Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner

After taking a half day to play golf with my buddy and playing my best of the year, I won $245 playing poker Friday night. That's a cool way to start a weekend.

Saturday night I had a date with the wife. Its the first time we've left the boy with anyone and the girl had a sleepover. We saw The Hangover II. Hysterical! If you liked the first one, you'll like this one. Then we went to a nice late dinner - and I ordered fish! Yes, red meat lover that I am, I wanted a change of pace. And it was good! Such a lovely evening.

Then, on Sunday, I was able to finally fix my gas grill to my satisfaction. It's been a pain for 2 years, but I finally think its all set now. I'm such a typical guy, I love all things cooked over open flames. AND, I was able to fix the gas burner on the stove the same day! I'm regular Tim Allen lately!

Then today I weighed myself and I'm down almost 5 pounds in 10 days! My crash diet for vacation next month is off to a flying start. Nothing like waiting until the last minute, eh?

Quite the positive experiences the past few days.

Long Weekend

Long weekends are always cool, of course. But they're even cooler when your birthday falls on the holiday allegedly being celebrated. Yup. My birthday fell on Labor Day this year.

What a great weekend.

Friday night the entire family went to see Avatar. We've seen it on DVD but not in the theater with the entire 3-D experience. Its truly a stunning movievisually, even if the plot is basically the Pocahantis story. I must have become desensitized to violence, thought, until I watch it next to my seven-year-old. But then, she said "cooooooooool!" a few times during some mayhem and let out a "guess that guy won't be using that head again" during a fight seen. I suppose she's unaffected by it all at this point. Is that bad?

Its also funny when people come by picking out their seats and notice an infant. You can hear the whispers and watch them slink away to another part of the theater. They just don't know how awesome he is. He stared that the lights for an hour or so then drifted off to sleep the rest of the time. Not a peep from him.

I golfed the next morning and played awesome if I do say so myself. Best round of the year. Just in time to tune it up for my annual Cape Cod trip/tournament.

Then Saturday night we took in some chilly minor league baseball courtesy of some tickets we won at a fundraiser. We had a blast and ate all kinds of bad food. Our team even won for a change. Plus their were fireworks afterwards. Our little boy took it all in. Easy peesey night!

I golfed the next morning and played less than awesome, but still played ok.

When I arrive home, my little girl was away with her aunt for the night so Mrs. Nouveau took me out to a nice seafood dinner. We both dressed up a bit and had a nice, but not great, meal. What struck me that night is how little people care what they look like! I understand wanting to be comfortable but flip-flops, cargo shorts and a white tee shirt for a Saturday night dinner? Put a little effort in please? Its not Macdonal's. Are we all that lazy that we can't put on a button-up shirt and some khakis? Perhaps I'm becoming a curmudgeon. My little boy was awesome again! Not a peep except for some smiles when patrons stopped by to say how wonderful he is.

I golfed the next morning. Actually played 27 that day, since it was my birthday blayed way less than awesome! Too much of a good thing I suppose.

And that night, after my little girl came back, my in-laws wanted to take me out to dinner. Since it was the holiday many restaurants were closed but we ended up going to a family place up their way. Originally we were just going for pizza, but all ended up getting meals. A decent chicken parmagian was my choice. The portion was huge!

Guess what? My little boy was awesome again! As we were leaving I could hear people in booths nearby commenting how they didn't even know there was a baby in the place. By the way, our little girl is pretty awesome when out too just to be fair. But she sure wasn't this easy when she was nearly 4 months old.

Oh and my birthday score? Some quite expensive golf spikes from the Mrs., a UCONN tee shirt and hat from my daughter and a gift card to Home Depot from my in-laws.

A great birthday weekend!

Weekend in a Life

Since hours are down for dealers at the casino I've been giving away my Friday nights to have more "weekend". In other words, the casino business is slow, so they've cut many dealers hours to 3 or 4 nights which means those that depend on dealing for their livelihood are always looking to pick up days which makes it easy when I want to give one away. I've given most of mine away since July. Now that the weather's crappy, I won't be giving as many away.

This past weekend went quite typical to most of mine lately:

Friday night I picked up The Little One from her after school program and after cleaning up the kitchen and living room we got into a game of Monopoly. She wanted to play in front of the TV since some show was on that she wanted to watch but I know she would be all distracted and the game would take forever. She acquiesced. It didn't even take an hour and just as we were finishing up Mrs. Nouveau came in from work. We had plans to shop, eat and see a movie but she was later than expected; as usual. No real biggie.

Anyway, my new truck doesn't have built-in GPS like my Honda did so we went out and purchased a portable one. Turns out, she wanted to buy me one for my birthday, which was the beginning of September. However, she ended up giving me some money and I picked up the balance since the one I wanted cost more than what she planned to spend. Or me, for that matter. Its nice though.

Then I treated them to Friendly's for dinner. I told TLO that their food is "for kids and old people" and she thought it was absolutely hysterical. Really, I don't care much for their food, but the girls were pretty happy with the decision, so I went along with it. And everybody loves Sundae's right?

We skipped the movie because it was already 9:15 by the time we got out of there.

Got home, watched a bit of baseball and hit the hay a bit early - even had some "quality time" the older female in my life *wink*.

Played golf Saturday morning. Even though it was about 39 degrees out, I like playing this time of year. There's few players on the course and its usually just my brother and me and we fly through the round and have a bunch of laughs in a less "competitive" atmosphere. Which was a good thing, because I played crappy.

Once home, the Mrs. went shopping with her mother for the afternoon which I thought was pretty cool. TLO and I had to exchange the GPS because something was wrong with it, so that took awhile and when I got back I tried to nap but the fucking phone would NOT stop ringing. TLO loves to answer it too because I would usually let it ring through to the answering machine. I really hate that thing. After failing to nap, TLO and I played another game of Monopoly. I LOVE playing with her. Its so much fun.

Then it was shower time and dealer time. I was tired Saturday night at work so I wasn't as hyper as usual. I did have one asshole player who I rooted against. He kept buying in for more so as I pushed the chips towards him, as usual, I said "good luck" but each time decreased the volume because he was down over $2000 in less than 30 minutes. He told me "no more good lucks! There not working". Like THAT was why he was losing. Douche Bag! Also, I hated how he talked to his wife. "Go away! I can't concentrate! Can you just leave me alone!" Therefore, in my mind, every time I drew to 21, I chuckled. Fuck him. He didn't seem the type to tip anyway. A guy I had later won over $6000 and he tipped me $200. Now there's a guy I can root for!

Home at 5 am, slept until 11:30 which is pretty late for me on a Sunday. It was rainy and snowy and miserable out so a good day to sit around and veg out. Mrs. N. took TLO to see the movie - Where the Wild Things Are. I really didn't have much interest in seeing it and the reviews I saw kind of killed it, so I begged out. Give the Mrs. and TLO some quality time together. The report I got was the movie wasn't that great anyway (at least from the adult perspective).

What's a guy to do when he has the house to himself? Why, turn up the amplifier and wail on his guitar for a bit. Then watch football and eat greasy Monte Cristo sandwiches. Really, that sums up my day. I dozed off watching baseball around 9:30.

Exciting huh? Typical weekend for me.

Weekend Update

Played a lot of golf. Weather was great at least.

**

Taught my Little One to ride a two-wheeler bike in less than 10 minutes. The three or four times she fell, I caught her. She's been off and running since.

**

I put in a little gym in my garage. A bench, some free weights over a nice pad. Its nice and I really think I'll give it some use.

**

My wife has been so.........HAPPY. News of the pregnancy has just put a complete spring in her step and its awesome to see. I bet it doesn't even taint her 40th birthday coming up in a few weeks.

Fore and a Day at the Beach

I had such a great long weekend. Went to a cool party Saturday afternoon and had my fantasy football draft (I did shitty) last night. More important, I golfed all three days but none was as much fun as Sunday afternoon's round when Mrs. Blogger played with me. The Little One was off camping with her aunt, so the Mrs. and I had a nice day and night without kid responsibilities.


She'll play golf with me about twice a year. She really doesn't have a passion for sports but she is an excellent athlete. Actually, I think she is a better natural athlete than me but because she doesn't have drive for athletics, she isn't inclined to practice or play more often. Usually, she just plays so we can spend time together. There's a lot to like about her swing and she takes instruction well (from a husband, no less), plus she takes each shot seriously. That's all I can ask.


She was totally psyched up to par the third hole too! The assistant pro for the club was in the group ahead of us and even he didn't par the hole so she really got a charge out of it. That's the beauty of golf in a lot of ways, you can at any instance be better than someone much better than yourself.


My main goal, though, is for her to have a good time. I want her to want to keep coming back out and since she's had more than her fair share of rainy or wickedly hot rounds, we were glad to see how beautiful the weather turned out. Clear skies and 78 degrees with just enough breeze to be perfectly comfortable.

Also, I tempered the amount of instruction to keep things light and easy (which I'm also doing with the Little One at the range) and while she didn't have her best round ever, she did hit some of her best shots ever. Her problem was she couldn't stay out of the damn sand (she should have brought a towel and a radio for the amount of time spent in the sand) or putt the ball close enough. I suppose, though, that's every golfers dilemma.

No doubt, it'd be cool if she was more into it, but I'm happy that she agrees to come spend time with me doing what I love to hate so much. I marvel at her natural talent but she doesn't see it. She just sees what's going wrong. I like that, too. It shows competitiveness, even if only with herself. I also happened to have one of my better rounds of the year shooting a tidy 80. Perhaps its because my game's coming around (it is, for sure) or just playing with someone new to the incredibly hard game that it keeps me relaxed. Its hard for me to get real upset missing a birdie putt for 3 when she's up around 9 strokes or so and still 50 feet away.

Afterwards we went out to a nice dinner and then to see the Simpson's Movie. I'm a huge Simpsons fan, but I was a bit disappointed in the movie but then I'm not sure what I expected.

It wasn't nearly enough to spoil the day though. Can't wait to play again. Can't wait for Mrs. B. to join me again.

Weekend Update

I played in my monthly poker tournament Friday night and came in 2nd out of 28 and won $245! I'll probably spend it on mulch and flowers. Its good that I'm playing well and I have earned enough points to qualify for the end of the year tournament in December already. So I have that sewed up. Cool beans.

As a result, however, I didn't finish playing until 1:40 a.m. Compound that with a a bad wreck on the highway resulting in it being shut down and I didn't get home and into bed until nearly 3:00 a.m. It seemed only minutes until my alarm went off at 5:20 so I could play golf. Perhaps exhaustion is the reason I totally sucked once again. And I was playing in a club tournament. I've played well only twice this year and sucky a bunch. It really chafes my ass because I went into Saturday so confidently. Shame. Maybe I should stick with cards. Or boche or something.

Then, on only 2+ hours of sleep plus a 45 minute catnap, I went to a Cinco De Mayo party Saturday evening/night. I was starving upon arrival and planned to chow down before drinking but there were only appetizers. Everything on the table had to be dipped into something else on the table and none of it seemed too appetizing to me. I could have really gone for some simple tacos but none were to be found. Mexican party and no tacos. What the hell?

Anyway, the party started slowly and I didn't feel 100% initially but around 10 p.m. things began cranking along and we went strong until nearly 2 a.m. Funny how at a party with all friends and family you reminisce about things you've already reminisced about 20 times before. Yet, the laughs are just as hard, if not harder, as always. It must be due to the familiarity and camaraderie of shared experiences. Or alcohol.

Generously, my brother, who normally drinks like a fish, volunteered to be the designated driver and has a van so a quite a few got pretty lit up comforted in knowing we'd get home safe. In any event, I had a good time but was running on fumes due to lack of sleep. Good thing for second and third and fourth winds.

Then I was up 5 hours later to try to get a bunch of yardwork done but my lawn tractor wouldn't start. Since it wouldn't I fiddled around the yard trying to do other stuff but had my heart set on mowing and leaf mitigation and the damn tractor got me off base. After a time, I went into the house and started working on a Mother's Day project I thought up. I think she'll like it, but I won't divulge it here per chance Mrs. B. peeks in on my blog.

Finally, around 8:20 p.m. I was dozing off to The Simpsons. All was quiet and peaceful until a tiny hand firmly rubbed my shoulder. "Hey daddy! Are you sleeping?"

"Well, not anymore, honey."

"Can I snuggle with you?"

"Of course, sweetie. Climb on up."

That warm, tiny, bony body that excells in poking me in all the wrong places at all the wrong times never felt so good. It wasn't at all difficult to fall back asleep.

Weekend Update

Our weather has finally broken into spring! Highs near 80 on Friday, over the weekend and into today. About friggin' time!

Therefore, Friday night I went to Home Depot to get some items I needed for the work I planned over the weekend. It took awhile plus I needed gas and beer. Got home in time to watch the Red Sox play the Yankees and make a great 8th inning comeback to win! Woo hoo!

Saturday morning I got up very, very early to get a run in before I went to play golf. Alarm buzzed me at 4:45! VERY proud of myself. Did three plus miles in which I saw two deer down the end of my road, showered and went to the course an hour before tee off to work on my game. I thought I found where the problem has been with my swing but it only lasted the front nine. Shot 44 then 50! 94 total! Argh! I should be in the mid 80's not mid 90's! Oh well. I'm trying to have fun still but feel pretty frustrated out there.

Came home and immediately got to work on installing a new decorative retainer wall along the front of the house among other yardwork. That took up a good chunk of the day. Showered up in time for Red Sox / Yankees game at 4pm. Another great win thank you very much!

During the game my sister-in-law called because she wanted to take the Little One overnight. Fine by me! So Mrs. Blogger and I decided to go out for dinner. First we called friends of ours to join us but they weren't around so we went to a nice little place we go to maybe twice a year. Surprised to learn the restaurant was having a comedy show in the lounge. Perfect! When we walked into the lounge who was there? The friends we called! More perfect! They were with other friends as well. Four couples. None of them go there very often either. What are the odds we go that particular night?

Anyway, we had a blast! The comedians were quite funny. We also had lots of laughs about Mrs. B's low-cut blouse. The women commented a few times about "them" much to Mrs. B's embarrassment. The guys noticed too, but didn't comment as much. She's not huge by any stretch, but they're nicely sized and I think the "presentation" made for even more. That and a good bra which I learned if from Silky's from the lenthy conversation the women were in.

I, of course, didn't mind the "attention" she got at all. On the contrary. I always enjoy "showing her off" as long as it's sexy but not slutty. It was tasteful in my opinion. Having said that, Mrs. Blogger is pretty modest and the attention from friends made her self conscious. She wouldn't care so much about strangers but with friends it was different. "I wore it for HIM, not all of you!!" Funny stuff.

The evening flew by. This place's bar usually shuts down at midnight but they stayed open until 2 a.m. for us. In Connecticut that's the latest allowed by law. Apparently we were spending plenty of money and tipping well. The bartender and manager even hung with us and had some drinks. They even treated us to a few rounds on the house. Alas, I was driving so I took it easy but everyone else got pretty lit up. My buddy's wife even left early (he stayed!) because she drank too much. Fun, fun night!

Then on Sunday morning, after sleeping in a bit, I fired up the mountain bike and went for an hour jaunt! Its been years since I rode but quickly remembered how much I missed it if not how out of shape I've gotten. I banged up my knee in a little spill but had fun and got a real good workout. I will try to make that my Sunday morning routine. I can go alone, but I'd love to find someone with whom to ride.

When I got back I finished the wall, did some landscape planning, planted some new plants, washed the car, went for some Chinese takeout and got home in time for....you guessed it....Sox/Yanks on ESPN at 8!! Sox won. Again! I really like this team!

Nice weekend. I'm going to try to make it a habit.

Easter Weekend Wrap-Up

Had a nice little weekend. Here's how it went:

Friday:

Woke up early so I decided to go into work so I could get out early if stuff was in order. Spent most of the day setting up my new work computer. Its such a hassle to transfer all the work related documents, data-bases and programs (still doing it today). However, this new PC is so much faster and nicer. Also, it has the new Microsoft Vista Operating System. Its taking me a bit to get the hang of some aspects of it, but I will be fine. Loving the flat-panel screen and all the extra desk space.

Things went well and it was quiet there, so I was able to bug out of work by 2, hit the driving range on the drive home and spend a few hours with the family before I was off for poker night. Came in 6th out of 29 I think. Didn't earn any money, but earned points toward the end of the year tournament. I'm playing pretty well. Got home real late though at about 1:10 a.m.

Saturday:

Got up early again because I was golfing in the afternoon and wanted to get some stuff done around the house prior to going. Planned to clean and do some yardwork, however, I only ended up making an apple pie (I am kind of learning to cook a few things) for Easter Dessert. Spent lots of time chatting away with Mrs. Blogger so before I knew it it was time to head out to the course. I've been practicing well so I expected to play well but didn't. I played ok, shot 89, but I can be so much better. I keep reminding myself its early but I'm a bit disappointed in my game. Going to have to keep working hard. Having said that, it was cold and windy too - about 42 degrees. So that's my excuse for now. Spring's arrival is sure taking its sweet-ass time this year.

Came home in time to shower and dress quickly as we were off to a 40 year old birthday party for a friend. It was in a little Mexican Restaurant that turned into a Karaoke bar at 9. I was driving, so I had to soberly watch many of my idiot friends, who swore up and down at 9:15 they wouldn't do it, make fools of themselves a few hours later. Ah! Margarita's, Corona's and a microphone. Good times!

Mrs. Blogger drank way more than normal for her and was pretty funny belting out Melissa Etheridge's "Come to my Window". That's out of character for her, but she was quite lively (which she always is, but moreso liquored up) and we really did have a blast. Then I poured her into the car where she stayed since she refused to go inside her parent's house to pick up The Little One. They suspected the reason why she didn't come inside to pick up their granddaughter and had some good laughs about it the next day.

Easter Sunday

Again, awoke early (can you tell I'm tired today?) to get some yardwork done (cleanup, trimmed, raked, etc.) showered and changed to go to the In-Laws for Easter dinner at about 1pm. Rather intimate affair this year (there were about 10 of us) but it was very, very nice. My apple pie was great and the Little One used excellent manners and listened well, so we were very proud parents. Mrs. B was hung over as was her sister who was also in attendance the night before, so they were rather subdued.

In spite of how shitty she felt, Mrs. B. wore stay-up, thigh-high, stockings to dinner (Rowr! Rowr!). However, she was cursing them by 2pm or so since "stay-up" is merely packaging propoganda. The things women do for their men! Funny, too, how stockings at mid-thigh are hot, but down around the knees they become the exact opposite of hot.

Anyway, an enjoyable Easter. We were even able to watch a bit of the Master's after dinner (Tiger didn't pull out the victory) before heading home at about 7 so I could eat more (as if I needed to) and watch the Red Sox beat Texas 3 to 2. Of course, I was dozing off in the 8th inning at around 10:45.

That's it. Quiet enjoyable holiday weekend.

Weekend Wrapup

Had a busy, busy weekend and a busy work day today, so I'm going to keep my weekend update brief.

Friday Night: Family night at The Little One's school. Mrs. Blogger is on the parent/teacher board. Designed for a few hours of parent/kid bonding. They treat us to pizza and juice and have games, face painting and other stuff to do with your kids. Its kinda cool and the turnout was surprisingly good. My only issue would have been the treatment of the fathers. I don't think congratulations are in order because a) I attended in the first place, b) I know how to make my kid a meal in her mother's absence and c) I know where her clothes are.

Jesus! That's dumbing dads down, isn't it? Reminds me of the Chris Rock thing - when a dad proudly proclaims "I take care of my kids!". YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO you idiot! Be proud to be a good dad. But congratulations aren't in order because you do what you're supposed to. Better to be recognized than not I suppose.

Saturday: I played a card tournament. One hundred dollar buy-in. Came in 86th out of 102. Yeah, I suck.

Saturday night: Mrs. Blogger and I went to the Mohegan Sun Casino. Auntie wanted The Little One overnight and with our freedom Mrs. Blogger wanted dinner and gambling. Well, I certainly don't have to be persuaded for that! Exactly, my kind of night. We dressed a bit and went to dinner at Michael Jordan's Steakhouse in the casino. It was excellent but expensive. Around $160 for the two of us. But then I won over $450 at the craps table! Yay me! After ice cream cones at 1 a.m. we headed out. The place was packed, including kids. I don't get who goes to the casino with 2, 3 kids in tow and is still there at 1 a.m. I think, then, that congratulations are in order for Mrs. Blogger and me for NOT doing that!! It wouldn't even occur to us to drag her around there while one of us gambled.

Yesterday: I went to the UConn Men's Basketball game and watched them lose again! I am not accustomed to watching this team lose and I've seen it three times this year. They're just young and not yet very good. Had some time to hit up the driving range too so I could work on my game before going to Las Vegas. It was packed because it was 45 degrees out. Golfers really are nuts!

Last night: I treated Auntie, The Little One and Mrs. Blogger to pizza with some of my winnings. Tried a new pizza place and it was just ok. Since I was operating on about 5 hours sleep for the whole weekend I was lights out asleep before 9 I think.

That's about it. Great weekend and while I missed my Little One a bit, it was nice to just hang out with The Mrs.. Besides, she got to sleep in to 11 yesterday. Dopey me was up at 7 watching Lost on DVD.