Tuesday night was work-boy poker night. Diana met me over there, and was able to put some faces to names, which was fun. In the course of talking about poker with people here at work, I've let on that she's a very solid player: very patient in waiting for hands, and very good at determining losers and laying them down. As a result, she's not in many showdowns, but when she is, she's usually the winner. I think in poker terms, she might be called "a rock". Her stack generally grew upwards with silght variations, and she ended up something like +$24 by the end of the night.

I'm not as patient, and end up playing a little looser and crazier, which can result in some crazy swings. I started out winning a bunch, then losing all my winnings and then some, and then won maybe five out of seven pots near the end to go back up to +$10. My stack grew and shrunk like a rollercoaster, and I was lucky to come out ahead.

A good time was had by all. The guys from work are a lot of fun, and we all get along really well. I was proud to introduce Diana to the boys. She's exceptionally talented at getting along with people that she's just met. I'm also glad that she lived up to my bragging about her, so I didn't have to face any comments like "I thought you said she was good!" So, good times all around.

Last night was basketball. Our basketball team isn't really the best, and I certainly am not very helpful. I like getting out and running around, but I just feel pretty lost out there, running into people and stuff. I took a couple shots which missed, but was encouraged that people seemed happy that I at least took the shot. I've heard comments (maybe from Iwan?) that it's better to take an open shot and miss than to have an open shot and be too scared to take it. So, I took open shots and missed. But oh well.

We got digital cable installed yesterday, which is a little overwhelming. We now have seemingly hundreds of channels, only a fraction of which work, which leaves me a littl lost. I need to spend some time with that and get it all figured out. It turns out they have some deal where digital cable is cheaper than standard cable for the first 6 months, and then they jack up the price. So we're trying it out, with all intentions of cancelling after 6 months. We get some movie channels for free with this, too, so mebbe we can grab some flicks worth saving.

Last night, as I was brushing my teeth, I noticed that my lower retainer is broken loose on one side. This is a little metal bar that is glued to the inside of some lower side teeth and runs across the inside of my lower front teeth. So I'm constantly toying with it with my tongue, wondering if I should break it off altogether or not. I have an appointment tomorrow morning for the dentist to see if he can fix it. When I called, the receptionist asked "Well, who put the retainer there?" I told her it was my orthodontist like 13 years ago, and I haven't seen her since. I wouldn't mind getting rid of the thing. I'll bet my teeth would feel so slimy if it were gone!

So, there's the news.