Brian, Matt, Jed and I were all born during the auspicious year of 1984– a year of plenty. We took our first steps as Joe Kittinger made his daring hot-air balloon voyage across the Atlantic. We spoke our first words as Doug Flutie threw the game-winning 48-yard Hail Mary pass to Gerard Phelan to defeat the University of Miami Hurricanes 45-41. Just three days after the dawn of this brave new year, Jed Mitchell was born. Although today marks the 25th anniversary of that special day, you can still occasionally find him nursing a bottle. Last night was just such an occasion.

With the whole team assembled in Tokyo, at the beginning of Season 2, we decided to celebrate one of our most valuable team members with an orgy of grilled meat and beer known as “Yaki Niku”– all you can eat, all you can drink. There is no greater sound to our impoverished souls than the promise of never-ending grilled meats, but the greatest part of all was, of course, the company. Together, we roasted meats ranging from scallops to “beef face”, and performed a series of rhyming toasts to each episode (“To Episode 1, when it was done, we knew we had won, and our lives would be fun”). We drowned the night with merriment, absorbing the neon glow of exotic downtown Tokyo, filled with laughter and hope for 2009, the 25th –and best– year of our lives.

Happy birthday Jed, from your colleagues and friends at Jet Set Zero.