Stressful times

It's been one hell of a week.

On saturday night, we got a call that Jess' dad was in the hospital after getting hit by a car while crossing the street. We rush down to the Hosptal of UPenn to find that he was brought into emergency surgery where they were trying to save his leg. Many hours later as the sun is rising on sunday morning, we get word that the operation went well, and with the help of a good amount of hardware, amputation was avoided. It was a looooong night. We're thankful that everything seems to have worked itself out, now we just keep our fingers crossed that there will be no infection (always an issue with multiple compound fractures), and that recovery will be as pain free as possible.

So of course being up all night saturday, I slept through a good portion of the Eagles-Giants game on sunday, but I was very happy with the result. Living as a Giants fan in Philadelphia can be unbearable when the Eagles are victorious. Would you believe I haven't heard a peep out of those obnoxious Philly fans this week! I've actually behaved myself and haven't rubbed it in too much, with as brutal as that loss was.

Things are moving forward on the house front. We'll be homeowners in three weeks!!!!! That's really right around the corner. We're already freaking over mortgage payments- lol. We took a good look at our budget, looking for places where we could easily tighten up and save a few dollars here and there, and have come to the conclusion that we spend WAY too much money every month on cigarettes. Between the 2 of us, we figured that we were wasting $300 a month. So on Monday, we both quit cold turkey. She hasn't missed it too much yet as she has had a cold and probably wouldn't be smoking while she is sick anyhow. I, on the other hand, have been an absolute *JOY* to be around the last 72 hours (~sniff~sniff~ smell that people??? the sarcasm is strong with this one) Especially with the events of last weekend, it may not have been the best timing in the world, but there's no time like the present. There's no doubt in my mind that I am now a non-smoker...... but these next few weeks aren't gonna be pretty.

This weekend is the big "Bash at the Boat", thrown by one Mr. Al Can't Hang and associates. I am looking forward to the festivities and meeting a few bloggers whose writing I enjoy on a daily basis. Of course, nobody will know who the hell I am, but that's their problem, not mine. I'd like to thank Al for putting me on the list of attendees on his blog, in turn pimping out this site to anyone desperate enough to work their way 30 deep into a list of blogs, looking for something decent to read. Not that they found that here. ANYHOW, I'll be heading over to the Boathouse after I get out of work on saturday evening, and will be throwing back copious amounts of alcohol with some fine fine people. From what I imagine, it will be a wild and crazy evening. I hear there will even be sorority pledges on call to act as designated drivers. Sorority girls, is there anything they can't do???

Some Pics of the house

the screened in patio
Jess working the bar!
from the front
our backyard

WOWOW

Sometimes you just have to shake your head, smile, and thank the good Lord that He put people on this earth with no brains and disposable income. This poker thing is easy when you find players like that at your table.

I'm not one to criticize players for the most part, but this hand that I just played begs the question, "What the hell were you thinking?" Here's the setup..... 1/2 No Limit game on bodog. I buy in for $200, sit down and scoop the first pot to increase my stack to approx $220. Next hand, I get dealt A9 offsuit in the small blind. It gets limped around to me, so I throw the dollar in to see the flop. First 3 cards out come 333. It gets checked around. On the turn, the case 3 comes out, so now I play the board and have the nuts- Quad 3's with an A kicker. I throw out a pot sized bet just to see what happens, not expecting any action, or a split pot. I get reraised $25. Ok, we both have Aces, right? I figure what the hell, I'll push all in, we're gonna split the pot anyways. All $220 goes into the middle. I get called, like I expected. He flips up Q high.... NOT what I expected! And of course, just to mock him, a useless Q hits on the river. That very well may have been the most moronic play that I have ever seen at a poker table, or at least the most costly moronic play that I have ever seen at a poker table.

It's been a good week for me. My fortunes at the table have turned for the better (gotta love when variance works in your favor) so my bankroll is almost back to where it was 3 weeks ago. We have our house inspection tomorrow, I'll snap some photos and will post them here if anyone is interested. What the hell, I'll post them here even if nobody is interested.

One thing that I am going to miss when we move is our local tavern. Quotations Bar is just a few minutes from our apartment, and Jess and I have spent a LOT of time in there the past two years. I've laughed in there, I've cried in there, hell I even took my shirt off in there one time and waved it over me head(*shudder*). The owner, Mike, went to Villanova like I did. He opened the bar just a few weeks before we moved to the neighborhood, and we were immediately drawn to it for it's different decor- no pictures, instead there are famous quotes lining the walls and the tables (hence the name)- and their remarkable beer list. Every month Mike brings in a new selection of microbrews from around the world, keeping the top 10-15 sellers, and rotates out the other 20-30 selections. Usually I'll just walk into the bar and have one of the trusted barkeeps pick one out for me. The food is fantastic as well. Anyhow, I was quite honored when we walked in last week and found out that I made the beer list!! There was a Hazelnut Porter that was in stock that I was absolutely addicted to. And there was the description of it on the menu... "Shawn's favorite" Almost brought a tear to me eye. Of course, that was the same night that we told Mike that we bought a house in Delaware. I would like to think it was bittersweet for the both of us.

Full Speed Ahead

Started looking at houses on Thursday night. Made an offer on Friday. Offer accepted Saturday morning.

I take longer than that to decide what I am going to have for lunch most afternoons.

Of course we still have a few hoops to jump through before we can be officially tagged as "homeowners", but we are well on our way. It almost has moved too fast to comprehend. We just decided on a realtor last week, one who we liked (hey, she was cute) and very aggressive. Jess and I are so laid back, we wanted someone who would push us to get things done. We were looking for someone to take us out of our comfort zone a little, after all we are making the biggest purchase of our life, I don't necessarily want to be nonchalant about it. Plus, she was cute. And my wife liked her because she kept complimenting her on her hair and her shoes.

It was the fourth house that we looked at. I must have passed over it 10 times while browsing through the internet listings. It never really gave me a feeling one way or another. I guess that's why it is recommended that you actually go inside a house when deciding on a purchase. The second we walked up to it, I had a real good feeling. A very attractive brick 4 BR, 2 BA Colonial, nice yard. We step inside and meet the current owners, an Italian couple in their 80's who have been in this house over 50 years, since the day someone hung a door on the hinges. The house was immaculate. Over the years he has done a ton of work on it himself, building a brick, screened in porch off the kitchen, all types of stone work around the exterior, handcrafted railings and woodwork. We walk through the main floor, *love* the screened in porch, check out the upstairs, and then head down to the finished basement. The basement is huge, and it is divided into two areas.... a family room, and this gentleman's wood shop. The second I walk into that family room I am 100% sold on this house. A built in, absolutely gorgeous, handmade bar! At risk of sounding overly dramatic and cheesy, it took my breath away. The other half of the basement is his woodshop. I don't know one single thing about woodworking, but I *do* know that a pool table is going to look fantastic in there!

We looked at one other house in the neighborhood, but we knew what we wanted. Gina, the realtor, called the listing agent and got the scoop. There was another couple who was coming back the next night to take a second look at the house, so we figured we needed to act accordingly. Their asking price was more than fair, and we didn't want to risk losing this house over a few dollars a month on the mortgage. We put the offer together Friday night, signed the papers, and got the call Saturday morning. If all goes as planned, we'll be in our house in less than 6 weeks!!!! C*R*A*Z*Y!!!! I can't wait to invite all of you for a drink at my bar!

In other news, I've been on a little rough streak on the poker front. I've been bouncing back little by little, but I suppose variance had caught up with me for that monster win streak I had a few weeks back. The cure for a bad streak is Saturday nights on bodog, where the fishies come to swim! I think I may just limit myself to playing on weekends in the future, it's just that good.

Football season is finally upon us! I can't wait. I'll be attending the season opener @ Giants Stadium against the Colts, Manning vs Manning. And for the first time in 3 years I have Sundays off, so I can enjoy football season the way it is meant to be enjoyed... with a beer in hand, following my various fantasy football teams via live updates on the computer. Although, I am already screwed in one of my leagues as I was the unlucky sap who drafted Domanick Davis with an early pick. In my defense, that draft was held over two weeks ago before anybody knew the severity of his knee injury.