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weekend recap

Jess helped me move my office around Friday night trying to find a setup that’s more fitting and less wasteful. I think I may have found something that works. I’m quite happy about this as it had been a source of frustration for quite a while. The room was unusable as it was and always left in an unfinished state. The clutter alone was enough to make me cloudy headed. Now I actually have room for another person or two to work as well as seating for two or three and a place to sleep if needed. Who wants to be my first office guest?

Later that evening we watched “The Cabin” “The Ruins” (thanks Bonnie) at Justin’s place. Even if it’s the last movie you have on the shelf I don’t recommend watching it. The baby actually slept while there, after much coaxing, which was quite a nice surprise. She just needs a clean, soft surface, pillows for a barricade, and a room with limited distractions (no blinking lights, squeaking doors, or fluctuating noise levels. She can tolerate anything as long as it’s constant. Oddly enough, this is a fairly hard environment to find in many of our friend’s houses so we often have a hard time with this.

I spent early Saturday morning at the McKinney Farmer’s Market where I bought some yummy peaches that were huge and some equally gigantic tomatoes. The people there were really nice and didn’t mind my camera at all. Next weekend I may try to catch the Dallas Farmer’s Market at opening. Anyone want to join me?

Later that day Jess and I took the baby to Third Monday Trade Days just to look around. Then I came home and cleaned up my newly arranged office. That evening a couple of friends came over and we basically played Rock Band until 2:30am when I finally couldn’t keep my eyes open and opted to go to bed.

I work up at 6am Sunday morning because I forgot to turn my alarm off. Once I was up, I couldn’t get back to sleep so, after laying around for a bit, I decided I may as well get up and get something done. I cleaned my office some more, then washed Jess’ car which seemed to have not been cleaned in several years. I then straightened out my ToDo lists and did a few things in the yard.

I got a call from my brother asking if we wanted to get together, which sounded like a good idea to me. I also found out that my other brother and his wife are getting a divorce and that my two nieces will be living with my parents for the time being. While I’m glad to have my nieces around again and grateful that if they were in a hostile environment they are now getting out of it, I’m quite shaken up to think that the two of them will have a torn childhood like my brother and I did.

A bit later our friends woke up, we played a few games of Mario Kart and then they decided to go home. Jess and I got a few things done around the house and then went to see my parents, my brother, and my nephew at my Dad’s place. We had a nice lunch, then played a few hands of poker (I lost $15). We stopped at the store on our way home to pick up a few things and then watched a little TV before bed.

Now it’s Monday morning. Instead of typing this up from my office before leaving for work as I usually would, I left bright and early and stopped at a starbucks near my office to work in an effort to beat traffic a bit. I think it worked as I got here in less than an hour.

Today is Jess’ do-nothing day so I’m trying to give her as much space as possible so she can do whatever it is that she wants to do without any interruption, confusion, or stress caused by me. I have no lunch or evening plans today so, if you’ve got something (or even nothing) going on, let me know and we can do it together.

Tomorrow I have lunch plans with a few friends which should be awesome. Then my brother and I are going to the casino that night. He swears they have a craps table at this place. I think he’s full of crap (ha, get it!) but we’ll see.

I’m not taking nearly enough photos lately. Got any ideas? Want to be photographed? Let me know.

heading out

along the wayGood Morning from Anchorage.

Since the sun’s already up, I don’t have to worry about my desire to get any where before sunrise. It nice and overcast which means great things for photography opportunities today. I’m pretty sure I’m taking the route through Watertown this morning, though I’ve got no one to answer to so I might change my mind. A quick poke at various weather forecasts shows that it might actually be overcast and stormy in the places I could travel tomorrow. So, if it’s not too late, maybe I’ll take the ferry at Tobemory after all, instead of going through Barrie. Then I can see the Island and Bruce Peninsula all in one day.

If you really want to know where I’m at you should check out my Bright Kite stream. I’ll keep it updated as often as I can. I turned off the sync between it and Twitter because it was annoying some people. Ha.

Went the casino last night. I really, really, really love playing Craps. I love that it’s complicated for no good reason. I love all of the superstition around it. I love that (most) everyone at the table is rooting for the same thing. I love that, even at the cheapest table in the house, if you’re playing well, you still end up with $50 on the table at any given time to lose. I love that there is so much math involved if you want there to be, but, if you’d rather not think about it, you can still play along. I lost $100 last night. Not too bad considering I’d told myself I could lose $200 and then just decided I was tired after 3 hours. I’ve never been able to come out ahead in Craps. I don’t really have a gambler in me (though Craps is the exception). But, if I did he’d say that if I went in the game with more cash I’d stand a better chance of coming out ahead. Something more like $500 or $600.

Some time in the next two days I’ll become mostly unreachable via Mobile Phone or email and will remain that way for about 2 weeks. So, if you need anything, leave a message and wait a few days for me to get back to you. Since I use Google Reader to keep up with websites and even LiveJournal, there’s little chance I’ll miss anything I really care about. However, just to be safe, you right something important or really interesting, do me a favor and drop me an email with a link so I’ll be sure not to miss it.

It will be hard to find any solitude during these travels. I’ll be surrounded by my In-Laws and all of their family for the next two weeks while staying at a summer camp. I won’t be able to find a corner alone unless I’m willing to actually leave on my own. Of course I have no problem with this usually, but this makes me appear to be rude if I do it too often and actually makes me real, honest-to-goodness bear bait, if I sit too alone or too quietly, much to the amusement of my In-Laws. My attempts to talk Jess into going with me don’t usually work, either. Maybe I should just buy some bells for my shoes.

Regardless of all that, I’m still hoping to get some soul seeking done some how. I’ve been having a really hard time lately. Several of you have picked up on this and talked to me about it which I really appreciate. I have some amazing, selfless friends.

That’s enough for now. Think of me, and send lots of love for me to pick up when I reconnect now and then.