This weekend had too many highlights to point out a single all encompassing winner. It’s like a chili contest too close to call; everyone might have a specific favorite but each chili has its own unique quality that pushes it past delicious. This weekend started with a Friday night of guitar and a fun visit to Tony and Paulette. Saturday kicked off with a Kung Fu class where I was promoted to Brown belt (picture pending) and concluded with a fun dinner out with Darcy and Kate at Plan B in West Hartford. Sunday, I visited the family and then ventured over to Kurt’s house warming party.

Oh man! What a house! There’s a game room which immediately reminded me of this. It has dark walls, huge soft couches, and a fireplace that bring a sort of mysticism to the room. At the party Ian owned me in Horseshoes and I got an opportunity to talk a bit to Math Tim about prime numbers. You very well may see a new mathy link show up in features this week. Also at this party was a whole ton of Meat. Crazy amounts. Kurt manned the grill like a champ providing all sorts of meats to the guests. Oh, and needn’t I forget the baked beans. Whew.

After more chatting and more fooding, I departed and promptly got dinner with the folks. Eventually returning to CT for Labor Day proper.

I was hoping to start off with some climbing, but it didn’t happen. What did happen was some more wakeboarding. I went out with Brandon, Jesse, and John. I saw some fantastic improvement from my first attempts. I consistently got out of the water and started maneuvering more comfortably around the wake. Hopefully I’ll have some video by the end of the week.

After wakeboarding, I went tubing. This was… more than just a ride. It was a trip of insanity. Brandon was driving and was effectively trying to get me to fall off. After about 5 minutes he succeeded. I was thrown from the tube and bounced across the water like a well thrown pebble. As I pulled my beaten body back onto the boat, I looked down at my arm to see a streak of bloodied bruised flesh. This battle wound surely came from the moment when I was first flung into a spin, I lost both of my hand grips but whipped my arm around the tube itself in time to maintain some control. My full body was in the water, just a single limb desperately draped across the tube keeping me on. Yes, it was an awesome awesome ride.