Happy Birthday, Padre!

Here's dad in front of one of our family's more recent favorites, the Loveless Cafe.





Isn't that a flattering picture? Ever since the computer crash of 2008 when I lost all of my pictures, the pickings have been pretty slim.

Anyway, today my dad turns 53! In honor of his birthday, I would like to list 5.3 things I like/appreciate/enjoy/love about him (53 is just too dang many).

1. Dad does more for me than I deserve. I don't know what I would do without the Bob Johnson Scholarship Fund. I always tell him I'll return it to him when he's old, senile, and wearing diapers. We'll pay someone to change those...

2. Dad loves cars, always drives fast, and is passionate about his work. He has passed those traits on to me. In fact, the older I get, the more I realize how like my dad I am. Unlike the teenage Michael, I think being like my dad will be pretty cool.

3. Dad likes to eat out, and is always adventurous. I think I got my appetite for anything and everything from him. He's also generous and always takes my friends out whenever he gets the chance.

4. Dad laughs the hardest at his own jokes. There's nothing better than watching him crack up as he reads a funny e-mail over the pulpit in Church or tells a funny story that happened to him in Japan or D.C. or wherever.

5. Nobody does a better Mexican-American English accent than dad. I think he learned it from our gardener way back when. "I don't pick up the sh**."

6. Dad loves his family and loves to...

(I said only 5.3 things!)

Happy Birthday, Dad!