It's not due to laziness (not completely) that we haven't updated the site in 15 days. As all of America well knows, Ruben's a tough act to follow. We've lost sleep over it, especially Anthony, but we think we've finally come up with something equally large and, uh, life-changing -- Liz's 30th Birthday.

Because turning thirty is sort of a watershed event in any person's life (and especially if that person is a woman, and if that woman is Liz), Anthony was determined to plan something more outrageous than a night out at Chuck E. Cheese or black-light bowling or karaoke with a bar full of strangers. This is where the losing sleep part comes in. To plan something without Liz finding out (she's very, very snoopy), for the past month he stole away during the hours of post-midnight and pre-dawn to arrange a surprise trip to New York City. And it worked. It wasn't until we left Portland at 3:30 in the morning on Oct. 23 that Liz got her first clue about what our plans were. A quick and able sleuth, she figured we must have a precise time commitment, such as a flight time, forcing us leave at such a mysterious hour. Her next clue was when we took the exit to Sea-Tac, then from there the surprise was pretty much uncovered.

And thus, here we are, back in New York. The travelin' van having stopped in Oregon, we thought its occupants should at least try to come full circle. We stepped out of the subway at 8th and 14th and it felt like we had never left. We'll be back out west next week, and then we'll update the site with our whirlwind trip up the coast and tales from the Big Birthday in the Big Apple.

From there, it's anyone's guess. Yours, for example. We're sponsoring a contest with our last $35. If you're reading this page, and we can only assume that you are, feel free to hazard a guess as to where we'll be in a month, or two months, or three. What will we be doing? Hairstyles? New tattoos? Any guesses and/or suggestions are welcome. The winner (to be decided based on to be decided criteria at a to be decided date) will receive something worth approximately $35, in our opinion and our opinion only. It might be soap, it might be tickets to a Celine Dion concert, it might be our heartfelt thanks. You can't win unless you play, you can't play unless you play.

A final note, from the heart of Anthony: I love this woman. Happy Birthday Bagbe.