Having a dull, dreary day at work? Want to relive a sunny Sunday when you and dozens of your closest euchre friends spent the day on Lake Michigan? Well, now you can!

We've posted pictures from the ECC Anniversary Tournament at Sea on our website. Just click "photos" to see the link to the Anniversary Party pics.

Of course, you also can use the website to check your average, look ahead at special events in the club, and read previous editions of this newsletter.

And if you took pictures on the cruise, we'd love to see them, and share them with everyone. Send them to us in an email at euchrechicago@yahoo.com or bring them on a CD Rom to any play venue. We promise not to upload the ones that make your butt look big.

Play will be enlivened -- or at least extended -- on Sunday, August 17th when the next Variation Night takes place.

Sunday's variation will bring back a favorite from last year: the SIX-game variation. In this version of ECC play, everyone plays six (rather than five) games, and players can drop their lowest score.

And to answer the big question that everyone keeps asking, no, your scores from variation night do not count in your overall average. There's been some flip- flopping on this for the past few years, but we've put our foot (feet?) down, and the answer is: no, variation night scores won't hurt or help your average.

If you have any other questions, please ask Sunday director Geoff Dankert.

This week's weather provided by the meteorologists at WFLD-TV Fox Chicago.

TUESDAY 80 / 62 Partly Cloudy
WEDNESDAY 84 / 65 Partly Cloudy
THURSDAY 86 / 68 Sunny
FRIDAY 85 / 68 Partly Cloudy
SATURDAY 84 / 65 Cloudy

Coming soon ... the Tournament of Champions 4! Better start working on those averages now...

Friday, August 15: Beginning of Bicycle Grand Prix Of Euchre, Doubletree Hotel Oak Brook (details below)
Sunday, August 17: Variation night: Six Ways From Sunday (see above)

Sick of those endless poker shows on TV? Wondering why no one's come up with the "World Series Of Euchre?" Well, guess what? Someone has. And it's coming to Chicago's suburbs!

The Bicycle Grand Prix World Series of Card Games is holding an open tournament at the Doubletree Hotel in Oak Brook on the weekend of August 15th. It's expected to attract players from across the country.

Registration costs $99 per person, and the website promises $10,000 in guaranteed cash prizes. That could buy you a whole bunch of pitchers.

For more information or to register, click here. Let's show 'em how we play!

This week's thing that makes the Internet go Hmmm would be superdickery.com (which sounds very NSFW but really isn't).

Aside from being an all-around good time waster, we especially like the "seduction of the innocent" pages, found under the image index or the galleries, in which the site's authors lay out a pretty compelling case proving that Batman and Robin were, well, doing more than sliding the down the Bat Pole.

And as we've learned all too well, anything is funny when it's taken out of context!

"Jack me!" - ECC member Phil Forbes. See above re: taking things out of context.

Congratulations to the following winners!

Tuesday, July 15th: -- Paul Zehren with a 51!
Wednesday, July 16th: -- Michael Meadows with a 53!
Saturday, July 19th: -- Scott Dillavou with a 54!
Sunday, July 20th: -- Andy Delicata with a 50!
Tuesday, July 22nd: -- Dave Pimm with a 53!
Wednesday, July 23rd: -- Andy Ulman with a 53!
Saturday, July 26th: -- Bennett Oberfeid with a 51!
Sunday, July 27th: -- Joe Wilda with a 51!

Dear Hoyle --
After a recent Sunday night of post-cards fun at Charlie's, I very much regretted having to work the next morning. I didn't regret hanging out at Charlie's, but Monday morning sort of sucked. Do any hangover cures actually work? - Very Often Drunk Killing Arias

Dear Vodka:
There are probably as many cures for hangovers as there are brands of beer, and like some brands of beer, some cures will leave you with a funny taste in your mouth.

One suggestion is to alternate water with every cocktail you down -- so one vodka martini followed by one bottle of water, and so on. Nice theory, and guaranteed to make you spend most of the night in the bathroom.

Another warning is to not mix liquor and beer -- or at least never follow a binge of beer with a binge of liquor (liquor before beer -- in the clear, but beer before liquor -- never been sicker). Whatever. Alcohol is alcohol, and downing a case of beer followed by a few shots won't make much difference. You're still going to be hurting the next morning.

So how do you dull the pain? There really is no magic cure. Water, and lots of water, can help (mixed with some aspirin). Rest in a quiet area (not always possible if you're a barrista at Starbucks), and maybe next week slow down a little at the bar. Your liver, and quite possibly your friends, will thank you.

If you have a question about Euchre strategy, ECC club rules, relationships or just life in general, send an e-mail to resident expert Hoyle at euchrechicago@yahoo.com. We promise all e- mails are anonymous.