Friday the 25th was both my mother's and my husband's birthday. He had to work late that evening and she had plans with other relatives, so we didn't go out on the day itself. Alan and I went out 'just the two of us' on Saturday night and he chose the restaurant at which we had our rehearsal dinner (fabulous Italian continental cuisine). This was kinda funny: he hadn't chosen his birthday dinner in advance so I couldn't make reservations. Once we decided where we were headed, he asked me to call just to make sure they weren't serving 10 huge parties or undergoing renovations or something. So I called at 6:30 on a Saturday night to see about a table for 7:30. "Oh, I don't know," said the girl who answered, apologetic but doubtful. "We're pretty busy. I can maybe try to work something out, if - how many was it?"

"Two."

"And what was the name?"

"Bowman. Alan and Helly Bowman."

"Ohhhh, the Bowmans. You can come in anytime you want, it's perfectly fine."

Okay, I realize it's a small town and a local place, not the same as getting in to the latest hip Manhattan eatery with no notice or strolling in to Goa one Saturday night, but I'm still egotistical enough that that made me happy.

Then yesterday we met up with Mom, my brother and his wife for lunch at Sunset Grill, repairing back to her house afterward for conversation, wine and gifts. I got Mom a scented candle (one of the big jar ones) and money for a pedicure at a local spa. Pedicures are her thing, lately.

She and I went in together to get Alan a Magellan GPS. He loves gadgets so that was an obvious choice. One thing it does that's pretty nifty is that as you're driving along with roads and directions displayed, little icons come up that would be extremely useful in unfamiliar territory, for example a wee little gas pump to let you know a gas station is nearby, and a tiny building with a dollar sign when you're approaching a bank or ATM.

I had a couple of ideas already for improving the Magellan. For one thing, the voice is a standard-issue computer chick - not as annoying as the Bell South Woman who always chews me out for reaching a number that is not in service, but still just a kinda generic chick voice. I think there should be modules you could plug in for different voices, like Sam Elliott for my mom, Sean Connery for Cheryl, Jenna Jameson for my brother (and about 50 million other dudes). Also, I noticed that a tiny Sportster icon did not appear on the GPS as we passed the Harley-Davidson dealership so I think I ought to invent different computer chips, so you could put the corresponding chip into your GPS that gave icons for the things that were important to you, like a tiny hammer when you neared Lowe's or Home Depot, a Martini glass when you passed a fern bar, a wee Louis XIV chair when you approached an antique store, a tiny can of Skoal when a Wal-Mart was nigh...I could seriously do that. I mean, despite not knowing anything about programming or how to render such a thing possible, when it comes to choosing apt icons, I'm your girl.