Wandering Words

Picture time

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:01:48 GMT

As too often happens, it's been a while again since I posted baby pictures. Enjoy, all! Oh, and check out all the rest of the new pictures here.

	Check out my teeth! Giving a big grin. (April 30th)
	Water! He just couldn't resist. (May 10th)
	By the big cottonwood tree Hanging out on our trip up to Santa Fe (May 16th)
	Hiking along the Rio Grande This is where he learned to say Rio Grande. (June 21st)
	Hmmm...

Back to life

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 20:03:25 GMT

Just got back from a 3-day backpacking trip. *sigh*

I got a kick out of this:

Not exactly the kind of thing you plan.

Tournament Look-ahead

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:36:03 GMT

So, what with finally deciding I *am* going to be headed to the NSC in Orlando (as the #2 seed in Div 2, thank you very much), I figured I could go ahead and finalize my playing plans for the foreseeable future.

July 26th-29th - NSC, Orlando, FL
August 30th-Sept 1st - Portland, OR
Sept 20th-21st - Albuquerque, NM
Oct 3rd-5th - New York City, NY

That about covers the four corners of the country in the next four months. Of course, all of that is just on the heels of my recent run of tournaments...

December - Austin, TX
January - Tucson, AZ
February - Phoenix, AZ
March - Dallas, TX
May - Seattle, WA
June - Corrales, NM

Whew. Busy busy.

I'm in.

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 17:42:33 GMT

See y'all in Orlando.

A long walk in the park

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:26:49 GMT

It had been FAR too long since I did much hiking. I've walked to work from the hotel a couple of times, and we did visit a waterfall out at the coast the other week, but between travel and Scrabble and other such fun, we really haven't had many opportunities. So it was awful nice to get out on Monday and head up the Gorge to enjoy some of the sights up there. We did the short walk off the old scenic highway to Latourell Falls, then pushed on Multnomah Falls and ate our picnic lunch in the chilly drizzle. I was pushing Matthew in the stroller up past the bridge overlooking the falls. He was having a blast seeing all the water, and was regularly shouting encouragement for me to "Go. Go! GO!" Coming down was even more fun because I was barreling down the trail with his stroller and anytime we'd hit a bump he'd go airborne. Yee-haw! I was really impressed with how well the stroller held up. We kept going up the Gorge to Yeon State Park, and hiked a mile or so up to Elowah Falls and back. This time he was in the backpack, and he had a good time there, too, although he was getting a little bit antsy by the end of the trip.

So after spending Monday tooling around, I wanted to get a longer hike in on my own on Tuesday. I got dropped off at the Newberry Road trailhead for the Wildwood Trail and followed it along Forest Park in towards Portland. I started at 9 a.m., a little later than I'd hoped to, and had the idea to go as far as I was able to. My stretch goal was to make the entire 30 mile trip back to the MAX stop and take that out to the west side. About 20+ miles into the trip I realized that I wasn't going to be up for another 10 miles, but thankfully my wife called at about that point and we arranged to meet up at the 25 mile point. She met me along the trail about a half mile from the car, and I got to put the little guy on my back for the last half mile up out of the ravine we were in. It was good to see them again, but my legs were getting pretty sore by then. Thankfully, I wasn't TOO sore getting up yesterday morning, so it didn't interfere with my training assignment at work up here. Ahh...life is good.

SWILLNS wrap-up

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 04:56:10 GMT

This was a tournament that, by all rights, I should not have been at. First off, I wasn't invited. This is Mike's event, and he has a long list of friends. I, as a fairly recent acquaintance, had no illusion that I would be on the short list. He did eventually approach me to ask me to be a backup for the event, but that put me about three deep on the alternate list. Then there's the fact that I was going to be out of down that weekend. It was smack in the middle of a month of training for work. In Oregon. As one thing lead to another, including a few fortuitous (for me) cancellations, I was able to convince work to fly me home for the weekend halfway through the training (ostensibly to check on the house and attend a friend's wedding reception on Friday night). SO, there I was--invited and able to attend. Since I was home alone for the weekend (wife and baby went along to Oregon, but weren't going home for the two days) I invited Mike Baker, drbing, and millcake16 to stay at my place and shuttled them around the whole time. It was nice to spend some time away from the Scrabble board, too.

Anyway, as cool as the weekend was on a friendship and personal level, it was still almost entirely about the Scrabble. With 17 games in two days, there really wasn't a whole lot of time for anything else. So, without further ado (or to create further ado, as Marj Schoneboom might encourage me to do), here is:

Game 1, John Chew, W 452-384.
Me: ?XSS, Bingos: S(T)UDDING, RAWBONe(D), DIGRAP(H)S.
Opp: ?JQZSS, Bingos: (A)LTRUISm, RESONAT(E).
Missed Bingos: NUNCIOS.
Equity Loss: 84.

Yipes. I stumbled out the gate by missing NUNCIOS on the second turn, but pulled it together from there on and got a positive result from it. He was up by 50 or so late when I (luckily) found DIGRAP(H)S in traffic (overlapped A(VID)). He then obligingly gave me a place for a 38 pt/3 overlap outplay with FOETAL, making this game look a LOT less close than it actually was.

Game 2, Willie Pitzer, W 448-304.
Me: ?JQXSS, Bingos: (R)ETAINER, COW(A)RDLY, JANItO(R)S.
Opp: ?ZSS, Bingos: RENTING.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 42.

Kept things fairly tight in my game against Willie. I think she was pretty nervous about being the bottom seed, and I'm sure I didn't help that by hitting the natural COW(A)RDLY. Seriously, though, what else are you going to do with that rack?? The third bingo came way late and was pretty much just icing on the cake. Game over.

Game 3, Pamina Deutsch, L 322-363.
Me: QXZSSS, Bingos: none.
Opp: ??JS, Bingos: GRiEV(E)Rs.
Missed Bingos: LENITES.
Equity Loss: 130.

So, the good play ended and I got a well deserved loss to Mike's wife. As always, I would have much rather won, but it really couldn't have been a nicer person to lose to. I missed the bingo at a critical juncture with a closing down board. I saw the other bingos in there, but it had to end in S and I didn't see that one. Doh. I still could have won the tight game in the endgame until I gave her an engraved invitation for a 40 point play to put me away. Oops.

Game 4, Wally Schultz, L 394-449.
Me: ?JXZS, Bingos: DICTION(S), RONIONS.
Opp: ?QSSS, Bingos: SH(I)ELDED, BRASILS.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 33.

I really don't know that I could have won this one. Half my plays were the best possible according to Quackle, and my biggest screwup was only an 11 point equity loss. Wally pretty well had me from start to finish and my only hope was to draw an out bingo to one of the two open lanes. He blocked one of them, but my last draw was bad enough that he didn't need to worry anyway. Ah well.

Game 5, Steve Pellinen, T 375-375.
Me: ?SS, Bingos: SINTERS, FLOATIn(G).
Opp: ?JQXZSS, Bingos: ACEROSE.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 70.

Wow. There's always a way that I could have won a tie. I had chances right up until my second to last play. There really weren't a lot of big mistakes, just a grab-bag of medium ones. I had him pretty well until he hit a 65 point J play late. We played to the tense tie and just kind of looked at each other. Neither was too gung-ho to recount, but I went ahead and pushed for it anyway. It didn't change anything.

Game 6, Carla Cree, W 410-376.
Me: JQZSS, Bingos: R(E)IGNITE, NEO(L)ITHS.
Opp: ??XSS, Bingos: wINTERS, TOLANES.
Missed Bingos: NONRIGI(D).
Equity Loss: 121.

Carla definitely has to be the emotional favorite in every game she played this weekend. It's not easy being so pregnant, and then having to play a tournament on top of that. Whew. I have to hand it to her for how well she held up. As to the game, I sure made a BIG mistake in this one. I miss that word a lot in my studying, too. Grrr. Thankfully I had replies to each of her bingos, but the one that got away would have really helped change the dynamics of the game.

Game 7, Brian Cappelletto, L 326-553.
Me: ZS, Bingos: RESITED.
Opp: ??JQXSSS, Bingos: dETHRON(E), rOQUETE(D), (C)HIMAERA, TANAGE(R)S.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 51.

I definitely couldn't have won this one. 30 of the equity points I lost was from trying to get away with VICINAR(Y)* (it's VICENARY, btw...note to self--don't try to phony bricap). Still, losing 50 equity points and losing by over 200...it's not hard to figure that it wasn't likely to have changed the outcome. It may have helped the spread damage, but since I had the tie spread wasn't *such* a big deal. He drew lots of goodies and played them well. Kudos to the champ; thanks for the "spectator game".

Game 8, Carl Johnson, L 347-372.
Me: JQSS, Bingos: T(R)IDENTS, GLEAMED.
Opp: ??XZSS, Bingos: pIERROT, INSECUR(E).
Missed Bingos: TELLIES, N(O)BBIEST.
Equity Loss: 133.

So, back to world of games that I can actually win. I screwed this one up good. I guess there's something about playing Carl that compels me to miss multiple bingos. Back to back, no less. There's right around zero excuse for NOT EVEN SEEING TELLIES. Yeesh. I saw NOBBIEST, but I didn't trust it for some reason. Silly me. It would have helped an awful lot to have hit either one since they were both so early in the game. It still ended up fairly close at the end, but he had the higher score when the tiles ran out, so it's his win. Ah well--I had my chances.

Game 9, Sam Kantimathi, W 395-376.
Me: JXSSS, Bingos: SUDSING, JILTING.
Opp: ??QZS, Bingos: BLEE(D)ING, RE(EN)tERED, QUA(N)TICs.
Missed Bingos: (P)INAFORE, GRANDSO(N).
Equity Loss: 107.

Whew. This was a pretty crazy game. I was fortunate to end up ahead. We were battling down the stretch, and I missed a couple of bingos that REALLY would have helped to find. When I missed GRANDSO(N)--DRAGONS didn't play--I played off ANDROS instead...and drew into a natural JILTING. That gave me enough cushion to hold off Sam's out-bingo. I could have done myself a real favor by just NOT MISSING BINGOS. Silly me.

Game 10, Nathan Benedict, L 409-427.
Me: JQXSSS, Bingos: ANOXIAS, CAROL(I)NG, OSTEOMA.
Opp: ??ZS, Bingos: (A)TAVISTs, UnGE(N)TLY.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 75.

Wow. Count this one in the list of games I gave away on a platter. I had him on the ropes with the three bingos in four turns, although he kept it fairly close with some fine plays. I handed it to him when I challenged his second bingo, though. I should have thought that that would be about a perfect way to lose the game, but I really wasn't thinking at all at the time. There goes 30 points of equity, which sure would have come in handy in an 18 point game. Grrr.

Game 11, Chris Cree, W 457-392.
Me: ?QXSS, Bingos: ABROgA(T)E, RELATIO(N), MUNGOES.
Opp: ?JZSS, Bingos: DIETING, FANfARE.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 33.

Wow, this was another crazy game. Chris was ahead pretty well the entire way. He got his bingos pretty early and I was scrambling to catch up. My big break came at this position, right when he was trying to shut down the board. All of a sudden, it's a tie game in the endgame. My next play was moderately boneheaded, although it proved to be serendipitous. He went for what looked like enough points to put a close game in the W column, but I lucked into an amazing out-bingo and took the game. Chris was *not* pleased to end his day that way.

Game 12, Karen Merrill, W 531-280.
Me: ??ZSSS, Bingos: FRIEZEs, ENOLASE, CREATIO(N), ELUaNTS.
Opp: JQXS, Bingos: UNSO(I)LED.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 26.

Whoa, this game just flowed. Pretty well everything just fit together the entire time, while she's fighting through clunk. I hit the plays I needed to and was rewarded well for it.

Game 13, Marjorie Schoneboom, W 384-350.
Me: ?ZS, Bingos: hEAVIER.
Opp: ?JQXSSS, Bingos: UNWAST(E)d.
Missed Bingos: (A)LLEGORY, VEAlIER.
Equity Loss: 135.

I tried to mess this one up pretty good, but she just kept phoneying and letting me back in the game. I missed the SWEET bingo early, then tried to get cute and played a phony for a few more points that she went ahead and challenged off. It was close down the stretch, but I was able to win in the endgame. Whew.

Game 14, Jeff Martin, W 414-412.
Me: ?QZSSS, Bingos: EcL(O)SION, (c)RAGLIKE*, (P)YRANOSE.
Opp: ?JXS, Bingos: WoRMI(E)ST, CORDITE.
Missed Bingos: TEREDIN(ES).
Equity Loss: 87.

Yow. Talk about phonies. I'm not sure why I played (c)RAGLIKE*--I knew it was phony. It stayed on the board, though...probably because he had his first bingo in reply. PYRANOSE did me a lot of good, but then I tried a phony a turn later (missing the awesome nine that I didn't know). He eventually hit the bingo on the open lane, but it left me with a big enough reply to seal the game in a one point squeaker. We found another one for me on the recount. Yay.

Game 15, Mike Baker, W 442-331.
Me: ??XZSS, Bingos: bRAINIS(H), (C)UNEATED.
Opp: JQSS, Bingos: EAGERES(T).
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 76.

My opening rack was ACHIRST, which I hated to break up by playing first. I went ahead and played CHART, and he immediately replies with a bingo. I get mine in response and he goes ahead and challenges. I bingo again and I'm off an running, never to look back. I played a fairly tight game, but I did get away with a phoney against him late. Go me.

Game 16, Mike Baker, L 330-393.
Me: ??S, Bingos: PERKIlY, ObLIGEE.
Opp: JQXZSSS, Bingos: TOLUA(T)ES.
Missed Bingos: CRETINs.
Equity Loss: 110.

So, my last game earned me a seat across from Mike again in the second to last game. This game was all but over on the second turn. I failed to bingo at this position, and things just went downhill from there. I drew worse and played worse than the last game, and got what I deserved for doing so. Thus he was avenged...

Game 17, Sam Kantimathi, L 418-448.
Me: ?ZSSS, Bingos: REOP(E)NED, INSECtS.
Opp: ?JQXS, Bingos: HEA(R)TIER, ERUC(T)ATE, UNIDEAl.
Missed Bingos: GASSILy.
Equity Loss: 96.

I didn't do so well playing rematches in this tournament. Here, again, I had plenty of chances. The biggest mistake was in challenging his second bingo. I hadn't seen it before and didn't know the word. I do now. It probably would have helped to hit my bingo a turn before and have more time to score. It was neck and neck down the stretch until he hit his last bingo and kept it out of reach. As it turns out, I misscored my last two plays and should have had a whole 15 more points than I ended up with. Ah well.

	Valid, challenged	Phoney, unchallenged	Phoney, challenged
My Plays	bRAINIS(H)	(H)EINEY* (c)RAGLIKE* BEaNY*	VICINAR(Y)* ARrIVEE* ENDITER*
Their Plays	UnGE(N)TLY ERUCT(A)TE	none	P(AE)* X(E)* oUTWA(R)NS* (NA)S* LIR(I)S*

Portland Club on Tuesday night

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 04:00:15 GMT

This past Tuesday I made it out to the Lake Oswego club that I went to when I was first playing Scrabble. It was fun to see lots of folks that I knew, and I guess the Scrabble wasn't *so* bad either. I won a few games, at least.

Game 1, Mike Baker, W 380-338.
Me: ?QXZSS, Bingos: SOURInG.
Opp: ?JSS, Bingos: nOUMENA(L).
Missed Bingos: cHI(L)IDOG.
Equity Loss: 106.

Game 2, Jesse Wornum, W 442-325.
Me: JXS, Bingos: TANGIER, (N)EUTERER*.
Opp: ??QZSSS, Bingos: THRIlLS.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 48.

Game 3, Carl Johnson, L 407-488.
Me: ?QXSS, Bingos: GEOT(A)XIS, pI(S)TOLED.
Opp: ?JZSS, Bingos: HOSIERS, (P)ALEFAcE, FROTHIE(R).
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 71.

Game 4, Charley Kaplan, W 444-295.
Me: ?SS, Bingos: INSNARE, AIGRE(T)tE.
Opp: ?JQXZSS, Bingos: s(I)MPLEST.
Missed Bingos: AERA(T)IOn.
Equity Loss: 95.

	Valid, challenged	Phoney, unchallenged	Phoney, challenged
My Plays	AIGRE(T)tE	(N)EUTERER*	none
Their Plays	(P)ALEFAcE	none	B(E)EDEE* (MI)N* CASK(E)* VAGuERS* G(UNION)*

Seattle Memorial Day tournament

Wed, 28 May 2008 16:53:19 GMT

My official peak rating as of June 4 will be 1749, so that's that. Guess I'm not going to Orlando. 10-10 was just *1* *win* *less* than I was hoping for to get my one rating point, but much more importantly I had tons 'o fun. For more,

Game 1, Richard Johnson, W 358-356.
Me: ?ZS, Bingos: PISCINA, DEWFALl.
Opp: ?JQXSSS, Bingos: none.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 171.

I'm a nutjob and tried a phony when my double-double PISCINA would have fit nicely. I still got the bingo down the next turn, but he blocked the sweet spot. I had all kinds of nerves at the start of this game, which is very odd for me. Whatever. I only won the nailbiter finish cuz he tried a phony 2. Oops.

Game 2, Laurie Cohen, W 416-377.
Me: ?QXZS, Bingos: MEDUSAn, (G)LEETIER.
Opp: ?JSSS, Bingos: pONIA(R)DS.
Missed Bingos: CABO(T)AGE.
Equity Loss: 150.

Knowing CABOTAGE would have helped, but even still I had this handily in my favor until I set up the triple-triple for her and it was game on. She got into time trouble late or it would have been even closer, but I think I would have had the win anyway. Whew.

Game 3, Reid Hattaway, L 380-411.
Me: ?QXZSS, Bingos: PR(I)ORATE, PR(E)ADMiT.
Opp: ?JSS, Bingos: MeRLINS, FATTENE(D).
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 61.

Just couldn't do it against Reid. I felt like I played pretty tight (for the first time of the tournament), but I was always playing catch-up and couldn't quite get there by the time the tiles ran out. Meh.

Game 4, Alyssa Faria, W 388-352.
Me: ??JQZSS, Bingos: SORoRAL, TRa(V)ELED.
Opp: XSS, Bingos: none.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 51.

It was fun to play cheezchick for the first time ever, but I'm not sure that she'd quite agree. I challenged off her phony bingo and we battled close through a lot of the game, but it felt like she was trying to catch up like I was the whole game before--with the same result.

Game 5, Kevin Lee, W 356-333.
Me: ??JXSS, Bingos: FIRE(C)LAy.
Opp: QZSS, Bingos: (M)ITOGENS.
Missed Bingos: DEME(R)I(T)Ed, bEDRIVE(L).
Equity Loss: 51.

It started awful messy with two B-Y plays (BEN(Z)YL and BAYOU), but cleaned up enough that I could play FIRE(C)LAy a few turns later. That was fun to play (too bad I didn't get the challenge he was considering). The game was pretty well mine to lose down the stretch, although he did pull close with the fairly late bingo. I missed the very late bingo when I opened the board with DRIVE(L) keeping E?. Oops. Still took it, though. Whew again. On a side note, that's a pretty good equity loss for missing two bingos. I hardly missed anything BUT those two plays. Ah well.

Game 6, Christopher Grubb, L 343-383.
Me: JZSS, Bingos: AL(I)ENERS.
Opp: ??QXSS, Bingos: INMATES, (S)ORRIEsT.
Missed Bingos: F(I)NENESS.
Equity Loss: 136.

Grrr. Missed the early bingo in traffic and was always a step or two behind him after that. Couldn't quite get it together and played sloppy to boot. Just didn't happen here.

Game 7, Mark Milan, L 335-385.
Me: QSSS, Bingos: UPRAISE(D), ISATINE.
Opp: ??JXZS, Bingos: MONsTEr, HOARDI(N)G.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 52.

Here's one that I should have one, but the odds fell totally in Mark's favor. He just bingoed late to tie the game, but I have some scoring tiles and a chance to close the board down. Check the position here and figure what *you* would have done. Quackle agreed with my move and gave me decent odds of winning--and it was certainly a spectacular way to lose.

Game 8, Gail Wolford, W 435-405.
Me: ?SSS, Bingos: IODATIN(G), (G)lEETIER, TRESSIE(R).
Opp: ?JQXZS, Bingos: sTANDUP, DREAMER.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 54.

I hadn't ever played Gail before, but I well knew that she played really fast. My first couple of moves made themselves, though, and I was up by two bingos. I let her get away with GIV(A)BLE*, and the came back to bingo and tie it a few turns later. She bingoed late to go up by 90 and open the triple row. Thankfully, I had the bingo to reply, but it still left me down by 20. Amazingly, she challenged even though all she had to do was make *any* play to win it. I played out and won one I shouldn't have right after losing one I should have won.

Game 9, Carl Johnson, W 418-354.
Me: ??QZS, Bingos: EmOTIVE, cA(S)EATED, GRUNTLE(S).
Opp: JXSSS, Bingos: none.
Missed Bingos: HEROiZE, sI(Z)EABLY, HUNTA(B)LE.
Equity Loss: 228.

A spectacular, flaming failure of a win. I missed so many bingos I should have been shot. Since we were rooming together and he gave me his racks, I know that I lost more equity on three separate turns than he lost for the whole game. But I got the W. What a crazy game we play.

Game 10, Ron Howard, L 354-398.
Me: ?QXZSS, Bingos: STEERER, ESXcIND.
Opp: ?JSS, Bingos: INDORSE, ACAU(D)aTE.
Missed Bingos: FAIRLE(A)D.
Equity Loss: 69.

Played tight, except for the bingo I didn't know. Lost anyway. What a crazy game we play.

Game 11, Mike Frentz, L 408-459.
Me: ?XS, Bingos: FUMaTES*, COITION(S).
Opp: ?JQZSSS, Bingos: (A)VOiDERS, UNARGUE(D).
Missed Bingos: EOLITH(i)C.
Equity Loss: 110.

Got away with the phony bingo. Missed another bingo I didn't know. Was just chasing the whole time and never really made it too close. Bleah.

Game 12, Steven Jones, W 391-381.
Me: ?JQSSS, Bingos: GRAInIE(R), SMEARIN(G).
Opp: ?XZS, Bingos: ALEXINS.
Missed Bingos: AU(T)OGYRO, cHORAGI, DISPLAN(T), DEMONIS(T).
Equity Loss: 174.

Got to play the guy who started the tournament 10-0. Yay. Displayed more of my ability to miss multiple bingos on consecutive turns, but still able to pull out the late win despite getting Q-stuck. Yucky game.

Game 13, Brian Bailey, W 419-338.
Me: ?JZSSS, Bingos: FULNESS, pORTIER(E).
Opp: ?QXS, Bingos: OuTDRIN(K).
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 44.

Had a fun time playing ataraxy22 for the first time. It was way cool to meet him; we've got plenty of common interests. As to the gam, I started fairly strong and never quite looked back. I challenged off his TEEVEE* immediately. I just won't forgive myself for letting Kenji get away with *that* one on me. He pulled it even late, but I had the bingo in reply and was able to play out pretty quickly. Game over.

Game 14, Dielle Saldanha, W 479-393.
Me: ?JXSS, Bingos: ROWDiLY, S(E)DUCING, INUTILE.
Opp: ?QZSS, Bingos: AERUGOS, CELLM(A)tE.
Missed Bingos: GASTREA.
Equity Loss: 111.

Poor dillyroo. I jumped WAY out in front with three bingos in first 5 turns. She played a funny fish late where she played off (OW)SE one short of the triple lane. I figured she had the unseen N or blank or both. I blocked off that spot, against my gut feeling to play on the A hook on the other side of the board, and then she played AERUGOS off the A. Huh? No N *or* blank? Okay. I beautifully missed the *other* A hook for my GASTREA (yes, at least I saw that I had *that* on my rack), and opened the board up instead. Just in time for her to bingo again and pull within 30. I found that N and scored with it down the triple on the other side, but it was just an odd game overall.

Game 15, Dave Wiegand, L 343-517.
Me: ?QXS, Bingos: dISCING, REENACT.
Opp: ?JZSSS, Bingos: FOREARM, RAVELIn(G), INERT(I)AS.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 37.

Played my best game of the tournament (equity loss-wise) and still lost. Big. Ah well. Check my racks here, drbing. You're welcome for that E hook.

Game 16, Rich Moyer, L 336-354.
Me: XZS, Bingos: none.
Opp: ??JQSSS, Bingos: WEEnESS*, (A)PpETITE.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 46.

Played another pretty tight game, and lost it, too. This one was at least a lot closer, but I just wasn't getting any love from the tiles. It was kinda cool to open with KUDZU, but that was pretty much the high point of my game. Bleah. I can't believe I let him get away with WEEnESS.

Game 17, Dean Saldanha, W 418-321.
Me: ?JQXS, Bingos: QuARTIE(R).
Opp: ?ZSSS, Bingos: (OR)gANIZER.
Missed Bingos: INH(O)LDER.
Equity Loss: 153.

Poor Dean. He opened with a phony bingo, which came right off. Since I knew his rack, I played a (normally) poorly placed HALERU, keeping the X. He played his best play off that rack and I got to cash in with FOXY for 57. Yee-haw. He had an awesome blank-Z bingo, which I immediately followed with a balnk-Q bingo. I managed to miss an obvious bingo later, though, so I sure did my fair share of screwing up. He just got no love from the tiles this time, and this came down in my Win column.

Game 18, Nigel Peltier, L 280-439.
Me: XSS, Bingos: none.
Opp: ??JQZSS, Bingos: NONAGES, sTYLAtE.
Missed Bingos: (DE)PURATES.
Equity Loss: 82.

nigelbo just had my every step of the way. Other than missing (DE)PURATES (from my best rack of the game), I didn't miss terribly much. I kept getting stuff at all the wrong times and just couldn't do a whole lot with it. Here are the racks, if you really want to see them *that* badly

Game 19, Jill Turney, L 327-396.
Me: ?JSS, Bingos: NARCeIN(E).
Opp: ?QXZSS, Bingos: CLEAVIn(G), A(C)ETONES.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 67.

Another decent effort, another loss hung on me. By losing 5 of my last 6 games, I totally managed to keep from breaking 1750. I maybe could have kept the spread a little closer, but it would have taken a big break to win this one.

Game 20, Rich Moyer, L 367-374.
Me: ??JSSS, Bingos: UNpOISE(D), YOuPONS.
Opp: QXZS, Bingos: VAC(C)INAS, LING(E)RER.
Missed Bingos: S(K)IDOOED.
Equity Loss: 142.

He was totally pounding me--and I'm trading off UUWW--at the start of this game. I was down by 130 when I managed to finally get a blank bingo down. When I get the second blank bingo three turns later, *and* the challenge, I thought I might actually be back in it. He fished off to open a bingo lane here, but I figured the odds were in my favor with not blocking it. Oops. I spent a LONG time on my last rack, but still managed to miss what *would* have been a SPECTACULAR out-bingo. I was very, very sad when I saw that. So close, yet so far.

	Valid, challenged	Phoney, unchallenged	Phoney, challenged
My Plays	TRESSIE(R) DANIO QuARTIE(R) YOuPONS	FUMaTES*	PIANICS* TOLUANE*
Their Plays	(PISCINA)S	GIV(A)BLE* BA(I)RD* WEEnESS*	(N)I* (M)IXAMEBA* TEEVEE* COGNITO*

One and done (for)

Mon, 19 May 2008 16:51:20 GMT

Snuck in a game at club last week, but it was a busy night so I couldn't stay for more than one. I shouldn't have bothered, although I guess I made Susan happy.

Game 1, Susan Beard, L 324-374.
Me: QXZS, Bingos: LINDANE.
Opp: ??JSSS, Bingos: SHATTEr.
Missed Bingos: NIRVANI(C).
Equity Loss: 148.

Wheesh. Another messy, messy game. I was bleeding equity all over the place so badly that I don't even know where to begin. I have to say that I was a little distracted because the wife and baby stayed for dinner and weren't sitting too far away, but that's really not much excuse for how badly I played. Ah well.

	Valid, challenged	Phoney, unchallenged	Phoney, challenged
My Plays	none	none	none
Their Plays	none	none	none

And a Saturday club, too!

Sun, 11 May 2008 01:01:53 GMT

So the original intent was to go hiking today, but it just didn't seem like the thing to do so I went to club instead. Both Jeff and Wally showed up, too, so that was kinda nice.

Game 1, Jeff Martin, W 488-311.
Me: ??QXSS, Bingos: CERViNE, PISMIRE.
Opp: JZSS, Bingos: none.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 29.

I felt like I did a pretty good job in this game. I had a number of other pretty high scoring plays, and the breaks definitely went my way. It's all good.

Game 2, Susan Beard, L 363-375.
Me: ?SSJQ, Bingos: RASSLED, RENAILs.
Opp: ?SSXZ, Bingos: ArISTAE.
Missed Bingos: AUST(E)RER.
Equity Loss: 124.

This was a sloppy game. I wouldn't have even been in the game at all if she hadn't let me get away with a phony hook. The biggest miss of the game was actually not seeing the multiple possible extensions I had on my rack for OLOGY. That would have totally won the game for me. *sigh*

Game 3, Patty Wayne, W 417-362.
Me: ?ZSS, Bingos: MARAUDS, TOWARDs, TAVERNS.
Opp: ?JQXSS, Bingos: SaILORS.
Missed Bingos: PYROLAS, SIMILAR.
Equity Loss: 131.

From messy to much messier. Weesh. I missed the bingo in my opening rack. I wrote it down, but didn't trust myself. Then two turns later I missed the other bingo for absolutely no good reason. Yuck. I played halfway decently for the rest of the game, other than the math error I made the subtracted a whole 60 points from my score. Oops. Neither of us caught it. This game should have been a *lot* less close than it turned out.

Game 4, Wally Schultz, L 413-482.
Me: QX, Bingos: INARMED, ACONITE.
Opp: ??JZSSSS, Bingos: LAWINgS, UNSEALS, INScROL(L).
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 22.

Wow, I played this one almost as close as I could have played it. It was pretty painful to see him play power tile after power tile, but that just how some games go, I know. I was pleased with my overall play, although Quackle showed some more math errors (on both parts) that should have given me a whole 14 more spread points. It doesn't matter so much at club, but it sure could make a difference in a tournament. I gotta be more careful with that.

	Valid, challenged	Phoney, unchallenged	Phoney, challenged
My Plays	MARAUDS	(PRONE)S*	none
Their Plays	none	none	(VOX)ES*

What's this? A CLUB session?!?

Fri, 09 May 2008 20:09:24 GMT

Wheesh. I can't seem to make it to club to save my life lately. Things have been good, but busy lately. I wasn't supposed to make it last night, either, but the scout meeting I was going to head to just didn't work out. Go figure.

Game 1, Bill Barfuss, W 498-367.
Me: ??QXS, Bingos: M(E)GaPLEX, DEBAClE, ROUSING.
Opp: JZSSS, Bingos: BANGERS, (C)OTTIERS.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 37.

MEGAPLEX came down as a double-double. That was sweeet. The biggest miss was just not seeing the front hook to HEEZED. Doh!

Game 2, Nancee Mancel, W 419-365.
Me: JQXZS, Bingos: EN(T)RESOL, TERRAIN.
Opp: ??SSS, Bingos: SPL(I)NTeR, INSECTs.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 39.

She was close and scaring me for a good long while, but my second bingo gave me enough cushion to fend off her reply bingo and walk away with the win. Life wasn't so bad, really. I was pretty proud of the pair of games overall. I can deal with <40 pts of equity lost per game.

	Valid, challenged	Phoney, unchallenged	Phoney, challenged
My Plays	none	(T)AURIC*	none
Their Plays	none	none	none

Hiking Roundup

Mon, 05 May 2008 16:15:14 GMT

So, I have been hiking a good bit lately, I just haven't been posting to LJ about it. I guess I'll take it back to a couple of weeks ago and work forward from there.

Apr 19th -
After spending a couple of days in Arizona earlier in the week, I was ready to get out hiking again on Saturday. We had another of our training hikes with the scouts, and this time we headed up Sandia Peak on the La Luz trail. Although I've done this trail a few times before, it's enough of a local classic that I'm always game to do it again. It was nice weather if just slightly cloudy, but that's just fine for hiking. We made good progress up until we hit the rock slide area high in La Cueva canyon--right around the five mile mark. We started to see a lot of snow at this point, but pressed on ahead anyway. After slipping and sliding for almost two miles, we reached the upper trail junction with the Crest Spur trail. Although we were only 0.6 miles from the top, I knew that that trail was a little more exposed with steep drops and we'd probably see more of the snow and ice. I was also starting to feel a little tired and I knew it would be a good bit of work to get back down the ice and snow we'd already come up, so I made the call to turn us around at that point. Thankfully, everyone made it back down safely, and everyone had a pretty good time on the hike. The total trip distance ended up being around 13 miles, but it's a tough enough trail that that much left us all pretty tired.

Apr 25th -
I took the wife and boy out into the wilds around the Rio Puerco again. Most of what we did that Friday afternoon was exploring the dirt roads in the car, but we did stop at one point to explore a Chacoan ruin perched precariously on the top of a crumbling mesa just off the road. It was remarkably well preserved for how close to the road it was, although part of that was surely due to the signs of ongoing archaeological exploration. We even saw pot shards and other evidence around the mesa top, though, which was heartening since so many of the ruins in the southwest are totally despoiled. It should go without saying, but we left everything as we found it.

May 1st -
The wife was busy for a few hours in the morning, so I took little guy and hit the trail for some father/son time. We just wandered around some of the trails in the foothills of Sandia--starting at the La Cueva Picnic Area and heading up the Tramway Trail toward the tram terminal. I wandered past the ruins of the Jaral Ranger cabin, and we stopped about a half mile from the tram so that I could let him out to wander around some. That's about where the trouble started, because before too long he'd tripped and landed on a prickly pear. All the tiny new growth spines stuck in his shirt and arm, and I spent the next 15 minutes sitting on the trail with a wailing son picking cactus spines out of him. I felt like such a failure as a dad. Since it was such a short trip (the round trip just over two and a half miles), I hadn't packed my first aid kit, sunblock, or a change of clothes for him. Since his shirt has so many spines in it, I wasn't going to put it back on him, so I put him in the pack without a shirt (or sunblock) and hightailed it back to the car, managing to lose his hat somewhere along the way, too. Yeesh.

May 2nd -
Despite the misadventures of the day before, the wife still went hiking with me the next day. We headed out by Cabezon again, back to one of the side roads we'd explored a short distance the week before. We parked the car just past a closed gate after crossing over the Arroyo Empedrado, and struck out to explore the arroyos and mesas of the area. We scrambled down the 30 foot mud walls of the arroyo and crossed Torreon Wash to the mesa on the other side. We found a narrow defile that snaked its way deep into the mesa, climbing over some of the crumbling sandstone and mud along the way. We found cool rock formations, petrified wood, and a few areas that looked suspiciously like more ruins along the way. We hiked out to a point overlooking the confluence of Torreon Wash and the Arroyo Chico, then meandered/scrambled back to the car again. Overall, we ended up hiking a little over three miles, and had a fun time even if the weather was a little chilly and windy (for May).

May 3rd -
I was back to hiking with the scouts again this past Saturday. We had our fourth practice hike scheduled, and this time we headed up to Glorieta Baldy, just east of Santa Fe. We got on the trail around 9a, and were progressing well despite missing a trail that turned down into Apache Canyon on our way in. We ended up bushwhacking a little ways, but I was able to get us to the right spot thanks to the handy-dandy GPS. It sure has come in handy anymore, and I was darn glad I had it with me on this trip. We began the long climb up to the top of the mountain, and finally got up to the fire tower at the top at almost 1:30 in the afternoon. We stopped for lunch up there, but it didn't do me much good. What little I did eat came right back up as I strapped my pack on and got ready to go back down again. Silly altitude sickness. It was only 10,200 feet, so it wasn't anywhere near very high. It just hits me at the funniest times. Anyway, I had a couple more...episodes...on the trip down, generally right after anytime I tried to rest. SO, I tried to just keep going at a steady pace and stayed focused on keeping moving. I wasn't much looking forward to the hike back up out of Apache Canyon to get back to the trailhead, though. Our group took a break again in the canyon bottom, an idyllic area with green grass and a flowing stream (definitely notable in New Mexico). Some of the more energetic boys wanted to push for a few more miles so they could meet the hiking merit badge requirement of a 20 mile hike. The plan was for the scoutmaster to strike out ahead with them, get back to the car and then let them hike 5 extra miles back along the road we came in on (with him driving behind in the truck since he *wasn't* in the mood for a 20-miler). They took off ahead and I stayed with the sag group, which was about my speed at this point. I was less nauseous, at least, but still not up to full capacity. We took our time climbing out of the canyon, then worked our way back to the other trail out to the trailhead. We almost missed the turn, though, as our entire group passed it and I only noticed because I saw we'd gone too far on the GPS. I wasn't super worried about it until we got back to the trailhead and found that the scoutmaster's car was still there. Doh. Two of us set out looking for them on an unimproved road that the route goes along, but we didn't end up finding them. Then we got his truck stuck trying to get back out the main road again. Double Doh. As we were walking back the mile and a half to the trailhead to get help from the *other* truck to get us out, we got cell phone reception and got a call from the lost scoutmaster and his group of boys. I gave them detailed directions on the trail turn they'd missed and what to look for, then we kept walking. After a mile or so, the other truck picked us up and we went back to the stuck truck. The group of us managed to push the truck out of the spot it was in, and then we all headed back to the original trailhead to find the lost party stumbling off the trail right as we drove up. All's well that ends well, and we were glad to see that nobody got hurt. It was something of an unplanned for adventure, but the only real ill effect was that we got home a few hours late.

One game stand

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:34:07 GMT

Game 1, Nancee Mancel, W 505-309.
Me: ?QXSSS, Bingos: (H)OSANnAS, Q(U)AYSIDE(s), TARGETE(D).
Opp: ?JZS, Bingos: INULAsE(S).
Missed Bingos: (M)ATURATE.
Equity Loss: 58.

I was pretty stoked about finding the nine, and it got a challenge out of her, too. The lions share of the equity lost was in missing the bingo. I was so frustrated at not having a place to play TUATERA that I didn't even look from the M. Bleah. Overall it was a pretty good, clean game, though. I like that.

	Valid, challenged	Phoney, unchallenged	Phoney, challenged
My Plays	Q(U)AYSIDE(s)	none	none
Their Plays	none	none	none

Past time for baby pics

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 04:14:13 GMT

Yeesh, he's getting into everything. This is a way fun age, though. He's learning new things SO fast. It's incredible to watch.

	The Rack More funny faces. (Apr 8th)
	Blanket time He kept playing hide and seek under the blanket. (Apr 9th)
	Train man I love this hat and overalls combo. (Apr 11th)
	Hamming it up He was having too much fun putting the hat on. (Apr 11th)
	MY shelf! Guess we should just store this one away for later. (Apr 14th)
	Where's your nose? Something tastes funny... (Apr 17th)
	At the playground He was pretty excited about climbing around. (Apr 17th)
	Looking through the hole (Apr 17th)
	Climbing the ladder already (Apr 18th)

Long time coming

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:48:12 GMT

So, it's been an awful long time since I posted these, but here are some of the latest Scrabble word study graphs. I took another couple of months off a month or two ago, and things are just now clicking back into place for studying regularly. It's at a significantly reduced rate from my studying heyday, but I think it's a healthier pace overall.

	Upcoming Words 4-24 4-24 histogram of words per day by cardbox, through the end of cardbox 3
	Long Upcoming Words 4-24 4-24 histogram of words per day by cardbox, long version through the end of cardbox 6

The OFFICIAL Dilbert Widget

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:27:19 GMT

More hikering

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 20:00:06 GMT

We got hiking together again yesterday. We've been wanting to head out to the De-Na-Zin wilderness ever since we visited it's sister, the Bisti badlands, on the way back from our Utah trip last summer. We finally got there yesterday, and it was totally worth the trip. De-na-zin is much larger, and even more remote (12 miles on dirt roads off the highway rather then 3, with just a teeny-tiny sign letting you know where the one trailhead is). We were totally blown away be how amazing it is, though. The sheer variety of rocks colors and formations and shapes and sizes is just incredible. We saw oodlins of petrified wood laying all over the place, and a number of other fossils and cool minerals, too. We ended up hiking for almost 6 miles up and down hills and through arroyos. I was pretty glad I had the GPS with me, because it would have been awfully easy to get totally turned around otherwise. As it was, we all had a very fun time. Check out this little video of little guy dancing around in the desert:

Catching up with club

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 18:11:47 GMT

I've been at club for the past two weeks, but I didn't get around to analyzing any of them until last night and this morning. Wheesh.

3/27 Club - Missed the first game cuz I got there late.

Game 2, Susan Beard, L 322-410.
Me: JQZSS, Bingos: STRIATE(D).
Opp: ??XSS, Bingos: BIGnESS, DETAInE(D).
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 95.

Game 3, Nancee Mancel, W 377-346.
Me: QXZSSS, Bingos: PERSONA(S).
Opp: ??JS, Bingos: ANTLERs, JAIlERS.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 136.

Game 4, Benita Romero, W 366-316.
Me: ?JS, Bingos: sTRIVI(N)G.
Opp: ?QXZSSS, Bingos: none.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 69.

4/3 Club - Sat out the third game to make us even.

Game 1, Nancee Mancel, L 240-462.
Me: JQXSS, Bingos: none.
Opp: ??ZSS, Bingos: GENIToR, (C)hARADES.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 160.

Game 2, Weslee Hendrix, W 461-211.
Me: ?JQZSS, Bingos: INCRUST, SYRINGA.
Opp: ?XSS, Bingos: none.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 95.

Game 4, Mike Baron, W 447-428.
Me: ??QXSS, Bingos: MEATiER, mENSHEN.
Opp: JZSS, Bingos: BOISERI(E), REALTER.
Missed Bingos: SHORTiA, SOLERET, CORBIES.
Equity Loss: 116.

	Valid, challenged	Phoney, unchallenged	Phoney, challenged
My Plays	none	none	(TANTRIC)S*
Their Plays	HU(G)ELY	none	HOOVE* (UMM)S* E(W)*

Morning with Mike

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 17:49:20 GMT

I made it over to Mike's place on Thursday morning for a few games. It was an interesting ride.

Game 1, W 456-362.
Me: ??JXSS, Bingos: RALLIeD, ENATIOn.
Opp: QZSS, Bingos: TRUNDL(E)S.
Missed Bingos: JA(R)GOnED.
Equity Loss: 101.

Game 2, L 331-408.
Me: ??QXZS, Bingos: rE(R)OUTEd.
Opp: JSSS, Bingos: SEAPORT.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 87.

Game 3, L 305-488.
Me: ?JXS, Bingos: sTRID(D)EN.
Opp: ?QZSSS, Bingos: REI(F)IERS, ANNELID, BIOPs(I)ED.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 97.

Game 4, W 443-362.
Me: ?JZSS, Bingos: TALENTS, ACTINIa.
Opp: ?QXSS, Bingos: (G)RUNgIER.
Missed Bingos: STANGED, DEMIJO(H)N.
Equity Loss: 176.

	Valid, challenged	Phoney, unchallenged	Phoney, challenged
My Plays	none	none	none
Their Plays	BIOPs(I)ED	none	none

Picture pages, picture pages

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:12:39 GMT

I went to club last week, but I haven't even gotten around to analyzing the games yet. Meh. We went hiking a bit last weekend, and that was much more exciting. On Friday, we roamed around the Sandia foothills for a couple miles with our friend the Conrads (no relation). Then we headed northwest on Saturday to the Rio Puerco wasteland surrounding Cabezon Peak.

Playing with his camera.

View of Cabezon Peak from Ignacio Chavez SMA.

View of Cerro Parido from the road.

Little guy climbing around the sandstone formations.

Hiking man.

Latest round of baby pics

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 03:06:33 GMT

It really has been a while since I posted some of these...

	Traveling man Hanging out in the suitcase after our trip back to New Jersey. (Mar 16th)
	I've got Mom's phone! He was having lots of fun playing with that. (Mar 18th)
	Wow, this stuff is cool! Playing in the sandbox we finally got set up in the backyard. (Mar 21st)
	I like sand. He had a blast playing in the sandbox. (Mar 21st)
	Sandy legs He's working on burying himself here, we think. We're not quite sure. (Mar 21st)

Hiking again

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 02:37:03 GMT

I headed for the hills again with the scouts today. We went on up to just north of Espanola, and took off up a sandy arroyo to visit Window Rock. Window Rock was a rather interesting geologic feature. Most of the arches and natural bridges I know of are in sedimentary rock, usually sandstone. This arch is in a thin basaltic ridge. It's really a neat looking spot.

As far as the hiking goes, though, we're all trying to get in shape for the 50 mile backpacking trip this summer, and the 10 miles we did today was a pretty good early conditioning hike. It wasn't terribly difficult. Other than a few uphill sections the terrain was pretty easy, but it had enough mileage to help the boys build up to tougher stuff later. Here's the trip overview and profile.

And a few pictures...

The only really negative thing about today is that despite never having had much trouble with allergies before, I seem to have developed something rather annoying this spring. I was sneezing some monster sneezes on a regular basis, and it totally feels allergic rather than a cold coming on. Blech.

Pretty good night at club

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 20:11:57 GMT

Game 1, Wally Schultz, W 621-274.
Me: ??JQZSSS, Bingos: OCREATE, BEDOUIN, GIMLETS, SLID(E)WaY, GLOTTiS.
Opp: XS, Bingos: SIDECAR.
Missed Bingos: ACERATE.
Equity Loss: 96.

Um, yeah. This was a club record, although I don't put a whole lot of stock in that since the club isn't all that old. Still, it was kind of fun seeing the letters just come together play after play. I'm just not gonna say anything about ACERATE. I was pretty proud of seeing SLID(E)WaY, though. I almost didn't play it since I wasn't 100% sure, but I didn't have much to lose at that point...

Game 2, Jeff Martin, W 432-383.
Me: ??ZS, Bingos: ROTATeD, RESI(L)ING, BOGEyED.
Opp: JQXSSS, Bingos: ARTINES(S).
Missed Bingos: UDOMETR(Y).
Equity Loss: 120.

I remember looking at my opening rack of DEMORTU and thinking there was some real potential there, but I just didn't find the bingo. Dang it! This game was all kinds of close until I hit the last bingo pretty late in the game. It isn't quite intuitive to make that blank a Y, but that's the only bingo in there, so I'm glad I found it!

Game 4, Nancee Mancel, W 404-364.
Me: XZSS, Bingos: PITEOUS, U(N)SILENT.
Opp: ??JQSS, Bingos: REFUtED, SILENTs.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 88.

Nancee gave me the biggest scare of the night. She bingoed for the second time with the board closing down fast. I was about even with here, but it totally could have gone either way until I drew into the first decent rack in a while *right* when she opened up the board. Whew. The second bingo gave me the breathing room I needed to walk off with the win. Yay!

	Valid, challenged	Phoney, unchallenged	Phoney, challenged
My Plays	SLID(E)WaY	none	none
Their Plays	none	none	none

Tournament Schedule

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:24:05 GMT

Whew...it's actually been a fairly busy Scrabble time of it for me lately. I've had a tournament a month for the past four months. I knew things were going to slow down a bit at this point, but I'm still looking further out and see a few more on the horizon. With a recent fluid situation in some travel for work this could possibly change, and it may mean there is the *slightest* outside chance I may make it to Orlando. It's not all that likely, still, so I'm not going to throw it on this list.

May 24th-26th - Seattle Memorial Day tournament

It's looking like I'll be sent up to Oregon for a few weeks around this time, which makes Seattle a quick hop for the long weekend. I like this tournament...it was my very first tournament three years ago on Memorial Day. It would be fun to go back and be in Div 1.

Sept 19th-21st - Albuquerque tournament

It's a no brainer that I'm going to make the yearly local tourney, as much to support the great event that Nancee puts on as anything else. I'm actually going to be on my sabbatical at work, so it means making myself be in town that weekend, but that's OK by me.

Oct 3rd-5th - Big Apple tournament

Wow. I've heard *so* many good things about the shindigs that Ira's been throwing there in NYC and have been dying to get back there. As I already mentioned, I'll have the time off work, so it's just working the logistics and paying the (sizeable) bill for a hotel in midtown Manhattan. I'm sure the wife will want to come on this one, and we're looking and going for a few extra days just to enjoy the area. It's not quite a definite that we'll end up going at this point, but I'd sure like for it to work out.

After that, who knows. Six months is an awful long time to look forward already, and there are all kinds of unknowns beyond that. I'd be pretty happy with just these three in the rest of my year, though. I could deal with that.

Back in the Saddle...again

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:25:11 GMT

So, for a lot of good reasons I took another two months off from doing any cardbox quizzing. When I fired up a cardbox quiz yesterday I found that I had 29000 words due. Oomph. I quickly rescheduled that down to 150 and polished that off in no time flat. I was a little bit rusty, but as I found previously it only takes a day or two to work the kinks out and get the anagrammer clicking again. It's just like riding a bike...only not. I have my doubts about whether I'll be able to maintain the vigorous pace I've set before. I have no immediate plans to add in more new words--but we'll see how long that lasts. At any rate, it feels good to be quizzing again. I had my Modified-Kenji Method quizzes for a while, and I've been doing a lot of hook drilling lately, but there's nothing quite like the BIG QUIZ. THE Quiz, you might say. Like before, it's invigorating to come back to it. To come at it with a clearer mind and see so many of the words that were "tough" before, but I see instantly now. Of course, there are also the words that *used* to be easy that I'm not seeing, but it's good to find those out, too. It's all good.