What do you like to do on your birthday?

It is my birthday again.

Me, Bowie and Elvis. Led Zepplin guitarist Jimmy Page's is tomorrow.

Mood: Somewhat numb.

Here is what I look like today.

I am still sick, missing work, not doing anything special. The foreclosure looms, but there are many things I'm looking forward to: Obama will be sworn in in a few days. The new Star Trek movie is four months away. March 2009: The Watchmen. July 17 2009: the next Harry Potter movie.

My birthday is close enough to New Years that I can use it to make resolutions.

I've never really topped my 2005 birthday in Hawaii. Ah. The good old days. Wish lists are important. Where do I want to be a year from now?

In love. I'm tired of being single. A few years is long enough. Horoscope says: "Relationships tend to be pleasantly stimulating and fun this year."

Wild birthday wishes? A date with Gillian Anderson. A hello call from Jason Mraz or John McCrea. A part in the final Harry Potter movie, the one with Xenophilius Lovegood.

I'd also like to be in good shape. Healthy and happy someplace sunny with sparkling blue water and fresh air.

I think a birthday in Tahiti next year --or the year after depending on the economy --could top Hawaii, if I had the right company along. How is the weather in Tahiti in January?

I may need a waterproof guitar. I'd like to hear one of these: RainSongs are the only all-graphite acoustic guitars in the world. Body, neck, fretboard, and bridge are all made out of pure graphite. Interesting. I still want the Taylor. Working on that.

Here are some other things that happened today:

On Jan. 8, 1815, U.S. forces led by Gen. Andrew Jackson defeated the British in the Battle of New Orleans -- the last engagement of the War of 1812, which had already officially ended.

On this date:

- 1790, US President George Washington delivers the very first State of the Union Address in New York City.

- 1877, Last battle of Crazy Horse and his warriors against the U.S. Cavalry in Montana.

- 1935, Rock 'n' roll legend Elvis Presley was born in Tupelo, Miss.

- 1942, Stephen William Hawking, British theoretical physicist born in Oxford, England

- 1947, David Bowie ( born David Robert Jones ) is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. Active in five decades of rock music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s.

- 1964, President Johnson declared a "War on Poverty" in his State of the Union address.

- 1987, for the first time, the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 2,000, ending the day at 2,002.25.

- 1998, Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, was sentenced in New York to life imprisonment.

- 2001, former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards was sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $250,000 for extorting payoffs from businessmen applying for riverboat casino licenses.

- 2002, Wendy's fast-food chain founder Dave Thomas died in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., at age 69.

- 2007, actress Yvonne De Carlo, best known for her role as Lily Munster in the 1960s TV sitcom "The Munsters," died in Los Angeles; she was 84.

some via GoErie.com: Today In History, others.