My amazing friends got together and gave me an incredibly generous gift certificate to the Apple store for my birthday. After some reflection, I decided that my greatest need was to replace my dying Palm Pilot -- with a brand-new 32GB iPhone 3GS. (You may now pause to wipe the drool off your keyboard.) I'm so excited, I was actually petting the box in the store before we got it open. :)

I spent most of yesterday transferring data and checking out apps and being amazed at how easily it does some of the things I've been kludging on the Palm. But now I'm looking for recommendations. Anyone got any great apps to share? Which ones are worth paying for?

Thanks so much to everyone who posted on facebook or LJ, sent email, called, came to my party, cooked me kosher duck (man, do I love duck), brought other yummy food and drink, gave me birthday cards and gifts, contributed to my incredibly generous Apple gift certificate (going to check out laptops some time this week, I hope...), and otherwise generally helped to make my entry into my 5th decade such a wonderful one.

Extra-special thanks go to heliopsis for providing party space (and a delicious duck!) and muffyjo for fabulous decor set-up and cleaning. And I just don't have enough words to thank lillibet, who masterminded the whole thing, made sure I had the perfect party without having to stress about it myself, and spent I can't even begin to imagine how much time and money -- and managed to throw an incredible bash less than a week after an incredibly consuming show ended. I'm not sure what I did to deserve friends like these, but you'd better believe I'm going to do what I can to keep them.

I haven't been doing many of these for a while, but I can't let this one pass without notice. Happy 40th birthday lillibet! Can't wait to join you there -- we are so going to rock our 40s. Glad to have a strong and fabulous woman like you to pave the way!

I haven't been doing many of these for a while, but I can't let this one pass without notice. Happy 40th birthday lillibet! Can't wait to join you there -- we are so going to rock our 40s. Glad to have a strong and fabulous woman like you to pave the way!

Happy belated birthday to hammercock, happy actual birthday to amazoniowan, and happy random Monday to clarity_dog!

Happy birthday jason237! And I forget how the time zones work, but by now it may well be shereminisces's birthday, too. Hope it's a happy one!