All These Things

I know February is a short month, but this is ridiculous: Where has the time gone?

As you might guess, I've been keeping plenty busy lately. We had what might be our last game of Ultimate for the season (save for the final tournament) last Wednesday, for instance.

This weekend Debbi and I mostly puttered around. Debbi has taken up walking, I think egged on by my friend Karen, and has been getting up early on the weekend to go walking. I occasionally walk with her, but not very often. I don't mind walking, but I'm not really into it, y'know? But it does get us up earlier on the weekends, which isn't a bad thing. So today we decided to head to Los Gatos, a town at the south end of Silicon Valley, to walk around. We didn't have any plans, we just wanted to do some window browsing. I bought some new wind chimes for my patio, and we stopped in to look at the great selection of cat trees at Pet People. Despite the rain that arrived today, we had a good time.

Last night we went over to Subrata and Susan's to watch (once again) what might be my favorite movie of all time, North By Northwest. I'm sure I've gushed about it before, and I'd do so again in person when given half a chance. Other than maybe the music score, I love everything about it: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Martin Landau, the settings, the dialogue, the textbook use of film techniques, the humor. Really, it's Hitchcock's most perfect film, one of the few films I watch again and again.

One of the guests last night had never seen it before, just the first 15 minutes. So I think it was a real treat for him.

After a little buildup (most of it inside my head), last Tuesday I went to the Bay 101 card room to play some more poker. I've got the bug, as Debbi says! It's a nice environment to play in, and I guess fundamentally playing at a poker table is going to be similar whether it's here or in Vegas. I played for about 2 hours and came out ahead in 3/6 hold 'em, which I figure is a win. I'm still figuring out my game, but I did have a couple of good reads of other players, taking a pot away from one while bailing out of another pot not a moment too soon.

With frisbee winding down, this might replace it as a weekly activity. I'm hoping to go again this week, although it looks like they're hosting a tournament so maybe there won't be room for the once-a-week patrons (unless the event ends by the time I get off of work). Well, I could always try Garden City Casino instead (even though the annoying music on their Web page turns me off a bit). But I'll probably call Bay 101 to ask if they'll have open ring games in the evening, or if the tournament will be filling the floor for the whole day.

I'll be very disappointed if I don't get to play this week!

Lastly, we're in the run-up to baseball season. I made the one trade I really needed to make in the off-season in my fantasy league this past week, which is a load off my mind. I should also check whether A's and Giants tickets are on sale yet, as I'd like to buy tickets to some games early this year to make sure I get some good seats (especially since the A's - whose fan-friendliness I've questioned in the past - have closed the third deck of the Coliseum for their home games this year).

Baseball season right around the corner - I can hardly wait!