Sam, Sam, Back Again...

Sam is no longer posting from Dunlap, Tennessee or Stevenson, Alabama or anywhere else. He's back in Columbus, and is plugging himself back into the matrix.

Howdy, partners! It's great to be back home. I had a wonderful vacation. Gretchen and I discussed whether Big Lots and Highlights would let us have an extra week. We then decided that they wouldn't.

Damn.

So I get back to work on Monday, and my supervisor comes over to ask the requisite "How was your vacation?" question and to fill me in on last week's goings-on. She then proceeds to give me my check stub (I have my money directly deposited, woo hoo!) and an envelope containing my yearly performance review. I am to look it over and return it tomorrow with my signature.

I got a raise!

I got a decent (for my department) raise!

Woo hoo! Yay for Sam!

(This would be where you turn away as I do the Happy Dance.)

(You can come back now.)

I won't disclose the numbers (lest you all know just how poor I am), but life is better. All that after Friday. Friday was great! However, I need to put up my disclaimer:

THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPHS CONTAIN MAGIC: THE GATHERING CONTENT. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!

That's better. My friend Phillip and I decided to go to a Magic tournament on Friday night. We tested all day Friday and decided on a Tooth & Nail build for Phil, while I took a Mono-Blue Control deck. The decklists can be found here.

Long story short, Phillip won the event! He beat a rather cocky human who is one of the better players in the state of Tennessee. I finished around 5th or 6th, just missing the Top 4 playoffs. I played new, inexperienced, and/or bad players all day, but had fun anyway. I helped some newer player that I dismantled in Round 4 with his deck, taught someone how to play Tooth & Nail as they beat me senseless, and berated a young player for playing bad Magic. Don't look at me that way - he had a great deck, told me so, then proceeded to play it badly. I did come back to him later and explain his play mistakes more specifically, although I don't believe it registered. Oh well, he'll figure it out someday...

I am planning on hitting a Columbus area tournament soon with this new Tooth & Nail variant. Here's hoping I'll be reporting a win for me before the month is out.

Until next time, enjoy the fruits of your work and your play.