¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Mi Hermana!

It is my late sister's birthday today. I hope she's enjoying herself, wherever she is.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Mi Hermano y Mi Mamá!

It's my mother's birthday and my youngest brother's birthday.

It is also the Catholic religious holiday known as Feast of the Immaculate Conception but you all probably knew that already.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Mi Prima Favorita!

It's my favorite cousin's birthday today.

I hope you all are as happy as she should be.

If you all are not all that happy, I hope that your lives change for the better in the coming year.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Mi Hermana!

It is my late sister's birthday today. I hope she's enjoying herself, wherever she is.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Mi Hermano y Mi Mamá!

It's that day again.

It's my mother's birthday and my youngest brother's birthday.

It is also the Catholic religious holiday known as Feast of the Immaculate Conception but you all probably knew that already.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Mi Hermano del Medio!

Today is my middle brother's birthday.

I hope he is in good health and staying out of today's rain.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Mi Sobrino!

My late sister's only son has a birthday today.

May he be blessed and able to celebrate many more such birthdays in the future.

Another Year Older and Deeper in Debt

I had a good birthday celebration last week thanks to my mother and my youngest brother, but I'm finding it harder and harder to find time to write, and when I do write, I find it harder and harder to resist the temptation to sound like Dr. Greg House. And of course, it doesn't help that the last time I got out of the hospital, I thought quite seriously about buying a cane due to assorted health problems. Such problems have since been resolved but still...

On the bright side, I'm still employed.

I hope that all my loyal readers are enjoying good fortune as well.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Mi Sobrina!

It's the birthday of my late sister's daughter today. She turns 18 and hopefully she will be going to college this fall. I hope she enjoys her day and has a wonderful time in school.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Mi Hermano y Mi Mamá!

It's that day again.

It's my mother's birthday and my youngest brother's birthday.

It is also the Catholic religious holiday known as Feast of the Immaculate Conception but you all probably knew that already.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Mi Sobrino!

I was finally able to celebrate a birthday today for my beloved nephew in heaven knows how many years.

May he be blessed and able to celebrate many more such birthdays in the future.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Tonio Kruger!

Ms. Reynolds and I hope you all had as much fun on my birthday today as I have had. In fact, we hope you all have had more.

Thank you all for your loyalty.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Mi Hermano del Medio!

Today is my middle brother's birthday.

We are actually speaking again after the longest while.

But I still hope he has a happy day.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Tonio Kruger!

Believe it or not, I expect my official birthday celebration to be a bit more lively than this. But if not, it won't be the worst thing in the world.

At least I'm still in a position to actually celebrate my birthday -- and several months ago, I was not sure that would be possible.

Anyway, I hope all my readers have a good day today as well.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Francisco de Goya!

AKA Francisco de Goya y Lucientes.

Born March 30, 1746. Died April 16, 1828.

He was one of the greatest Spanish artists of all time.

A brief sample of his work:

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Patty Donahue!

AKA Patricia J. "Patty" Donahue.

Born March 29, 1956. Died December 9, 1996.

She was the lead singer of the Waitresses, one of my all-time favorite musical groups. She never wrote her own songs but she always sang them in such a way that it was difficult -- if not impossible -- to imagine them being sung by anyone else.

Unfortunately, she is most remembered for the novelty tune "I Know What Boys Like", the Christmas song "Christmas Wrapping" and the theme song for the short-lived TV series Square Pegs. In an ideal world, she would be remembered for more than that but then in an ideal world, she would still be alive.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Benito Juárez!

AKA Benito Pablo Juárez García.

Born March 21, 1806. Died July 18, 1872.

He was the first Mexican president of Indian blood and he was also known as the "Abraham Lincoln of Mexico" due to his efforts in the 1860s to free his country from French rule.

Apart from having a border town named after him, Juárez is rarely mentioned nowadays. It seems like the last American TV show to mention his name on a regular basis was The Wild, Wild West and that was in the 1960s.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Henrik Ibsen!

AKA Henrik Johan Ibsen.

Born March 20, 1828. Died May 23, 1906.

He was a Norwegian playwright who was responsible for such plays as Hedda Gabler, A Doll's House and The Wild Duck. He is also said to be the most frequently performed playwright after Shakespeare.

If you wish to celebrate his birthday today, please feel free to wear a few vine leaves in your hair in his honor. But I would resist the urge to shoot any wild ducks if I were you.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Eva Longoria!

AKA Eva Jacqueline Longoria.

Born March 15, 1975.

One of my favorite Latina actresses grows one year older today.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Shemp Howard!

AKA Samuel Horwitz.

Born March 11, 1895. Died November 22, 1955.

Poor Shemp Howard was never as popular as his younger brothers Moe and Curly and as far as third stooges go, it always seemed that he was just a little bit more popular than the two stooges who would succeed him: Joe Besser and Joe DeRita.

That said, he was always one of my favorite stooges and I was sorry to learn that he -- like Curly -- died while the Stooges were still active. I would like to think he deserved better.

Anyway, he always made me and a lot of other people laugh and perhaps that is the best legacy that any comedian can leave behind. At least I would like to think so.