Engagements & Other News

Finally, at long last, I managed to get some pictures of Tara with her new engagement ring. That's right! In case you haven't heard the good news, Richard officially proposed to Tara a few weeks ago while they were visiting Niagara Falls. They first met while they were camp counselors at Circle Square Ranch. They started dating shortly thereafter and almost four and a half years have now passed. The final wedding date has not been set yet but they'll announce that once they can confirm it. I love both of them dearly and I wish them the best.

In other news, I hosted my second poker fundraiser on Friday March 9. As I mentioned before, I had a more expensive poker fundraiser the previous Sunday. (And just to rub it in, I beat Joel down in a head-to-head match at the end of that one.) We had seven people at the first one and thirteen of us at this second one. It was a little tight to have us all in a single game but I really didn't want to split the group up and it ended up working out. For my part, I was the first person gone. Anyone care to rub that in?

Once again, it was a great crowd. We had good food, odd musical selections and fun competition with both newbies and regular players. Terry & Gina duked it out and they actually came away with both second and first place prizes, in addition to all of the buy-in money that went to them. I'm glad it worked out so nicely and they can put that money towards their wedding this summer.

As for my two most recent blog posts (here and here), my thanks to everyone that read the story. I was astounded to see the different interpretations that people offered. I'm really impressed by what you all wrote and it was really interesting to see how people looked at my words from other points of view. Fascinating.