I’ve been playing more poker, but just for fun and wholly expecting to lose money. I have been, more due to the skill of the other players than any bad luck or self fulfilling prophesy. It has been a lot of fun, I must admit. I can do about two hours of poker before I can’t concentrate and play really badly. This can actually be a lot of fun now, because of the new table that Andrew bought. It has RFID tags in all the cards, and the table reads what hands people have. It then shows the action in a stream to another room. I’ve really enjoyed watching that while the others that have busted out come to chat.
Steph and I went into the city to hang out with Nick for his annual meatball invitational. We had a lot of great food, then Steph and I played a really fun round of Innovation. For all the times I had tried to destroy the world before in the game with the nukes card, this was the first time it actually happened. Nick forced me to draw it, and I drew red, so the whole game was reset with just the remnants of the deck remaining. We quickly drew out and they won on score.
We tried making more of the veggie meatballs, but drowned them in broth. The broke up and we ended up with a veggie meatloaf. It was still good with the tikka masala sauce.
It has been a long time since I’ve updated things here, and most of that is due to all sorts of time consuming things going on, most of them good.
Late October we did a Magic draft at Andrew’s place. It was a Kaladesh draft, and I actually read up on things beforehand. I read one strategy that seemed good, and found that I had the card in my hand to start. So I ended up going with the assembly line robots. It worked great, especially since I got a second one passed to me immediately. I didn’t play one of the people, but ended up winning best of 3 every time. I got lucky with Andrew, and we played a few extra matches for fun, he ended up wining 3 games straight to get the best of 5.
We went on the O’Neil Catamaran in Santa Cruz with Mayfield and it was a really nice time. We saw harbor seals on our way out of the harbor, then otters around the kelp beds. We made our way over to the Santa Cruz pier, and it was of course covered with Sea Lions. We then headed out to deeper water, and saw a number of humpbacks. They were very pretty. We had a pretty relaxing time, and it was nice to talk to Mark, Hai, KJ, and Michael.
Steph and I went to Lindsay and Kevin’s place to join them for the newlywed’s game. Jamie and Leyan, Andrew and Debby, as well as Alana and Haru joined. Stephanie and I were doing really well, but the others were able to catch up, and we went into overtime. Haru and Alana, Kevin and Lindsay, vs Steph and I. In overtime Steph and I got eliminated early, then the other two couples had a lot of tied rounds. I don’t recall the final winner, but everyone was having a good time. Debby and Andrew were surprisingly bad at it this time, especially considering they won the previous time we did this.
I’m leaving all the work stuff out as usual, but there was plenty of fun that didn’t involve work. Some of us hit up the hot tub before going out for the evening. After getting out a lot of us were just hanging out and drinking near one of the craps tables that the others were playing at. It was a lot of fun, especially with the faux bachelor party bets that Cory and I were making. I bought a tiara that said “Birthday Girl” on it and whoever lost a given bet had to wear it. The bets ranged from who would do something first, to hi/lo, to even/odd, to challenges. I think we ended up with Cory having a slight lead, despite him ending the night with the tiara.
Stephanie got there Friday evening and we relaxed in the room for a bit before joining the others at dinner. It was a nice event, and brunch the next day was also pretty good. We went to see one of the most amazing shows I’ve ever been to, O. The whole thing was in a giant tank of water, and they used it to full effect.
We flew back on Sunday and didn’t do anything for the rest of the day.
Tina, Adam, George, Steph and I played a game called Battlestations. It is a turn based space RPG. I was a flying spaghetti monster engineer and died almost immediately. We ended up completing the scenario, but just barely. George made a masterful roll that kept us from blowing up, but we really should have all died instead of just me. The good side of me dying is that my clone now outranks all of them.
Steph and I had an amazing dinner at the Plumed Horse in Saratoga for her birthday.
We got the amazing tasting menu with the wine pairing. Not only was the meal fantastic, but the conversation was very substantive. I think this birthday dinner brought us together in many ways.
Steph and I joined Jeremy, Lindsay, Kevin, Adam, George, Andrew, and Debby at the Ren Fair near Casa De Fruita. It was a pretty good time with lots of weapon throwing and food. Kevin and I did really well in the javelin toss, with most of the others not being able to make it stick consistently. On the axe throw I was brazenly overconfident, thinking I could get 8/20 but only got 2. I’d be up for going back and renting a nice costume for the occasion. Adam got a pretty epic beard braid and ribbon. George rocked at the throwing stars.
It's an Exciting World 