My Birthday Wish

Today, I turn 27. (Though I’m told that’s not a special enough birthday to celebrate.)

Too bad. I’m planning on making the most of it!

It turns out the Secular Student Alliance is growing faster than ever before.

Less than a year ago, we had 150 affiliates. At the moment, we have 213. It’s astonishing how fast groups are forming and even more amazing where they’re forming! Some of these groups are in high school and others are in the Bible Belt.

We’re getting to the point where students are writing us, expecting to find an SSA affiliate on their campus. Can you imagine that? — It’s no longer weird for students to find an atheist group at their university! We want to keep that trend going so that students always have a secular group to turn to at a time they need one the most.

To help them out, we need the resources that will allow them to bring in speakers, fund service trips, and hold events that will reach out to other non-religious students.

If you can contribute any amount, you would be helping us out.

Even 100 people donating an average of $27 could pay for a couple dozen travel grants for students who want to come to our New England Leadership Summit this April.

You can also donate here.

My goal is to raise at least $1,000 today (though the ChipIn runs through Sunday).

Please consider giving and helping us reach that.

If you could blow that number out of the water, that would mean more to me than any other gift.

(Unless you want to buy me a Kindle. That would be awesome, too.)

Thanks for your help and for your support of the SSA.

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Jonathan Weyer

Happy B-Day Hemant.
Kyle

25 February? This means you’re a Pisces.

Hmm, too bad. I’m a Libra. Libras and Pisces don’t get along well.

LOL Sike. I don’t believe in that shit either. Have a happy one, my man! 😀
Jennifer

What Jonathon said!
Karen

Happy Birthday!

Someone I know is bringing you cupcakes. Tell her I miss her 🙂
TychaBrahe

Dude, you’re 3^3. That is a special birthday. Especially since you probably won’t live to be 4^4.

Or tell people that you’re 100 in base 3. I used to do my birthday in Hex. It was fun telling people I really was 28 on my 40th birthday. Of course, it’s more obvious I’m counting oddly now that I’m going to be 2C this year.
Greg

Happy Birthday Hemant!
Claire Binkley

Have a pleasant XXVII(th) birthday, Hemant.
Leilani

Happy Birthday! I hope it’s awesome!
mikespeir

Oh, dang! Half my life ago I was 27. Still, happy birthday!
Chal

This may or may not be comforting. 😛

Either way, happy birthday, Hemant!
Christina

Happy Birthday! I hope you have a great year!
BeamStalk

Happy Birthday.
Jenn

Happy birthday, welcome to the 27 club!
Reginald Selkirk

Today, I turn 27. (Though I’m told that’s not a special enough birthday to celebrate.)

Oh c’mon, you’re a math teacher. Every number is special. 27 is 3^3, for example.

Happy birthday.
mkb

What Mikespeir said.

Anyway, I don’t use chip in but I’ll add an extra $27 to my next monthly donation to SSA in your honor (and more of the rest of you might want to also consider becoming monthly donors to SSA).

That’s great news about the growth of affiliates.
David McNerney

Me too!! What are the chances of that! Though 27 is a distant memory.

HB2U
DemetriusOfPharos

I’ll be damned, I’m actually older than you (by about 11 months.)

Merry Christmas! Or something to that effect 🙂
Revyloution

Don’t buy a Kindle.

Get a netbook. They are lightweight, great to read on, and do all those other computery things too!

There is even a program you can use call Erotate that turns the screen sideways, so you can hold the netbook like a.. well.. book!

Have a very happy Birthday Hemant! Ill chip in for the cause.
Revyloution

Oh, and get yourself a good hat.

Men don’t wear enough good hats.
Tom Woolf

Happy 3^3!
Lagunatic

Awwwwww. On my 27th b-day I spent time partying and dancing on tables.
You turn 27 and you’re spending time trying to make the world a better place.
Atta boy 🙂

Have a GREAT b-day!!
Delphine

For some reason I expected you to be much older than me. I’m turning 27 in a month.
Ulrich

Happy birthday!
Godless Monster

Have a Monstrously happy day!
TGM
Audrey

I’m going to join the crowd and wish you a happy birthday! Do something fun and don’t let those naysayers tell you that 27 isn’t a good birthday, any excuse to celebrate is a good one.
Sakura

Happy birthday Hemant! If the check I’m expecting clears today, I’ll help out and chip in.
Richard Wade

Happy birthday, Hemant. The world is better because you’re in it. Thank you for all that you do. I just contributed a nice round chunk.
Jeff P

Hemant,

Happy birthday. May your 28th year be one of your best (so far)!
rbray18

happy birthday didn’t realize how close in age we are.my birth day is Jan 18 and i just turned 27 myself this year 🙂 and i haven’t celebrated a birthday since i was at least 10 or 11,never had money or friends too celebrate.
Hazor

Happy birthday. And yay for SSA affiliate groups in the Bible Belt. I’m optimistic about the one starting here at the University of Tennessee – our numbers are ten times what I had expected at first, a few months ago.
Alexi

Merry Birthmas!
Reverend Red Mage

A festive jaunt of your birth to you, sir.
Again, I say, a joyous celebration of the day of your origin upon your person.
You possess the countenance of a small hairy primate
and the odor of the same.

😛
Many happy returns, my friend.
Andrew

Including the newest one at DePaul!
Beijingrrl

Happy Birthday! For dh and I, 27 was a great year. We finally felt we were mature enough to get married. We’d been together 9 years at that point. It’s been 22 now.
bigjohn756

Sigh, I was 27 once. No I am 2.62962963 times as old as you.

BTW, I’ll get you a Kindle right after I get one for myself.
meranie

27 is an awesome age. I’m 27. But now I feel old, because you’re just turning 27 and I thought you were older because of your wiseness. Or would that be wisdom? Anyways– Happy B-day, dude!
muggle

Video couldn’t play for me but just the title ticked me off. We’re only allowed 20 birthdays? Pshaw! He can stuff it.

Today is my 52nd birthday. Asked the grandson, how old is Grammy — and he said 78 and scared the bejesus out of me. But I intend to have a good many more birthdays than my grandson’s 78. (??? Boy, I know he’s only 6 but I must really seem old to the little dude.)

I’m only a little older than you too. Just 25 years damn near exactly. But, no, I wouldn’t want to trade places. Not for all the tea in China. No offense but I wouldn’t want to be young again for nothing. Besides, I came of age in the ’70’s. Damned coolest time in history to have come of age in. It was great.

As for the Kindle, I want one too but I’ll settle for the one book I strongly (i.e., flat out told) my daughter to get me — Kim Harrison’s “Black Magic Sanction” came out a few days ago.

Revylution, you tell him to buy a hat on his birthday? Shouldn’t that be your birthday present to him? Hmmm? You know to further spread the cause of all men being as dapper as you are. In case you didn’t pick up on it, that’s a cause I’m all in favor of.
bill

“Today, I turn 27. (Though I’m told that’s not a special enough birthday to celebrate.)”

Hmm…others have mentioned 3**3; but nobody seems to have hit on 1000-base-3 yet. That’s a nice round number, and so worthy of a celebration.

Happy birthday.
Eliza

Happy birthday (yesterday), Hemant!

And happy birthday (today), Muggle – it’s my b’day, too! I was figuring the age I’m turning is special because it’s a prime number – but then I found out it’s also a safe prime, a supersingular prime, and a Lucas prime to boot 😉
muggle

Happy birthday, Eliza! Though I guess I’m belated with you too since it’s after midnight. Hope it was a good one.

Mine was and my daughter indeed got the book (when told flat out I want that she’d have to be pretty stupid to not come through) which just hit the bookstores a couple of days ago so I’m deep into another Rachel Morgan adventure.

Grandson was admiring the cover and asked is that a gargoyle? I told him yes. His name is Bis and he was intrigued but I told him not yet. This is like Harry Potter for grownups (not absolutely accurate but close enough) but you are going to love it when you’re bigger. He just grinned.

He did all right by me too. Picked out a t-shirt that is me down the line and not something I would have asked for. He and I — we do get each other.
polomint38

@rbray18
18th January, nice birthday, it’s done me well, but I am an old 39 (1971 vintage). I will have a beer in your name, my next birthday.
I would like to extend this to all people born on my birthday but the world population is 6,807,700,000 (according to the US census bureau) dividing this by 365.2425 means I would have to drink 18,638,849 and a half pints.
I seriously couldn’t manage that last half pint.