Working Weekend

Not work in the paid sense, just getting stuff done around the house. Kind of boring really but it needed to happen. (Un)fortunatley, our cricket opponents for this weekend forfeited to us, so it gave us a chance to get this done.

I guess it started on Friday afternoon when my car would not start after work. This had also happened earlier in the week but that time it started on the 2nd attempt. 10 minutes of trying, and re-trying did nothing. AAA was summoned and I expected to have to be towed home. The driver took my key, tried it once and it worked. So, other than feeling like an idiot, I at least was able to drive home.

Saturday began with buying some deck cleaner and a power washer to try to clean up our new deck. There is an overhanging branch from our walnut tree that is home to several squirrels. Unfortunately, they sit above the deck and the scraps from eating the nuts fall down and unless you clean it off right away, it will stain the surface. While we were in Germany, it got badly marked so this was step one in dealing with the problem. It helped a little and the rest of the marks will (hopefully) fade over time. We also set up a temporary canopy to help protect it and plan to get the offending limbs trimmed to solve the issue.

We also had to buy another air conditioning unit for our spare room - Mindy's mother and sister are coming to visit for this week and with the recent heat, had to do the right thing to keep them comfortable.

Much of the afternoon was spent with friends at a kids birthday party. Great food, especially the fruit salad. We unfortunately had to leave a little early, right when we were getting into a serious discussion on worm composting, to pick up my car after getting a new battery.

Sunday was largely consumed with cleaning up my office. Huge stacks of paper where tossed and shredded and now it is getting close to being usable again. I also found time to watch several hours of poker, much to the annoyance of Mindy. Normally she does not mind it being on, but the sheer volume got to her this weekend. I am catching up on old recordings of a show "Poker After Dark" - 6 professional players, $120K winner-takes-all format, where you get to see every hand that is played. While this does reduce the excitement factor, it is interesting watching them play every hand from a poker perspective. As a result though, each tournament lasts about 4 hours. Due to catching up on this show, I am now behind with watching the WPT events. Add to this the fact that the 2007 WSOP events are also being shown now and there is not going to be much respite for Mindy in the near future!

Not to imply that it dominates my life, but I am 1/2 way through reading the book "Big Deal" by Anthony Holden, detailing his year as a professional poker player (a gift from Adam...who actually might be the only person still reading this!). In any case, it is a very enjoyable book and a nice way to fill in the hours between watching and playing.