Updates for early June

I haven't been posting much these days, but I suppose that goes without saying. I suspect that part of it is that I've been trying to avoid reading news or hitting politically charged blogs that would get me all juiced up. Maybe it's the hopelessness of it all, or maybe I'm just subconsciously stepping aside to let the better writers say what I want to say. There may be a lot of crap out there in the Blogosphere, but you have to at least give it credit for making people feel less alone out there in the electronic wilderness. Ah yes, the internet, bringing people (and wackos, can't forget the wackos) together since 1969.

So, what have I been up to?

Well, we've been doing our fair share of puttering around the garden; mostly in the mornings... making me late for work, but also on the weekends. We've been doing battle with the evil vine (Black Swallowwort), and the SOOTTAD has been putting in all kinds of native woodland flowers in the back. Off the top of my head I can come up with red lupine, bleeding heart and yellow violets... but I'm pretty sure there's more.

We had the first raspberry blossoms open this morning. The peas are a little thin this year, but there are a number of pods that are already maturing. We also had our first alpine strawberries mature, but we didn't get to actually taste them because they were swiped by marauding critters. Grrr. With the return of the warm weather today, the watermelon mounds which were looking so sad and barren in the cold and rain are finally showing signs of life. No such luck for the two new grape vines that we put in last year.

Monday, I got the green light on my shoulder. I'm still going to be careful with it (I'm trying to avoid any layouts until July), but I can have a little more confidence playing in games now.

Work finally seems to be under control, but I already have to refocus on the next big project.

I told myself when the last project finished, I would get back to studying Chinese. I've been listening to audio CDs in the car, but I really need to sit down and start reviewing characters again. Maybe this week...

Oh yeah, and I've been playing a bit of poker online these days too. I used to play with a bunch of guys in college; I have good memories of stumbling home at the crack of dawn, pockets full of nickels, dimes and quarters. It's not like I was any good, but I would get lucky at crucial moments that would allow me to continue playing.

The folks I played with were pretty hard-core card freaks; I'm not actually sure when those guys actually went to class. Or slept. They all started freshman year, back in the dorm. And when they weren't playing poker, they were playing bridge. (they moved on to blackjack the following year) They'd be playing in the lounge when you got back from class. And they'd still be playing when you went to bed. And the next morning, there they'd be, the scene exactly the same, except for the addition of a few empty pizza boxes.

I hadn't really played much since I got out of college. I have a few friends who play (regular games, even), but I've probably only played three or four times in the last year or two. So maybe a couple of weeks ago, I followed a link at Cardhouse to PartyPoker.com. I'd actually never played Hold 'em before -- it's been fun. And it's kinda nice to play online because you can play with real people, and you can pretty much play whenever you want, what with that whole global network thing and all.

And maybe that's another reason why I haven't been posting all that much...