That Garage Aroma

Remember the time I complained that my garage smelled like an ashtray? Well as of this weekend, the smell is back, unfortunately. I'm going to have to get some air fresheners again.

On a totally unrelated note: I hosted a poker game in my garage on Sunday. Only Dan, Amanda and myself, so I'm pretty sure it didn't count.

Trebuchet III - Long Distance Food Wasting

This past weekend, Dan, Rudy, Pat, Tim, Marc and I went back to tinker with our trebuchet and have a poker game. Just to get the formality out of the way, I won the poker game... my first this season. I'm back on top, baby! Anyway, with Tim and I both having our cameras, we expect to have some good angles of our shots. We just haven't gotten our stuff together yet... but soon! In the meantime, here are some of the raw video footage from this past weekend.

The first video on display is one of our first shots on Sunday: A canteloupe that flew 300 feet.


The second video is of a cabbage that flew 302 feet. "Nicely Done"!


This last shot is my favourite. I got up close and personal with this pumpkin that was fired about 230 feet.


Once we get our videos together and through some sort of editing, I'll post those. Hurray for YouTube!

You Decide: Am I "The Unstoppable Force", or "The Immovable Object"?

Well, I'm having a hard time trying to think up a new nickname. I figured I needed something quite impressive... as impressive as my fourth poker win in five games. Which, of course, makes up for the horrible golf game and really bad sunglasses tan I got this morning. Only if I was this good at Dr. Mario.

I'm now announcing the grand opening of Matt Brouwer's School for Schooling People in Poker.

Left Behind

Last weekend, I went back to Sarnia to attend my friend Sara's wedding. It was attended by many friends that I used to have back in highschool. Friends who are girls. Now, I can post about how cool it was to catch up with old friends, or I could talk about how sobering it was to find out how their lives have progressed (with marriages and kids and jobs and the like), but that's not really the point. The point is that I got to meet and hang out with their husbands/boyfriends, who not unlike so many others, like to have a game of Texas Hold'em. Being very gracious, they invite me to join after the wedding. And thus, the point of this post follows. Two games later... two victories by me.

I am spreading my reign of poker terror.

Matt Geeked It Up A Notch

Just to bring attention to my obsessive need to geek things up, you should check out the redesigned website for The Touring Poker Tour of Poker, made entirely in Notepad! Don't forget to notice that I'll added Haloscan comments for each game played. How sad is it that I'm not sure what I'm looking to forward to most for the next poker game: The actual game, or updating the stats/standings?

Cleaning Up With TPTP

Game #2 of The Touring Poker Tour of Poker went down tonight, and for the second straight game, yours truly wound up in first place, this time taking home $70. That makes my season winnings $120. A good crowd tonight, as nine people made it out. I tip my (Molson Indy) hat to Rudy and Dan, who finished 2nd and 3rd respectively, and therefore, in the money. It was a hot and muggy afternoon/evening at The Garagio... 7 hours total (about 6 of which was actual game time). We should have the blind schedule more refined eventually, because admittedly, it was a long day. But nonetheless, fun was again had by all, especially me. The only problem is, I'm pretty much everyone's target next game. But that's alright... bring it on.

An Object Lesson in Quitting While You're Ahead

Tonight I went to the horse races at Grand River Raceway with Patrick and Lindsay to bet on the ponies. Unlike the lucky streak in betting I've enjoyed the last couple weeks, this night I was a total loser. Over 7 races I lost a combined $14. Ah, the exactors just weren't paying off tonight. But other than that, a good time was had. Other observations made:

• If you go to the same betting window, eventually the lady will start mocking you for losing.

• The "sixth race cheerleaders" were a huge disappointment. Not at all what I was hoping they'd be. There should be some sort of law against getting my hopes up like that.

• I'm completely in love with the girl who was doing the greeting at the front door. Old fashioned costume... that was hot.
  

• If I had bet more money, I would have won. Why? Because it makes sense... perfectly logical sense.

To wrap it up, it's clear that I was just getting my losing out of the way so I can sucessfully defend my poker title at the TPTP on Sunday. Yeah, that's the ticket.

You Gotta Know When To Hold'em, Know When To Fold'em - Part 2

Tonight was the first game of "real" poker played at Dan's on his new poker table. The stakes were $10 with a $5 buy-in option for an hour and a half. I would like to thank Dan, Chris, Rudy, and Pat for their generous donations to the "Matt's wallet needs to be a little fatter" fund. Good times were had by all, especially me. The final standings:

1st - Matt
2nd - Dan
3rd - Chris
4th - Rudy
5th - Pat

This sure wasn't the last game played, so if you missed this week be sure to book off the time for the next game. And that time will be... I don't know yet. Ask Dan.