I intended to stop by Shipley's to pick up a couple of my favorites - glazed - before arriving at the Bridge Studio yesterday morning to have a makeup game with Roop Prasad, my regular mentee for the past year on Wednesday mornings (2nd Wednesday of each month), but didn't have enough time. It's just as well, tho, because some kind soul had brought in a bunch of them to share with all of us!
For the past 35+ years, I've been kind of basking in the luxury of having a Shipley's dohnuts shop - well, in fact, several! - here in Houston. They're a local chain, with over 220 locations in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico. Yep, you read that right. Nothing in New Hampshire. Oh, unhappy day!
What seems to be most prevalent in New Hampshire is Dunkin' Donuts ... at one point in my visit there last week, I counted three (3!) of their stores within a half mile radius. I'll give them credit for serving a great cup of hot chocolate, but you can have the rest of their offerings. Ugh! Just not to my taste.
However, I did notice several "bakery and cafe" or "bakery and restaurant" signs in the area. Will have to investigate some of those and let you know what I discover. Hopefully, one of them will have dohnuts more to my liking and be located not too far from where I'll be living. I like them nice and soft and fresh, so I only buy two or three at a time.
Moulton's Market, located just off the Village Green in Amherst, offers a little bit of this and a little bit of that. We (daughter, son-in-law and myself) were there a couple of times last week, mainly to pick up sandwiches and soft drinks to go.
On our last day there, I noticed they had homemade soups - chili and vegetable. I smelled them both. Delicious! Their deli menu changes daily, but count on me to report back on the soups, in particular. That's one item that reheats very well in the microwave. And yes, I'll have a microwave.
Getting back to yesterday, I was more than just a little surprised when Roop presented me with a parting gift ... a 100% cashmere scarf, a tartan pattern in shades of brown and made in Scotland. (Guess she'd forgotten we were also scheduled to play in the mentor/mentee game this coming Wednesday morning.) So soft! You just wouldn't believe the softness of this scarf.
I proudly wore it around my neck the rest of our game and intend to sport it again this coming Wednesday. Thank you, Roop, for your beautiful and most thoughtful gift.
Showing posts with label Bridge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bridge. Show all posts
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Saturday, April 24, 2010
We lose another one
The American Contract Bridge League's Unit 174 lost another of its members this past week ... ... Jack Clark, who played mainly at night at the Pasadena and Clear Creek duplicate bridge clubs.
I didn't know Mr. Clark. Those clubs are on the far southeast side of town, and about the only times I get over that way are when I'm going to Kemah.
So why am I writing about him? Because he died while playing bridge Tuesday evening, that's why!
That would have been a real shocker to his partner and any others present, but I can hardly think of a more pleasant way to go than doing something you love, can you?
Bye, Jack, and I hope that - wherever you are - there are three others who are looking for a fourth!
I didn't know Mr. Clark. Those clubs are on the far southeast side of town, and about the only times I get over that way are when I'm going to Kemah.
So why am I writing about him? Because he died while playing bridge Tuesday evening, that's why!
That would have been a real shocker to his partner and any others present, but I can hardly think of a more pleasant way to go than doing something you love, can you?
Bye, Jack, and I hope that - wherever you are - there are three others who are looking for a fourth!
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Guess what I'm doing?
I'm playing BridgeBaseOnline, that's what I'm doing! :) Am I having fun? Well, yes, I am. (I'm "dummy" right now, so am starting my post.)
Guess what I'll be doing tonight? I'll be watching "my" Astros, who 'suck' BIG time, play the Cardinals in St. Louis. Lucky, lucky me! It's the first and only time this year they'll be on television (I don't have cable) until August, if you can believe that! (It's the truth.)
Checking in on other teams in "our club", let's see here ... ... Steven's Blue Jays are at the top of the heap in their division. (So what else is new? LOL ) Tammy's Yankees and my son-in-law's Red Sox are a little further down, but they needn't worry. The Jays will begin to falter ... at least by mid-season.
Who else? Well, the Phillies are having their way with the National League East ... a little unexpected, but it's early yet. They 'swept' the Astros here at home. Does that count? Bug's and Patrick's Braves are, as of this writing, in the middle of the pack ... about as we would have thought, actually. (Bug also follows the Reds, but - personally - I'm having a little trouble adding them to my list.)
The Central Division really isn't even worth talking about, unless you're a Cardinals' (Tammy, of course! She has divided allegiances.) or Cubs' (Hello, Chuck!) fan. There isn't a team I can conjure up that we might possibly be able to beat. However, being the masochist that I am, guess who'll be watching?
Now, I'm not in the habit of beating my head senselessly and incessantly against a brick wall, so I've been watching some other things on television, among them some pretty fair movies. Thought I'd share just a few with you ... ...
Had a chance last night to watch Irma La Douce (1963) for the first time ever, with Shirley MacLaine and Jack Lemmon. Not the greatest movie I've ever seen, but very entertaining! Also had the chance recently to watch The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming! Now, THAT was fun!! I've seen it once before, but it's been a good many years. Speaking of Russians, wasn't that good-looking young Russian sailor the same actor who starred in Fiddler on the Roof, another film from the 1960's (or maybe early 70's)?
Well now, shuckeydurn it all, anyway! I've just spent the last several minutes looking through the multitudinous loose papers on my desk in this room, on the kitchen counter and on the dining room table, but I cannot find the list I very carefully made of the really good films I watched recently. Sorry about that! That'll just have to be a separate post, won't it?
Before I go, I should tell you that I mentored Roop Prasad again today. Lots and lots of really good stuff came up, and we spent some quality time - at least, in my opinion! - afterwards talking about it. She's been fun to mentor ... needs to play more, but that's true of many people who are interested in learning more about the game of bridge! We came in tied in the overalls for 2/3 and I was pleased.
Guess what I'll be doing tonight? I'll be watching "my" Astros, who 'suck' BIG time, play the Cardinals in St. Louis. Lucky, lucky me! It's the first and only time this year they'll be on television (I don't have cable) until August, if you can believe that! (It's the truth.)
Checking in on other teams in "our club", let's see here ... ... Steven's Blue Jays are at the top of the heap in their division. (So what else is new? LOL ) Tammy's Yankees and my son-in-law's Red Sox are a little further down, but they needn't worry. The Jays will begin to falter ... at least by mid-season.
Who else? Well, the Phillies are having their way with the National League East ... a little unexpected, but it's early yet. They 'swept' the Astros here at home. Does that count? Bug's and Patrick's Braves are, as of this writing, in the middle of the pack ... about as we would have thought, actually. (Bug also follows the Reds, but - personally - I'm having a little trouble adding them to my list.)
The Central Division really isn't even worth talking about, unless you're a Cardinals' (Tammy, of course! She has divided allegiances.) or Cubs' (Hello, Chuck!) fan. There isn't a team I can conjure up that we might possibly be able to beat. However, being the masochist that I am, guess who'll be watching?
Now, I'm not in the habit of beating my head senselessly and incessantly against a brick wall, so I've been watching some other things on television, among them some pretty fair movies. Thought I'd share just a few with you ... ...
Had a chance last night to watch Irma La Douce (1963) for the first time ever, with Shirley MacLaine and Jack Lemmon. Not the greatest movie I've ever seen, but very entertaining! Also had the chance recently to watch The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming! Now, THAT was fun!! I've seen it once before, but it's been a good many years. Speaking of Russians, wasn't that good-looking young Russian sailor the same actor who starred in Fiddler on the Roof, another film from the 1960's (or maybe early 70's)?
Well now, shuckeydurn it all, anyway! I've just spent the last several minutes looking through the multitudinous loose papers on my desk in this room, on the kitchen counter and on the dining room table, but I cannot find the list I very carefully made of the really good films I watched recently. Sorry about that! That'll just have to be a separate post, won't it?
Before I go, I should tell you that I mentored Roop Prasad again today. Lots and lots of really good stuff came up, and we spent some quality time - at least, in my opinion! - afterwards talking about it. She's been fun to mentor ... needs to play more, but that's true of many people who are interested in learning more about the game of bridge! We came in tied in the overalls for 2/3 and I was pleased.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Lewd and lascivious behavior ...
... was exhibited by a member of my own immediate family just the other day. What was this behavior? It was stripping ... ... in public, no less, and over a several hour period. Shocking, eh what?
Well, not really. You don't strip a piece of furniture inside your home unless you want to be overcome by the fumes. At least, that's how I remember my own stripping experience back in Ohio many years ago. It was a door. And boy, I want to tell you, that sucker did not want to be stripped! What a mess!! I hated that job, but we (my husband lent a very welcome hand towards the end) finally got 'er done.
Now that I have your attention, I thought I'd move on to the even more mundane and tell you what I've been doing for the past month or so. For those of you whose imaginations were titillated by the headline and hoped (?) you were going to get to read things of a pornographic nature ... well, you've already read them. Sorry about that! LOL
The rest of this post will be a "bits & pieces" type of thing. In fact, I have so many little tidbits in mind that I'll probably headline each section. That way, if you see a subject you're not particularly interested in, you can skip right on over it. How's that sound? Only fair, right?
Astros ... ... Opening day is Monday. (This post was started Saturday afternoon.) I came to that realization earlier today when I noticed that it was April already. (April 1st came and went almost unnoticed by me. Did you get fooled by anybody?) So, I went to the 2010 Astros Schedule (previously known as the 2009 Astros Schedule) in order to copy down the dates when I would be able to watch them on TV - always limited because I don't have cable.
Two years ago, every Sunday game was shown on Channel 20. That was nice! Last year, there was nothing you could really point your finger toward and say, "Hey, it's Sunday." (or Monday, or whatever day) "The Astros are on!" I was lucky to be able to watch them once a month and it was usually on a Saturday. This year, I was kind of hoping they'd be on a little more regularly, but was shocked (shocked!) to find the only game in April that will be televised for those of us not on cable is when they play the Cardinals in St. Louis on the 14th. That's a Wednesday, folks, and will be the middle game of a 3-game set, with Tuesday an "off" day. What's with these schedules where there's an off day smack dab in the middle of a series? I don't understand it at all!
Guess how many games I'll be able to watch in May, June, or July? ZERO! (!!) Can you believe it? Just incredible! One in August - Saturday, the 20th, when they play the Mets in New York. Then, as if all of a sudden they realized that major league baseball is going on, every Saturday game in September is scheduled to be shown (concluding with the 1st Saturday in October - the middle game of that last series here at home against the Cubs). Is that wild, or what?
Yesterday (Saturday ... it's Sunday now), I listened on the radio, on my way back and forth to Luby's, to the Astros getting absolutely creamed by Steven's Blue Jays in the last pre-season game here at home. You remember the Blue Jays, don't you? That's the team that drives everyone in Canada crazy by starting out strong to get their fans' hopes up, but then begins fading about mid-season and is almost nowhere to be found at the end.
Our home opener is against the Giants (ho hum) and it won't be until our third series that we start meeting fellow Central Divisionites (Is that even a word?) - the Cardinals and Cubs. However, we end the season with Central Division foes ... three against the Reds in their home park and three against Chuck's Cubbies here at home. That last series, in particular, depending on the standings at the time, might be of special interest to a couple of people I know. We'll just have to see how it goes.
My last will and testament ... ... Three weeks ago tomorrow, on the 15th of March, I finally rewrote my last will and testament. (I hadn't rewritten it since my last divorce, over twenty years ago. Shame, shame!) Do you remember - by some weird chance - that my one and only New Year's resolution in 2009 was to rewrite it? I didn't make any resolutions for 2010. I mean, why would I?
Anyway, it took me the whole day and I was so anxious to get the whole thing signed and notarized that I called Sam Miller, my lawyer, to see how late he'd be at the office. (He's downtown and I live a good thirty minutes away.) I told him what I needed. It was already nearly 5:30. He asked, "Do you have two witnesses?" (No, I didn't.) I rushed out of the house to the nearest branch of my bank (now Chase), just up the street. I thought, "They'll handle this for me. They've notarized stuff for me before." (Well, back when they were Washington Mutual they did, but then I thought, "A bank's a bank, right? This'll be easy!")
Well, they don't notarize wills. I found this out only after I'd been waiting in line almost twenty minutes. Ugh. Double ugh! I was directed across the street to an insurance office where (I was told) they would get me all set up. And so off I sped. I arrived at the insurance office and asked, upon entering the door, "Do you notarize wills?" "Yes," was the answer. Oh happy day!
However, the job didn't get done. My will went on and on (and on) for three pages and had no provisions for signatures, witnesses, or notarizations. (A question: How does one live as long as I have and still be so ignorant? ... Please don't answer that. I mean, you can think the answer but don't write it, ok? I feel badly enough already.)
They were kind enough to make copies of a couple of pages that I needed to add to the will to make it "official". Guess what? (You've already guessed, haven't you?) I still haven't done it. You're not surprised, are you? (If you are surprised, then you don't know me very well!)
I did notify my daughter that a 'last will and testament' had finally been completed by me and where she could find it on my computer. Does that count positively for anything? Probably not.
Guess what's on my "to do" list for tomorrow?
Easter weekend ... ... This is it, and I - along with all other Christians in the world - am celebrating the wondrousness of Christ's resurrection. Truly, it is almost unimaginable to me that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son so that I - only one of many sinners! - could have everlasting life. I feel honored, certainly unworthy and most humbled.
I went in search of movies that would be shown for this most special of holidays and found only one (keep in mind that I do not have cable) ... ... I found The Ten Commandments, which came out in 1956, starring Charlton Heston (among many other fine actors and actresses) and directed and narrated by Cecil B. DeMille (who would have been tickled, I think, at my use of the word "lascivious" in the title of this post). Well, come to think of it, maybe not. I didn't use it in any sort of religious context, only to attract attention to my blog.
This film, while not directly related or inferring in any way to the life of Jesus, is (imo) of deep religious import and an epic that will probably remain forever embedded in the minds of all of us who believe in "one God". I took the time to watch it - a little over four hours last night, with very few commercial breaks - and am so glad I did!
Mentor/mentee games ... ... I offered to help with the mentor/mentee games at the Houston Bridge Studio (where I mentor twice a month) and was taken up on my offer by Kathy Hughes. I was to be in charge of the game on Thursday evening, March 25th.
Boy oh boy, I mean to tell you, you have no idea whatsoever the amount of work one of these things entails unless you are actually in charge of it. None! I thought I was doing pretty well ... ... had spent many hours alphabetizing mentors' and mentees' names, charting when they had last played and with whom in the last two or three months, recording masterpoints (mentors are "seeded", particularly the N-S pairs, which I hadn't known), noting regular/established partnerships, fielding phone calls from Kathy and others and setting up the upcoming game ... ... until Thursday afternoon, the 25th, came along and I was forced to take the car to the garage because the "service engine soon" light had just come on.
Those were hours I didn't have to spare, but had to because - due to all my years as a taxicab driver, I'm sure - I just don't fiddle around when trouble lights come on in my vehicle. No problems were found (?!?) and, believe you me, Micky's group checked everything! They reset the computer and I was told to drive the car just like normal until the light came on again (if it did).
You know, I seem to remember something like this happening once before with this car. Two or three years ago, maybe. I took it to the garage (same garage), they checked it all over, reset the computer and told me to drive it until the light came on again. Well, it never did until last week.
I was told that the "service engine soon" light has to do with the emissions system. The problem could be as simple as an improperly-seated gas cap to a worn or semi-detached hose to ... ... well, just about anything and nearly impossible to find. Hmmph!
Anyway, I've been driving it for over a week now with no recurring trouble light. I didn't really 'expect' to see one appear, but it was good to learn that the problem - whatever it might be or have been - was emissions-related and probably not serious. I just had an added thought. Suppose that "ses" light came on because the car missed Micky, his shop and the extra attention it received when it was taken there. What do you think? I mean, now that it's not being driven as a taxicab anymore, its visits there are few and far between.
Do you assign names to your vehicles? Do they have feelings? Personalities? Minds of their own? (Btw, it's now Monday morning. My priorities for today have changed. #1 is to finish and publish this post. I think three days is more than a long-enough allotted time, don't you?)
But, let's go back to Thursday afternoon, March 25th, and my final preparations for the mentor/mentee game that evening, which was due to start at 7pm. I had already composed the master list of who would be playing, alphabetically arranged by mentees' names, as I'd been instructed. All there was left to do was fill out the entry slips for the director and make out the name tags, using the second set of markers I'd purchased (first set was the wrong kind). It's been a good 20 years (or better!) since I last used a marker for anything and was totally confused by the myriad of offerings at the stores. And so, I had asked for help from someone at the second store I went to. I felt well-equipped.
I arrived back home somewhere between 4:30 and 5:00. There was time, I thought, to do both - not a lot, but enough - and still be able to get over to the studio early. (No time to eat, but that was about the last thing on my mind!) There were 13 full tables scheduled to play. That's a perfect movement. Two boards per round, 13 rounds, except in these mentor/mentee games they only play 12 rounds. This allows 15-20 or so extra minutes for the mentor/mentee to go over the game just played - referring to the hand records as desired, the mentor making a positive comment or two - perhaps even adding a suggestion/s for improvement - and the mentee asking questions. It's a really good setup. Well thought out.
I finished the entry slips, which took awhile because there were 26 of them, and was ready to tackle the name tags. To my horror, the second set of markers was no good, either. They 'bled' all over the name tags! I must have ruined four or five name tags, thinking I was the culprit, that I was doing something wrong. I quickly searched the house (once again!) for a black marker to use that still had some ink left in it. No luck. I hadn't thought there would be, but I had to at least try!
I finally decided to use a green very fine felt-tipped pen, which I knew would work, but no one more than a foot away from the wearer would be able to see, much less read the name! Even at a shorter distance it would be a strain. I was almost finished - had just a few names to go - when I discovered that I no longer had enough name tags.
Ye gods! It was at this point, I think, that I almost completely froze in utter frustration. I had to go back to the store, buy some more name tags and arrive at the studio not nearly as early as I would have liked and not completely prepared.
I could hardly make myself move. I didn't cry. Not then nor later, which kind of surprises me because I've been known to burst into tears at the slightest provocation. It's more like I was a zombie.
I arrived at the studio in that state, clutching all of my materials. Actually, I had to make two trips back and forth to the car to get stuff. People were already there. It was a near disaster. If it hadn't been for the director, Wolf Schroeter, assuring me that others had done 100 times worse (When?!?) and taking charge when one and a half tables of my total count simply didn't show up, leaving us with 11 1/2 tables and everyone playing 8 rounds of three boards each (with a N-S sitout of three boards, which is hateful at best), I wouldn't have been able to continue on in the evening and play with my mentee*.
*Walter Freitag, may God bless his patience, smile and friendship. We won overall that evening, can you imagine? (!) Lots of mistakes made our way, but even more by the opponents, and so there you have it! LOL
Now, Eric Watson ... ... btw, here's Eric (just a horrid picture of him .. he's much better-looking than that .. but many of us are not photogenic) ... ...
... is in charge of this month's Thursday evening mentor/mentee game (April 22nd). We're alternating months.
It took me about four days to recover from March 25th and want to even begin thinking about mentor/mentee games, but a couple of days ago I finally finished and sent to Eric - after double- and triple-checking yet once again! - the masters I had made for these games. I sure hope he's received them - have had no confirmation of same - and is able to make some good use out of them.
Last hurrah for this post ... ... This has gotten to be extra long, but I have decided to stop here and hit "publish". There were other things I was going to share with you, but I've decided, "Enough already!"
I hope this finds you well. I'll try and talk atcha again real soon.
Well, not really. You don't strip a piece of furniture inside your home unless you want to be overcome by the fumes. At least, that's how I remember my own stripping experience back in Ohio many years ago. It was a door. And boy, I want to tell you, that sucker did not want to be stripped! What a mess!! I hated that job, but we (my husband lent a very welcome hand towards the end) finally got 'er done.
Now that I have your attention, I thought I'd move on to the even more mundane and tell you what I've been doing for the past month or so. For those of you whose imaginations were titillated by the headline and hoped (?) you were going to get to read things of a pornographic nature ... well, you've already read them. Sorry about that! LOL
The rest of this post will be a "bits & pieces" type of thing. In fact, I have so many little tidbits in mind that I'll probably headline each section. That way, if you see a subject you're not particularly interested in, you can skip right on over it. How's that sound? Only fair, right?
Astros ... ... Opening day is Monday. (This post was started Saturday afternoon.) I came to that realization earlier today when I noticed that it was April already. (April 1st came and went almost unnoticed by me. Did you get fooled by anybody?) So, I went to the 2010 Astros Schedule (previously known as the 2009 Astros Schedule) in order to copy down the dates when I would be able to watch them on TV - always limited because I don't have cable.
Two years ago, every Sunday game was shown on Channel 20. That was nice! Last year, there was nothing you could really point your finger toward and say, "Hey, it's Sunday." (or Monday, or whatever day) "The Astros are on!" I was lucky to be able to watch them once a month and it was usually on a Saturday. This year, I was kind of hoping they'd be on a little more regularly, but was shocked (shocked!) to find the only game in April that will be televised for those of us not on cable is when they play the Cardinals in St. Louis on the 14th. That's a Wednesday, folks, and will be the middle game of a 3-game set, with Tuesday an "off" day. What's with these schedules where there's an off day smack dab in the middle of a series? I don't understand it at all!
Guess how many games I'll be able to watch in May, June, or July? ZERO! (!!) Can you believe it? Just incredible! One in August - Saturday, the 20th, when they play the Mets in New York. Then, as if all of a sudden they realized that major league baseball is going on, every Saturday game in September is scheduled to be shown (concluding with the 1st Saturday in October - the middle game of that last series here at home against the Cubs). Is that wild, or what?
Yesterday (Saturday ... it's Sunday now), I listened on the radio, on my way back and forth to Luby's, to the Astros getting absolutely creamed by Steven's Blue Jays in the last pre-season game here at home. You remember the Blue Jays, don't you? That's the team that drives everyone in Canada crazy by starting out strong to get their fans' hopes up, but then begins fading about mid-season and is almost nowhere to be found at the end.
Our home opener is against the Giants (ho hum) and it won't be until our third series that we start meeting fellow Central Divisionites (Is that even a word?) - the Cardinals and Cubs. However, we end the season with Central Division foes ... three against the Reds in their home park and three against Chuck's Cubbies here at home. That last series, in particular, depending on the standings at the time, might be of special interest to a couple of people I know. We'll just have to see how it goes.
My last will and testament ... ... Three weeks ago tomorrow, on the 15th of March, I finally rewrote my last will and testament. (I hadn't rewritten it since my last divorce, over twenty years ago. Shame, shame!) Do you remember - by some weird chance - that my one and only New Year's resolution in 2009 was to rewrite it? I didn't make any resolutions for 2010. I mean, why would I?
Anyway, it took me the whole day and I was so anxious to get the whole thing signed and notarized that I called Sam Miller, my lawyer, to see how late he'd be at the office. (He's downtown and I live a good thirty minutes away.) I told him what I needed. It was already nearly 5:30. He asked, "Do you have two witnesses?" (No, I didn't.) I rushed out of the house to the nearest branch of my bank (now Chase), just up the street. I thought, "They'll handle this for me. They've notarized stuff for me before." (Well, back when they were Washington Mutual they did, but then I thought, "A bank's a bank, right? This'll be easy!")
Well, they don't notarize wills. I found this out only after I'd been waiting in line almost twenty minutes. Ugh. Double ugh! I was directed across the street to an insurance office where (I was told) they would get me all set up. And so off I sped. I arrived at the insurance office and asked, upon entering the door, "Do you notarize wills?" "Yes," was the answer. Oh happy day!
However, the job didn't get done. My will went on and on (and on) for three pages and had no provisions for signatures, witnesses, or notarizations. (A question: How does one live as long as I have and still be so ignorant? ... Please don't answer that. I mean, you can think the answer but don't write it, ok? I feel badly enough already.)
They were kind enough to make copies of a couple of pages that I needed to add to the will to make it "official". Guess what? (You've already guessed, haven't you?) I still haven't done it. You're not surprised, are you? (If you are surprised, then you don't know me very well!)
I did notify my daughter that a 'last will and testament' had finally been completed by me and where she could find it on my computer. Does that count positively for anything? Probably not.
Guess what's on my "to do" list for tomorrow?
Easter weekend ... ... This is it, and I - along with all other Christians in the world - am celebrating the wondrousness of Christ's resurrection. Truly, it is almost unimaginable to me that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son so that I - only one of many sinners! - could have everlasting life. I feel honored, certainly unworthy and most humbled.
I went in search of movies that would be shown for this most special of holidays and found only one (keep in mind that I do not have cable) ... ... I found The Ten Commandments, which came out in 1956, starring Charlton Heston (among many other fine actors and actresses) and directed and narrated by Cecil B. DeMille (who would have been tickled, I think, at my use of the word "lascivious" in the title of this post). Well, come to think of it, maybe not. I didn't use it in any sort of religious context, only to attract attention to my blog.
This film, while not directly related or inferring in any way to the life of Jesus, is (imo) of deep religious import and an epic that will probably remain forever embedded in the minds of all of us who believe in "one God". I took the time to watch it - a little over four hours last night, with very few commercial breaks - and am so glad I did!
Mentor/mentee games ... ... I offered to help with the mentor/mentee games at the Houston Bridge Studio (where I mentor twice a month) and was taken up on my offer by Kathy Hughes. I was to be in charge of the game on Thursday evening, March 25th.
Boy oh boy, I mean to tell you, you have no idea whatsoever the amount of work one of these things entails unless you are actually in charge of it. None! I thought I was doing pretty well ... ... had spent many hours alphabetizing mentors' and mentees' names, charting when they had last played and with whom in the last two or three months, recording masterpoints (mentors are "seeded", particularly the N-S pairs, which I hadn't known), noting regular/established partnerships, fielding phone calls from Kathy and others and setting up the upcoming game ... ... until Thursday afternoon, the 25th, came along and I was forced to take the car to the garage because the "service engine soon" light had just come on.
Those were hours I didn't have to spare, but had to because - due to all my years as a taxicab driver, I'm sure - I just don't fiddle around when trouble lights come on in my vehicle. No problems were found (?!?) and, believe you me, Micky's group checked everything! They reset the computer and I was told to drive the car just like normal until the light came on again (if it did).
You know, I seem to remember something like this happening once before with this car. Two or three years ago, maybe. I took it to the garage (same garage), they checked it all over, reset the computer and told me to drive it until the light came on again. Well, it never did until last week.
I was told that the "service engine soon" light has to do with the emissions system. The problem could be as simple as an improperly-seated gas cap to a worn or semi-detached hose to ... ... well, just about anything and nearly impossible to find. Hmmph!
Anyway, I've been driving it for over a week now with no recurring trouble light. I didn't really 'expect' to see one appear, but it was good to learn that the problem - whatever it might be or have been - was emissions-related and probably not serious. I just had an added thought. Suppose that "ses" light came on because the car missed Micky, his shop and the extra attention it received when it was taken there. What do you think? I mean, now that it's not being driven as a taxicab anymore, its visits there are few and far between.
Do you assign names to your vehicles? Do they have feelings? Personalities? Minds of their own? (Btw, it's now Monday morning. My priorities for today have changed. #1 is to finish and publish this post. I think three days is more than a long-enough allotted time, don't you?)
But, let's go back to Thursday afternoon, March 25th, and my final preparations for the mentor/mentee game that evening, which was due to start at 7pm. I had already composed the master list of who would be playing, alphabetically arranged by mentees' names, as I'd been instructed. All there was left to do was fill out the entry slips for the director and make out the name tags, using the second set of markers I'd purchased (first set was the wrong kind). It's been a good 20 years (or better!) since I last used a marker for anything and was totally confused by the myriad of offerings at the stores. And so, I had asked for help from someone at the second store I went to. I felt well-equipped.
I arrived back home somewhere between 4:30 and 5:00. There was time, I thought, to do both - not a lot, but enough - and still be able to get over to the studio early. (No time to eat, but that was about the last thing on my mind!) There were 13 full tables scheduled to play. That's a perfect movement. Two boards per round, 13 rounds, except in these mentor/mentee games they only play 12 rounds. This allows 15-20 or so extra minutes for the mentor/mentee to go over the game just played - referring to the hand records as desired, the mentor making a positive comment or two - perhaps even adding a suggestion/s for improvement - and the mentee asking questions. It's a really good setup. Well thought out.
I finished the entry slips, which took awhile because there were 26 of them, and was ready to tackle the name tags. To my horror, the second set of markers was no good, either. They 'bled' all over the name tags! I must have ruined four or five name tags, thinking I was the culprit, that I was doing something wrong. I quickly searched the house (once again!) for a black marker to use that still had some ink left in it. No luck. I hadn't thought there would be, but I had to at least try!
I finally decided to use a green very fine felt-tipped pen, which I knew would work, but no one more than a foot away from the wearer would be able to see, much less read the name! Even at a shorter distance it would be a strain. I was almost finished - had just a few names to go - when I discovered that I no longer had enough name tags.
Ye gods! It was at this point, I think, that I almost completely froze in utter frustration. I had to go back to the store, buy some more name tags and arrive at the studio not nearly as early as I would have liked and not completely prepared.
I could hardly make myself move. I didn't cry. Not then nor later, which kind of surprises me because I've been known to burst into tears at the slightest provocation. It's more like I was a zombie.
I arrived at the studio in that state, clutching all of my materials. Actually, I had to make two trips back and forth to the car to get stuff. People were already there. It was a near disaster. If it hadn't been for the director, Wolf Schroeter, assuring me that others had done 100 times worse (When?!?) and taking charge when one and a half tables of my total count simply didn't show up, leaving us with 11 1/2 tables and everyone playing 8 rounds of three boards each (with a N-S sitout of three boards, which is hateful at best), I wouldn't have been able to continue on in the evening and play with my mentee*.
*Walter Freitag, may God bless his patience, smile and friendship. We won overall that evening, can you imagine? (!) Lots of mistakes made our way, but even more by the opponents, and so there you have it! LOL
Now, Eric Watson ... ... btw, here's Eric (just a horrid picture of him .. he's much better-looking than that .. but many of us are not photogenic) ... ...
... is in charge of this month's Thursday evening mentor/mentee game (April 22nd). We're alternating months.
It took me about four days to recover from March 25th and want to even begin thinking about mentor/mentee games, but a couple of days ago I finally finished and sent to Eric - after double- and triple-checking yet once again! - the masters I had made for these games. I sure hope he's received them - have had no confirmation of same - and is able to make some good use out of them.
Last hurrah for this post ... ... This has gotten to be extra long, but I have decided to stop here and hit "publish". There were other things I was going to share with you, but I've decided, "Enough already!"
I hope this finds you well. I'll try and talk atcha again real soon.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Trifocals
I'd known for some time that I needed new glasses, but had been putting off going to the optometrist because I thought he'd check the status of my cataracts again and I'm just not ready to undergo that surgery.
However, push finally came to shove. Two things were bothering me in particular. 1) Driving ... ... I was getting around "just fine" only because I know Houston so well. I really don't recommend fuzzy distance viewing. 2) Working at the computer ... ... My bifocals didn't work at all - neither top nor bottom portions of the lenses - and, because my eyes were receiving no help for the astigmatism (right) or floating 'stuff'* (left), they quickly became tired. I gave in and called for an appointment.
This time around I had two different types of glasses in mind, trifocals and driving glasses. The driving glasses were a no-brainer, but the trifocals idea stemmed from the three different distances I focus on most often ... a) reading or solving word puzzles/games, (b) working at the computer (2') and c) watching television (3') at the kitchen table while doing the latter part of a). Sounded like trifocals to me!
[I've had bifocals for over thirty years. I remember getting my first pair. My husband went with me, because we'd been warned by the ophthalmologist that they'd take a bit of getting used to. It's a good thing he went with me and was holding my arm. I'd have fallen on my face more than once! Took a while to get used to them.]
I really like my optometrist. Have been going to him for years! The exam is usually quite thorough, and initially done by one of his interns. He gets them on three-month rotations from one of the local schools. I haven't met a bad one yet, altho there was one I thought was a little suspect a few years back. The optometrist does the final exam ... asking questions of me, correcting and making suggestions to the intern all the while. Kind of fascinating, actually.
I was relieved when he didn't mention having a closer look to see how fast my cataracts were developing, and I wasn't about to bring up the subject, so there you have it. The only question we had was whether or not to order trifocals with demarcation lines.
The driving glasses were made while I waited, and then (By the way, I love them!) the doctor had me try on this gizmo, showing me how graduated lenses w/o lines would be. I didn't like it at all, so we ordered ones with lines.
When I got the call a week or so later, however, telling me my trifocals were in, I didn't immediately trot my body on over there to pick them up. I was really nervous about it, even though I had been assured that we could easily go another direction if I didn't like them. (He wants no unsatisfied customers!) But, I finally went - four days later and brought them home with me. I didn't even try them on. I just looked to see if they were trifocals. They were.
Well, ok. Showtime. I sat down at the kitchen table, put on my brand new trifocals, turned on the tv and began working a puzzle. So far so good. The top and bottom lenses appeared to be correct. I didn't need the middle one unless I was working at the computer, but I wasn't in any hurry to try that out. Chicken. Yes, I was!
I was due to mentor Thursday evening at the bridge studio. As I was parking the car in the lot, I thought, "Boy, this'll be a great place to try out the whole range of my new glasses!" For months, I'd been putting on my bifocals to sort and bid my hand and then placing them on the table for the play and defense. I thought this would be just a fabulous test, and couldn't believe I hadn't thought of that when the idea of trifocals first occurred to me.
The whole evening was spent in wonder and total clarity of vision. What a wonderfully pleasant surprise! Never took my new glasses off the whole time (except when I left the table to walk around). My goodness!
Since then, of course, I often wear my trifocals when working at the computer. In fact, I have them on right now. It takes a while to get used to that narrower middle lense, but eventually it does happen and you get to the point where you don't even notice the lines. One of my smarter moves in recent years.
************************************************************************************
*See this post for more info on floating 'stuff' in my left eye.
However, push finally came to shove. Two things were bothering me in particular. 1) Driving ... ... I was getting around "just fine" only because I know Houston so well. I really don't recommend fuzzy distance viewing. 2) Working at the computer ... ... My bifocals didn't work at all - neither top nor bottom portions of the lenses - and, because my eyes were receiving no help for the astigmatism (right) or floating 'stuff'* (left), they quickly became tired. I gave in and called for an appointment.
This time around I had two different types of glasses in mind, trifocals and driving glasses. The driving glasses were a no-brainer, but the trifocals idea stemmed from the three different distances I focus on most often ... a) reading or solving word puzzles/games, (b) working at the computer (2') and c) watching television (3') at the kitchen table while doing the latter part of a). Sounded like trifocals to me!
[I've had bifocals for over thirty years. I remember getting my first pair. My husband went with me, because we'd been warned by the ophthalmologist that they'd take a bit of getting used to. It's a good thing he went with me and was holding my arm. I'd have fallen on my face more than once! Took a while to get used to them.]
I really like my optometrist. Have been going to him for years! The exam is usually quite thorough, and initially done by one of his interns. He gets them on three-month rotations from one of the local schools. I haven't met a bad one yet, altho there was one I thought was a little suspect a few years back. The optometrist does the final exam ... asking questions of me, correcting and making suggestions to the intern all the while. Kind of fascinating, actually.
I was relieved when he didn't mention having a closer look to see how fast my cataracts were developing, and I wasn't about to bring up the subject, so there you have it. The only question we had was whether or not to order trifocals with demarcation lines.
The driving glasses were made while I waited, and then (By the way, I love them!) the doctor had me try on this gizmo, showing me how graduated lenses w/o lines would be. I didn't like it at all, so we ordered ones with lines.
When I got the call a week or so later, however, telling me my trifocals were in, I didn't immediately trot my body on over there to pick them up. I was really nervous about it, even though I had been assured that we could easily go another direction if I didn't like them. (He wants no unsatisfied customers!) But, I finally went - four days later and brought them home with me. I didn't even try them on. I just looked to see if they were trifocals. They were.
Well, ok. Showtime. I sat down at the kitchen table, put on my brand new trifocals, turned on the tv and began working a puzzle. So far so good. The top and bottom lenses appeared to be correct. I didn't need the middle one unless I was working at the computer, but I wasn't in any hurry to try that out. Chicken. Yes, I was!
I was due to mentor Thursday evening at the bridge studio. As I was parking the car in the lot, I thought, "Boy, this'll be a great place to try out the whole range of my new glasses!" For months, I'd been putting on my bifocals to sort and bid my hand and then placing them on the table for the play and defense. I thought this would be just a fabulous test, and couldn't believe I hadn't thought of that when the idea of trifocals first occurred to me.
The whole evening was spent in wonder and total clarity of vision. What a wonderfully pleasant surprise! Never took my new glasses off the whole time (except when I left the table to walk around). My goodness!
Since then, of course, I often wear my trifocals when working at the computer. In fact, I have them on right now. It takes a while to get used to that narrower middle lense, but eventually it does happen and you get to the point where you don't even notice the lines. One of my smarter moves in recent years.
************************************************************************************
*See this post for more info on floating 'stuff' in my left eye.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
The Regional ... ... #2
Yesterday I read through the long, long list of winners in the Regional duplicate bridge tournament just completed.
[I'd have published this earlier, but the ACBL's office in Memphis was closed due to inclement weather. Nothing like what DC has been experiencing, but .. .. .. everything seems to be 'up and running' now.]
It was fun reading. Saw some names towards the bottom of the list who should have been much closer to the top (imo) and names at the top who had no business being there. LOL
It took a while to read through the list of winners. We had a successful tournament, attendance-wise. Over 3,000 tables total. Reading through the list made me realize how many very good bridge players we have here in the Houston area. We have a Unit that is alive, vibrant, strong and moving ahead in all directions ... membership, public relations and attracting new players to the game of bridge.
From the little bit of time I spent at the tournament, I thought it went very smoothly and showed the positive results of many hours of hard work and organization by co-chairs Pat Levy and Paul Cuneo, who were ably supported by a hundred or more volunteers both before and during the tournament itself.
I was particularly impressed by the streamlined way in which the meal was served between sessions Sunday. Not only were there no lines - boxed lunches - but the sandwiches with extra-fresh bread were delicious! I felt myself starting to sag a bit afterwards, tho, - I like to take naps after I eat - but I made it through just fine.
I played in two side games on Thursday and Friday evenings with pickup partners and placed both times .. section top in the first one and second on Friday. I hadn't intended to play two sessions, but I noticed - when looking at the results online the next day, that my points for a section top would be gold if I played more than one session in the same event. Don't need any points - gold or otherwise - but I thought, "What the hey!"
There were fifteen side games all told ... five each morning, afternoon and evening (Tuesday through Saturday), and you had to play in two of the five to qualify for the overalls or get gold points if you received a section top. Unfortunately, the second fact was not made known ahead of time nor during the tournament itself unless you happened to read about it online. One of my students, who just needs gold points to qualify for Life Master status, played in only one of the sessions. She got a section top, but no gold because she didn't play in a second session. She would have adjusted her schedule accordingly had she known, I'll betcha. I didn't realize what had happened until I saw her Sunday, and by then it was too late to do anything about it.
My pickup partners did not seem to be affected by my (what appeared to be a) contagious disease, that of revoking. I wasn't the one doing the revoking. No, no, it was my regular partners! SIX revokes !!! altogether, two of which were very costly.
[For those of you non-bridge players, a revoke is the term given when you do not play a card of the suit led. For example, a diamond is led and you play a spade. If it turns out that you had a diamond and didn't play it, that is called a revoke. Where this can become very costly is that -- in addition to perhaps losing a trick or two (depending on who won the revoking trick and how many tricks were won subsequently) -- the card played (in this case a spade) remains on the table face up as a major penalty card and must be played at the first opportunity. If revoker's partner happens to get on lead, then declarer has other options. The upshot of this whole thing? Don't revoke!
Btw, a revoke is impossible when you're playing BBO ... the programming simply will not allow it. That's why, when a diamond was led (above), I asked, "No diamonds, partner?" By then, tho, it was too late. A spade had already hit the table. No trick penalties on this, but possible lead penalties, as you have already read.]
One really funny story about one of my partners' revokes. I think it was the last one of the tournament. The card inadvertently played - and therefore a major penalty card - was the deuce of hearts. It sat there on the table until partner won a trick and had to lead. Out came the offending deuce, which won the trick. I think that's hilarious! Don't recall ever hearing another revoke story quite like that one.
Well, that's all from the tournament. Had a lot of fun, as always.
[I'd have published this earlier, but the ACBL's office in Memphis was closed due to inclement weather. Nothing like what DC has been experiencing, but .. .. .. everything seems to be 'up and running' now.]
It was fun reading. Saw some names towards the bottom of the list who should have been much closer to the top (imo) and names at the top who had no business being there. LOL
It took a while to read through the list of winners. We had a successful tournament, attendance-wise. Over 3,000 tables total. Reading through the list made me realize how many very good bridge players we have here in the Houston area. We have a Unit that is alive, vibrant, strong and moving ahead in all directions ... membership, public relations and attracting new players to the game of bridge.
From the little bit of time I spent at the tournament, I thought it went very smoothly and showed the positive results of many hours of hard work and organization by co-chairs Pat Levy and Paul Cuneo, who were ably supported by a hundred or more volunteers both before and during the tournament itself.
I was particularly impressed by the streamlined way in which the meal was served between sessions Sunday. Not only were there no lines - boxed lunches - but the sandwiches with extra-fresh bread were delicious! I felt myself starting to sag a bit afterwards, tho, - I like to take naps after I eat - but I made it through just fine.
I played in two side games on Thursday and Friday evenings with pickup partners and placed both times .. section top in the first one and second on Friday. I hadn't intended to play two sessions, but I noticed - when looking at the results online the next day, that my points for a section top would be gold if I played more than one session in the same event. Don't need any points - gold or otherwise - but I thought, "What the hey!"
There were fifteen side games all told ... five each morning, afternoon and evening (Tuesday through Saturday), and you had to play in two of the five to qualify for the overalls or get gold points if you received a section top. Unfortunately, the second fact was not made known ahead of time nor during the tournament itself unless you happened to read about it online. One of my students, who just needs gold points to qualify for Life Master status, played in only one of the sessions. She got a section top, but no gold because she didn't play in a second session. She would have adjusted her schedule accordingly had she known, I'll betcha. I didn't realize what had happened until I saw her Sunday, and by then it was too late to do anything about it.
My pickup partners did not seem to be affected by my (what appeared to be a) contagious disease, that of revoking. I wasn't the one doing the revoking. No, no, it was my regular partners! SIX revokes !!! altogether, two of which were very costly.
[For those of you non-bridge players, a revoke is the term given when you do not play a card of the suit led. For example, a diamond is led and you play a spade. If it turns out that you had a diamond and didn't play it, that is called a revoke. Where this can become very costly is that -- in addition to perhaps losing a trick or two (depending on who won the revoking trick and how many tricks were won subsequently) -- the card played (in this case a spade) remains on the table face up as a major penalty card and must be played at the first opportunity. If revoker's partner happens to get on lead, then declarer has other options. The upshot of this whole thing? Don't revoke!
Btw, a revoke is impossible when you're playing BBO ... the programming simply will not allow it. That's why, when a diamond was led (above), I asked, "No diamonds, partner?" By then, tho, it was too late. A spade had already hit the table. No trick penalties on this, but possible lead penalties, as you have already read.]
One really funny story about one of my partners' revokes. I think it was the last one of the tournament. The card inadvertently played - and therefore a major penalty card - was the deuce of hearts. It sat there on the table until partner won a trick and had to lead. Out came the offending deuce, which won the trick. I think that's hilarious! Don't recall ever hearing another revoke story quite like that one.
Well, that's all from the tournament. Had a lot of fun, as always.
Monday, February 1, 2010
The Regional ... ... #1
... starts this evening at the Adams Mark Hotel.
How does one ever get it past their head that the Adams Mark is no longer the Adams Mark? (And hasn't been for a number of years.) It is now one of 89 gazillion billion Marriott Hotels worldwide. Never you mind. It will ALWAYS be the Adams Mark to me!
It's just up the street from here. What this actually means, in "Houston-speak", is that it is 'just around the corner', which could be anywhere from 1/2 block to a mile (or two or three or four - maybe even more). Teehee!
From my house to there, I go up to Beechnut, catch the Beltway heading north, exit Westheimer and I'm there. Well, almost. No more than ten minutes max (normal conditions).
Edna and I had our 'practice game' for Sunday's Swiss team session earlier today at Tracy Gee Community Center, which is just a touch closer to me than the hotel I was talking about. We had a very nice game ... not humongous, but nice. A few things came up that were worthy of discussion, and I'm feeling quite comfortable about our game.
Watching a former student's progression through the years can be almost as exhilarating and satisfying as watching your own child's. Geez, I hope we do well on Sunday! They - my former students - always seem so nervous when they play with me. Almost like they're expecting impossible things of themselves because they're playing with their teacher.
I've asked them - time after time after time - why they seem so nervous when they're playing with me. I always get the same answer, "Because you're our teacher."
Well, shuckeydurn and tarnation, anyway! I don't know what I can do about that other than try to play my very best and not make a mistake. (I always try and do that when I'm playing with a student - former or current - or mentee, but I'm not perfect. I'm not one of the 'big time pros' nor a robot. I make mistakes. I just try not to make any when I'm playing with them!)
Please wish us luck on Sunday?
Now, in re other events for the Regional, Julian and I will be playing tomorrow afternoon. Actually, it'll be round #3 of a knockout event, but Bill Breslin (Julian's regular partner) can't make the afternoon session, so I'm a replacement. Hopefully, their team will still be "in" the event and I can hold up my end of the bargain and help them carry on to the finals.
Friday night, Julian and I are scheduled to play in a "midnight Swiss" .. .. so-called because this event used to start around midnight. However, with earlier start times for the regular games, it's now advertised as starting at 10:30.
This brings to mind "pajama games", which were notorious at Galveston sectional tournaments in the 70's. My, my! I remember 'pajama games' there when, if you were in the lobby of the hotel just minding your own business, you could be pressed into service and be part of a hand where dealer bid, you sat on dealer's lap, someone else played the hand and you tried your best to sort your cards and follow suit. (Exaggerating only slightly here. Ask Jolie ... she'll tell you!).
That's all I have scheduled. I imagine, however, that when I show up tomorrow afternoon, someone will ask me whatall else I have going and would I be available for thus and so?
We'll see. Meanwhile, you have my schedule as of 7pm Monday, February 1st, 2010.
How does one ever get it past their head that the Adams Mark is no longer the Adams Mark? (And hasn't been for a number of years.) It is now one of 89 gazillion billion Marriott Hotels worldwide. Never you mind. It will ALWAYS be the Adams Mark to me!
It's just up the street from here. What this actually means, in "Houston-speak", is that it is 'just around the corner', which could be anywhere from 1/2 block to a mile (or two or three or four - maybe even more). Teehee!
From my house to there, I go up to Beechnut, catch the Beltway heading north, exit Westheimer and I'm there. Well, almost. No more than ten minutes max (normal conditions).
Edna and I had our 'practice game' for Sunday's Swiss team session earlier today at Tracy Gee Community Center, which is just a touch closer to me than the hotel I was talking about. We had a very nice game ... not humongous, but nice. A few things came up that were worthy of discussion, and I'm feeling quite comfortable about our game.
Watching a former student's progression through the years can be almost as exhilarating and satisfying as watching your own child's. Geez, I hope we do well on Sunday! They - my former students - always seem so nervous when they play with me. Almost like they're expecting impossible things of themselves because they're playing with their teacher.
I've asked them - time after time after time - why they seem so nervous when they're playing with me. I always get the same answer, "Because you're our teacher."
Well, shuckeydurn and tarnation, anyway! I don't know what I can do about that other than try to play my very best and not make a mistake. (I always try and do that when I'm playing with a student - former or current - or mentee, but I'm not perfect. I'm not one of the 'big time pros' nor a robot. I make mistakes. I just try not to make any when I'm playing with them!)
Please wish us luck on Sunday?
Now, in re other events for the Regional, Julian and I will be playing tomorrow afternoon. Actually, it'll be round #3 of a knockout event, but Bill Breslin (Julian's regular partner) can't make the afternoon session, so I'm a replacement. Hopefully, their team will still be "in" the event and I can hold up my end of the bargain and help them carry on to the finals.
Friday night, Julian and I are scheduled to play in a "midnight Swiss" .. .. so-called because this event used to start around midnight. However, with earlier start times for the regular games, it's now advertised as starting at 10:30.
This brings to mind "pajama games", which were notorious at Galveston sectional tournaments in the 70's. My, my! I remember 'pajama games' there when, if you were in the lobby of the hotel just minding your own business, you could be pressed into service and be part of a hand where dealer bid, you sat on dealer's lap, someone else played the hand and you tried your best to sort your cards and follow suit. (Exaggerating only slightly here. Ask Jolie ... she'll tell you!).
That's all I have scheduled. I imagine, however, that when I show up tomorrow afternoon, someone will ask me whatall else I have going and would I be available for thus and so?
We'll see. Meanwhile, you have my schedule as of 7pm Monday, February 1st, 2010.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
A matter of interpretation, I guess ... ... followup
Any of you remember this post? It's from last August, and provoked a lot of thoughts and comments.
I bring it up today because I recently received the most wonderful comment on it from the author of the obituary, the deceased's daughter, Robin Cash.
Actually, Robin sent her comment many days ago, but it was relegated to Zone Alarm's trash bin and I just read it yesterday.
Thank you SO much, Robin, for your extensive comment. I thought the obituary of your mother described a woman who loved life ... absolutely loved it! I just wish I could have remembered her.
It's so sad how her mind was affected in her later years. My father's memory -- and his first love was defense -- was beginning to go, as well, in his declining years. The worst part of the whole thing was that he knew it! It's one of life's more cruel 'jokes', isn't it?
Those of you who remember that post and the controversy that followed might be interested in reading Robin's comment. Just click onto the "comment" section and scroll down until you see hers.
I bring it up today because I recently received the most wonderful comment on it from the author of the obituary, the deceased's daughter, Robin Cash.
Actually, Robin sent her comment many days ago, but it was relegated to Zone Alarm's trash bin and I just read it yesterday.
Thank you SO much, Robin, for your extensive comment. I thought the obituary of your mother described a woman who loved life ... absolutely loved it! I just wish I could have remembered her.
It's so sad how her mind was affected in her later years. My father's memory -- and his first love was defense -- was beginning to go, as well, in his declining years. The worst part of the whole thing was that he knew it! It's one of life's more cruel 'jokes', isn't it?
Those of you who remember that post and the controversy that followed might be interested in reading Robin's comment. Just click onto the "comment" section and scroll down until you see hers.
Just call me Raymonda
Years and years ago ... I guess it would have been here in Houston ... Mom and Dad were visiting and there was a bridge tournament going on. Probably a Regional, like we've got coming up in another week or two.
In those days, Men's Pairs and Women's Pairs were scheduled as two of the events, both occurring on the same day (two sessions). Mom and I, I think, were going to be playing in the Women's, but Dad was still looking for a partner for the Men's when it came to be game time and he had not been unsuccessful.
And so, he was planning to kibitz in the Men's Pairs when over the loudspeaker came the announcement, "We need a woman to complete the Women's Pairs. Our expense." Silence in the room as everyone looked around, expecting a woman to walk on up to the Director's desk and offer her services.
No one did. Finally, the director asked, "ANYone??" My dad went up to say he was available, but there was no way he could ever be considered a woman. LOL
He was pressed into 'duty' and for two sessions he was met with looks of surprise and more than a few grins. He had a lot of fun with it. Even borrowed someone's scarf, as I remember, and would introduce himself at each new table with, "Just call me Raymonda." (His name was Raymond.)
I hadn't thought about this in YEARS, but today was reminded of it when - in cruising BBO tables for people looking for partners - I came across one person who stated, most emphatically, "NO WOMEN" ... rrvit!
In those days, Men's Pairs and Women's Pairs were scheduled as two of the events, both occurring on the same day (two sessions). Mom and I, I think, were going to be playing in the Women's, but Dad was still looking for a partner for the Men's when it came to be game time and he had not been unsuccessful.
And so, he was planning to kibitz in the Men's Pairs when over the loudspeaker came the announcement, "We need a woman to complete the Women's Pairs. Our expense." Silence in the room as everyone looked around, expecting a woman to walk on up to the Director's desk and offer her services.
No one did. Finally, the director asked, "ANYone??" My dad went up to say he was available, but there was no way he could ever be considered a woman. LOL
He was pressed into 'duty' and for two sessions he was met with looks of surprise and more than a few grins. He had a lot of fun with it. Even borrowed someone's scarf, as I remember, and would introduce himself at each new table with, "Just call me Raymonda." (His name was Raymond.)
I hadn't thought about this in YEARS, but today was reminded of it when - in cruising BBO tables for people looking for partners - I came across one person who stated, most emphatically, "NO WOMEN" ... rrvit!
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Picking up at the airport
I spent nearly eighteen years as a taxicab driver picking personal customers up from both airports. The procedure was always the same. I arrived early and filled out a personal customer pickup form ... airline, flight #, ETA, customer's name, my name and cab number, etc. Then I waited at a staging area nearby - never at the terminal - with the airport radio on to hear my cab number announced, that the customer was waiting.
Often my customers would call me from their cell phone as they were on their way out of the terminal. That way, less time would be lost waiting for me to arrive after they gave my cab number to the starter. It was a nearly fail safe procedure.
I say 'nearly' because twice during those years a potential personal customer forgot I would be picking them up and hopped in the first taxicab at the stand, leaving me sitting at the staging area waiting for someone who was never going to arrive and ask for me. Aargh!
This past Monday evening, I was scheduled to pick Joanne back up at Hobby. It was to be a late pickup, at best (a 10:45pm arrival), but I was all prepared. Had taken a nap in preparation for the late hour and was ready for potential delays due to weather or her connecting flight in Chicago having to wait for incoming flights from elsewhere.
Sure enough, both things happened, which was not surprising. Joanne hadn't called me from Chicago, tho, so I assumed she was on the delayed flight and I arrived at Hobby in plenty of time - now going on 11:30pm - and sat in a lot nearby to wait for her call.
None came. I waited some more. No call. Hmm! I called the airline again, expecting to hear that the flight was due to land 'any minute', only to learn that the flight had landed successfully almost 45 minutes earlier! What the devil?
I cruised on up to the terminal and drove very slowly past all of the exits. No Joanne. In fact, almost no people at all! The regulations at both airports do not allow unattended personal vehicles at the terminals, so I really didn't see how I could park the car even momentarily just to dash inside and see if Joanne was still waiting for her luggage, being attended to, or ... ... I could imagine all sorts of various scenarios.
I didn't know what to do. I didn't have her cell phone number with me, so called her home phone on the off chance that she was there, that we had somehow missed each other. Left a worried-type message on her voice mail
I decided to wait just a few more minutes and then go home. I mean, it was stupid to wait for someone who wasn't going to be coming in! By that time, I was in a small line of cars that were waiting for a flight coming in from Vegas. It was now going on 12:30am.
Just then my cell phone rang. I answered. It was Joanne. I asked, "Where are you?" "I'm at Hobby," she said. "Well, I'm at the terminal. Do you have your luggage? Are you all right? I'm been so worried!"
[In this post, I talked about taking Joanne to the airport and how we always had to get there early because of the amount of steel in her body, remember? And then, just a few days later, I was rejoicing over the 'fact' that my customers had made it to the airports on time and trouble-free. Well, Joanne missed her flight out. How did that happen? It seems she set off so many metal detectors that she kept getting delayed having to wait for another official inspector, and then .. .. when she was finally cleared to go, it was too late. Ugh!]
There were no such complications due to metal detectors and having to wait for official inspectors on her return to Houston. The delay at Hobby arose from Joanne having written my cell phone number down wrong - in two different places! She hesitated calling this wrong number yet once again and asking the very tired-sounding fellow who answered to once more verify the digits of his phone number, but was about to do so when she remembered that she had packed her address and phone directory in one of her pieces of luggage.
This sort of thing would never have happened if I'd been a cab driver. She still wouldn't have been able to call me (wrong #), but she could have walked to the cab stand and asked for me by cab number. If, for some reason, she had forgotten my cab number, the starter would have asked for her name and we'd have gotten together - eventually. (Now, if for some reason she'd forgotten her name .. .. well, we both would have been in trouble!)
[Also, the starter would have allowed me to leave the cab and walk into the terminal to briefly check on Joanne's whereabouts.]
I'm due to pick Beth up at IAH either Wednesday or Thursday. This pickup is very much up in the air. She's due to helicopter to Prudhoe Bay Monday - she is at Point Thompson, Alaska - and fly back to Anchorage on Tuesday, but weather conditions are very much a factor with this one.
I just now received an e-mail from her describing blizzard conditions. Yesterday, all operations were on shut down .. no flights, no drilling. She sent me a couple of pictures of the area, and I've tried to transfer them for you but I've got this new computer and things just don't work the same way. Anyway, you can find some info on this remote Arctic Ocean location here.
Says she'll be glad to get back home and be off for a few days. Perhaps she'll even take a few photos. (?) It's so cold there that the shutter can't be worked with heavy gloves on and - if you try to go bare-handed, your fingers quickly become frozen. Imagine she'll have lots of stories to share. I'm looking forward to seeing her again.
Anyhoo, a somewhat belated Happy New Year to you all. Julian and I played bridge New Year's Eve and were a little above average. We each made a couple of costly errors, but I had a good time - as always.
Often my customers would call me from their cell phone as they were on their way out of the terminal. That way, less time would be lost waiting for me to arrive after they gave my cab number to the starter. It was a nearly fail safe procedure.
I say 'nearly' because twice during those years a potential personal customer forgot I would be picking them up and hopped in the first taxicab at the stand, leaving me sitting at the staging area waiting for someone who was never going to arrive and ask for me. Aargh!
This past Monday evening, I was scheduled to pick Joanne back up at Hobby. It was to be a late pickup, at best (a 10:45pm arrival), but I was all prepared. Had taken a nap in preparation for the late hour and was ready for potential delays due to weather or her connecting flight in Chicago having to wait for incoming flights from elsewhere.
Sure enough, both things happened, which was not surprising. Joanne hadn't called me from Chicago, tho, so I assumed she was on the delayed flight and I arrived at Hobby in plenty of time - now going on 11:30pm - and sat in a lot nearby to wait for her call.
None came. I waited some more. No call. Hmm! I called the airline again, expecting to hear that the flight was due to land 'any minute', only to learn that the flight had landed successfully almost 45 minutes earlier! What the devil?
I cruised on up to the terminal and drove very slowly past all of the exits. No Joanne. In fact, almost no people at all! The regulations at both airports do not allow unattended personal vehicles at the terminals, so I really didn't see how I could park the car even momentarily just to dash inside and see if Joanne was still waiting for her luggage, being attended to, or ... ... I could imagine all sorts of various scenarios.
I didn't know what to do. I didn't have her cell phone number with me, so called her home phone on the off chance that she was there, that we had somehow missed each other. Left a worried-type message on her voice mail
I decided to wait just a few more minutes and then go home. I mean, it was stupid to wait for someone who wasn't going to be coming in! By that time, I was in a small line of cars that were waiting for a flight coming in from Vegas. It was now going on 12:30am.
Just then my cell phone rang. I answered. It was Joanne. I asked, "Where are you?" "I'm at Hobby," she said. "Well, I'm at the terminal. Do you have your luggage? Are you all right? I'm been so worried!"
[In this post, I talked about taking Joanne to the airport and how we always had to get there early because of the amount of steel in her body, remember? And then, just a few days later, I was rejoicing over the 'fact' that my customers had made it to the airports on time and trouble-free. Well, Joanne missed her flight out. How did that happen? It seems she set off so many metal detectors that she kept getting delayed having to wait for another official inspector, and then .. .. when she was finally cleared to go, it was too late. Ugh!]
There were no such complications due to metal detectors and having to wait for official inspectors on her return to Houston. The delay at Hobby arose from Joanne having written my cell phone number down wrong - in two different places! She hesitated calling this wrong number yet once again and asking the very tired-sounding fellow who answered to once more verify the digits of his phone number, but was about to do so when she remembered that she had packed her address and phone directory in one of her pieces of luggage.
This sort of thing would never have happened if I'd been a cab driver. She still wouldn't have been able to call me (wrong #), but she could have walked to the cab stand and asked for me by cab number. If, for some reason, she had forgotten my cab number, the starter would have asked for her name and we'd have gotten together - eventually. (Now, if for some reason she'd forgotten her name .. .. well, we both would have been in trouble!)
[Also, the starter would have allowed me to leave the cab and walk into the terminal to briefly check on Joanne's whereabouts.]
I'm due to pick Beth up at IAH either Wednesday or Thursday. This pickup is very much up in the air. She's due to helicopter to Prudhoe Bay Monday - she is at Point Thompson, Alaska - and fly back to Anchorage on Tuesday, but weather conditions are very much a factor with this one.
I just now received an e-mail from her describing blizzard conditions. Yesterday, all operations were on shut down .. no flights, no drilling. She sent me a couple of pictures of the area, and I've tried to transfer them for you but I've got this new computer and things just don't work the same way. Anyway, you can find some info on this remote Arctic Ocean location here.
Says she'll be glad to get back home and be off for a few days. Perhaps she'll even take a few photos. (?) It's so cold there that the shutter can't be worked with heavy gloves on and - if you try to go bare-handed, your fingers quickly become frozen. Imagine she'll have lots of stories to share. I'm looking forward to seeing her again.
Anyhoo, a somewhat belated Happy New Year to you all. Julian and I played bridge New Year's Eve and were a little above average. We each made a couple of costly errors, but I had a good time - as always.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Be careful what you say
I entered the bridge studio yesterday morning to play with Julian and tried to make a beeline for the coffee and water. As usual, I was running smack dab on the button, but it would quickly be game time, and I had to try and find Julian as soon as possible so we could get started on filling out a current convention card. There were a few things that had to be discussed.
I say "tried to make a beeline" because I was instantly waylaid by Margie, one of the members of our Swiss team for the Regional coming up in February (see yesterday's post), who gushed, with a big smile on her face, "Oh, I'm so happy (or some such) that you'll be playing with us in February."
She was a real threat to distract me from my current focus, which was to grab my coffee and water and get on over to where Julian was waiting, and I responded with something so outrageous, so ridiculous, so unbelievable (I thought!) that she would immediately know I was not serious and was making a joke. We would visit later, I thought to myself as I continued on my way.
What did I say? Well, I don't remember exactly, but the gist of it was that how could she possibly think I'd be playing with them on their team in February? Am pretty sure I told her I said "No way!" to Evelyn, and you know what? She believed me (!), altho I didn't find that out until much later in the session when Julian and I played against Edna (who will be my partner on the team) and Margie for three boards.
I had just returned to the table from refreshing my coffee and was dismayed to notice Edna carefully wiping some sort of foodstuff off of Julian's bright yellow shirt with a napkin. (My napkin, btw.) Oh, no! He and I had only moments before been congratulating each other on not spilling any food on ourselves or our clothing. (I was wearing white pants. Just as bad. Normally, it takes me all of about 10 seconds after I first put a pair of white pants on to spill something on them or brush up against something dirty, doncha know?)
What food? Well, it was the official Unit 174 Christmas party at the Houston Bridge Studio and there were three long tables chock full of absolutely delicious goodies. Julian had visited the tables twice already - he got there well before I did, and at one point I saw him happily consuming a very large piece of coconut cream pie.
After his shirt was pronounced presentable again, we all exchanged pleasantries and were taking our hands out of the first board when I turned to Edna and said, "We'll have to schedule a date." I meant a practice session prior to February where she and I could fill out a mutually agreed upon convention card.
And this is when I discovered that Margie had been completely fooled by my smartass comeback earlier. Oh, my! Edna said, "You're not available in February, right?" "What are you talking about?" I answered. "We're going to be partners in the Swiss."
Towards the end of my response, of course, I remembered what I'd said to Margie an hour or so prior and my voice kind of trailed off. I turned to Margie and asked, in a semi state of shock, "You didn't believe what I said, did you?"
Oh, my! Shades of Gloria Visser - an Upper Peninsula neighbor of ours from many years back, for whom my first husband would lie awake some nights trying to figure out ever more convoluted, but still semi-believable lies - embellishments of the truth, he liked to think of them - to tell her. He wanted to see how far he could actually go before she would stop with the huge wide-eyed "Oh, really?!?" It took a while, but eventually - with her husband's and my help - she caught on. In the meantime, my husband enjoyed every moment.
But getting back to Margie and Edna, I believe that everything is now all straightened out. At least, I hope so! Will have to give them a call later today to make sure. I should probably call Evelyn, too. She played in the game yesterday. I don't recall who her partner was, and I didn't happen to see any of them after the game.
You know, ever since Arlene Weingarten published "A Talented Funny Lady" on November 15th, many people in the duplicate bridge world have come up to me and said how much they're enjoying my blog. Not one, however - with the exception of Arlene, has left a comment, which is about par for the course. I don't leave comments on all the blogs I read, either!
And just because many in the duplicate bridge world are following my blog and enjoying the posts doesn't mean that everyone in the bridge world is! Certainly not Evelyn, Margie, or Edna, right? Otherwise, they would have known better than to believe what I said to Margie upon first entering the studio.
So, Goldenrod, and anyone else reading this who might occasionally be guilty of being flippant and accidentally believed, be careful what you say.
I say "tried to make a beeline" because I was instantly waylaid by Margie, one of the members of our Swiss team for the Regional coming up in February (see yesterday's post), who gushed, with a big smile on her face, "Oh, I'm so happy (or some such) that you'll be playing with us in February."
She was a real threat to distract me from my current focus, which was to grab my coffee and water and get on over to where Julian was waiting, and I responded with something so outrageous, so ridiculous, so unbelievable (I thought!) that she would immediately know I was not serious and was making a joke. We would visit later, I thought to myself as I continued on my way.
What did I say? Well, I don't remember exactly, but the gist of it was that how could she possibly think I'd be playing with them on their team in February? Am pretty sure I told her I said "No way!" to Evelyn, and you know what? She believed me (!), altho I didn't find that out until much later in the session when Julian and I played against Edna (who will be my partner on the team) and Margie for three boards.
I had just returned to the table from refreshing my coffee and was dismayed to notice Edna carefully wiping some sort of foodstuff off of Julian's bright yellow shirt with a napkin. (My napkin, btw.) Oh, no! He and I had only moments before been congratulating each other on not spilling any food on ourselves or our clothing. (I was wearing white pants. Just as bad. Normally, it takes me all of about 10 seconds after I first put a pair of white pants on to spill something on them or brush up against something dirty, doncha know?)
What food? Well, it was the official Unit 174 Christmas party at the Houston Bridge Studio and there were three long tables chock full of absolutely delicious goodies. Julian had visited the tables twice already - he got there well before I did, and at one point I saw him happily consuming a very large piece of coconut cream pie.
After his shirt was pronounced presentable again, we all exchanged pleasantries and were taking our hands out of the first board when I turned to Edna and said, "We'll have to schedule a date." I meant a practice session prior to February where she and I could fill out a mutually agreed upon convention card.
And this is when I discovered that Margie had been completely fooled by my smartass comeback earlier. Oh, my! Edna said, "You're not available in February, right?" "What are you talking about?" I answered. "We're going to be partners in the Swiss."
Towards the end of my response, of course, I remembered what I'd said to Margie an hour or so prior and my voice kind of trailed off. I turned to Margie and asked, in a semi state of shock, "You didn't believe what I said, did you?"
Oh, my! Shades of Gloria Visser - an Upper Peninsula neighbor of ours from many years back, for whom my first husband would lie awake some nights trying to figure out ever more convoluted, but still semi-believable lies - embellishments of the truth, he liked to think of them - to tell her. He wanted to see how far he could actually go before she would stop with the huge wide-eyed "Oh, really?!?" It took a while, but eventually - with her husband's and my help - she caught on. In the meantime, my husband enjoyed every moment.
But getting back to Margie and Edna, I believe that everything is now all straightened out. At least, I hope so! Will have to give them a call later today to make sure. I should probably call Evelyn, too. She played in the game yesterday. I don't recall who her partner was, and I didn't happen to see any of them after the game.
You know, ever since Arlene Weingarten published "A Talented Funny Lady" on November 15th, many people in the duplicate bridge world have come up to me and said how much they're enjoying my blog. Not one, however - with the exception of Arlene, has left a comment, which is about par for the course. I don't leave comments on all the blogs I read, either!
And just because many in the duplicate bridge world are following my blog and enjoying the posts doesn't mean that everyone in the bridge world is! Certainly not Evelyn, Margie, or Edna, right? Otherwise, they would have known better than to believe what I said to Margie upon first entering the studio.
So, Goldenrod, and anyone else reading this who might occasionally be guilty of being flippant and accidentally believed, be careful what you say.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
A day in my life
It began at 9am yesterday, when my alarm went off. I was due to mentor Roop Prasad at 10:30, my regular partner once a month during the day.
First thing I did, of course - after hitting the ladies' room and putting a fresh pot of coffee on, was come in here and see what was going on in my computer world.
Well, to my surprise, there was a notice from Zone Alarm, telling me that my subscription had expired. I thought, "Whaat!?!" (My son-in-law takes care of all such things. Surely there must be an error!)
I rebooted, thinking that something was amiss with the system. No, nothing was amiss with the system. Meanwhile, without really giving them a whole lot of consideration, I okayed a couple of requests from someone/something trying to access my system. And so, all **** is probably breaking loose in there. My firewalls are down and I am unprotected. Who knows if I'll be able to access the internet when I try to get back on later?
Sent my son-in-law three e-mails all told, then had to exit the house for the bridge studio. Meanwhile, back at his ranch, he's in business meetings and unavailable for comment/getting on to see what's happening/renewing my subscription, etc. and blah. Ye gods and little fish hooks!
Roop and I played and had a decent game, altho it could have been a lot better. We scratched, which is a bridge term for placing amongst the top pairs. Interestingly enough, several different notrump bidding sequences came up - ALL of which she mishandled. Would have made a great article for the Examiner, but I've all but given up on that rag.
I spent over four hours a few weeks ago trying to get my article on Arlene Weingarten published. I had some really good things I wanted to say about her, too. She's some kind of woman!
I had articles 'in the works' about Beth Stuart and Dottie Ann Goodloe, Eddie Wold, bridge teachers ... all sorts of great stuff, actually. Last week, when I tried to 'get on' to start the article on Eddie's squeeze class, I was interrupted in my signing in by Examiner's request for me to fill in a form so they could declare my income.
WHAT income??? I have made a total of 13 cents so far. I kid you not. If anyone in the bridge world wants the title of "Houston Duplicate Bridge Examiner", they can have it as far as I am concerned. However, I must warn you that the pipe-smoking frog is my personal property and may not be used without my express written permission.
Meanwhile, Roop and I had a really good after-session about notrump bids and I'll be creating a fairly hefty e-mail for her future reference on that subject. Hope she takes it to heart, studies and learns from it. She's a nice lady and I enjoy playing with her. We'll not be playing again until January 20th, for some reason - it's usually the second Wednesday, so I wished her a happy new year.
She surprised me with a gift. A lovely stone (of some sort) pendant on a silver chain. I was pleased as all get out, as you might imagine, and went around showing it to everybody.
Ran into Julian Barr, with whom I'm playing later today (another 10:30 start). I told him, "I found our card." (Referring, of course, to a convention card.) His response? "Does it have any similarity to what we've been playing?" I answered, "Vaguely." We both got a good laugh over that.
Evelyn James - one of my students for many years - came by to ask if I would play with Margie, Edna and her on a Swiss team in the Regional coming up in February. It didn't take me very long to accept. Years ago, I was the fifth on their team. (Anne was still with us then.) This was when they were all still students of mine. I played with each one during the two sessions. It was a lot of fun. We just might decide to dedicate this one to Anne.
Well, that's about it for my day yesterday. Tried to stay awake for Andre Rieu's special on PBS (They're having another fundraiser.) - are you familiar with him? (Wonderful!) - but couldn't. Had to hit the pillow. Just in case you don't have the foggiest idea who he is, here's what he looks like ... ...
Wiki has a nice writeup about him here. He's a tremendous showman and exudes great warmth, love and joy in all of his shows.
I'll leave you with an excerpt from one of his performances. You won't get anywhere near the total picture from this little bit, but perhaps it will entice you to look further into this man's persona.
First thing I did, of course - after hitting the ladies' room and putting a fresh pot of coffee on, was come in here and see what was going on in my computer world.
Well, to my surprise, there was a notice from Zone Alarm, telling me that my subscription had expired. I thought, "Whaat!?!" (My son-in-law takes care of all such things. Surely there must be an error!)
I rebooted, thinking that something was amiss with the system. No, nothing was amiss with the system. Meanwhile, without really giving them a whole lot of consideration, I okayed a couple of requests from someone/something trying to access my system. And so, all **** is probably breaking loose in there. My firewalls are down and I am unprotected. Who knows if I'll be able to access the internet when I try to get back on later?
Sent my son-in-law three e-mails all told, then had to exit the house for the bridge studio. Meanwhile, back at his ranch, he's in business meetings and unavailable for comment/getting on to see what's happening/renewing my subscription, etc. and blah. Ye gods and little fish hooks!
Roop and I played and had a decent game, altho it could have been a lot better. We scratched, which is a bridge term for placing amongst the top pairs. Interestingly enough, several different notrump bidding sequences came up - ALL of which she mishandled. Would have made a great article for the Examiner, but I've all but given up on that rag.
I spent over four hours a few weeks ago trying to get my article on Arlene Weingarten published. I had some really good things I wanted to say about her, too. She's some kind of woman!
I had articles 'in the works' about Beth Stuart and Dottie Ann Goodloe, Eddie Wold, bridge teachers ... all sorts of great stuff, actually. Last week, when I tried to 'get on' to start the article on Eddie's squeeze class, I was interrupted in my signing in by Examiner's request for me to fill in a form so they could declare my income.
WHAT income??? I have made a total of 13 cents so far. I kid you not. If anyone in the bridge world wants the title of "Houston Duplicate Bridge Examiner", they can have it as far as I am concerned. However, I must warn you that the pipe-smoking frog is my personal property and may not be used without my express written permission.
Meanwhile, Roop and I had a really good after-session about notrump bids and I'll be creating a fairly hefty e-mail for her future reference on that subject. Hope she takes it to heart, studies and learns from it. She's a nice lady and I enjoy playing with her. We'll not be playing again until January 20th, for some reason - it's usually the second Wednesday, so I wished her a happy new year.
She surprised me with a gift. A lovely stone (of some sort) pendant on a silver chain. I was pleased as all get out, as you might imagine, and went around showing it to everybody.
Ran into Julian Barr, with whom I'm playing later today (another 10:30 start). I told him, "I found our card." (Referring, of course, to a convention card.) His response? "Does it have any similarity to what we've been playing?" I answered, "Vaguely." We both got a good laugh over that.
Evelyn James - one of my students for many years - came by to ask if I would play with Margie, Edna and her on a Swiss team in the Regional coming up in February. It didn't take me very long to accept. Years ago, I was the fifth on their team. (Anne was still with us then.) This was when they were all still students of mine. I played with each one during the two sessions. It was a lot of fun. We just might decide to dedicate this one to Anne.
Well, that's about it for my day yesterday. Tried to stay awake for Andre Rieu's special on PBS (They're having another fundraiser.) - are you familiar with him? (Wonderful!) - but couldn't. Had to hit the pillow. Just in case you don't have the foggiest idea who he is, here's what he looks like ... ...
Wiki has a nice writeup about him here. He's a tremendous showman and exudes great warmth, love and joy in all of his shows.
I'll leave you with an excerpt from one of his performances. You won't get anywhere near the total picture from this little bit, but perhaps it will entice you to look further into this man's persona.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Friday afternoon ramblings
It's going on 3pm, and I've just returned back home from a couple of hours of semi-serious grocery shopping ... I say "semi" because it's not like we're going to be snowed in for a couple of months or anything like that but, according to Polimom's "Winter Storm Warning" posted at 7:55 am this morning, we're due to receive our earliest recorded snowfall EVER with some deliriously 'out there' forecasters predicting as much as a 6 inch accumulation.
[Actually, I should have left the house earlier but was having way too much fun playing bridge online.]
I say 'semi' because I took a good bit of time last night to clean out my refrigerator. I threw away a lot of what once had been perfectly good food. I'm simply not eating - in a timely fashion - foods that I have already purchased. I threw away watermelon, strawberries, some cheese and a ton of Yogurt that I didn't think I could trust to eat!
[I have been a very bad girl. Not only am I not taking my daily Calcium requirements, but my regular diet leaves a whole lot to be desired. Good stuff, but not very nutritious.]
Anyway, Friday is one of our two garbage pickup days and - if I don't put it out the night before, it's missed. Boy, you can set your clocks by the garbage people, usually ... 8:30 am on the dot! Not today, however. When I left the house to go shopping a little after noon, all of the trash was still sitting there.
It couldn't have been the weather, not that early! Some folks might be out sick or perhaps a truck was down for repair. By the time I got back, tho, everything had been picked up. In fact, their truck was just leaving our complex when I pulled in to the drive.
I took my ice scraper with me to the store, just in case. Actually, it wasn't a 'real' ice scraper that I put in the car. It was a hard plastic spatula. Does the trick just as well, did you know that? It was snowing very heavily at that time. No wind, so nothing approaching blizzard conditions, but lots of snow coming down nonetheless.
The temperature was hovering right around the freezing mark and I thought, "Goldenrod, you idiot! You left the house too late!!" But, I continued onward. No icing conditions. Not yet, but I wasn't going to be traveling over any bridges, either! They're always the first to cause trouble.
Tonight, now, is going to be a different story. The temperature is expected to dip down into the mid-20's (Fahrenheit). The roads are all wet and will not even beGIN to dry out before ice starts to form. HISD (Houston Independent School District) dismissed early today. I think that's a very good idea. It takes those buses a long time to safely deliver all their charges home.
[My hope was that I could make it back home before one or two of those teenagers who had been dismissed from school early decided they wanted to try a spinout on a slick or possibly icy - even better! - road to impress their friends/girlfriends. And I did, thank goodness.]
It's going on 4pm now. I just took a look outside. It's not snowing, but it's continuing to precipitate. If the temperatures drop as predicted, there'll be **** to pay this evening and throughout the night on the roads in this area. Glad I'm not driving a taxicab, I'll tell you that !
Have decided that this will be a four blanket night. Doesn't that sound just delicious? And speaking of delicious, I want to assure all of you that - as I was shopping and placing foodstuffs in my cart - I paid particular attention to questions such as: How long will that last? Am I really going to eat that?
This would have been a good time to put some chili together, wouldn't it? Three things wrong with that idea, however. 1) I'm absolutely positive that I don't have all the ingredients on hand. 2) I decided I'd already wasted enough time playing bridge online to further delay my getting out of here by finding the recipe, checking to see which ingredients I had and which I didn't, adding to my list, etc. 3) Once you put it all together, it's a several hour slow cooker thingamajig (but a good thingamajig!), so it's really a morning 'do'.
That's it from here for a Friday afternoon, folks. Hope you're doing ok and are looking forward to your weekend. Stay warm!
[Actually, I should have left the house earlier but was having way too much fun playing bridge online.]
I say 'semi' because I took a good bit of time last night to clean out my refrigerator. I threw away a lot of what once had been perfectly good food. I'm simply not eating - in a timely fashion - foods that I have already purchased. I threw away watermelon, strawberries, some cheese and a ton of Yogurt that I didn't think I could trust to eat!
[I have been a very bad girl. Not only am I not taking my daily Calcium requirements, but my regular diet leaves a whole lot to be desired. Good stuff, but not very nutritious.]
Anyway, Friday is one of our two garbage pickup days and - if I don't put it out the night before, it's missed. Boy, you can set your clocks by the garbage people, usually ... 8:30 am on the dot! Not today, however. When I left the house to go shopping a little after noon, all of the trash was still sitting there.
It couldn't have been the weather, not that early! Some folks might be out sick or perhaps a truck was down for repair. By the time I got back, tho, everything had been picked up. In fact, their truck was just leaving our complex when I pulled in to the drive.
I took my ice scraper with me to the store, just in case. Actually, it wasn't a 'real' ice scraper that I put in the car. It was a hard plastic spatula. Does the trick just as well, did you know that? It was snowing very heavily at that time. No wind, so nothing approaching blizzard conditions, but lots of snow coming down nonetheless.
The temperature was hovering right around the freezing mark and I thought, "Goldenrod, you idiot! You left the house too late!!" But, I continued onward. No icing conditions. Not yet, but I wasn't going to be traveling over any bridges, either! They're always the first to cause trouble.
Tonight, now, is going to be a different story. The temperature is expected to dip down into the mid-20's (Fahrenheit). The roads are all wet and will not even beGIN to dry out before ice starts to form. HISD (Houston Independent School District) dismissed early today. I think that's a very good idea. It takes those buses a long time to safely deliver all their charges home.
[My hope was that I could make it back home before one or two of those teenagers who had been dismissed from school early decided they wanted to try a spinout on a slick or possibly icy - even better! - road to impress their friends/girlfriends. And I did, thank goodness.]
It's going on 4pm now. I just took a look outside. It's not snowing, but it's continuing to precipitate. If the temperatures drop as predicted, there'll be **** to pay this evening and throughout the night on the roads in this area. Glad I'm not driving a taxicab, I'll tell you that !
Have decided that this will be a four blanket night. Doesn't that sound just delicious? And speaking of delicious, I want to assure all of you that - as I was shopping and placing foodstuffs in my cart - I paid particular attention to questions such as: How long will that last? Am I really going to eat that?
This would have been a good time to put some chili together, wouldn't it? Three things wrong with that idea, however. 1) I'm absolutely positive that I don't have all the ingredients on hand. 2) I decided I'd already wasted enough time playing bridge online to further delay my getting out of here by finding the recipe, checking to see which ingredients I had and which I didn't, adding to my list, etc. 3) Once you put it all together, it's a several hour slow cooker thingamajig (but a good thingamajig!), so it's really a morning 'do'.
That's it from here for a Friday afternoon, folks. Hope you're doing ok and are looking forward to your weekend. Stay warm!
Monday, November 23, 2009
AAA
I'm talking about the American Automobile Association here, the letters not to possibly be misconstrued as Alcoholics Anonymous or any other such similar-sounding names.
I was a member for years and years, and always thought highly of them. There was a branch office located not far from where I lived here in Houston, and I often went there for free maps and assistance. Wonderful, wonderful!
But then I started driving a taxi, beginning with Yellow Cab. I didn't see the need to continue my relationship with AAA because Yellow Cab could - and would! - respond to my emergency needs much quicker than AAA.
One night, however, after having a most enjoyable game of duplicate bridge with Tom Jahnke - who was one of my regular partners at the time - we came out to the parking lot only to discover that one of the rear tires on my taxi (the right, I think) was flatter than a pancake.
I knew that I couldn't change the tire (I was driving a full-sized Chevrolet Caprice at the time) - I had a good spare in the trunk - and hoped that maybe Tom could help me.
Well no, he really couldn't, he said. I said, "That's OK. I'll call Yellow Cab. They'll come over and change it for me. It'll only cost me $35."
"No, don't do that," he said. "I'm a member of AAA. I'll call them. They'll be here quickly and it will cost us nothing!"
Sure enough, it didn't take AAA very long to arrive at the scene. However, they refused to work on my taxicab because it was a commercial vehicle. !!!!! Nowhere in their literature - even today's, I've checked - does it say that if your vehicle is a commercial one, it is excluded from their services.
And nowadays membership in that (what I call "hoity doity") illustrious organization costs upwards of $100 per year.
I was a member for years and years, and always thought highly of them. There was a branch office located not far from where I lived here in Houston, and I often went there for free maps and assistance. Wonderful, wonderful!
But then I started driving a taxi, beginning with Yellow Cab. I didn't see the need to continue my relationship with AAA because Yellow Cab could - and would! - respond to my emergency needs much quicker than AAA.
One night, however, after having a most enjoyable game of duplicate bridge with Tom Jahnke - who was one of my regular partners at the time - we came out to the parking lot only to discover that one of the rear tires on my taxi (the right, I think) was flatter than a pancake.
I knew that I couldn't change the tire (I was driving a full-sized Chevrolet Caprice at the time) - I had a good spare in the trunk - and hoped that maybe Tom could help me.
Well no, he really couldn't, he said. I said, "That's OK. I'll call Yellow Cab. They'll come over and change it for me. It'll only cost me $35."
"No, don't do that," he said. "I'm a member of AAA. I'll call them. They'll be here quickly and it will cost us nothing!"
Sure enough, it didn't take AAA very long to arrive at the scene. However, they refused to work on my taxicab because it was a commercial vehicle. !!!!! Nowhere in their literature - even today's, I've checked - does it say that if your vehicle is a commercial one, it is excluded from their services.
And nowadays membership in that (what I call "hoity doity") illustrious organization costs upwards of $100 per year.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Scattered stuff
This will be pretty much what you've come to expect from me on a Sunday. I just got back home from playing on a Swiss team with Julian Barr and the VanDames. We were second in our bracket and I want to tell you, folks, that I had an absolute blast. Just a great time! It had been a month or so since Julian and I last played, but it was almost as tho we played together yesterday. Most pleasant!!
To add to my enjoyment, we started off the evening against Harry Selldin et al. While we were shuffling cards, the repartee came and went almost faster than our eyes could blink. Turns out that both Harry and I are avid BBO players. We exchanged user names. Watch out, opponents! :)
A downer occurred on the way home, when my "check tire pressure" light came on. Come on, guys, give me a break here, will ya? It was 10:15 pm on a Sunday night! But, I pulled over into the first well-lit area anyway to take a gander at the tires. They looked ok to me, so I kept on going.
I stopped at an Exxon all-nighter within a mile or so of my house to look at the tires again. Still looked ok. I thought, "As long as I'm here, I might as well go inside and see what kind of lighters they have." My granddaughter gave me this really pretty holder for Bic mini-lighters a few years back, but I've had just a terrible time recently trying to find refills for it. So, I've had to resort to regular lighters.
Would you believe it? They stock the mini's! Hip hip hooray!! So that was an upper. Now if the tire pressure will somehow hold within steady and reasonably-driveable range until tomorrow morning, then I can get the car over to my trusted garage guys to see what's going on with one of my tires. (I had the grease and oil changed last week and everything checked out ok.) Let's hope I caught just a little dinky nail and it's not flatter than a pancake in the morning. Wish me luck, please.
I've talked with you before about how much I'm enjoying local channel 2.2, which shows movies 24/7, haven't I? Well, if I felt so inclined - which I don't, I could now be watching "The Great Escape" for the 5th or 6th time within this past week. My goodness! I mean, it's a wonderful film, but enough already!!
However, this afternoon I was treated to a Jodie Foster film that I hadn't seen in a while ... "The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane". It's classified as a horror film, and I couldn't disagree more. Are you familiar with this story? There's actually a pretty good summary of the plot here. Only a couple of errors, and I say 'errors' with some certainty because I just viewed the film.
She is some kind of talented actress, isn't she? I rate her on about the same level as Meryl Streep, and that's saying something for me! Over the years, I heard many stories about how her mother ran her life and directed her acting career. I'd pretty much figured out that she's a private person and really didn't know that much about her.
Not many pictures of her coming out of restaurants and such. I don't know how these actors handle it, tell you the truth, what with the paparazzi following them around and sticking cameras and microphones in their faces all the time. Wiki has a decent-sounding writeup on her. I can't vouch for the veracity of any of it, altho a lot of it sounds plausible. Here's the link, if you'd like to read it for yourselves.
Lastly for today's post, I want to inform all of you that I am going to be partaking of 'the big bird' Thursday. And at my daughter's house, no less! The invite came today. Not a total surprise. Her comings and goings have been greatly curtailed recently by back surgery. She's doing really well, but still and all, their annual trip to California on this holiday was cancelled. Perhaps they'll go over Christmas. (?)
Whatever their plans are for December, I'm heading out to Katyland Thursday and am very much looking forward to it. In fact, today - while doing some brief shopping - I picked up a couple of doggie toys for Genie, their black Lab. Won't this be fun!
Well, I think that's about all for now. I'll just go back and proof this one more time before hitting 'publish'.
To add to my enjoyment, we started off the evening against Harry Selldin et al. While we were shuffling cards, the repartee came and went almost faster than our eyes could blink. Turns out that both Harry and I are avid BBO players. We exchanged user names. Watch out, opponents! :)
A downer occurred on the way home, when my "check tire pressure" light came on. Come on, guys, give me a break here, will ya? It was 10:15 pm on a Sunday night! But, I pulled over into the first well-lit area anyway to take a gander at the tires. They looked ok to me, so I kept on going.
I stopped at an Exxon all-nighter within a mile or so of my house to look at the tires again. Still looked ok. I thought, "As long as I'm here, I might as well go inside and see what kind of lighters they have." My granddaughter gave me this really pretty holder for Bic mini-lighters a few years back, but I've had just a terrible time recently trying to find refills for it. So, I've had to resort to regular lighters.
Would you believe it? They stock the mini's! Hip hip hooray!! So that was an upper. Now if the tire pressure will somehow hold within steady and reasonably-driveable range until tomorrow morning, then I can get the car over to my trusted garage guys to see what's going on with one of my tires. (I had the grease and oil changed last week and everything checked out ok.) Let's hope I caught just a little dinky nail and it's not flatter than a pancake in the morning. Wish me luck, please.
I've talked with you before about how much I'm enjoying local channel 2.2, which shows movies 24/7, haven't I? Well, if I felt so inclined - which I don't, I could now be watching "The Great Escape" for the 5th or 6th time within this past week. My goodness! I mean, it's a wonderful film, but enough already!!
However, this afternoon I was treated to a Jodie Foster film that I hadn't seen in a while ... "The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane". It's classified as a horror film, and I couldn't disagree more. Are you familiar with this story? There's actually a pretty good summary of the plot here. Only a couple of errors, and I say 'errors' with some certainty because I just viewed the film.
She is some kind of talented actress, isn't she? I rate her on about the same level as Meryl Streep, and that's saying something for me! Over the years, I heard many stories about how her mother ran her life and directed her acting career. I'd pretty much figured out that she's a private person and really didn't know that much about her.
Not many pictures of her coming out of restaurants and such. I don't know how these actors handle it, tell you the truth, what with the paparazzi following them around and sticking cameras and microphones in their faces all the time. Wiki has a decent-sounding writeup on her. I can't vouch for the veracity of any of it, altho a lot of it sounds plausible. Here's the link, if you'd like to read it for yourselves.
Lastly for today's post, I want to inform all of you that I am going to be partaking of 'the big bird' Thursday. And at my daughter's house, no less! The invite came today. Not a total surprise. Her comings and goings have been greatly curtailed recently by back surgery. She's doing really well, but still and all, their annual trip to California on this holiday was cancelled. Perhaps they'll go over Christmas. (?)
Whatever their plans are for December, I'm heading out to Katyland Thursday and am very much looking forward to it. In fact, today - while doing some brief shopping - I picked up a couple of doggie toys for Genie, their black Lab. Won't this be fun!
Well, I think that's about all for now. I'll just go back and proof this one more time before hitting 'publish'.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
The double nickel
Yesterday was my son-in-law's 55th birthday. I tried to get myself invited over to their supper outing, but every time I suggested such a thing, either he said, "I'll connect you with my wife. She knows the plans." or she said, "We don't know what time yet, where, or anything."
There was no "Yeah, we'd love to have you join us. We'll call you later and let you know what's going on", so I gave up on the idea of joining them. I knew I had to get out there, tho. I had a special gift I wanted him to have. It wasn't the world's biggest deal, but I wanted him to get it on his birthday.
It was something that my sister gave me for my 55th (just a couple of years back, doncha know) ... a silly plywood/cardboard-type sign dealie attached to a wooden dowel that says "55mph" ... it's cute, nonsensical and absolutely perfect for the person who has everything!
Over the years, I have shared it with a few of my friends. I'd 'Indian give' it to them for just one year. Well, this year has seen its last giveaway. If he wants to save it to give to my daughter when she turns 55, that's his business I figure.
I didn't get out to their house until just after 9pm. Well, shoot! I knew that my granddaughter was in bed and was pretty sure that my daughter was, as well. She's an early go-to-bedder these days ... has been for quite a while, actually, trying to keep up with her daughter's busy schedule. However, I also knew that my son-in-law would be up. He's kind of a night owl.
I parked the car in their drive, leaving the engine running, and walked up to the porch - peeking in various windows as I went. Lights were on, but I didn't see anyone. Well, shuckeydurn anyway!
I didn't want to knock on the door or ring the bell. (They have a black Lab who gets very excited!) I looked for the little table that they've had right by the front door in the past. It wasn't there.
Well, poop! I left his card and the 55mph sign on another table further away from the front door, rang the bell and took off out of there. In retrospect, I wish I had just left those two items and then called him after I got back home. (I didn't have my cell phone with me.)
And so, my birthday gift was probably not very much appreciated. I no doubt woke up the whole household. (Haven't heard from any of them since last night, so I'm pretty sure that's the case. I'm in the proverbial doghouse.)
To be fair to them, someone from their house tried to call twice yesterday - eeh, I don't know, maybe 5:30 or so? - and left messages both times. The problem there was that I had already decided - at least two or three hours earlier - that I would be persona non grata and so was not available to answer the phone. (Still haven't checked my messages, either.)
I can be like that sometimes. If you were under the impression that all is right, pleasant and amusing in Goldenrod's world 24/7, I am sorry to inform you otherwise. I will often retreat into my own inner sanctum until I'm ready to come out again.
ANYhoo, I'm out again. Had trouble sleeping last night. Finally figured out that I was cold. Got up and turned the furnace on (first time this year). Stayed up a little bit to watch some TV with a little space heater blowing that wonderful warm stuff on my tootsies and then went back to bed. Woke up just before noon.
It's Wednesday. On Wednesday mornings I take my weekly calcium pill. It has to be taken after several hours of sleep. I had met that requirement, so took it - all the while downing water for the next hour or so like a good girl while I played some BBO with one of my regular partners, Ann-Sophie from Sweden.
I'll have to do a post for you soon about some of my experiences with Bridge Base Online and the people I've met. I know I talked about predators a while back. Will have an update on that, as well.
Just checked my messages. Both yesterday were from my son-in-law, the first one (going on 5pm) telling me they were planning on being at some sort of Mexican restaurant by about quarter till six and the second (perhaps a half hour or more later) telling me they were running late. :)
Got another call an hour or so ago from Walter Freitag, my mentee on Thursday nights (once a month), wanting to confirm our date for tomorrow evening. Will have to return that one.
Hmmph! Not much else to report, actually. Hope your day is going well!
There was no "Yeah, we'd love to have you join us. We'll call you later and let you know what's going on", so I gave up on the idea of joining them. I knew I had to get out there, tho. I had a special gift I wanted him to have. It wasn't the world's biggest deal, but I wanted him to get it on his birthday.
It was something that my sister gave me for my 55th (just a couple of years back, doncha know) ... a silly plywood/cardboard-type sign dealie attached to a wooden dowel that says "55mph" ... it's cute, nonsensical and absolutely perfect for the person who has everything!
Over the years, I have shared it with a few of my friends. I'd 'Indian give' it to them for just one year. Well, this year has seen its last giveaway. If he wants to save it to give to my daughter when she turns 55, that's his business I figure.
I didn't get out to their house until just after 9pm. Well, shoot! I knew that my granddaughter was in bed and was pretty sure that my daughter was, as well. She's an early go-to-bedder these days ... has been for quite a while, actually, trying to keep up with her daughter's busy schedule. However, I also knew that my son-in-law would be up. He's kind of a night owl.
I parked the car in their drive, leaving the engine running, and walked up to the porch - peeking in various windows as I went. Lights were on, but I didn't see anyone. Well, shuckeydurn anyway!
I didn't want to knock on the door or ring the bell. (They have a black Lab who gets very excited!) I looked for the little table that they've had right by the front door in the past. It wasn't there.
Well, poop! I left his card and the 55mph sign on another table further away from the front door, rang the bell and took off out of there. In retrospect, I wish I had just left those two items and then called him after I got back home. (I didn't have my cell phone with me.)
And so, my birthday gift was probably not very much appreciated. I no doubt woke up the whole household. (Haven't heard from any of them since last night, so I'm pretty sure that's the case. I'm in the proverbial doghouse.)
To be fair to them, someone from their house tried to call twice yesterday - eeh, I don't know, maybe 5:30 or so? - and left messages both times. The problem there was that I had already decided - at least two or three hours earlier - that I would be persona non grata and so was not available to answer the phone. (Still haven't checked my messages, either.)
I can be like that sometimes. If you were under the impression that all is right, pleasant and amusing in Goldenrod's world 24/7, I am sorry to inform you otherwise. I will often retreat into my own inner sanctum until I'm ready to come out again.
ANYhoo, I'm out again. Had trouble sleeping last night. Finally figured out that I was cold. Got up and turned the furnace on (first time this year). Stayed up a little bit to watch some TV with a little space heater blowing that wonderful warm stuff on my tootsies and then went back to bed. Woke up just before noon.
It's Wednesday. On Wednesday mornings I take my weekly calcium pill. It has to be taken after several hours of sleep. I had met that requirement, so took it - all the while downing water for the next hour or so like a good girl while I played some BBO with one of my regular partners, Ann-Sophie from Sweden.
I'll have to do a post for you soon about some of my experiences with Bridge Base Online and the people I've met. I know I talked about predators a while back. Will have an update on that, as well.
Just checked my messages. Both yesterday were from my son-in-law, the first one (going on 5pm) telling me they were planning on being at some sort of Mexican restaurant by about quarter till six and the second (perhaps a half hour or more later) telling me they were running late. :)
Got another call an hour or so ago from Walter Freitag, my mentee on Thursday nights (once a month), wanting to confirm our date for tomorrow evening. Will have to return that one.
Hmmph! Not much else to report, actually. Hope your day is going well!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Universal Sports,
I think (!?), is the name of a new digital channel here on local television. (You kind of have to remember that I don't have cable.)
Recently, I have been treated to previews of the upcoming Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC, in addition to "Grand Prix" figure skating competitions from around the world, in which both the individual and pairs skaters are vying for a spot on their country's Olympic team. Wonderful, wonderful!
Tonight, however, I will definitely forego watching the speedskating events. That's about all that's showing on that channel. I mean, folks, those suits leave absolutely NOTHING to one's imagination in re the genital department. Come on now, give me a break, will ya please?? (And people thought men's ballet tights were bad. They've got nothing on those speed skaters!)
Within the last couple of weeks, tho, I have been fortunate enough to view various recaps of Ironman Triathlons from the past few years. Up until 39.2 (this local digital channel) showed up, I had never even heard of such a competition. Had you?
Oh, man! Talk about grueling!! This competition, which takes place annually in Hawaii all in the span of one day, combines a 2.4 mile swim fb (followed by) a 112 mile bike ride fb a 26 mile 385 yard marathon ... all without a break, I want you to know. Can you believe such a thing?
Lots and lots of really interesting stories here, including one of a 76-year-old nun who was competing in her 20th Ironman* event! Incredible, just incredible!! Btw, she finished - these events are timed - with only one minute to go. Good on her, wouldn't you say?
*Wiki has a very nice writeup on the Ironman competition. If you'd like to read or learn more about it, please go here.
Meanwhile, of course, I'm sitting here on my 'you know what' doing very little. I mentored at the studio earlier today with one of my two regulars. She's coming along very nicely. What's happening your way?
Recently, I have been treated to previews of the upcoming Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC, in addition to "Grand Prix" figure skating competitions from around the world, in which both the individual and pairs skaters are vying for a spot on their country's Olympic team. Wonderful, wonderful!
Tonight, however, I will definitely forego watching the speedskating events. That's about all that's showing on that channel. I mean, folks, those suits leave absolutely NOTHING to one's imagination in re the genital department. Come on now, give me a break, will ya please?? (And people thought men's ballet tights were bad. They've got nothing on those speed skaters!)
Within the last couple of weeks, tho, I have been fortunate enough to view various recaps of Ironman Triathlons from the past few years. Up until 39.2 (this local digital channel) showed up, I had never even heard of such a competition. Had you?
Oh, man! Talk about grueling!! This competition, which takes place annually in Hawaii all in the span of one day, combines a 2.4 mile swim fb (followed by) a 112 mile bike ride fb a 26 mile 385 yard marathon ... all without a break, I want you to know. Can you believe such a thing?
Lots and lots of really interesting stories here, including one of a 76-year-old nun who was competing in her 20th Ironman* event! Incredible, just incredible!! Btw, she finished - these events are timed - with only one minute to go. Good on her, wouldn't you say?
*Wiki has a very nice writeup on the Ironman competition. If you'd like to read or learn more about it, please go here.
Meanwhile, of course, I'm sitting here on my 'you know what' doing very little. I mentored at the studio earlier today with one of my two regulars. She's coming along very nicely. What's happening your way?
Saturday, October 31, 2009
My day ...
... actually began in the middle of the night. I had the most restless night, tossing and turning and then getting up to either use the ladies' or walk around a bit. My right leg was threatening to severely cramp up every so often - one of those utterly devastating cramps that, if you let it really get hold of your leg, you cry out in agony and it takes many minutes to go away.
Then I was cold. I put another blanket on the bed and waited for my body to get all nice and toasty warm. Finally, I fell asleep and was very rudely awakened at 7am by my alarm going off. I thought, "What the devil is that horrible noise?" before realizing what it was, then turned over and snoozed until it went off again.
Fred Wang's memorial service was scheduled to be held at 9:30 this morning and I had told myself that I would go if the weather held. Well, it was just gorgeous outside. Quite a change from all the stormy weather we've had. To say that all of the ground in the Houston area is saturated would not be an exaggeration.
I am so glad I went. The wing of the funeral home where Fred's memorial service was held was filled to capacity and there were flowers everywhere! I recognized three or four others from the world of duplicate bridge, but the rest were complete strangers to me. Except for Amy, of course.
It was a Buddhist ceremony ... lots of chanting, incense and bowing. There was a formal viewing of the body, where one could bow or whatever - stopping to say a word or prayer, perhaps, as they passed by. I was one of the first ones through this long line and didn't realize the proper protocol until much much later, after I had already gone right by Amy without saying a word, bowing, or anything. I was too busy trying to find out where I was supposed to go next.
Then, on the other side, I walked behind his daughter and two others in the immediate family w/o realizing that I was to walk in front of them and offer whatever condolences I had to share. I thought, because I could see what no one else in front of me was doing, that I should not walk in front - that I should try to avoid obstructing the family's view of the proceedings. Oh, my! I sincerely hope that I did not offend anyone. That would have been the furthest thing from my mind.
Concluding the ceremony were statements by Fred's two children. His daughter read hers, which consisted of several typewritten pages. She talked about how Fred had shared his love of music with her and the many times the two of them had gone to Jones Hall to hear the symphony. They would sneak up front - he had bought cheap seats in the back - so she could see all the instruments and identify them. They would listen to the music being played and try to name the composer and composition w/o referring to the program. She had many heartwarming stories to share about her times with her father. It sounded like they were very close.
Fred's son, on the other hand, went up front to speak with no notes and began his statement with (something like), "My father and I did not get along very well." He had trouble completing even that little bit before he broke down into tears and was unable to continue for a few minutes. Gradually, however, he was able to compose himself and went on to deliver some very stirring remarks about the family's time together, including their celebration of Fred's 60th birthday just last month.
Well, that's how my day began. It was my very first time at a Buddhist memorial service. Should I ever have occasion to go again, I hope I'll remember how to conduct myself.
Afterwards, I went on a serious hunt for 12" by 36" furnace filters. Do you remember my decrying - some time back - the shock I felt when Randall's (from whom I had always bought my filters!) changed their filter brands and raised the price like 3X?
I had been paying those exorbitant prices and using those filters w/o realizing that anything was amiss until my ARS guy told me that those filters were way too heavy duty and causing my AC and furnace to work too hard. The air draw was just too much, he said. Ye gods! When I told him how much I had been paying for them, as well, he could hardly believe it.
I asked him where I could find ones like he was talking about, but he couldn't help me. Well, shuckeydurn anyway! And so, whenever I was at a store - HEB, Randall's, Kroger's, whatever, I looked. They all had furnace filters, but either not in my size or the 'way too heavy duty' kind that cost more than $20 apiece.
Anyway, today was going to be the day, I decided. There's a Home Depot a couple of miles from my house. I thought I'd try there first. Bingo! Not only in my size, but the price per each is a little less than $5!! I bought three. I'm supposed to change these out once a month, he told me. Tomorrow's November 1st. What better date than the first of every month, right?
So, I'm good to go until February 2010. Does that sound like a date way in the future or what?
Tonight I'm going to treat myself - have been doing a lot of that lately! - to The Kid. This is a 2000 film starring Bruce Willis as a highly successful but unhappy image consultant who changes his life completely after being visited by himself as an 8-year-old. It's a fable, of course, but a movie with a really good story. And, of course, there's a lesson to be learned.
I've seen this movie once before and am looking forward to watching it again. During commercials, I'll be flipping over to the World Series, game three. Somehow or another, game two completely escaped my attention. I enjoyed watching game one, where the Yankees got creamed. What happened in game two? Well, I'll find out tonight, won't I?
I like Bruce Willis! Do you? The movie I'll be watching this evening reminds me a bit of the role he played in another film, The Sixth Sense. This 1999 film stars Bruce as a child psychologist who is trying to help a young boy who says he sees dead people who don't realize they're dead. It's a dandy! If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. There's nothing macabre or creepy scary about it, I assure you, although there are some parts that are a little unnerving. No zombies or anything of that nature. Don't let my synopsis turn you off. Another really good story.
I finally sent Marilyn Methvin, my New Orleans bridge-playing friend, an e-mail telling her that I was playing some bridge online with Bridge Base. I heard back from her a short while ago. Her user name is "aztecroi", don't you just love it? Mine is "hmm7". Boring, huh?
ANYhoo, that's my day for Saturday, October 31st. Tonight, while all of the ghosties and goblins and mischief makers are out and about, I'll be here at home minding my own business and trying to stay out of trouble. What will you be doing?
Then I was cold. I put another blanket on the bed and waited for my body to get all nice and toasty warm. Finally, I fell asleep and was very rudely awakened at 7am by my alarm going off. I thought, "What the devil is that horrible noise?" before realizing what it was, then turned over and snoozed until it went off again.
Fred Wang's memorial service was scheduled to be held at 9:30 this morning and I had told myself that I would go if the weather held. Well, it was just gorgeous outside. Quite a change from all the stormy weather we've had. To say that all of the ground in the Houston area is saturated would not be an exaggeration.
I am so glad I went. The wing of the funeral home where Fred's memorial service was held was filled to capacity and there were flowers everywhere! I recognized three or four others from the world of duplicate bridge, but the rest were complete strangers to me. Except for Amy, of course.
It was a Buddhist ceremony ... lots of chanting, incense and bowing. There was a formal viewing of the body, where one could bow or whatever - stopping to say a word or prayer, perhaps, as they passed by. I was one of the first ones through this long line and didn't realize the proper protocol until much much later, after I had already gone right by Amy without saying a word, bowing, or anything. I was too busy trying to find out where I was supposed to go next.
Then, on the other side, I walked behind his daughter and two others in the immediate family w/o realizing that I was to walk in front of them and offer whatever condolences I had to share. I thought, because I could see what no one else in front of me was doing, that I should not walk in front - that I should try to avoid obstructing the family's view of the proceedings. Oh, my! I sincerely hope that I did not offend anyone. That would have been the furthest thing from my mind.
Concluding the ceremony were statements by Fred's two children. His daughter read hers, which consisted of several typewritten pages. She talked about how Fred had shared his love of music with her and the many times the two of them had gone to Jones Hall to hear the symphony. They would sneak up front - he had bought cheap seats in the back - so she could see all the instruments and identify them. They would listen to the music being played and try to name the composer and composition w/o referring to the program. She had many heartwarming stories to share about her times with her father. It sounded like they were very close.
Fred's son, on the other hand, went up front to speak with no notes and began his statement with (something like), "My father and I did not get along very well." He had trouble completing even that little bit before he broke down into tears and was unable to continue for a few minutes. Gradually, however, he was able to compose himself and went on to deliver some very stirring remarks about the family's time together, including their celebration of Fred's 60th birthday just last month.
Well, that's how my day began. It was my very first time at a Buddhist memorial service. Should I ever have occasion to go again, I hope I'll remember how to conduct myself.
Afterwards, I went on a serious hunt for 12" by 36" furnace filters. Do you remember my decrying - some time back - the shock I felt when Randall's (from whom I had always bought my filters!) changed their filter brands and raised the price like 3X?
I had been paying those exorbitant prices and using those filters w/o realizing that anything was amiss until my ARS guy told me that those filters were way too heavy duty and causing my AC and furnace to work too hard. The air draw was just too much, he said. Ye gods! When I told him how much I had been paying for them, as well, he could hardly believe it.
I asked him where I could find ones like he was talking about, but he couldn't help me. Well, shuckeydurn anyway! And so, whenever I was at a store - HEB, Randall's, Kroger's, whatever, I looked. They all had furnace filters, but either not in my size or the 'way too heavy duty' kind that cost more than $20 apiece.
Anyway, today was going to be the day, I decided. There's a Home Depot a couple of miles from my house. I thought I'd try there first. Bingo! Not only in my size, but the price per each is a little less than $5!! I bought three. I'm supposed to change these out once a month, he told me. Tomorrow's November 1st. What better date than the first of every month, right?
So, I'm good to go until February 2010. Does that sound like a date way in the future or what?
Tonight I'm going to treat myself - have been doing a lot of that lately! - to The Kid. This is a 2000 film starring Bruce Willis as a highly successful but unhappy image consultant who changes his life completely after being visited by himself as an 8-year-old. It's a fable, of course, but a movie with a really good story. And, of course, there's a lesson to be learned.
I've seen this movie once before and am looking forward to watching it again. During commercials, I'll be flipping over to the World Series, game three. Somehow or another, game two completely escaped my attention. I enjoyed watching game one, where the Yankees got creamed. What happened in game two? Well, I'll find out tonight, won't I?
I like Bruce Willis! Do you? The movie I'll be watching this evening reminds me a bit of the role he played in another film, The Sixth Sense. This 1999 film stars Bruce as a child psychologist who is trying to help a young boy who says he sees dead people who don't realize they're dead. It's a dandy! If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. There's nothing macabre or creepy scary about it, I assure you, although there are some parts that are a little unnerving. No zombies or anything of that nature. Don't let my synopsis turn you off. Another really good story.
I finally sent Marilyn Methvin, my New Orleans bridge-playing friend, an e-mail telling her that I was playing some bridge online with Bridge Base. I heard back from her a short while ago. Her user name is "aztecroi", don't you just love it? Mine is "hmm7". Boring, huh?
ANYhoo, that's my day for Saturday, October 31st. Tonight, while all of the ghosties and goblins and mischief makers are out and about, I'll be here at home minding my own business and trying to stay out of trouble. What will you be doing?
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Remembering Fred Wang
The Houston duplicate bridge world lost another of its more faithful members this past week. Fred Wang, who could most often be seen playing with his wife, Amy, died on Friday, October 23rd.
I last saw Fred about a month ago, when I was getting my September 'Evelyn Berger fix'. And that reminds me. Evelyn and I haven't played yet this month, and time is a flittin'. Must give her a call.
Evelyn and I were sitting N-S in one section and Fred and his wife N-S in another. So we were sitting the same direction in different sections, except Fred was seated South and I was seated North. We could easily just glance up and meet each other's eyes without even turning our heads.
Thinking back on that day, I remember feeling from time to time that someone was staring at me. I'd look up and it would be Fred, quietly watching from just a few tables away. I'd meet and hold his eyes for a few seconds and then transfer my attention back to what was happening at my own table.
The Wangs have been around the world of duplicate quite a few years, but it had been a while since I'd last seen them. I hadn't really thought much about not seeing them. You know, people come and go and I don't play every single day. Our playing schedules could have been different. Besides that, there are several venues in the area from which to choose. I mean, there could have been any number of reasons why our paths hadn't crossed.
But I remember thinking, when I saw them again just recently, how thin Fred looked ... not gaunt, really, but very thin. I thought, "I wonder if he has been ill?" I said nothing aloud other than telling him how wonderful I thought it was to see him again. He smiled and said something polite in return.
An uncommonly good-looking man, Fred and his wife made a strikingly handsome couple and were formidable opponents. He will be dearly mised.
A memorial service will be held Saturday morning at Winford Funerals, 8514 Tybor Drive. This street is very near the intersection of 59 and Gessner. I am planning to attend if there aren't thunderstorms all about. We've had more than our share of those lately!
The family is asking that anyone who wishes to make a donation in Fred's memory add their contribution to the Fred Wang Memorial Scholarship through The Esperanza Education Fund, which awards college scholarships to immigrant students. Fred's daughter, Alice, has become quite active in that non-profit organization.
Contributions can be made online at www.esperanzafund.org/support/#Donate, or mailed to The Esperanza Education Fund, P.O. Box 27507, Washington, DC 20038.
I last saw Fred about a month ago, when I was getting my September 'Evelyn Berger fix'. And that reminds me. Evelyn and I haven't played yet this month, and time is a flittin'. Must give her a call.
Evelyn and I were sitting N-S in one section and Fred and his wife N-S in another. So we were sitting the same direction in different sections, except Fred was seated South and I was seated North. We could easily just glance up and meet each other's eyes without even turning our heads.
Thinking back on that day, I remember feeling from time to time that someone was staring at me. I'd look up and it would be Fred, quietly watching from just a few tables away. I'd meet and hold his eyes for a few seconds and then transfer my attention back to what was happening at my own table.
The Wangs have been around the world of duplicate quite a few years, but it had been a while since I'd last seen them. I hadn't really thought much about not seeing them. You know, people come and go and I don't play every single day. Our playing schedules could have been different. Besides that, there are several venues in the area from which to choose. I mean, there could have been any number of reasons why our paths hadn't crossed.
But I remember thinking, when I saw them again just recently, how thin Fred looked ... not gaunt, really, but very thin. I thought, "I wonder if he has been ill?" I said nothing aloud other than telling him how wonderful I thought it was to see him again. He smiled and said something polite in return.
An uncommonly good-looking man, Fred and his wife made a strikingly handsome couple and were formidable opponents. He will be dearly mised.
A memorial service will be held Saturday morning at Winford Funerals, 8514 Tybor Drive. This street is very near the intersection of 59 and Gessner. I am planning to attend if there aren't thunderstorms all about. We've had more than our share of those lately!
The family is asking that anyone who wishes to make a donation in Fred's memory add their contribution to the Fred Wang Memorial Scholarship through The Esperanza Education Fund, which awards college scholarships to immigrant students. Fred's daughter, Alice, has become quite active in that non-profit organization.
Contributions can be made online at www.esperanzafund.org/support/#Donate, or mailed to The Esperanza Education Fund, P.O. Box 27507, Washington, DC 20038.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Predators ... ...
Everywhere, it seems, there are predators. You have to be so very careful. Even then you can be caught off guard, as I was about an hour ago.
I wrote a short piece for the Examiner about a week or so ago, in which I was talking about some of my experiences with Bridge Base Online. I hope you've had a chance to read the article.
Well, earlier today I was playing again and was invited to play in a tournament coming up in 42 minutes by "Pegasus66". Without thinking about who it was who had invited me, I accepted. Almost immediately, I regretted the acceptance, and sent him a "I do not wish to hear from you again today, this afternoon, tomorrow, or EVER!" type of message and then logged off.
"Pegasus66" is the user name for a Bridge Base Online sexual predator. I've been chronicling his suggestive comments to me for a few days now, in preparation for a written complaint to the BBO 'powers that be' - in hopes that he might be either officially reprimanded or permanently removed - but he caught me by surprise by an invitation out of the blue to play in a tournament. He's never done THAT before!
Just as soon as I finish publishing this, I'll log back in to BBO and see what my status is. The tournament - supposedly - began 20 minutes ago. More later!
I wrote a short piece for the Examiner about a week or so ago, in which I was talking about some of my experiences with Bridge Base Online. I hope you've had a chance to read the article.
Well, earlier today I was playing again and was invited to play in a tournament coming up in 42 minutes by "Pegasus66". Without thinking about who it was who had invited me, I accepted. Almost immediately, I regretted the acceptance, and sent him a "I do not wish to hear from you again today, this afternoon, tomorrow, or EVER!" type of message and then logged off.
"Pegasus66" is the user name for a Bridge Base Online sexual predator. I've been chronicling his suggestive comments to me for a few days now, in preparation for a written complaint to the BBO 'powers that be' - in hopes that he might be either officially reprimanded or permanently removed - but he caught me by surprise by an invitation out of the blue to play in a tournament. He's never done THAT before!
Just as soon as I finish publishing this, I'll log back in to BBO and see what my status is. The tournament - supposedly - began 20 minutes ago. More later!
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