The weekend was fun. I drove out to Rochester for the Guildpact prerelease tournament. Kenny and I both did pretty badly, but it was fun and we got some new and interesting cards, so I can't complain. I avoided trading, since I never make good ones. It's not that I couldn't if I tried, I don't think - but I almost always find myself trading based on playability, or even more narrowly, cards that I want to put in a deck I have now. For example, until last fall I had five Force of Wills - for those of you who don't play this game, let's just say it's a great card - but I traded two of them and a dual land, also a good card that will never be reprinted in quite as good a form, for a Birds of Paradise, a Darksteel Colossus and a few more things. All good cards, definitely, and dollar-for-dollar I broke even or very nearly, so I should be happy, right? Not really. Force of Will won't be seen again and could single-handedly swing a game, neither of which can be said of the cards I traded for. So why did I do it? Well, I wasn't using them at the moment, so why not? ... Ouch.

So anyway, I didn't do any of that over the weekend, except with Kenny later. After the tournament he took us to this nice British pub in Rochester. It's a long shot, but next chance I get I'll ask around and see if I can find any of that Chimay Red at a store around here, a Belgian beer they had. And later that night, I... crashed. After a five-way game of Magic with Kenny, Katrina, Nate and Christine, I called it a night, well before everyone else. I always get a little less sleep during the week than I should, so after a long drive Friday and an early start Saturday, 1 a.m. was my limit.

This week has been uneventful so far. The office has been empty most of the time, since Rick and others have been in meetings elsewhere and/or getting ready for a retreat for our program directors that starts today. So I've been finishing up a long-term task, and with any luck everything will be sorted out and resolved for better or for worse by Monday.

I've been playing World of Warcraft less than usual over the past two weeks, but what I've done has been fruitful. My level 60 rogue went to the Molten Core the night before last with some guild members - my first time in there - and I got the Nightslayer Belt, which, for those of you who don't play this game, is part of a great set for rogues. Other than that... not a lot's been going on. Watching TV and working and playing games and talking to friends online.