13 on 31

Today is my step-son Ryan’s 13th birthday.
He is excited because he’s turning 13 on the 31st, which, he pointed out to me, is a palindrome.
Okay, how many 13 year olds do you know of who even know what a palindrome is, much less care enough about it to get excited?
I know 1, and he is awesome.

Happy birthday, Ryan! I love you. 🙂

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148 thoughts on “13 on 31”

  3. Hey Ryan! happy Birthday. Pretty soon now you’ll start to think your dad is stupid and lame (and he’ll probably agree with youy, hahahah), as do most 13 year olds. But don’t let them fool you, Ryan! Dads aren’t stupid. Dads are a fountain of wisdom, as you’ll probably learn again in your twenties.

  4. Happy Birthday, Ryan! I hope your 13th was a great one. Just remember no matter how crazy your teen years seem and how awkward you may feel, know you are always loved. Best wishes, Rob

  5. wil,
    just seeing your web site a brought warm fuzzies
    to what I was just thinking was yet another pain
    in the *&#@!! night dealing with all the end of the month reports I need to run while the system
    goes down for end of month backup.. at the same
    &*%@#! time!
    so, I’ll not quit tonight.
    maybe
    madam I’m adam

  6. I wish I could remember my 13th birthday.
    Goddamn memory loss.
    I do, however, remember the birthday song from Mutka’s Meat Hut, Home of the Mug of Meat, in that Disney opus, “The Emperor’s New Groove”.
    Happy happy birthday, from all of us to you
    We wish it was our birthday, so we could party too.
    Happy happy birthday, may all your dreams come true
    We wish it was our birthday, so we could party too.
    Don’t I know it. I didn’t get a real cake on my birthday this year.
    So, Wil, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll get the kid a damn Baskin-Robbins ice cream cake, not let it melt, and get his name spelled correctly on it.
    Otherwise, you would be a failure. FAIL-URE.
    Oh yeah.

  7. happy birthday ryan! from england 13 is a great age to be. 🙂
    wil now has a teen under his roof good luck! 🙂

  9. Gratz to Ryan, but afaik “13 on 31” is no palindrome. “13 no 31” != “13 on 31”. A true palindrome has to mirror itself letterwise (excuse me if this does not make sense, English is not my native language). Maybe in America, they made palindrome’s a little easier, just so everybody’d understand 😉
    Of course, if a date excites you, be excited. Hell, any reason to be excited in a good way should be reason enough.
    “Eva, can I stack Rod’s sad-ass, dork cats in a cave?” by John Connett (for April 10th, ASPCA creates first US animal shelter in New York City, 1866.)

  10. Happy birthday Ryan!
    There was an awesome palindrome moment this year, at 20 seconds after 8:20 pm on february 20. If you wrote it out it was: 20:02:20 02 20 02
    or european style (since I’m in Germany right now) it works too: 20:02:20 2. 02 2002
    German birthday song:
    Viel Gl

  11. Courtney: That’s a word palendrome… not a true palendrome, since it doesn’t work if you reverse every letter.
    The longest true palendrome in the English language (IIRC) is: “T. Eliot, top bard, notes putrid tang emanating; is sad. I’d assign it a name: gnat dirt upset on drab pot toilet.”
    Try it… aside from punctuation, it’s exactly the same from each side… the letter in the center is the one capital I.
    And the 13/31 thing isn’t really a true palendrome unless you write it with a palendrome in the middle… just use punctuation (like I did) to avoid the issue.
    Wil, if you want to stimulate this kind of thinking (and it’s a good idea, since that’s how you get SAT scores like you did), get him the book “I Love Me, Vol I” — it’s a compendium of every major known palendrome, and a whole lot that I’d never heard of.
    Good letter palendromes seem easy… until you try to write one yourself.
    Anyhow, please excuse my belated rambling… it’s five in the morning here, and I just finished my Gentoo install (whoo hoo!) and fired up galeon for the first time. I need sleep… hmm… actually, I need a Red Bull….

  12. Happy Birthday, Ryan! 🙂 Don’t grow up too fast- spend time with your family, keep having fun, and be a kid for as long as you can. The older you get, the faster it goes, so stay young! 🙂 Wil, congrats on having such a fine stepson (both of them, actually!)- they and Anne are all lucky to have you for a Dad/Husband.
    BTW, we were watching ST:TNG 1st season eps last night (can’t remember what ep) and WOW, Wil, you were skinny! Your waist must have been 15 inches around! I’m allowed to call you skinny, since I’ve been skinny all my life and people always comment on it (“Don’t they feed you at home?”) How much did you weigh, dude?
    Love, Alicia
    http://www.thewagband.com

  13. Happy Birthday Ryan!
    You have one of the coolest people on the planet
    for your step-dad.
    Fate has ALREADY smiled on you.
    Have a GREAT life.
    NO MATTER WHAT SPUDNUTS SAY’S!!

  14. You know, being a step-parent isn’t easy. I have an 11 year old stepdaughter who was the overflow blessing in my marriage. But loving someone who already may have a preconceived notion of who you are is hard. Elizabeth’s mom ( who hated me for marrying her ex-husband )had already told Elizabeth her idea of who and what I was. And continued to do so for the next 5 years of her life. And when you are 5 years old, you tend to trust and believe every word that comes from your mothers’ mouth.
    So I had to fight against that and love her unconditionally in spite of the fact that she had already decided I was the wicked step-monster she’d heard about.
    Today, she is 11 years old and has figured out for herself that her mother lied to her about me and her father. She’s already figured out that all the while her mother was telling her I was trash, I was telling her what a great mom she has and how lucky she is.
    Wil, I don’t know if you’ve had to face those same kind of battles but you sound to me like someone who has overcome the ” step ” in step-parenting and now is just a dad who loves his sons….like I am just a mother who loves her daughter and now is loved by her, unconditionally, in return.
    Ryan…you are a blessed young man. Happy Birthday.

  15. Congrats Ryan dude! I’m sure you’re celebrated in style! 🙂
    (Belated congrats since I’m writing this the day after…. sorry I’m a bit slow on these things! lol)

  17. Coming soon to a theater near you. Tina Turner and Mel Gibson in that post-apocalyptic backwards-forwards thriller, “Mad Palindromes Beyond Thunderdome”.
    –NT

  18. Oh, man!!! I turned 21 on the 12th a year and a half ago and didn’t even notice! Sad. Smart and observant kid ya’ll got there, Wil. Oh, yeah, and… WOO-HOO!!! Look at that Walk-a-thon page, folks!
    Hee hee. I haven’t posted in ages. Haven’t even had time to read these comments lately. Gosh, I missed Spudnuts!
    Later, dolls!
    Lady Amanda

  21. Happy birthday
    Happy birthday to you
    Well, it’s time to celebrate your birthday, it happens every year
    We’ll eat a lot of broccoli and drink a lot of beer

  22. I love how Da Schmiz knows all about palindromes, yet can’t spell the word right 😉 My 13th birthday was THE BEST, ‘cuz my birthday is July 13th. It’ll be a lucky year for Ryan, and I’m glad he’s psyched. Best wishes!

  23. Becoming a teenager for the first time is always
    great. Yayh(that’s how I spell it.) for Ryan.

  25. happy birthday Ryan…
    it’s been said before here, near the top of the list that this is a pile of birthday wishes from strangers……
    and perhaps thats true….
    but then again….
    we all come here to read about Wil, and share our thoughts with him
    we all seem to care a great deal about Wil and his family, althought most of us have never and will never meet…
    …..strangers?…..no…..not anymore….
    i like ‘aquaintances’…….
    much nicer….
    happy birthday Ryan…..all the best from us to you….

  26. that ‘dorf on golf’ joke by spudnuts nearly made me shoot a mouthfull of Sprite out of my nose…
    funny….

  27. Happy Birthday Ryan,
    Make the most of your teenage years and remember only this….awww dang. I forgot.
    Oh well… such is life, as you will learn.

  28. Wo, Nemo! Toss a lasso to me now!
    – or –
    Go hang a salami, I’m a lasagna hog!
    – so –
    Why isn’t “palindrome” one?

  29. hey will, that is so sweet! HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN!!!
    the teen life is swell, just stay out of deep water sweetheart. I HOPE YOU’VE HAD AN EXCELLENT BIRTHDAY RYAN!

  30. Hey Wil,
    Why don’t you bring Ryan down to the Comic-con here in San Diego? What 13 year old wouldn’t dig that? It was cool meeting you there last year. Happy Birthday Ryan!!

  31. Happy (Belated) Birthday, Ryan!
    Hope you had an awesome day. ;]
    And Wil, you’re such a cool Stepdad. And just think, in 3 more years he’ll be driving your car!

  32. Happy Birthday Ryan!
    Reminds me of middle school when I realized that I was in the class of 2002, and I got really excited because it was a palindrome year! (The first since 1991 and the last until 2112, I might add.)
    Have fun Buddy!

  33. Happy Birthday Ryan
    Just think, in few years old Wil can start teaching you how drive. And maybe if your lucky, he will show you how to helm a Starship!

  34. Uh-oh… sliding on into the teen years!! 😉 Just remember, you were there once too. LOL And I don’t I knew what a palindrome was until I graduated from highschool!! So, you’ve got a smart teenage… now you really gotta’ watch out. 😉 JK!

  35. Happy Birthday Ryan, and congrats, Wil, on your walk-a-thon goal! Many Happy Returns of the Day, young man 😉 Karen

  37. Happy 13th Birthday Ryan! Being a teenager is fun going to High School and all and getting a lot more freedom.

  39. Wil, and Ryan,
    My palindrome comes this year as I will be 31 on the 13th of Oct. Just thought Id share that. Buy the way Happy Birthday again Ryan and you to Wil.
    Till your next post.
    Matt……..

  40. Jinkster: Aw, crap… I told you I was tired.
    I can spell when I’m awake.
    Honest.
    I mean, I’d better. I write for a living.
    When I want to, I can even write like Spudnuts.
    Sometimes.
    Although I don’t have a potty mouth like him.
    And I’m not as funny.
    Oh well… I guess I’ll just go back to lurking again….

  41. I agree with Bruce. Why isnt the word Palindrome a palindrome? And whilst we’re on the subject I have some other “64,000 dollar questions” like ;-
    What did ‘cured ham’ originally suffer from?
    or
    Why is ‘abbreviation’ such a long word?
    *looks for her medication. Its GOT to be around here somewhere!*

  42. Happy Birthday Ryan!
    May all your dreams become realities!
    13 is a wonderful age, take advantage of every second and love your life because life is good!
    😀

  44. Hey, Happy Belated B-day Ryan. Ryan’s lucky to have a step dad who loves him so much. As we say in my family there are no steps, love makes sure they dont exist!
    Hey a little off topic but I just saw the Avon Breast Cancer walk-a-thon site and I must say congrats Wil! You beat your goal again! Not only does Ryan have a great stepdad who loves him but also a step dad that cares about others. I think thats the best gift he could possible have. Good goin’ congrats, man!

  45. Once my mom said, “The hot water is cold.”
    My nephew then said, “That’s an oxy-moron.”
    He was SIX at the time!

  46. Happiest of Birthdays to your step-son (although, quite honestly, from everything that you’ve written about him [and Nolan], you could probably leave the “step-” part out of the whole equation and would be happy to realize that they would have no problem at all if you just referred to them as “son”).
    But I may be jumping the gun on your behalf (but I doubt it).
    Hope the both of you (and the whole family) had a great day!

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