This is the first year that Ava, 9, has been old enough to realize when the actual day of my birthday was coming up and plan for it. As I've said earlier, the tricky part when you're a single parent is that you don't have any other grownup out there who can give the kids twenty bucks to buy a present. I'd be happy if they would just make something but Ava, especially, is keen on buying me something.

She had been hinting at what she wanted to get me for a while now but had no idea how much it would cost. The plan she and I devised was to have a babysitter go out shopping with them. When their mom called that night I had Ava ask her how much I would need to give the sitter for my gift. Their mom told them maybe $40. Ava told me that the store was near their school and suddenly I realized that Ava wanted to get me a watch from the watch and sunglass store by the subway. I didn't know she understood my obsession with watches. Nice watches. Really, really nice watches. There is a black dial Rolex Daytona (list price $10,000) out there with my name on it. I'm in love with my 1965 Rolex manual oyster and my Omega Speedmaster. I've got a Russian Submarine commander watch that looks great too.

There isnt' a watch out there for $40 that I'd want to wear but if she bought me one she'd be crushed if I didn't glue it to my wrist.

I pretended that I hadn't guessed and told her that watches OR sunglasses cost a lot more than $40 but that a homemade gift would be wonderful. She and her brother had already decided on homemade gifts for their mom (whose birthday we share).

Then the other day a noose was found on the door of another black professor at Columbia. I spent the entire afternoon reworking a piece for NPR on it. At the last minute they bumped it for space and this rainy day glued to my chair, not working on the book as I'd promised my editor, became a disaster.

The good part was that I had hired a nanny to pick the kids up from school so I could go down to NPR HQ and record. Instead, I'm having her shop with the kids. Chet told her he wants to go to a jewelry store and buy me a ring.