The visit of one Alan Goat (Alana) and the lingering presence of Panda Bear (Pat) at home meant that yesterday afternoon was filled with Mario Kart goodness. And as with tennis the other day, things are looking good.

Although the official Mario Kart event is about winning races we played some three-way Battle. It was pretty sweet.

From my memory we played 12 rounds and the final scores were 8-2-2 (Andy-Panda Bear-Alan Goat). Woo! Not entirely sure how Alana managed two wins when she was driving around as a Bomb Kart for most of the game but there you go.

My only disappointment was that I didn’t win any games with my beloved Toad. Sure, he’s not ideally suited to the Battle arena but it would have been nice to build up a bit of a confidence with the character I’m pinning my hopes for glory on. Alas, it was not to be.

Oh my god - would you listen to this guy?!  OK fine I admit it - I wasn’t the best out there, but hey give me a break.  It’s been like a decade since I’ve played.  But you know what?  Despite that extended sabbatical, I was pretty darn good I reckon and with a bit more practice and skill-refining, I am definitely going to come back with a vengeance. 

He thinks he’s got it made?  Ha!  Yeah right.  The only way for Andy to go is down - and that’s exactly where I intend to send him.  Oh it is so on…

I’ve just spent a night down at the Gold Coast with Annie at her brother’s place. Between a rowdy night on the balcony and some relaxing by the pool we were able to get in our first lot of ‘official’ training. And no it wasn’t Mario Kart, it was a casual game of tennis.

Annie and I paid $10 to hire the racquets and balls from a really weird guy at the counter at the hotel. She went for a slightly misshapen Wilso, leaving me with a nastily flurescent Pro Kennex.

Annie’s got a decent forehand and moves around the court OK but her lack of backhand and a truly horrendous serve means she’s going to struggle to win this one. My forehand was working well and most of the time I put backspin on the ball Annie struggled to get it back. Definitely something worth remembering.

Tennis is far from my strongest event but even so I can’t see me having any problems beating Annie over three sets. Anything less than 6-2, 6-2 would be a surprise.

Hello and welcome to The Tri-Decathlon!

The idea for the Tri-Decathlon was something that Annie and I came up with on in early December. We’d forever been competing in all sorts of ways - from games on the PS2 to shooting hoops at the half-court down the road - and thought it would be awesome to take it to the next level.

The Tri-Decathlon is what we came up with. Thirteen different one-on-one challenges across six different fields culminating with an epic Centurion drinking session to cap the winner. Nice.

The first challenge will kick off on the week starting ending the 24th of January and the Tri-Decathlon will finish on the 7th of March with a massive celebration party and the dreaded Centurion. If things are tied at 6-all at that stage it could be quite an event, so those lucky enough to get an invite would be silly to refuse.

Anyway, that’s about it for now. Annie and I are nutting out the specific rules for the Tri-Decathlon over the next few weeks and the official launch of its companion blog will be on the 20th of December. So stay tuned.

Farewell for now and remember that I’m a better human being than Annie and you’re going to watch me prove it.