Ten Additional Ramblings

31. I've started indoor climbing recently. It is a lot of fun, mostly in part of the facility that I go to. It is an old barn with many different climbing walls and surfaces in it. Somewhat expensive to go twice a week, but it's a great workout and very satisfying to succeed. I don't have the forearm and finger strength, nor the technique to perform anything challenging, but I hope to be able to in a couple of months.

32. I'll be playing in the Waterloo Police Association Poker Tournament in less than two weeks. I played in it last year and finished in ninth out of about seventy-five people, my best tournament finish when the field is that large. I don't know what to expect this year, mostly likely lower than ninth. I hope the dealers are better this year, or at least the one or two I have. They got UNI fraternity kids to deal and the one at my first table didn't know how to play poker, dealt and shuffled incredibly slow, showed the bottom cards when shuffling and dealing, and made a couple of dealing errors, such as throwing out a card before all bets in a round were finished.

33. I like to think of gourmet pizzas. My first was a couple years ago when I wanted to make a jambalaya pizza after attending Mardi Gras. Then, I found a gumbo pizza at Boston's The Gourmet Pizza (note: Is that seriously the name of the place). Yesterday I made a pizza that had cream cheese, apricot jam, salmon, capers, sunflower seeds, green onions, and cheese. Some future pizzas I'd like to make are Chicago Style Hotdog, Bratwurst/Sauerkraut/Mustard, Gyro, and Chicken Kiev. Not sure what to use as sauces on all of them or the cheese to top them with, but I'll try. Oh man will I try.

34. Lana got a cat last weekend. She named it Baron. The cat is black on top, white on the belly, fairly small, not sure how much it will grow. It is still rather skittish and nervous, but better than when she brought it home.

35. When I left for worlds I weighed 172. When I weighed myself about a week and a half ago, I weighed 189. That's what daily lunch buffets at work mixed with a lack of self-control will do for you. I hope to be under 180 by the time the February indoor tournament comes around.

36. Played cards two nights in a row Sunday/Monday. Some poker and pitch Sunday night. Team games on Monday. In poker I was the first out of five to bust out, but used the one rebuy to get back into it. Ended up going heads-up with Brian Lucido with more than a 3 to 1 chip advantage after winning some seven or eight hands out of ten in the middle of the game. We split the money. A number of reasons, first, I didn't really care to finish. Second, I didn't want everybody else to have to wait for Brian and I to finish. Third, I didn't want Brian to come back and beat me. The money meant nothing, the humiliation would have been unbearable! Monday, Brian and I teamed up against Joe and Jake to play our best of five card series we sometimes play. First game is spades, then team hearts, then pepper, then spades, then finishing with team hearts. Well, Brian and I took the first three games in convincing fashion. I'm sure its annoying to play against us because we (read: mostly I) like to talk about how good at cards the team is while we play. Well, trash talking is a big part of both teams' strategy, but we're almost always ahead. Well, shoot, there I go again.

37. Mark McGuire didn't get elected into the baseball half of fall. A travesty? I don't know. I don't care that he may have or did use performance enhancing drugs. Here's a number: 583 home runs. That's more than Mickey Mantle, of course he was usually using performance inhibiting drugs. But, I have to admit, beyond the home run total, what did Mark McGuire really do? Also, Cal Ripken gets the third highest admittance percentage of all time. Seriously? A good player, yes. A hall of famer? Okay, but not with flying colors. I understand he played a lot of games in a row, but he wasn't putting up phenomenal numbers season in and season out. Finally, put Pete Rose in the hall of fame. I don't like him either, but this is a hall reserved for the best players in the game. He is arguably one of the top ten players ever, certainly top 25.

38. Jake has a blog now. Now you know.

39. I'm itching to play some ultimate. Men's tournament in February in Minneapolis. It's 5/5 indoor, but we'll be the defending champions. It hurts losing Mike and Joe and Ben to Mardi Gras, but we'll still have Shawn, Brian, Jake, Dave, Jon, and myself, while adding possibly BJ and rising superstar David Bequette.

40. CLXMas this weekend in Kirksville, Missouri. Should be a fun time, if sectionals last fall were any indication. It will probably be the last time all of us are together (all of us that can make it that is). There's been some serious talk of an Iowa men's open team. Is it time (well, is it time for a non-Ethanol open team)? Yes. There is a lot of excitement from the right core of Ames area players right now. Time will tell where the rest of the players for the team will come from. Iowa City? Kansas City? Minneapolis...City? Expecting some drunken planning to go down this weekend.