

Happy Birthday?

I feel sorry for the people who were born on February 29th. Apparently, they can celebrate their birthdays on February 28th or March 1st. Really though, their birthday wouldn't be the 28th, it would be today. The problem is, today is March 1st, not the 29th which is the date they were born. The reality is that every 4 years they get to celebrate a real birthday and the other years, it must feel like kind of a sham.

Last fall, Brian and his family traveled to Australia. It takes about 24 hours to get there, and Brisbane, Australia is roughly 13 hours ahead of Philly. This means if you were to leave today, March 1st, and even though it was only about a 24 hour trip, you would land on March 3rd, totally missing March 2nd. I don't mean to get all Doc Brown (Back to the Future reference for you kids who don't understand), but you have just traveled to the future. On the way back it can work out that you repeat the day.

I bring this all up as a recommendation for those February 29th Birthday celebrators. I say in 2012, go to Australia the week before your birthday. Live it up and take in the sites: visit Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo, reenact scenes from Crocodile Dundee, and check out the Outback Steakhouse in Wollongong. On the 29th, have a birthday party in the morning and invite all of your new Aussie friends. Then at 12 PM head back to the US. When you land it will be about 9 PM on the 29th again, and you can celebrate another day. Whatever you do though, if you're birthday is on February 29th, DO NOT plan a flight to Australia on the 28th!

I'm pretty sure I did the math on this correctly, but if not I'm sorry, especially if this blog rips a hole in the space time continuum. I'm just trying to help make up for some lost Birthdays. In 2012, you can have a little more cake and feel like less of a fraud.

Dave