Surprise!!

We drove up to Michigan yesterday to take part in a surprise birthday party for Laura, my sis-in-law. We arrived at the restaurant and were taken downstairs where we chatted with other guests and started on the boose (or maybe that was just me).

Laura arrived, expecting a quiet meal with just her husband and daughter and then spotted us. She was very surprised and happy. Not sure if surprise is a great thing for a recent heart patient, but we were very gentle in our surprise. :-)

The food was excellent. I had a rib eye of course and it was delicious. Followed by birthday cake and had to have (it's the law) creme brulee. Felt rather fat and I'm sure I gained about 20lbs, but hey, it's a special occasion.

Spent the night here and heading home later today. It's been very nice to have a few days away from work. Back to it tomorrow though and gotta go to the Greenwood store on the south side of Indianapolis. But hey, it's all fun.

Big Crime

The BBC reported this story about the UK's largest cash robbery.

The personal interest I have is that Tonbridge is my home town in the UK!!

Poker Night

Kevin, with whom I work, is quite the poker buff. Unless he's bluffing, in which case he's not, but then he was bluffing, which means he probably is. Anyway, he has a game each week and I'm probably going to go play. But this brings up the interesting point, that I really don't know how to play.

I'm looking forward to this. Poker night with a few beers. It's just so American. When I was growing up, poker wasn't nearly as popular as it is now. But I did see American men playing on TV. Like in Roseanne, Dan and his friend were relegated to the garage to play a few hands of poker, drink beer and eat pizza. In the garage. But now poker has an acceptable quality to it. It's a game women can play just as well as men and on an equal footing. It surprises me that it's only become really popular in the last few years (so it seems to me at least). This is, of course, down to television, with it's learned commentary and "poker cams" that let us see the cards. Not to mention the many online poker sites that have sprung up on the Net over the past few years.

This leads me to my problem. I only play online. I can probably count on one hand, the number of "real" games I've played. I can probably cut all my fingers off and still count them all. Which means I've not had to worry about working out how much to add to the pot to call a raise before me, keeping track of chips, playing out of turn, etc. It's a lot to worry about on top of having to actually play the hands I'm dealt. The other issue is that online you can't judge the people you're playing against. You can't see reactions, so you tend to not hide your own. I half expect to jump up shouting in joy when I get a pocket pair. It will be interesting. I'll have to keep visions of Phil Ivey's poker face in my head (if you know the world of poker then you'll know what I mean)

But I am looking forward to it. I don't expect to win of course (see my original comment that I can't actually play) but it's not about winning. The buy in is so small that it's about the game itself, about the interactions with friends. It's about socialising. So yeah, Kevin, I'll see you in a week or two. (Imported beer is better than American gnats piss, excuse my French) :-)

p.s. The picture is one of mine. Made on the computer in Bryce and photoshop.

Kitchen Window

The problem with blogs is, how personal do you get? This isn't like a diary that would be hidden from view. This has all my thoughts for the entire cyber world to see. Which then brings up the problem that I will write things that I don't want certain people to see. I can't write about work, since my work colleagues will see this.

For example, I have my review today. But I can't really write about the outcome, since I know the people I work with will read it and the information is, of course, confidential. So where do I write down my thoughts about it? Ona piece of paper I guess. Which kinda negates the idea of a blog.

Therefore, I think I should stick to writing, as before, fluff. Which means you won't get anything juicy, or even interesting in this blog.

Imagine that my life is a manison and you are walking around trying to look inside. This blog is the kitchen window. You look inside and all you can see is my oven. It won't really give an idea what's in the other rooms of the mansion. If you want to see the other rooms, you'll need an invite.

Another New Blog

This is probably the 3rd blog I've started. I've switched to blogger for a few reasons. I have other (non personal) blogs in here and I do like the various options.

So if you looked at the old Livejournal blog, that won't be updated any longer.
Myspace I will update, but will probably havet he same info as blogger. Plus all the MySpace nonsense.

I will try and keep this journal more updated than the previous ones.
Please feel free to comment.
Phil