My friend Bill and I have been playing poker together for a number of years now, usually with the same core group of people with a few “outsiders” mixed in now and then for variety (and to fill an empty spot on the table). Bill is an excellent poker player. He counts cards, knows the odds, and can do some impressive calculations in his head. So it’s the rule more than the exception that he generally walks away from the table ahead for the night.

Last night we had an impromptu poker game and instead of our usual five-dollar buy-in and dealer’s choice, we made it ten dollars and just straight Texas Hold ‘Em. You might know the game from the popular World Series of Poker tour on ESPN, as well as The Travel Channel’s World Poker Tour.

We’ve played this a few times and Bill usually comes out the winner, not surprising considering his skills with the cards. And last night it came down to the two of us. Jeff, after losing his stack had left and gone home early. Christy, who was next out, stayed and was our dealer for awhile (thanks again Christy!). Eventually she had to go home as well. This turned out to be the latest we’ve ever played. Christy threw in the towel around 2:30 this morning.

We had an "MDA Poker" night this past Saturday. Basically, you came to play poker, but all the money you put in went to the MDA. However, we had some nice prizes to give away, like a $25 gift certificate to Macaroni Grill, $10 and $5 gift certificates to Blockbuster, and some fun stuff, like a bin full of Ring Pops and Tootsie-Roll Pops.

We had a good time. Bill-a-bong was the big winner for the night, and he took the Macaroni Grill certificate (Thanks Deb!)

Other than that, we spent the weekend as your typical suburbanite yuppie couple might: did housework all day Saturday, and did yard work most the day Sunday. Blah. Didn't get to go riding at all. Double-Blah. The muscles between my thumbs and forefingers are all sore from raking. Triple-Blah. Blah Blah Blah.

Ok, enough blahs. Gail's going to Tampa for a few days, for work related reasons. However, she and her partner in crime managed to score a nice hotel, and a convertible rental. Supposed to be mid-80's down there all week. They're going to be lovin' it. As long as I don't see them on the news jumping into a canyon like Thelma and Louise, then I won't worry.