Double Down!

What Vegas. I Ain't Goin' to No Vegas
--Mikey

A happy little e-mail showed up on my cyber doorstep today:

We're entered in the Las Vegas Friendship (soccer) tournament, Jan 15-17.

Sweet merciful crap! How the heck am I gonna fit a minimum of three soccer games into a Vegas weekend? Early over/under on players at the field for Sunday morning kick-off: 4. I can't even fully articulate how I feel about all of this. I've played on this team for nearly 10 years. In that time, various smaller groups of us have made the journey and it's always been a blast. Now the whole team is going? I hear even ex-teammates who've scattered across the country are inquiring about possible roster slots. We could show up with 30 guys.

This definitely brightened my day, as I've not been able to play much poker with the in-laws in town. My wife assured me it wouldn't be rude if I played a little, but I think it would be. Not to mention the potential for them to throw around the term "degenerate husband" when they return home (Really, they're very nice and have gone to bed early a few nights so I can fit in a few dozen orbits). So, spent last night assembling, oh, 130 puzzles with The Boy. Also took a bad beat at Candyland.

One more thing. I want to once again thank Iggy, Al and CJ for welcoming me. Y'all are part of a daunting group of talented writers/players and I very much appreciate it. I don't even remotely feel as though I am part of the community, but I'll do what I can to earn my stripes. I guess I gotta start by taking down some monster pots with The Hammer.