After removing one pingback and placing the entries in Random.org, we have a winner:

Congratulations to entry #14 – Katie K. Email me at clueintocleveland (at) gmail (dot) and I’ll let you know how to redeem your tickets for tomorrow night’s event.

If you still need to purchase tickets for Lorain County’s premier wine and food tasting event, get them before it’s too late. L’Amour du Vin will take place tomorrow night from 6-9pm at the Avon Oaks Country Club. General admission is $60; $90 for the VIP Lounge. Learn more and purchase tickets at http://lamourduvin2012.eventbrite.com.

Now onto today’s primary business:

Cheers to you, Scott – Happy 30th!

Behind most of the photos taken on this blog is a fantastically silly, sweet, not-so-subtle and all-around swell guy: the one and only Scott T. Hicken.  And today’s a day of celebration in our household because Scott turns 30 (I know, I’m robbing the cradle).

All Scott wanted for his birthday this year was the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase One Collector’s Set, complete with the briefcase and Teseract cube from Avengers. But then this happened, leading to a change in packaging and release date tentatively scheduled for Spring 2013.

Birthday Fail!

So I got crafty:

Take one and a half shoeboxes, some electrical tape and a pair of scissors…

…print out a couple of S.H.I.E.L.D. logos…

…glue it all together and – voila – my (very) makeshift take on the Avengers briefcase:

Add in a few gifts and a note from Scott’s favorite no longer deceased S.H.I.E.L.D. agent about a certain cosmic cube…

…and you have one mostly salvaged birthday.

The only thing that’ll make it better is when the full collector’s set does come out and Scott gets his actual birthday gift. In the meantime, we’ll be watching the Avengers Blu-ray that Amazon kindly sent to everyone who pre-ordered the collector’s set (EXCELLENT customer service move, by the way, Amazon!).

Happy birthday, Scott!

Among many, many other things, thanks for sharing your love of comic books with me and getting me back into something I was obsessed with as a kid.  And thanks for always putting up with this blog and me in general.

At the risk of crossing my Marvel film references, you’re my own Mr. Fantastic.

(Feel free to send your birthday wishes to Scott on Twitter @Husbanonymous.)