Joined at the Hip

It always drives Brian crazy when I offer to do stuff for other people because it always ends up involving him because we are joined at the hip. We do everything together. So when I volunteer for things or when I want to do something that maybe isn’t that interesting to him, he inevitably ends up going albeit reluctantly.

I remember that I wanted to go attend one of the wind farm hearings last year. Boring, right? I know, but I find that stuff interesting and I was really curious about it and I very much wanted to go. Besides, the venue chosen for that hearing was the WSU Metroplex. It’s not that far from where we live. I managed to convince Brian to go.

Of course, everyone pitied Brian for having to sit through the whole proceedings because of me. While most spouses will take their partner to a nice dinner date, I take mine to a hearing about wind farms. That’s just me. I do have my moments, though. I did take Brian to Jamaica for a special anniversary trip last year. You kind of have to take the bad with the good.

Anyway, he was actually glad that he went with me to the hearing because there were some strange folks there. They weren’t strange in a harmful sort of way, but Brian tends to be a little over protective.

When I found out that Jan and her mom were thinking of either parking her car at the airport or taking a cab there, I offered to take her. The fact that we would need to go at 4:30 AM wasn’t even a consideration. I figured I could do this to help her so she doesn’t have to pay for cab fare or parking. What I failed to recognize was in doing so, I was unintentionally volunteering not just my time but Brian’s as well because we are so inseparable.

Brian is not a morning person at all and he is one who values his sleep a lot. I knew I had to talk to him about it. I explained that I did not expect him to go with me and that I offered to do this so I planned to take them on my own — without his help. He tends to worry for no reason so I had reminded him that I have dropped him off and picked him up from the airport by myself (although, we ran into some friends on one occasion) a few times now and I have been fine.

We had agreed this would be okay until Friday night. I’m not sure what happened, but after poker Brian decided he wanted to go. I reassured him that I had driven to the airport and back many times before, but he insisted on coming because I haven’t done it at four in the morning. I’m thinking, if anything that would be a safer time to go actually because there are hardly any cars on the road. I didn’t protest too much, though, because I do like his company. I enjoy having him around. We took them to the airport, came home, and went back to bed.

I just feel guilty sometimes because I think he’s not doing it out of want, but out of obligation. Kind of like when I’ve convinced him to go dancing in the past. He doesn’t enjoy it, but he goes because it’s what I want to do. I just hope he doesn’t end up resenting me in the long run. We’ve been together almost ten years now. So far, so good.

I did volunteer to work during the rate case hearing this week. I told him he could sit this one out, though. Since I’ll be working, it will probably be extremely boring for him. Even more so than the last one because on that one, I didn’t have to work and simply attended as a spectator. We got to sit in the audience and enjoy that one together. (Well, enjoy in my case. Endure is probably the more appropriate word in Brian’s case.) The plan is to just have him pick me up at the conclusion of the event. We’ll see how well that works out.

My Very First Scrapblog

Second Time Making the Final Table Together

Brian and I both made the final table at Blue Collar last night. I took 5th, while Brian and Chris chopped 1st and 2nd. They walked out with almost $200 each.

Brian played really well last night. I played really well, too. I only had $17K in chips after the break compared to Brian’s over $99K. Considering that we both made the final table, that says a lot.

I made a couple of crucial mistakes, but overall I was pretty satisfied with the way I played. One of the mistakes I made was against Rou when we were at two tables. Brian thought it was a mistake because I would have knocked Rou out if I would have just called. I thought I played it right, though, given the information I had.

Blinds were $3K-$6K and I was under the gun with Ace Jack off suit. I raised to $24K total. Everyone folds except for Rou in the dealer position. He went all in over the top. I needed about $32K more to call. I would have had about $15K left if I would have called and lost.

I thought about it for a long time and finally decided to fold. He turned over King Queen off. I was obviously in the lead with Ace Jack, but it was still pretty much a race. We’re not supposed to rabbit hunt, but we rolled it anyway. The flop would have been 10-Queen-10. The turn would have been another 10, giving Rou a boat. But then, the river would have been an Ace, giving me a bigger boat. He would have been out of the game at that point if I would have just called. I just couldn’t pull the trigger.

Fast forward to the final table. I am under the gun again. This time I have Ace Jack of clubs. The extra 3% edge suited cards have always seem to give me more confidence in my hand. I wasn’t messing around this time so I went all in. Rou called me with King Queen off (again). It was just the two of us in the hand. We both missed the flop and my Ace held up.

The one bad play I feel I made, though, was with my straight. I had limped in with King 10 in the small blind. There were three players in the hand. I ended up catching an Ace-high straight so I raised. Big blind went all in after my raise. I needed $140K more to call. I ended up calling with three hearts on the board because I didn’t think he had it. I just couldn’t let my straight go without seeing what he had. Just my luck! He had the flush. I ended up with only $15K left after that hand.

My first mistake was limping in with my marginal King 10. I should’ve raised pre-flop and just picked up whatever was already in the middle. The 2 4 of hearts would never have been in that hand.

Of course, calling the all in with a flush possibility on the board was an even bigger mistake. I think if I would have folded that hand, I would have finished higher and walked away with more than just the $24 I came home with. Oh, well.

The other nice thing about last night (besides Brian and I making the final table together for the second time) is that Michael (Caylor) came out to poker that night so I was finally able to give him the toys Brian and I had set aside to give away after cleaning our garage a couple of months ago. We had been lugging the stuff around in the trunk hoping that he would come to poker one day so we could give them to him.

We gave away Brian’s old Razor scooter that he used to roll around the T-Mobile call center in, pogo sticks, a table air hockey game, and a frisbee golf set. He has three young boys so we figured that they would get good use out of them.

Lake Afton Post-Wedding Thing

We had fun at Cory and April’s post-wedding get together at Lake Afton last night. Brian helped inflate several air mattresses. He also helped put together four different tents. He feels totally accomplished now that he has extensive tent-assembly experience.

It was a beautiful day/evening at the lake. It made me want to go camping. I want to return to Kanopolis, though. Maybe Brian and I can go at least once this year.

P.S. All the spiders gave me the heebie jeebies, though.

P.P.S. We took a lot more pictures than this. Check out the Flickr set for more.

Cory and April’s New House

We finally got to check out Cory and April’s new house. We had previously only seen pictures of it. They don’t close until tomorrow. They were supposed to close on Monday, but the seller’s ex-wife wanted to collect unpaid alimony from the proceeds of the sale so the seller had to work that out somehow. Minor snag aside, it looks like everything is going according to plan. The seller let Cory and April move the stuff from their storage unit to the house’s garage. We did that on Tuesday. Here are some pictures…

I would say that WE helped move the stuff, but I’d be lying. I maybe helped a little bit. The guys did most of the work. =P

Cory and April’s house floor plan reminds me of mom and dad’s house except on a smaller footprint. Same split bedroom floor plan minus the formal dining and with two bedrooms on the main level instead of three. Then the laundry is in the basement, whereas at mom and dad’s the laundry is on the main level. Both house plans have the same mid-level walkout except mom and dad’s breakfast nook off the kitchen opens to a covered deck.

Other differences include two bedrooms in the basement of Cory and April’s house instead of one big bedroom at mom and dad’s. I wasn’t really counting mom and dad’s office as a bedroom because it has no windows. Also, mom and dad have that extra bar area that has the double doors. The larger footprint affords them all that extra room, though.

Overall, Cory and April’s house looks great. It sounds like they got a fantastic deal on it, too. Plus, it’s in Wichita instead of in the boonies like the other house. =P

I can’t wait until it’s our turn. We just can’t get motivated, though. Ugh. At the rate we are going, our house will be paid off (ten more years) before we complete our remodel.

Photos from Mushroom Rock State Park

These are photos we took from Mushroom Rock State Park on Sunday. Overall we had fun, until we got pulled over for speeding. Ugh.

Pictures of Friends

Here’s a photo that Pia sent me.

This was taken last weekend when they hung out together. Pia is on the left and Sheryll is on the right. Pia lives in Concord, close to San Francisco. I haven’t seen her since our wedding day so it has been six years.

It’s been even longer since I’ve seen Sheryll. The last time I saw Sheryll was when I went to visit the Philippines in 1998. That was before she met Clay. She and Clay live in China now with their three kids. They are currently in the US visiting Clay’s parents who live in Santa Rosa, which is about two hours from San Francisco. Thus, she and Pia are able to get together pretty easily. Unfortunately, I get left out because I’m stuck here in Kansas. Ugh.

I’m sure they’ll be back for another visit, though. I will get to see her next time.

Speaking of friends visiting… Richard was in town recently. We met him and and his friends for dinner at Hana Cafe the other night. I took the pictures above. He seems to be doing really well in Texas and is part of a salsa group called Strictly Street Salsa. I thought I’d give their web site a plug. Here’s his instructor profile.

We’ve got two more trips planned (besides the Haloween poker cruise in October) in the coming months: visit San Francisco in December (or whenever Sheryll’s next trip is) and also visit Houston at some point so Richard can show us around his hood. We are busy, busy, busy.

Happy Anniversary

Today is our sixth wedding anniversary. Go us! Anymore we’ve gone from buying each other gifts to just taking a nice trip together. The last few years have been celebrated that way culminating in our fifth anniversary trip to Couples Ocho Rios (now known as Couples Tower Isle) in Jamaica last year.

This year we’ve decided to lay low. For one, we’re still recovering from our somewhat impromptu Vegas trip. Two, we’ve got a possible cruise (Brian says it is for sure but I haven’t received an update in a while) during the week of my birthday. That’s coming up in a couple of months.

Anyway, Brian’s riding mower blew up (literally) about two weeks ago which sent us on a lawnmower hunt. I was looking to spend less than $100 so I checked Craigslist and various avenues. Brian got a bonus from work recently (not a big one, about $1K after taxes) but we have been so pragmatic lately (except for when we bought Chris, his wife, and Jan lunch the other day — which wasn’t so practical, but they are wonderful people and we wanted to do something nice — plus it was TJ’s, my most favorite burger joint in the world). Every single cent that doesn’t get spent on gas, eating out, going to the movies, or the occasional poker tournament gets paid to our car, house, or my student loan. We are vigorously paying off our debt so that in a few years (well, 10 years if you count our mortgage) we will be completely debt free (unless of course, we get our wish for a home upgrade, lol — right now it’s way behind schedule).

But I digress.. We were still wanting to spend as little as possible on this lawnmower. After all, Brian eventually wants a RoboMower (like Doug’s) but that will come much, much, much later.

We ended up getting him a 22″ self-propelled Toro (same brand as the old riding mower) from Home Depot. Remind me to tell you my Home Depot story later. Anyway, we spent like $300 after tax — more than we wanted to spend but that was the best deal we could find. We couldn’t find any used ones, unfortunately. There were some $239 ones at Lowe’s but they were completely sold out. Ugh.

Here are pictures of Brian’s new lawnmower..

We are calling it his “Happy Anniversary” gift. LOL. I told Lance about it and he said, “What do you get?” I said, “I get my lawn mowed every week and that’s good enough for me.”

Speaking of mowing the lawn, he actually fired it up and mowed the lawn that day. This was on Thursday. I am so glad he did because it has been raining all weekend and if he would have waited the lawn would have had to wait another week. He says it works great.

So anyway, that’s the story of Brian’s new lawnmower. Next time, I’ll share my Home Depot story.

Sheryll is in California

Cheating on Bebot

File this under great service recoveries of all time…

Can you believe this is my car’s engine compartment? Everything was so clean and shiny. Brian and I were really impressed. Eddy’s totally delivered on their promise to “thoroughly detail” my car. They were not joking. They cleaned Bebot inside and out.

It looked like they took all of our junk out, cleaned the car and then put our stuff back where they were. I know because things were moved around somewhat. The floors and interior had gotten dirty from leaves and dust and stuff and everything was spotless when we picked the car up. The car seriously looked better than the day we bought it. That’s a huge compliment considering the car was bought brand new.

Of course, it rained the other day so I only got to enjoy my clean, shiny car for a couple of days at best. Isn’t that always how it goes? LOL.

I did feel a little guilty, though, because we almost didn’t want to get our own car back. We really enjoyed driving and riding around in the ’08 Prius. It made me feel very eco-friendly. LOL.

I have always thought Priuses looked ugly. I’m not a big fan of the hatchback trunk and the compact body style. After you realize how much gas you’re saving (or how little gas it consumes), it kind of grows on you. Plus, I think it’s shorter than my car but the interior is far roomier. It is surprisingly spacious inside. We fit Brian’s parents in there with us and we all had plenty of leg room.

I like how quiet it is, the cute power button, the backup camera, the design of the interior compartments (efficient use of space), and the gas mileage (naturally). I am totally sold. I’m not not much of a car person, though. In fact, I know nothing about cars so Brian will probably be able to share a more informed, educated review of the vehicle. All I know is that our next car purchase (probably in 2010 when the Priuses are manufactured in the US and improve to 70-80 mpg) will likely be a Prius because we really like it a lot. [ SIDE NOTE: It's a good thing we are not in the market for one right now because there is a seven-month waiting list at Eddy's. ]

Here are some pictures of the one we got to drive last weekend:

Yeah, we put gas in it though we didn’t really need to… That’s because we are nice. We did put quite a lot of miles on it with all the driving all over town that we did. Brian and I guess that we could probably go to Kansas City and back on a half a tank. I kind of wish we still had it for our road trip tomorrow.

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