Update

When I got home yesterday from work, I did a bit of house-cleaning in
preparation for the evening's Blackjack tournament, which I'll tell you
about in a bit. Then Caroline got home from her business of the
afternoon, and we decided that, since we had the time, we'd order the
airline ticket.

The process really wasn't too difficult ... Except that I had to do it
twice because the first time I neglected to let the system know that my
point of sale was Canada. There was some confusion initially applying my
travel voucher, because the voucher was registered under my first and
last name, and I had supplied a middle initial (I hate my middle name)
when I bought the ticket. But I lucked out and got two very helpful NWA
agents, and we got my voucher applied. With the $150 reduction in my
costs, I had more than enough set aside in an account I'd created just
for this purpose, and the total cost of my round trip, including all
taxes and fees, is in the neighborhood of $302. How cool is that?

In the evening, my roommate and I got together with two other friends,
which we do every fourth Thursday, for a Blackjack tournament. I pulled
off a come-from-behind victory. Of the tournaments we've had so far, Rod
(roommate) has won four, I've won four, Darren (friend) haswon three,
and Laurie (friend) has yet to win any of these tournaments. Laurie has
perennially bad luck in these things. Yesterday he had a hand that added
up to ten. Logically enough, he decided to double down. And, in typical
fashion for him, the next card I handed him was a two, I (the dealer)
got a decent hand, and Laurie's doubling down efforts failed. So I won
all sorts of junk food ... Basically, we all contribute a certain amount
of junk food as an entry fee, winner takes all, though I prefer to share
the wealth a little bit among my friends. I gave Rod a bag of dill
pickle chips, Darren a bottle of Sprite, and Laurie a bag of popcorn
twists.

After the game, the four of us gathered in my room and we had a great
talk. Caroline had been waiting all this time so that we could talk when
the evening's entertainment was done, and when I got out of the shower,
we got a chance to say goodnight and to pray together, as we do every
morning and evening.

So here I am, excitedly waiting for the cost of the ticket to appear on
my credit card, kind of proof that I bought it. Aside from yesterday's
meeting being a little dull, it really was a nice day, and I'm confident
that today will be pretty good too, though I could, of course, use about
thirty or forty more years of sleep.