July 5th, 2005

Happy belated 4th to everyone. Had a monster of a weekend, so I'll give you the highlights/lowlights....

- Had a great time at Origins Gaming Convention over the weekend. Jason and Kristie stayed at the house with me and we spent most of the weekend at the convention center. Played lots of poker (made the final table of the HLHE tourney on Sat, busted in 8th out of 97 players...prizes only to top 3...oh well). Was happy with the way I played, as I didn't take any huge risks (except for pushing pre-flop with a pair of 2s and loosing a pot to pocket 9s that called me down with an A and K on the board....amazing read on his part. Went all in under the gun with 88 on the final table and ran into AA and AQ, who hit a Q on the flop...I didn't improve and I was done.

- Jason and Kristie both qualified to play in the Settlers of Catan World Qualifier on Sunday afternoon...neither made it past the semi-final tables, but they had a great run and I'm pretty sure they had fun, even though they lost and didn't get a chance to play for the trip to Germany.

- Jen and the girls spent the weekend in Toledo and Michigan. Lots of swimming and playing for the girls, so they were exhausted yesterday when they got home. They also did their first fishing while in Michigan and both caught fish off the dock in from of their Uncle Al's house. They were both very excited and can't wait to go back....we're hoping to get a long weekend in August to spend up in Michigan with Al and Kathy and the fish....

- Went out with some local friends last night to see the fireworks in Pickerington. Weather cooperated and cooled off for the evening, so that was a welcome relief. Girls were tired, but behaved very well and made it through the fireworks and the walk back to the car before falling asleep as soon as they were in the car. They never even flinched as we carried them in the house and tucked them in. I was surprised when we got home, as it was still very hot and muggy at our house, but had been cool and pleasant in Pickerington....very weird.

- Last note...UB giveth and UB taketh away.....after a great month of June at the $5/10 tables on UB, the table struck back with a vengeance yesterday....lost about $400 in a session as my full houses were beaten, pocket AA/KK/QQ cracked by flushes on the river, straights beaten by full houses, etc, etc, etc. Was pretty sickening to watch happen. Will try and reverse the trend on Wed while Jen is at work and I get the girls to bed for the evening.

Til later.