Random Thoughts on Sunday Night

** Life has finally begun to return to normal in the lightning36 household. On the day I left for Las Vegas about six weeks ago, an unlicensed driver turned left right in front of my wife, causing $5000 worth of damage to our van. And of course, the owner of the car was insured by a high-risk insurer -- one of those places that tries to avoid paying at all costs. They will now be fighting with my insurance company over how much each agency owes. What a joke. The scammer insurance company "determined" that my wife was 45% responsible. At least we have our van back.

** We picked up a nice used car for the kids this past week -- a 2001 Toyota RAV4 (pictured above). The car belonged to a visiting university scholar who was leaving the country. It will replace my dad's old 1992 Honda Accord, which my dad gave me shortly before he passed away. In the spirit of paying it forward, I gave the Accord to my sister-in-law, who could really use it. And yes -- it felt good! Now, as long as I can cope without having some type of Honda -- breaking a streak of 21 years of Honda ownership -- I will be okay.

** My wife had been using Facebook recently to keep connected with her family. I reactivated my account to do so also, and now have reconnected with friends I have not seen nor spoken to in fifteen or more years. It is gratifying to know that many of the students with whom I worked have become successful adults. Now if only I can get much better at Mafia Wars ...

** My wife and I will be traveling to Memphis this coming weekend. The trip had been planned for some time, but our summer schedule got all screwed up with my wife's accident, her job loss, and my son's drivers ed class. We hope to meet up with Memphis MOJO on Sunday.

** I have been playing a little online poker the past few weeks, but am really in a summer lull. I did take down the blogger Skillz tournament last week (7 Card Stud), but other than that, nothing of note. I decided against playing in some midwest tournaments, so I am itching for some live poker action.