I'm Ba-ack!

The following was written over the past several days. Lots of things going on...


I was home sick the last Thursday and Friday. It is no fun having a swollen, sore throat, temperature, and aches and pains. I was so tired on Thursday, that after dropping the kids off at daycare, I came home and went to bed. I woke up once at noon, had a drink of water, then slept until 5 o'clock. Friday I was a little better, but my wife came home from work with the same symptoms. Yikes, I'm sick and I have to take care of everyone. Luckily the kids did not get what we had, but it might have been better if they had gotten sick. It is really hard to catch a 2 and a 4 year old when you are sick.

I can't believe how itchy I am getting to play poker. I have not played online in over a week and a half. I know I will need to control that itchiness when I actually start playing. If I don't, I will play way too loose.

Last Tuesday I checked on Neteller. It turns out that even after I triple checked the account number I entered a couple of weeks before, I still managed to drop a digit. The fine folks at Neteller Support said they would reset my verification process so I could correct that and try again.

I found it strange that Neteller did not have some kind of reset policy. It would be simple to add a response check, say if the account was not verified in one week, Neteller would reset the verification process and notify the customer. Just a suggestion. Otherwise Neteller has been fantastic in their response time to my emails and calls for support. Less than ten minutes for a reply to an email and in queue on the phone for less that 10 seconds. Either they do not have many problems with their product or they have a first class support staff (or both!).

The weekend before last, my wife had another of her curriculum conferences. She is helping to write state-wide curriculum for eighth grade English and Reading classes. This meant about 17 hours on the road, overnight with Mother-in-Law, overnight with Mother, and two very active children (ages 2 & 4). Driving from my Parent's house to the resort early on Sunday morning, we drove the back way through the lake area. It was foggy and very beautiful. This is a "new" lake - about 15 years old. We came around a corner at one point and there was no fog on this section of the lake. The was a tall dead pine tree with a recently used eagle's nest perched at the top about 30 feet from the shore in the middle of the lake. It was an amazing site.


Question for Grubby: Where in or around DC are you currently? I work in Silver Spring.


Iggy - One good news item, one bad news item.

The bad first...

Derailment Spills 20,000 Gallons of Beer

Reported by Associated Press

CHILHOWIE, Va. - Fourteen cars of an 83-car Norfolk Southern train derailed near an industrial park, leaving the area smelling like a brewery Thursday.
About 20,000 gallons of beer leaked from three cars of the Roanoke-bound train, said railway spokesman Robin Chapman.
No one was injured when the cars skipped the tracks about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, Chapman said.
Investigating officers said the leak did not contaminate any nearby water sources nor affect any highways.
"Everything was contained away from the creek," said Jack Tolbert Jr. of the Virginia Department of Emergency Management.
Authorities were investigating the cause of the derailment. All trains scheduled to use the tracks through Chilhowie were held until they were cleared Thursday evening.

The slightly good news is it was not Guinness.

The good news...

SMOKING BAN: FREE GUINNESS

Nov 11 2004

reported in the Daily Record (www.dailyrecord.co.uk)

THE brewers of Guinness are offering free pints to lure drinkers back into Irish pubs.
Diageo have blamed Ireland's smoking ban for a fall in the sales of 'the black stuff'.
Now they have written to Irish pubs for details of customers who are fond of the drink to offer them free Guinness vouchers.
Pub regulars will receive two vouchers to use in their local.

Will this mean that Iggy takes a trip to Ireland?


Newsflash:

Neteller just came through with verification!!!!! Yes. One step closer to becoming fish-food.
I sent my deposit to Neteller the other day. They should have it in my account in "4-5 days". Maybe I will get to play real money during the Thanksgiving weekend. (That way I can blog about poker for a change.


Hope you enjoyed my attempt at the "mini-uber-post"!