Went house browsing today.........

I went out to a subdivision on the north end of Olathe called Woodlands Reserve to check out some houses today. I actually went in search of a house and ended up finding a couple of very nice houses. The builder of these two houses is called Arch Design Builders, LLC. The name is quite appropriate because their houses are filled with............ARCHES!!!! It seems like everything in their house uses curves and arches to give a softer appearance to the architecture. Also, Mrs. Lime is a big fan of arches in architecture, so this would appear to be a perfect match for her tastes. The following pictures are put up specifically for Mrs. Lime, but feel free to take a peek at the house pictures. They are very nice homes.

We start with house #1. The model name is the Phoenician III. List price on this home is $800,000. It's out of our price range, but a very nice home that has a lot of things going for it.

The front of the home...........



The kitchen area that has a island in it. There is a sitting room and breakfast nook in the kitchen area as well..........



The living room with 2 story windows looking out the back yard.........



Fireplace in the living room..........



Looking up in the foyer at the chandelier and ceiling woodwork........



Inside of the front door. It has stained glass windows on either side of the door.



Dining room..........



View from the 2nd floor balcony looking down on the living room. Note the large arch going across the ceiling.



Looking down the stairway at the foyer. Note that the windows visible on the front of the house really light up the foyer area.



My favorite part of this house. In one of the bedrooms that is meant to be a child's bedroom, they have a small area on the side where there is an elevated room that they can crawl into and have their own little area to play in. Thought this was a really neat idea.



While house #1 was a very nice house, I actually thought that house #2 was a much more livable home. Also, it had several features that I really liked that weren't available in house #1.

House #2 is a great reverse story and 1/2 home. Price of this home is much more affordable when compared to house #1. This home is priced at $549,000.

Here's the view from the front of the home. Note that this is a three car garage. The third garage is just off the left side of the picture........



I took this picture to show all of the arches used in this home. There are three arched doors and a larger arch in this picture alone. It really does make the home look much more open than conventional door openings.



A large sitting area with fireplace located just off the kitchen area.........



The kitchen area. Large island with bar chairs. Refrigerator door is disguised by using the same cabinet material to cover the refrigerator doors.......



The view off of the second floor deck area. You can literally see for miles from this deck. Big plus in my opinion.



Looking down on the lower level patio from the deck. Really nice stonework. More pictures of this patio area to come.......



View of the outdoor portion of the deck. It has enough room for a table and a sitting area. Also, you will note that the deck continues back on the far left.



You wonder what is on the back area of the deck under the roof? Wonder no more. It's a fabulous outdoor kitchen, complete with cooking area and bar area. Complete with stone countertops for easy cleanup. Big plus here.



Wonderful master bathroom area. Large tub in the foreground. That arched doorway is the entry to a large shower with double showerheads and a seating area. Really nice.



One end of the walk in closet complete with hanging racks, shelves on the wall and a shelf area in the center of the closet.



The other half of the walk in closet. Note the window which allows for a lot of nice natural lighting in that area.



Wonderful stairway going to the basement. The reason I like it so much is that the stairway is around 6 feet wide. Really nice feature after looking at houses with very narrow staircases. Note that the base of the stairs even has a curved wall. Even the walls are arched in this place!



Really nice entertainment area in the basement with plenty of room for a large couch.



Absolutely wonderful bar in the basement. Nice woodwork and room around the bar for at least 5-6 barstools.



Nice area to the side of the bar that they have set up as a billiards room. Really nice windows that allow for very good light in the basement.



A ground-level view of the patio. Note the room underneath the deck. That's where the next pictures will be taken.



This is just under the edge of the deck. Nice garden area with a fountain and sitting bench. Note that the area continues around on the far left. Another surprise in store?



Surprise time! Around the corner is a hot tub! Really nice place to have it because you are somewhat secluded under the deck in a more private area. Really nice.



I'm sure there will be many more house posts over the coming months as we start looking for a place to settle down.

Hmmmm, not such a good night at the poker table.....

I had Ace - King 3 times in the first 8 hands, but didn't hit anything. Also had Ace - Queen and 77 with no success. Sometimes it just happens that way. I finally got all my chips in with the best hand (was a 67% favorite against the calling hand), but the other player hit one of the cards he needed and so I was out relatively early.

I worked some on my NL game in a side game that occurred afterwards. Made a lot of good plays and played a lot of the hands just to get in some practice against agressive opponents.

As a sidenote, I'd like to note that Rudy's dog, Chewy, really has the wool pulled over his owner's eyes. While he is a quiet dog who is very well behaved, that dog lacks no intelligence whatsoever. He managed to find every single toy that he wasn't supposed to play with and start playing with it/chewing on it. There was a bear that was supposedly off limits. Repeatedly, after this bear was put up so Chewy wouldn't play with the bear, Chewy would suddenly show up with the bear once again as though it were no big deal. But it is always better to have a smart dog than a dumb dog. So I suppose they have to count their blessings in this case.

Been busy......

I played some golf, had an interview and did some hanging out with some friends. More of the same next week. I'm going to have to set up some health insurance too (really looking forward to that).

Should have a poker blog tomorrow as I am playing in the local poker home game tonight. I've heard we're going to have around 17-18 players, so it should be a good time.

I'm watching an excellent soccer game between Argentina and Mexico. Looks like Argentina is going to pull it out in overtime. They're up 2-1 with only a few minutes left in overtime. It's always fun to watch the World Cup games at this point. It's single elimination, so there's a lot riding on every single moment during the game.

It's raining like cats and dogs outside right now. Our dog is definitely not going to be happy about being back in thunderstorm country. The rain showers were relatively quiet in Baltimore for the most part. The storms in the midwest have a bit more punch in the central Plains.

Man, I need to buy new clubs more often.......

The guy that I purchased golf clubs from mentioned that I would see an immediate increase in the quality of my golf game with the new set of clubs that I had purchased. Didn't take long for that to come to pass.

First hole, I stepped up without hitting any balls before the first tee. The first hole was a downhill par 4 of about 350 yards. I drove the ball nearly 300 yards to within about 30 yards of the edge of the green. A pitch and two putts later, I had a par and was off and running.

Two holes later, I hit about a 260 yard drive on a par 5. I took out my 3 wood and hit the ball onto the green and about 20 feet from the hole. I missed the eagle putt (which I never have achieved), but managed to get a birdie on my second putt.

On the back 9, I was playing a par 4 and I had a terrible drive. I hit one shot and then had my 3rd shot from roughly 210 from the hole with water literally right at the front of the green. I pulled out my new 3 wood and hit a great shot over the water. The ball landed very softly on the green and rolled up to about 10 feet from the hole. I rolled in the putt and managed to salvage par on the hole.

My day was not without error. I had 3 drives that I mishit and they went no more than 50-60 yards. I also missed 3 putts inside of 3 feet. But overall, I was definitely at least 40 yards better off the tee and much more accurate than with my old clubs. Even with those errors, I still managed to shoot a final score of 87, my best round I have ever shot. Knowing that I easily could have shaved 2-5 strokes off that score makes me even more excited about the improvement that I will be able to have with these new clubs. Really fun stuff.

A definite 'Duh!' moment.......

I'm driving down a 6 lane highway on Saturday. I was following a motorcycle that was consistantly doing 5-10 MPH over the speed limit. Just decided to stay behind him to avoid running into any speeding traps of any sort. At that speed, I thought I was pretty safe as far as trying to avoid any speeding violations.

At some point after following the motorcycle for about 5-10 miles, he suddenly became pretty erratic in his speed. One second he would be doing 75 and a few seconds later he'd suddenly drop to 60-65. It got pretty wild, so I decided that I should probably go ahead and pass him to avoid any problems. I sped up to go by him.

As I drove up beside him, I looked over to see what was up with his sudden changes in speed. This guy had his left arm extended in front of him. In his hand was his cell phone! This guy had someone call him and was actually pulling out his phone to see who was calling him! What, are you going to answer it and put the phone next to your helmet so you can hear absolutely nothing?????? Cripes, it's bad enough that people in cars drive badly while talking on the cell phone. Now motorcycle riders?????? I've seen it all.

Big draw for the U.S. National team today.......

For those that don't pay much attention to soccer, the US national soccer team did what they needed to do and earned a draw with Italy. It was a very rough match with 3 red cards. One of the US players actually had his nose split open by a flagrant elbow. No love lost between these two teams evidently.

The US is now in the position where they can possibly advance to the second round of the World Cup. The US plays Ghana on Thursday and must win that game. If they win and Italy beats the Czech Republic, they will advance. It would be a great thing for the country and the team. For those that will be able to watch the game, tune in to the start of the telecast. There is nothing cooler than when they play the national anthems at the start of the game. I wish the national anthem would be sung with that much passion at all sporting events. It's definitely a goosebump moment.

Bought some new golf clubs yesterday........

Went to a golf store just to try out some of the new equipment yesterday. I really hadn't got any new clubs in several years and the clubs that I had were beat up and not very good as far as quality. So I went down to the store to look around. 2 hours later, I had hit over 100 balls on the indoor range and had bought a new set of clubs. The driver was the only thing I bought that was new. The 3 wood and the irons were good quality clubs from a couple of years back. Got a whole set of clubs for $400. Considering how much of an upgrade they were over my old $150.00 set, I was pleased with the results. It's amazing how much easier it is to hit the ball with the newer clubs. Got a week or two of unemployment time to try out the clubs.

Some fun poker tells that I caught......

I went out and played poker last week at one of the casinos here in Kansas City.

It was a generally tight (i.e. most of the players only bet on stronger hands) table but there were a few loose players who would play a much wider variety of cards. I actually knew that this table would be a tight table before I even sat down. Reason? There were 6 players who were at least 60 years of age. Generally speaking, a player over 60 is much more likely to be a conservative player. Conversely, while a player under 30 is more likely to be a loose player, you have to be careful to watch because there are some younger players that will play tightly to throw you off.

As we started to play, I noticed a common tell on a couple of the older players that you should definitely watch for in a poker room. If a player made a bet, two of the players would pick up their cards slightly intending to fold when it was their turn. This is very helpful for you as a player for two reasons. One, you can get a better idea as a player how many people will still be in the game if you already know that two of the players are folding before it is even their turn. Also, if you don't see either of those guys pick up their cards after a bet, you know there's a good chance they will be calling or even raising when it is their turn. Given that these players are probably playing pretty strong cards to begin with, you want to be very wary of their plays if they remain in the hand.

Some poker tells are involuntary, much like reflexes in a person. These are some of the best tells to detect as a player. Reason? The player can't control these reactions unless they are aware of their occurance. One common involuntary tell is breathing rate of the player. When a player gets excited about a hand or is trying to pull off a big bluff, his or her heart rate will increase dramatically. Even a poker pro's heart rate which runs 60-70 beats per minute will increase to 160-200 beats per minute during a crucial hand. Since the heart rate increases, the body will naturally increase the person's respiration rate to compensate for the increase in the heart beat. If the player is not paying attention, which they often are not, you can easily notice the increase in their breathing rate, allowing you to make decisions. If you are not sure whether the tell is that they have a monster hand or are bluffing, it is best to error on the side of a monster hand. It is far more prevelant in that situation that they have a good hand.

I actually found an excellent tell on a player at my table based on an involuntary tell. I was watching the two players that were involved in a big pot. One player bet and the second player raised. As I looked at his face, I happened to notice something about his neck of all things. I noticed that the large artery in his neck was literally popping out of his skin! His heart rate was astounding! I watched the finish of the hand to try to figure out what this tell meant. Sure enough, this guy had hit a straight. So when I saw the artery popping on his neck, that was an easy tell that he had a monster hand. I watched this tell to verify it. I later was in a hand with him and noticed it again. I only had a pair, so I got out of the hand. It ended up that he had a flush. This was excellent verification on that tell that I had a good read on him. I saw it twice more while I was at the table. The other two times, he flipped over a full house. Amazing stuff and a great way to figure out what your opponents have when you are facing them.

Cat 2, Bear 0...........

This article was simply too priceless. I'll post the very amusing pictures at the end of the article.


Jack the cat chases black bear up tree
Sat Jun 10, 5:52 PM ET

WEST MILFORD, N.J. - A black bear picked the wrong yard for a jaunt, running into a territorial tabby who ran the furry beast up a tree — twice.

Jack, a 15-pound orange and white cat, keeps a close vigil on his property, often chasing small animals, but his owners and neighbors say his latest escapade was surprising.

"We used to joke, 'Jack's on duty,' never knowing he'd go after a bear," owner Donna Dickey told The Star-Ledger of Newark for Friday's editions.

Neighbor Suzanne Giovanetti first spotted Jack's accomplishment after her husband saw a bear climb a tree on the edge of their northern New Jersey property on Sunday. Giovanetti thought Jack was simply looking up at the bear, but soon realized the much larger animal was afraid of the hissing cat.

After about 15 minutes, the bear descended and tried to run away, but Jack chased it up another tree.

Dickey, who feared for her cat, then called Jack home and the bear scurried back to the woods.
"He doesn't want anybody in his yard," Dickey said.

Bear sightings are not unusual in West Milford, which experts consider one of the state's most bear-populated areas.


Here's a picture of Jack the Cat.......



Here's the picture of the bear in the tree........



And here's a picture of Jack the Cat sitting at the bottom of the tree making sure that the bear knows who's in charge.......

Finallly! Some BBQ.........

One thing about the east coast is that BBQ is not their strong suit. Wonderful seafood, but the BBQ is average at best. Thankfully, I got to head down to Arthur Bryant's Barbeque and finally have some of the good stuff. Absolutely wonderful stuff. I took some pictures for the benefit of my east coast friends......

Plate of fries........



A beef sandwich. Note that this is singular. This is ONE sandwich. It'll only run you about $7.



I got a full slab of ribs. Wonderful smoked ribs cooked in a large brick oven about 10 feet squared.



And the aftermath. Nothing but bones on the tray and plates in the background. Pitcher of beer nearly empty. Tasty!

World Cup excitement......

For those that don't know, the 2006 World Cup began yesterday in Germany. The 32 best soccer teams in the world are going to play for the Cup over the next month. It's always great to watch because rabid fans from the various nations create an atmosphere almost like Marti Gras in stadiums and cities all across the host country (this year being Germany).

Today, I sat down and watched a couple of the soccer matches. The first one I saw was England vs. Paraguay. The obvious focus of the match was David Beckham. He is one of the great superstars of the soccer world. In addition, he has supermodel looks and is married to one of the members of the pop group called the 'Spice Girls'. So tabloids follow him everywhere. Below is a picture of he and his wife.



It was a so-so match, with the favored England winning the game 1-0. Near the end of the match, it was pretty cool to hear 60,000 English fans sing 'God Save the Queen' in unison in addition to all their other chants.

The second game I watched was Sweden vs. Trinidad and Tobago. Sweden is a soccer powerhouse. Trinidad and Tobago were playing their first ever World Cup game. Most experts said that if Trinidad and Tobago managed to lose each of their 3 first round games by 3 goals or less, they will have done well. The crowd shots were great at this game. In almost every situation, you would see a blonde Swedish fan wearing the yellow national jersey. Most of the time, you would also see a rasta man with dreadlocks sporting the red jersey of Trinidad and Tobago. It certainly made for quite a contrast. Unbelievably, the game ended in a 0-0 draw, prompting Swedish fans and players to stare in disbelief as Trinidad and Tobago fans chanted and jumped up and down. Trinidad and Tobago players ran across the field with their flag and hugged each other while crying. While Sweden will probably still advance to the next round despite failing to beat Trinidad and Tobago, the small nation of Trinidad and Tobago (population 1 million) will have a party tonight that no one will soon forget. I should take a flight down to join in the festivities. I'm sure it's going to be an awfully good party. The picture below of the players' reaction immediately after the final whistle says it all.

Moving pitfalls......

So, my dad and I made the trip from Baltimore in 17 hours, cutting 30 minutes off our previous mark when we drove out to Baltimore one year ago. Nothing extremely exciting occurred for most of the trip. Couple of storms in West Virginia and Ohio, but everything else was pretty normal until we got to Missouri.

Let me first relate that there is evidently a limit on the amount of gas that you can buy at any given pump. In West Virginia, Ohio, and Missouri, it was $75.00. In Indiana, it was $100.00. Given that a full tank would require at least $100.00 with the higher fuel prices, I would always have to fill my tank up to the limit, put the gas handle back in the pump and then do another swipe of the debit card to complete the fill of the U-Haul truck.

We stopped at a gas station in Kingdom City, Missouri. It's a town between St. Louis and Columbia on the eastern half of the state in what one would term a rural area. I pulled up to the pump and got out. As I had three times previously on the trip, I went over to the pump to stick in my debit card. I got a message on the pump saying 'please see attendant'. Oh great. What's this all about I wonder to myself.

I go inside to find out what's up. Evidently, there is a security precaution in the credit card company's system that specifically notices if there are multiple transactions across multiple states in a short period of time. Obviously, because of the limit on gas pumping, I had 6 gas transactions in 3 different states over the course of the day and was now attempting a fill in Missouri. The computer threw up a red flag and froze my card. So, I had to go back out and use my other credit card to fill up so we could travel the final 150 miles to get home.

I headed back out to the gas pump and got the gas pumping. As I turned around to face the gas pump, I looked just to the side of the pump and noticed a little boy and a female voice on the other side of the pump saying, "Just go there".

The boy, having some common sense, told his mother that there was a man on the other side of the pump. His mother said, "It ain't nothing that he hasn't seen before".

So the boy proceeded to undo his pants and piss on the side of the gas pump. So the situation was evidently that they stopped because the boy had to go to the bathroom. Then, the child asked his mother to take him to go to the bathroom. Mom, obviously being far too busy pumping gas, told the boy to go right there at the gas pump. The boy, having some moral fiber, tells his mother that there is a man on the other side of the gas pump. Mom, having absolutely no common decency whatsoever, tells the child to piss right there.

In summary, I'd like to make a simple point to summarize this situation for the nation in general..............

IT'S NOT THE KID'S FAULT THAT HE DOES STUPID THINGS! YOU CAN THANK HIS MOM FOR THAT WISDOM!

The hiatus is over.......

I've finally re-entered the real world and have internet access. Needless to say, I have not spent my time in vain. I have a lot of the apartment in Kansas City set up and nearly liveable at this point. Also, I only was able to watch one channel via the TV antenna this whole week. Thankfully, I now have a wide range of channels at my disposal. I thought I'd put up a quick post so you can see just how much I've set up this week in my spare time. Granted, a lot of the little stuff hasn't been put out yet (i.e. it's still a work in progress), but it's a start

The computer desk......



Master bedroom.......



Sitting room off the master bedroom......



Walk in closet (note that two of the three clothes racks are earmarked for Mrs. Lime's clothes).......



Master bath with limited edition shower curtain specifically chosen by me (OK, so it's not limited edition, but this specific curtain was nearly out of stock at Wal-Mart, so it must be be pretty special)......



Guest bath with another limited edition shower curtain specifically chosen by me.......



Two pictures of the office area......




Living room area with fancy new TV and wonderfully comfortable couch......



And a view of the fireplace in the living room and the TV with HD baseball game on......



Two pictures of the kitchen.......




Finally, a picture of the area for a dinner table. We have one in storage, but I won't be getting it out probably until Mrs. Lime gets back to town. For now, it's a chair storage area, soon to be a dining area........



Coming soon.........moving stories.

Last day in Baltimore.........

I'll be doing the final packing, heading out to dinner with my wife and then picking up my dad to assist on the move home. We'll be leaving early in the morning to make the 17 1/2 hour trip back to KC on Saturday. On Sunday, we'll unload the truck and I'll start the process of settling into the apartment. Cable, internet and digital phones will be installed mid-week. I won't be making another blog entry until then because I won't have internet access. I've already made lots of plans to hang out with some of my friends and also have a couple of interviews coming up, so my first couple of weeks will be very busy.

We had a super-nasty storm roll through Baltimore last night. Lightning that sounded like it was dropping on your head. Buckets of rain. Water was running 3-5 inches deep on the roadway. Mrs. Lime and I went to grab something to eat and go to the store right before the rain started. After we ate, I ran out to get the car. By the time I got to the car which was maybe 100 feet from the door, I was absolutely soaked. In a little over an hour, 2 1/2 inches of rain came down. That's a storm, baby!

Wish me well on the trek back to KC. My one good break is that I somehow lucked into getting a U-Haul truck that has only 400 miles on it. The thing even has a very strong 'new car' smell to it. Usually, you're worried that a wheel is going to fall off the truck on the trip or the engine will spring a leak. No chance of that here. Brand spankin' new truck. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean it gets any better gas mileage than any other 26 foot truck, but we can't have everything now, can we?