Back on the grid.

Hey all... Yes, I've been a little MIA lately, and that's because the last couple of weeks have been really busy, really long, and I just haven't had any time to spare.

Finally... [breathing out], this week feels good again. Its nice to be in places for longer than a week, and I'm finally getting not only some serious work done, I'm also getting a few projects out of the way. Yesterday, I fixed the problem of having my desk right behind the kitchen sink. You can see from the photo that I put in a lexan shield that's just about the right height to make doing anything at the kitchen sink a little easier. A fairly simple project, but I figured I had one shot at doing it right, so it took me a little time - as projects tend to do until they rattle around in my head a bit.

Today I got the 12V outlet in the belly in, so that way I can monitor the tires without a problem now. I bought a TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System) for the truck and the trailer (at the tune of close to $500), and after I installed it in Kentucky, it didn't have enough power to monitor all the tires. Turns out this is a normal problem they don't tell you about when you buy it, but a little calling and complaining got me a new piece of equipment to help. I had to wire a new plug for it, but it seems to work so far. I hope it continues to make my life easier when we're travelling - one less thing to worry about.

Last thing... Today I went to the Mohegan Sun to play poker for the first time since the regular homegames in Kentucky. I went and visited Harrington Raceway once when we were in Delaware, but it wasn't a place I felt comfortable and I just didn't want to play there. There have been other opportunities at various places, but I'm glad I didn't force the issue. Tonight, I was ready to play well, have fun, and told Jill my goals before I left. Start with $100 and turn it into 3.

The Sun is a huge casino (found out by parking at one end and having to walk the ENTIRE complex to get to the poker room). I can't wait to get to Foxwoods to compare, but that's another post in about three weeks. The place was clearly modeled after Caesar's in Vegas (before the super-huge mall), and I felt like I was in Vegas, as did the thousands of people there on a Tuesday night. Its within minutes of another casino, so clearly - there is enough business to go around. For me, the Poker Room was my destination.

Once there I signed in for the cheapest game they had - $2/4. They had some big games running, including ones where not just house payments, but the cost of entire houses could be won and lost in one hand. Not my size of game, but my goal was clear - have a good time, try to double your money - quit if you do better. I enjoyed the table, tripled my buy-in and came home within 4 hours of leaving. All-in-all a really good night. I was really glad to see that my game is still pretty good, even though I've been off it for so long.

I hope all is well out there for you who read the blog. We're doing this for a variety of reasons, first of which is to document the trip - but if we can entertain a few people while we do that, we're excited. Let us know you're out there - if you haven't already. :)