ZOOMNEWS by Carol Hobbs

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BARY

    The first of the month was Bary's birthday.   We all got to the office early so that we could surprise him.  We turned out all the lights so that he would think no one was here.  Then we hid in his office behind his desk.  It all sounds corny doesn't it?  I guess it does, but it was fun.  Bary was so surprised.  He was carrying a bunch of his space stuff- his miniature planets, his space ships, his little toy aliens; anyway we yelled "SURPRISE!" and it all went flying up the air.  At first he was mad but then he laughed.  We all had a good laugh.

    I had baked a chocolate cake.  Chocolate cake is Bary's favorite.  So everybody got a piece.  Byron brang some ice cream.  He said it was "Chunky Monkey."  I had never heard of it but it was pretty good.  Everybody got some of Byron's ice cream, too.

    Then we all played "pin the tail on the donkey."  Gabriel brought that game to the party.  He bought it at a party store at the mall by his home.  The box said it was for kids ages 4-10.  We all felt kind of silly playing a stupid kids game but we did it anyway because we didn't want to hurt Gabriel's feelings.  It was really akward but we pretended to enjoy ourselves.  Gabriel had a good time playing it.  When it was his turn he was absolutely thrilled.  He had his blindfold on and the little donkey tail thing in his hand and when we spun him around he had the biggest smile on his face.  I've never seen him so happy.  Anyway, the rest of us survived the embarrassment and Gabriel enjoyed it so I guess it was a good thing.

    The party lasted about an hour and was lots of fun.  We took lots of pictures, too.  I'm going to glue them to a big piece of cardboard and hang it on a wall in the office.  Good times, for real.  Then after the party we all went back to our jobs.  Believe it or not, Zoomturtle is a lot of work.  But that's OK because we care about our fans.  Our fans are our highest priority.  We really love you guys.  We have the best fans in the world.  You guys are #1.  So there you go.  That's the way it is.