Hosted By...
Last Updated : Sunday, 29 September, 2002 at 09:40 PM -0500
|
| Daynotes On a Budget Hosted By... Last Updated : Sunday, 29 September, 2002 at 09:40 PM -0500 |
 | ||||
|
|
|||
| ||||
|
|
Monday, September 23, 2002 |
"Worst Start in 35 Years"
I would have thought that new coaching and new motivation would help the Vikings win. I would have thought that the Vikings would be looking to restore
some self-respect, and dignity, to their team. I would have thought Randy Moss was a better player than that.
Ann frequently reminds me that the Chicago Bears organization will, on occasion, take on a disciplinary problem if they feel they can turn him around. When they do succeed, which is often, they end up with an excellent player and leader. When they fail, which isn't all that often, the player is cut loose without regard to where he will land - the prevailing theory being that if he's that big a problem, it matters little who he plays for, as he's unable to play well.
The Vikings, on the other hand, have a history of taking few risks on players, instead preferring to stick to stable, reliable types. Perhaps being a team only 41 years old makes one less willing to "chance it".
On those rare occasions where the Vikings do manage, through misfortune, bad luck, or just plain foolishness, to end up with a disciplinary problem, the Vikings coaching staff seems ill-prepared to deal with them. On the one hand, the tenets of "Minnesota Nice" come out, and no one says ill of them. The player's antics are ignored, and the team rumbles (or more typically bumbles) along.
Back in the early 80s, I believe, the Vikings had a defensive end by the name of Keith Millard. This buffoon was perhaps one of the bigger wastes of talent in the history of the Vikings. He was certainly a big waste of money. He did not develop leadership, a defensive presence, or even an effective presence. He did leave his car at a Hardees drive in when the coach was conducting bed checks (during training camp, and Millard was out after curfew), as I recall.
It seems pretty apparent that Randy Moss is that same type of problem. Moss's efforts yesterday were ... well, I'd use the word "feeble" except that it would be an insult to those whose previous efforts have been described as feeble.
Of course, Moss, being the type of person he is, will slip and evade and avoid the blame, at the very least, and look ahead to his next big-money contract.
The remainder of the team, unfortunately, will attempt to overcome the season's worst start in 35 years by facing Seattle next week. Given the Viking's present abilities, I doubt they could beat a bunch of birds, let alone a football team named "Seahawks".
Umor
You know, funny stuff?
Oiler coach Bum Phillips: When asked by Bob Costas why he takes his
wife on all the road trips, Phillips responded, "Because she is too
ugly to kiss good-bye."
Let's hope for Bum's sake she's also deaf and illiterate. Oh well.
She is/was from Texas...
New Orleans Saint RB George Rogers when asked about the upcoming
season:"I want to rush for 1,000 or 1,500 yards, whichever comes
first."
Well, George, it depends on which direction you're running the football.
If you're headed left, you're making yards. If you're headed right, you're
losing yards. Depends on which direction you go more as to which one you'll
get to first. Sheesh.
And, upon hearing Joe Jacoby of the 'Skins say "I'd run over my own
mother to win the Super Bowl," Matt Millen of the Raiders said, "To
win, I'd run over Joe's mom too."
Which explains why Millen is now a commentator, and Jacoby is now...
Missing?
Football commentator and former player Joe Theismann 1996: "Nobody in
football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman
Einstein."
Something about those Redskin players. Might have been all those helmet-optional
practices...
Senior basketball player at the University of Pittsburgh: "I'm going
to graduate on time, no matter how long it takes."
"Son, can you pass that ball?" "Coach, I don't even think I could swallow it
whole..."
Bill Peterson, a Florida State football coach: "You guys line up
alphabetically by height." and "You guys pair up in groups of three,
then line up in a circle."
Which is why they started putting numbers on jerseys, because they couldn't
count in Florida.
Clemson recruit Ray Forsythe, who was ineligible as a freshman
because of academic requirements: "I play football. I'm not trying to
be a professor. The tests don't seem to make sense to me, measuring
your brain on stuff I haven't been through in school."
Well, if you haven't passed kindergarten yet, then you have a problem.
Boxing promoter Dan Duva on Mike Tyson hooking up again with promoter
Don King: "Why would anyone expect him to come out smarter? He went
to prison for three years, not Princeton."
Truly a case of "better the devil you know..."
Stu Grimson, Chicago Blackhawks left wing, explaining why he keeps a
color photo of himself above his locker: "That's so when I forget how
to spell my name, I can still find my clothes."
Yeah, but what if he doesn't look like himself any more?
Shaquille O'Neal on whether he had visited the Parthenon during his
visit to Greece: "I can't really remember the names of the clubs that
we went to."
Makes you proud to know that we can grow 8-foot tall 350 pound
athletes in this country, and then install the brains about five feet off
the ground anyway (think about it).
Shaquille O'Neal, on his lack of championships: "I've won at every
level, except college and pro."
Well, he fixed that. All he has to do now is go back to college
and try to win - oh, and re-write the NCAA rules. Shouldn't be too tough.
Lou Duva, veteran boxing trainer, on the Spartan training regime of
heavyweight Andrew Golota: "He's a guy who gets up at six o'clock in
the morning regardless of what time it is."
And no matter where he is, either, I bet.
Pat Williams, Orlando Magic general manager, on his team's 7-27
record: "We can't win at home. We can't win on the road.. As general
manager, I just can't figure out where else to play." (1992)
Now that shows some rather cutting insight. Which means we'll have to take
it away from him before he hurts himself...
Chuck Nevitt, North Carolina State basketball player, explaining to
Coach Jim Valvano why he appeared nervous at practice: "My sister's
expecting a baby, and I don't know if I'm going to be an uncle or an
aunt." (1982)
Hot tip for you, Chuckie - check your pants. If it's an outie, you're an
uncle...
Tommy Lasorda , Dodger manager, when asked what terms Mexican-born
pitching sensation Fernando Valenzuela might settle for in his
upcoming contract negotiations: "He wants Texas back." (1981)
Gee, and we apparently didn't give it to him - witness the current
president...
Darrell Royal, Texas football coach, asked if the abnormal number of
Longhorn injuries that season resulted from poor physical
conditioning: "One player was lost because he broke his nose. How do
you go about getting a nose in condition for football?" (1966)
Uh, coach? It's called a HELMET - H - E - L - M - E - T...
Mike McCormack, coach of the hapless Baltimore Colts after the team's
co-captain, offensive guard Robert Pratt, pulled a hamstring running
onto the field for the coin toss against St. Louis: "I'm Going to
send the injured reserve players out for the toss next time." (1981)
Or make them use wheelchairs.
Steve Spurrier, Florida football coach, telling Gator fans that a
fire at Auburn's football dorm had destroyed 20 books: "But the real
tragedy was that 15 hadn't been colored yet." (1991)
Wow - a Floridian who could count that high? I'm impressed!
Jim Finks, New Orleans Saints G.M., when asked after a loss what he
thought of the refs: "I'm not allowed to comment on lousy
officiating." (1986)
I know just how he feels...
Alan Kulwicki, stock car racer, on racing Saturday nights as opposed
to Sunday afternoons: "It's basically the same, just darker." (1991)
A more profound statement was never uttered.
Lincoln Kennedy, Oakland Raiders tackle, on his decision not to vote:
"I was going to write myself in, but I was afraid I'd get shot."
(1996)
Which, if you think about it, is a rather funny comment coming from
a man named after two assassinated Presidents...
Frank Layden, Utah Jazz president, on a former player: "I told him,
'Son, what is it with you? Is it ignorance or apathy?' He said,
'Coach, I don't know and I don't care.' " (1991)
Ba-dum-bum.
Torrin Polk, University of Houston receiver, on his coach, John
Jenkins: "He treats us like men. He lets us wear earrings." (1991)
And girdles, and control-top pantyhose, and ... Gee, who woulda thunk
Joe Namath was way ahead of his time after all?
Shelby Metcalf, basketball coach at Texas A&M, recounting what he
told a player who received four F's and one D: "Son, looks to me like
you're spending too much time on one subject." (1987)
Too bad he didn't get graded for it...
AND
You live in California when...
You live in New York City when...
You live in Wisconsin when...
You live in Minnesota when...
You live in the Deep South when...
You live in Colorado when...
You live in the Midwest when...
You live in Florida when...
I know, I know, just one more...
There was once was this guy who developed a bad case of flatulence. The smell was quite embarrassing, but what was worse was the sound which was a loud "HONDA!" He went to a number of doctors (of course) and none of them could help him (as is always the case in these tales). Finally out of desperation he went to an old Chinese doctor and explained his problem. Without any examination the doctor said, "You have an abscessed tooth. Have it fixed and your problem will be solved." So he went to a dentist, and sure, enough he did have an abscessed tooth, which he had repaired, and his "HONDA" farts went away as well. So he went back to the Chinese doctor and said, "How did you know that I had an abscessed tooth?" "Because", said the Chinese doctor, "everybody know that ... ... abscess make the fart go HONDA!"
|
|
Tuesday, September 24, 2002 |
Short-Shrift Time
Yeah, today will be short. I've got lots to do around the house, and little time to do it. But I just wanted to note, for the record, I had to
scrape car windows this morning. No, there was no frost on the grass, but windows, etc., do tend to accumulate ice before the ground does. And it
was serious frost this morning, not credit-card type stuff - I had the heavy brush out.
So goes another summer...
And before I forget, she has returned...
|
|
Wednesday, September 25, 2002 |
A#%@^holes Do Vex Me!
I'm betting that's coming out of Mike Tice's mouth this morning.
Mr. Tice, aka Coach Tice, is the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings. He said he had a handle on his star player, Randy Moss. Well, guess what?
The handle apparently broke clean off.
As those links might not remain permanently available, or some of you might not prefer to hit six different stories, a brief review of the "alleged" facts is in order.
Randy Moss, wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings, rather popular player, and repeated troublemaker (plead guilty to previous assault charges in high school, kicked off one college team for smoking marijuana, and several incidents with the Vikings that resulted in fines), decided to make a left turn where one was not allowed. A Minneapolis "Traffic Control Officer" (not a cop) tried to stop him, and he used his vehicle to push her down the street, slowly, about half a block.
The TCO called for backup, and was eventually knocked over. According to eyewitness accounts, police were there seconds later, taking Moss into custody.
Frankly, I wish they'd take this kid out and shoot him. I hope everyone with an 84 Jersey (Moss's number) burns it. Or takes it back and asks for their money back.
This guy is a punk, no two ways about it. I guess the main reason I stopped caring about the Vikings was because of crap like this. It's unfortunate, but obvious - any idiot with a ton of money is still an idiot.
Brief Reminder
I amended yesterday's brief remarks to add that warning : she has returned...
Home Upkeep Question
I've got one of those halogen back yard lights. It's mounted right next to the patio door, a little low for my tastes, but it's out there. The
problem is that a couple of weeks ago, the light stopped working. I've since removed the bulb, and as near as I can see, the filament in the halogen bulb
is still intact. Does that mean that the bulb is fine and the fixture is hosed? It uses a motion detection sensor which I've attempted to turn off,
but the light worked up until some point in early July when we were getting literally dumped on with rain (no, the light didn't get wet), and it hasn't worked
since.
Any suggestions (sent to the usual place) would be appreciated...
Lovely
I keep getting an EZMLM warning from Bugtraq. Except I'm sure it's not me, because my virus sigs are up to date, and the warning's coming to an account I
can receive through, but not send without going through a web-based interface (which I never do). So I know it's not me. Must be someone with my
e-mail address in their address book, and it's randomly barfing me out about once every 3-4 days.
So please run your virus checkers - someone out there's got a problem...
Windows Rot
It started a few weeks ago, and is getting worse...
I use Paint Shop Pro for my image conversion needs. Since I don't need much, and don't do much, the older version I have is just fine. I registered my version 4.0 so long ago that I honestly can't remember how much I paid for it. Since then, when needed, I've been reinstalling Paint Shop Pro 4.0 whenever I've needed an image conversion tool. Once the main machine I used crashed with it on, I went to my backup laptop, and I'm now on day 487 of my 30 day trial...
Anyway. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that my SSH client stopped responding to the Ctrl-U upload command. Since I am intensely a keyboard creature (it took me a few years to admit mice don't all belong in traps), I like keyboard shortcuts.
Ctrl-U stopped responding.
Then, about two weeks ago, it started messing with Paint Shop Pro. Whenever I would exit (normally) out of PSP, I'd get a "sorry, this program has performed an illegal operation."
Since I'm using an older Toshiba 2595 laptop with Win98 (yuck) on it, I'm a little hesitant to reinstall everything from scratch. Toshiba, being the fine folks they are, often have drivers available - however, as this is the only functional computer I have right now (out of about a dozen which will beep when powered up), I gotta do some work before I reinstall windows.
Eventually, of course, the goal is to convert most of this stuff to a more stable, reliable operating system... When I've got a few less irons in the fire (like getting a job, fixing the house, etc).
Ten years...
Ten years have gone by.
Ten years ago tonight, Minneapolis Transit police were called to a bus on the city's north side. A passenger, who was blind, had gotten on the bus, and did not have bus fare. Transit police needed to forcibly remove the man from the bus.
Shortly after this event, then-Police Chief John Laux was scheduled to hold a community meeting at North High School to discuss community concerns. During the meeting, a group of residents burst in and confronted Laux, asking what would be done about the issue.
At some point while Laux and his officers were in the high school meeting with the community members, someone smashed out the windshield of a Minneapolis police car.
Shortly after that, at about 9 pm as I recall, Sgt. Jerry Haaf, a 30-year veteran of the Minneapolis police force, sat down for dinner at the Pizza Shack on Lake Street, south of downtown.
Sgt. Haaf never finished his dinner. He never retired. He never saw his grandkids grow up, and didn't get to grow old with his wife. For a group of men came into the Pizza Shack and shot him in the back in retaliation for the removal of a blind passenger from the bus.
Seven weeks after that event, four young men were arrested for the crime. A fifth was suspected, but never tried because the evidence tying him to the killing was too thin. The first four men are serving life sentences in Minnesota prisons, the fifth is doing 26 years in Illinois for an unrelated crime.
Unfortunately, little has changed.
One of my uncles was a police officer. I was exceedingly fortunate - he started in patrol, became a detective, went to the FBI Academy, and later became assistant chief of Police for St. Cloud. No, it didn't get me any favors. At all.
But whenever a police officer falls, especially in the line of duty, I think of my uncle Jimmy. Now, I've got a friend who is also a police officer, and he's got a new gorgeous little girl. She also adores Jack, apparently, so there's no accounting for taste.
I guess I'm just too different a breed of human to understand the desire to kill a fellow man in cold blood - especially one doing his job. Perhaps it's the onset of old age, or maybe I should be so lucky to call it wisdom, but murder makes no sense to me.
And In The End...
Yeah, I know.
Randy Moss was released after being charged with two misdemeanors - failure to obey a traffic officer and careless driving. There were no charges regarding the marijuana cigarette found in his car, and there's now some problem with the registration of his vehicle - as an employee who works and lives at least part-time in this state, his vehicle should be licensed here. Oops.
So Moss came out of the Hennepin County Detention Center and his lawyer wasn't there to pick him up - apparently he was at the tender mercies of the fine folks in the local press ("Jackals" in the words of our Governor) for about ten minutes. Couldn't happen to a nicer fellow.
And, in an eerie coincidence, tonight there was a shooting outside the Pizza Shack in Minneapolis - there's a kid fighting for his life tonight. There's a French saying - "the more things change, the more they stay the same."
Goodnight.
|
|
Thursday, September 26, 2002 |
Cripes
I'll spare you the latest on the Randy Moss Mess. When I think of the money he's getting paid to act like that, I get quite depressed.
There is something seriously wrong with this world when a 25-year-old kid can get busted for pushing a Traffic Cop with his car, get caught with marijuana in it, and still get paid $9,375,000 a year, while I'm out of work.
Sorry. I'm trying to be positive, but when I heard "while doing due diligence, I found that league rules are clear on this" from Mike Tice, while explaining why Meathead Moss would start Sunday, I was sick.
Clearly, the world of professional American Football is no longer in touch with the world at large, and certainly me. I wish it were. My father follows it religiously. It gave us something else to talk about.
How was my day?
|
|
Friday, September 27, 2002 |
Part of the Problem
I figured out part of my problem yesterday. I hadn't had a Mountain Dew in nearly a week, and hadn't had chocolate in almost 48 hours. Bad, bad
juju.
Estupido Here, How May I Help You?
That's about how this day went.
This morning, the phone rings. I pick it up. Rhiannon's teacher, explaining a few issues. Okay. The phone rings. It's my brother-in-law. Wants to know if we want to come over for dinner. Uh, let me check with the chief scheduling manager of the household... Who is in conversation with her boss, who is having a birthday today, the same type of one I'm due to experience in a little over a week. Ulp.
She finally gets back to me with a "yeah, sure, I guess." Then we find out why I am in technology instead of personnel or administration. "Sure, we can come over, what should we bring?" "Well, our house is a mess, let's go out." I look at Mr. Finances, who is bound, gagged, and strait-jacketted in the corner, trying to get free and wreck more havoc, and I say "Uh, that's not a good idea right now." "Well, we haven't seen your new house, how about we be there at 7:30?" "Uh, OK" he said, looking around the room in a complete and total funk - we hadn't done serious total house cleaning in a couple weeks.
So, I threw in the towel on all other projects and started cleaning. Cleared the counters, dealt with stuff, all the rest.
The phone rings. "Hi. Friend #2" (yes, I've only got two), "I'm gonna be down in your neck of the woods this afternoon, want to do dinner?" "Sure, come on over. We've got company planned already."
More cleaning. And in the end, it worked out OK. I locked myself out of my own bedroom (note to self - check doorknob on the door before closing - if it doesn't turn, do not close), and nearly had to break the door down, but managed to survive.
Oh well. We lived.
And tomorrow, a trip to St. Cloud to meet ... well, we'll cover that later. Yes, big doings. Indeed.
|
|
Saturday, September 28, 2002 |
Long Day...
Take a deep breath...
Got up this morning at all of 8 am, hauled myself into the bathroom, and got ready for the day. Ran to Jack's soccer game - as we had visitors last night, we didn't get the opportunity to get to the grocery store for treats, so after dropping most of the family at the soccer field, I ran to the grocery store. Picked out juice boxes and granola bars. Noticed the passenger-rear tire looked low. Stopped, got air in it. Got back to the soccer field in time to see Jack turn the game into more of a rugby-type engagement (falling down, tackling his teammates, opposing teammates, etc). Got back to the car, back across Savage to the library. Picked up some books, came home. Had a quick lunch. I tore down this computer and packed it up, along with the digital camera. Loaded them into the car, and then went back to Burnsville. Stopped and put air into the driver front tire, which also looked low. Continued across Burnsville to the Blue Max liquor store, where I picked up for my mother some Young's Double-Chocolate Stout, and a single bottle of imported Scottish "Skullsplitter" beer. And a cooler, since the bottles and cans were cold. Loaded that into the trunk, and then drove, into the rain, to Maple Grove. Got out of the car and went into the Krispy Kreme Donut Shop, where they were handing out warm donut samples (yum). Picked up a dozen for my folks and a dozen for us. Continued to St. Cloud. Got to my parent's house. Met Bruce Richardson, Scottish Fellow From London and my newest Brother-In-Law-In-Training (yes, my sister Joann's engaged), then we took pictures of my mother's hard work on potholders (more on that below), had dinner (my mother's meat pie, the original recipe, which we all liked, spinach dip and vegetables, birthday cake, and for some reason, Mom thought I liked black-bottom pie, so that was my birthday cake - so we brought a quarter of it home) and then we turned around, came back home (no rain, just fog, this time), stopping again in Maple Grove for more donuts, then came home, to a house full of company already in the house (yeah, we told them the secret entrance and how to sneak past our version of "Fluffy"). Then I set this computer back up ...
And learned my friend John Vogt's father in law had a stroke. If you're in the habit of praying for people, please do so for John and his father-in-law, otherwise please think good thoughts please. Pretty please?
A Discussion...
I was talking with a friend of mine the other day about the absolute overwhelming load of IT people in the employment market lately.
He thought it was because of the IT implosion in the Dot-com bubble pop. I don't think so.
I think the core problem is that there was an explosion starting about seven years ago with people seeing the personal computer as a fantastic tool that could do many wonderful things. And people who see a tool as useful for one thing often seek to use it elsewhere.
And we thought it was good.
We tried, very hard, to put technology everywhere. I remember snickering a few years ago when the fine folks who develop the next-generation appliances came out with an idea for an IP-connected refrigerator. A device which would maintain your food inventory, notify you of the things you need, and allow you to pull a list of what was missing from the fridge.
Cool idea, but the bottom line is the question "do we really need that?" Can you show me a refrigerator which can out-guess my wife's food preferences? My mother used to plan menus out for a month at a time. Then she would generate a list of what she needed for those meals, and then aggregate the list into a shopping list which she used to plow through the local warehouse market and grocery store, and get us supplied. How my mother managed to feed and clothe all five kids plus herself and my father (though Dad bought a lot of his own clothes) on about $400 a month all year long is something I'll never understand. But she did it.
Ann, on the other hand, is one of those "what do you feel like for dinner" people. Predetermination of a menu in advance for the family dinner is ... well, anathema. She'd rather have the ingredients to mostly "wing it" on hand, and then if we decide "yeah, Tacos would be good" all we have to pick up is a head of lettuce to shred.
The problem we're facing now in the tech sector is that many people came to it because the money was there. Some people gravitated to it because it was where their aptitudes lay. Some people came to it because they liked it.
But there are a lot of us here now, and not many jobs. My choice, which is in front of me now, is whether I should continue in this field or select a new one. I've done plenty of business analysis - doing payroll conversions and automation of previously manual or non-automatic processes requires a lot of that. I've done plenty of management - you have to, in technology. I've done a lot of project management - again, if you wish to be successful, you do that.
I just need to decide if I should maintain my current path, or select a new one. Frankly, there's almost nothing I've found that compares to figuring out a complex technology problem and implementing a solution. Sometimes the boot-up beep of a computer is reward enough. Sometimes it's a smile from someone I helped to understand a technical problem.
I don't think I'm ready to leave that yet.
|
|
Sunday, September 29, 2002 |
Poker-Face...
Perhaps it's through a lack of practice. I ain't got one.
Last night we were playing "Buck Euchre". Which is perhaps spelled differently, and maybe even played differently, in different portions of the world.
The rules we use are these.
First, remove anything not a nine or higher from the deck, along with the jokers. Leaves you with 24 cards. Then, shuffle. Pass cards out to four players, in pairs (across from one another).
First player to the left of the dealer "bids". They "must" bid three tricks (half the lot). The bidding goes round the table. If no one bids for higher than three, the first person then selects trump, if they so choose. They can go no-trump, in which case the cards are played and won in standard order (Ace-King-Queen-Jack-Ten-Nine).
Should, however, the person be relatively sane and possessing of more than four nines and two tens, one selects a "trump" suit. This suit is then "trump" with the following oddball changes.
First, the Jack of the trump suit becomes the highest card on the table. The Jack of the off suite, same color, becomes the "bower" (or perhaps Bauer, I dunno), and is then the second-highest card on the table. Following those two Jacks, life returns to normal with Ace-King-Queen-Ten-Nine flowing down from there. In the off-color suits, the Jacks remain fourth in line.
The goal, of course, is to take "tricks" - you have to follow suit - if you cannot follow suit, then you can sluff (or slough, there was some contentious discussion on the spelling of the term) either trump or off-suit as it suits you.
A trick is taken by the highest card in the suit lead, or trump, whichever is higher. For example, a nine of the trump suit would beat an ace of any other suit - but loose to a ten or higher of trump. There's also "No-Low" which is "no trump" - no suit is better than the other, but the whole win structure is turned upside down. If you've got four nines and two tens, you bid "four no-low" (you cannot bid three no-low), though perhaps six would be better with that hand - there's no way you could lose.
The goal is to get 52 tricks. Now, this might seem simple until we return to the "bid" process. One bids for a certain number of tricks. As was often the case, the person "under" (to the left of the dealer) often bid three (they often tried to bid less, truth be told, and you can't do that), and was stuck making a decision for trump. If one fails to meet their "bid" they loose that number of points - if they succeed, then they get that number of points. The non-bidding team merely collects points per the number of tricks they took.
Prevailing theory, of course, is that you should be able to count on your partner for at least one trick, which makes a three bid relatively easy to accomplish. A four bid, on the other hand, is easy, as well. Fives and sixes are ... well, not often likely.
So, for example, if you said four, and called hearts as trump, and I took three tricks of the six played per hand, you would be set, and go back four points. I would go ahead three points, because I took three tricks.
There's also the "gimme" hand, where you can just agree that you hand sucks, your partner's hand sucks, and let them get their points without contesting the issue. I'm not clear as to what the point of it is, other than it speeds the game, but we had one of those last night.
There are other variations, such as a "loner" where you request one card from your partner - and name a suit - and they can then try to take all six tricks. If they fail, they lose twelve points. Then there's the dreaded 24-hand, which is where you try to go it alone without getting a card from your partner.
Regarding "strategy" there are many theories. I typically play most conservatively, watching the table, counting the cards where I can and conserving my trump. Which led to my partner and I winning two games (of two) last night. Of course, we didn't lose three loners, and we never bid higher than a five.
The reason the term "poker face" came up last night was when I picked up my hand. My standard comment for a bad hand was "this isn't a hand, it's a foot". I picked up one hand in the first game last night, and was rewarded with a king of diamonds, a nine of spades, and all four freaking Jacks.
Now, having two jacks of the same color and one other supporting face card or ace is usually enough to bid a four and go from there. Four jacks with weak support, however, is one of those hands that just begs for a better shuffle.
I suppose the laughter set everyone off, because I near-immediately bid four. Of course, it then came back to me, and I was forced to pick a suit. As I held three red and three black, I had almost no choice - I picked Diamonds. Dropped the Jack of Diamonds first, and out came the nine, the ten, and the queen. There went one. I went fishing a couple of other times, then returned and ended up getting the Ace/Queen from my partner - we could have had a five hand, had we tried.
Oh well. I had one other monochromatic hand which was pretty ... impressive.
Here's my problem. My mother puts an incredible amount of work into these potholders. She makes full sets - a pair of long mitts, a short mitt, and two to four other "flat" potholders which are used for under-pan stuff. Sometimes more. Sometimes less. Always color-coordinated, always heavy-duty stuff that's not going to melt, burn, boil, or otherwise give out with age. We've got a couple that Ann has had since she was in college (mom made them for her) that are still in very good shape. So they last a long, long time.
Mom seems to think a set of these is worth $75-$100. I think they're priceless, primarily because I can't destroy 'em, they're good and solid, and my mom made them. Others are of the opinion that $2-3 apiece is appropriate.
If you'd care to weigh in with speculation, I'd be most willing to listen...
|
Purple flowers, solid purple reverse, yellow trim. |
 |
Red background with flying ducks, black reverse, red trim. |
 |
Butterflies on black background, black reverse, black trim. |
 |
Purple trees and bushes on off-white background, purple reverse, purple trim. |
 |
Butterflies on White Background, light purple reverse and trim. |
 |
Blue shrubs on off-white background, dark blue reverse and trim. |
 |
Blue butterflies on black background with black trim. |
 |
Leopard print with black reverse, black trim. |
 |
Flowers on black background with black reverse, black trim. |
 |
River rock on black background with black trim. |
 |
Green Leaves on white background, green reverse, green trim. |
 |
Blue flowers and doves on light blue background, purple reverse, black trim. |
 |
"Christmas Print" - Bears on tan background with black reverse. |
And here we are again, me at the bottom of another week.
It was quiet and contemplative for a few minutes after we put the children to bed, then Ann came down, turned on the TV, and I heard "well, if you're just tuning in, the first half recap went something like this. The Seattle Seahawks won the toss and elected to kick the bejesus out of the Minnesota Vikings." The score comes up - 45 to 10, Vikes down.
Oh well. The Twins won their last regular-season game today - and they start the playoffs this week. Odds are pretty good that they will be three or four games and out, but it's going to be incredibly loud.
I wrote a new cover letter this week - I've been using a general template, but I've started a whole new one - this one's rather ... well, for me, cocky. Hopefully it will work. Something's got to, or I'll be working UPS overnight.
There will be other surprises next week, I guarantee you that. Which will be nice. But you'll just have to wait and see...
Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 John
P. Dominik. All rights reserved. No reproduction without express
written permission. Opinions expressed herein are my own, and my fault. For further information, check out my
other home page.