Bleh, sorry for the silence, but last week I was sick - came down with something respiratory on Friday, spent Sat/Sun in bed, tried to work from home Mon/Tues (but mostly back in bed), then crawled to work and worked at about 40% capacity the rest of the week. The most debilitating thing about it was that I couldn't seem to stay asleep for more than a few minutes at a time, so I spent several days living in this twilight haze of overtiredness without sleep, a very strange and uncomfortable state.
To make matters worse, that was the week leading up to our handover of work for the contract I've been hired to work on, and after months - literally - of people dawdling or simply not responding to my requests, requirements, urgings, attempts to plan, and general frustration, all of a sudden it was panic stations: just what I needed when I'm feeling so wretched :/
On the bright side, I got the database monitoring working as designed, with a couple of days to spare - and then when the Security team decided this design was going to overstrain their communications channels (and why did they not think of this 3 months ago? oh well), I got it redesigned and implemented by the due date (Midnight Sun/Mon), with a whole 90 minutes to spare in fact.
On the down side, I had to guess at where to host it, and chose the wrong host (too busy really), but when you don't get answers to your questions, you sometimes just have to stab blindly in the dark.
Enough of that, anyway.
Before I got sick, we had another sparkling Wednesday night at Bridge, getting top place again, but after a weeks' break, our performance this Monday was just woeful: Cat was bidding OK, but her play and cardsense was woeful, and while my play was accurate enough, if not inspired, my bidding was absolute rubbish, both overoptimistic and overpessimistic, both at the wrong times. Last night was considerably better, tho, and we were much sharper - we didn't place, but that was (after examining the results) due to an A class pair slumming it, that we had to face over 3 tricky boards, and a certain amount of bad luck, rather than any egregious decisions on our part.
Perhaps the classic example was when we were sitting EW, and N (Dealer) opened 2C. I checked to make sure this was 23+ as I thought, then surveyed my 13 HCP and passed. S passed (!!!) as well, then Cat (with 16 HCP as it turned out), also wisely passed - well, wisely if N wasn't lying about her hand.
North had of course meant this as a weak 2 (despite their not playing this), but it completely killed our bidding chances, and she was very fortunate that her partner did not respond as she was required to! As it was, we took her down 4, for a 200pt score ... but of course all the other EW teams scored game in spades or NT, for 600+ pts, so we came out bottom ... hard to see what to do about it tho, altho in Cat's seat I might have doubled for takeout, if I'd worked out that N had misbid egregiously.
And this weekend we've got dinner out with a couple from work, and Sunday playing D&D to look forward to :)
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
We aren't in ArrrrKansas any more, Toto
First off, our stuff has arrived from London at last!! However, it arrived at 6 pm on Thursday, when we were due to go away Friday morning for a weekend in Dallas, so it's pretty much still there, piled up in boxes.
Well, our weekend excursion to Dallas was pretty good overall. Driving down went fairly well, altho my driving was a bit dodgy, as I kept crabbing right in the lanes - the natural instinct for driving on the other side of the road, & apparently quite hard to ditch. Cat got a bit nervous about it, so she did the bulk of the drive down.
We met up with Ray & Pat from Oklahoma, & Ray acted as native guide, steering us to the biggest available branch of Half Price Books, where we spent a couple of happy hours wandering around and oohing and ahhing, buying a relatively restrained pile of books at the end. I have to say, we really needed the native guide - Dallas traffic is almost as aggressive as London traffic, and the city centre is a spectacular spaghetti of freeways: quite beautiful and awe-inspiring as an object, but also pretty daunting as something to navigate! Oh, and I should mention, Dallas is Hot Hot Hot - I thought Little Rock was pretty hot & sticky, but Dallas has it beat into a cocked hat.
Monty had arrived by the time we got back to our motel, so we all went out to the nearby Steak&Ale place for a drink (and in Monty's case, dinner), and sat and talked for a couple of hours.
Saturday, I went off with the lads to the wargames tournament, playing FOG. As I hadnt had time to excavate any armies, I had arranged to borrow figures from the umpire, Ian Buttridge, and took an Aragonese army - I'll post the list & battle reports on Kruppfalz .
During the first round, John Witstyn pitched up, with his son Austen in tow (about 12 I think). Once I'd finished off my opponent, we went off for an early lunch, and a chance to catch up and chat. He's changed remarkably little - quite a bit greyer, but that's hardly a surprise - much the same calm and happy John that I remember so fondly, with all the verbal quirks, and the same sparkle.
The rest of the tournament took up Saturday pretty thoroughly, and we didn't get back to the motel til about 9:30, then went next door for steaks & beer, and a post-tournament dissection. Cat had intended to go shopping in Dallas, but the traffic had intimidated her enough that she chose to stay at the motel and read her new book for the day.
Sunday we had planned to go spend time with John & his family, but we were both so tired (and probably a touch hungover from the beers), and so worn from the heat & humidity, we had to cry off, and just drove home - I did a lot more driving this time, & seem to be getting over the crabbing problem.
I was quite surprised by how green the bit of Texas we saw was, but then, it's just the very north-east corner. It was quite noticeable when we passed from Arkansas to Texas, tho, both in the change in terrain, from rolling hills and plains, to pretty flat (not Nebraska-flat, but still, flat), and in the change in feel of the rural homes, from fairly prosperous in Arkansas, to looking quite shabby and poor in Texas - until we hit the edge of the commuter belt, when it abruptly changed to 4000sqft mansions on hobby farms or half-acre sprawls, of course.
Oh, and I won the tournament, which was a nice way to start things off in the USA!
Well, our weekend excursion to Dallas was pretty good overall. Driving down went fairly well, altho my driving was a bit dodgy, as I kept crabbing right in the lanes - the natural instinct for driving on the other side of the road, & apparently quite hard to ditch. Cat got a bit nervous about it, so she did the bulk of the drive down.
We met up with Ray & Pat from Oklahoma, & Ray acted as native guide, steering us to the biggest available branch of Half Price Books, where we spent a couple of happy hours wandering around and oohing and ahhing, buying a relatively restrained pile of books at the end. I have to say, we really needed the native guide - Dallas traffic is almost as aggressive as London traffic, and the city centre is a spectacular spaghetti of freeways: quite beautiful and awe-inspiring as an object, but also pretty daunting as something to navigate! Oh, and I should mention, Dallas is Hot Hot Hot - I thought Little Rock was pretty hot & sticky, but Dallas has it beat into a cocked hat.
Monty had arrived by the time we got back to our motel, so we all went out to the nearby Steak&Ale place for a drink (and in Monty's case, dinner), and sat and talked for a couple of hours.
Saturday, I went off with the lads to the wargames tournament, playing FOG. As I hadnt had time to excavate any armies, I had arranged to borrow figures from the umpire, Ian Buttridge, and took an Aragonese army - I'll post the list & battle reports on Kruppfalz .
During the first round, John Witstyn pitched up, with his son Austen in tow (about 12 I think). Once I'd finished off my opponent, we went off for an early lunch, and a chance to catch up and chat. He's changed remarkably little - quite a bit greyer, but that's hardly a surprise - much the same calm and happy John that I remember so fondly, with all the verbal quirks, and the same sparkle.
The rest of the tournament took up Saturday pretty thoroughly, and we didn't get back to the motel til about 9:30, then went next door for steaks & beer, and a post-tournament dissection. Cat had intended to go shopping in Dallas, but the traffic had intimidated her enough that she chose to stay at the motel and read her new book for the day.
Sunday we had planned to go spend time with John & his family, but we were both so tired (and probably a touch hungover from the beers), and so worn from the heat & humidity, we had to cry off, and just drove home - I did a lot more driving this time, & seem to be getting over the crabbing problem.
I was quite surprised by how green the bit of Texas we saw was, but then, it's just the very north-east corner. It was quite noticeable when we passed from Arkansas to Texas, tho, both in the change in terrain, from rolling hills and plains, to pretty flat (not Nebraska-flat, but still, flat), and in the change in feel of the rural homes, from fairly prosperous in Arkansas, to looking quite shabby and poor in Texas - until we hit the edge of the commuter belt, when it abruptly changed to 4000sqft mansions on hobby farms or half-acre sprawls, of course.
Oh, and I won the tournament, which was a nice way to start things off in the USA!
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Bridge, II
Well, we ventured forth again on Monday & last night (weds) to try our luck at the bridge club. Monday was tough, & we didnt do very well - 2nd to last amongst EW, 3rd to last overall - a mixture of some forgetfulness from Kat as to significance of bids, and some very sloppy play on my part, missing a couple of contracts.
Wednesday was quite an improvement! there were only 7 couples there (with the Director & his friend, making 8, or 4 full tables). The way they handle this, it means you play all the NS positions, then all (or in this case 75%) of the EW positions. We started brightly, altho I missed a slam that perhaps should have been bid (altho it turns out noone else bid it either), then just kept improving.
Kat was bidding more freely, and remembering better, and her cardplay was pinpoint accurate - just brutal to the opposition sometimes: at least three contracts, we took down before they ever came on lead, so basically those opponents never had a chance. Kat seemed to be finding exactly the right leads to pick out their weaknesses, or to find my voids. As a result, we finished clear winners overall, with about 78%, which earns us our first matchpoints (well, 0.35 points each, but it's a start). Admittedly, this is very much the duffers' club, but it's definitely good for morale, and after only a fortnight of starting, a great step.
Wednesday was quite an improvement! there were only 7 couples there (with the Director & his friend, making 8, or 4 full tables). The way they handle this, it means you play all the NS positions, then all (or in this case 75%) of the EW positions. We started brightly, altho I missed a slam that perhaps should have been bid (altho it turns out noone else bid it either), then just kept improving.
Kat was bidding more freely, and remembering better, and her cardplay was pinpoint accurate - just brutal to the opposition sometimes: at least three contracts, we took down before they ever came on lead, so basically those opponents never had a chance. Kat seemed to be finding exactly the right leads to pick out their weaknesses, or to find my voids. As a result, we finished clear winners overall, with about 78%, which earns us our first matchpoints (well, 0.35 points each, but it's a start). Admittedly, this is very much the duffers' club, but it's definitely good for morale, and after only a fortnight of starting, a great step.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
AT&T Blues...... again
Well, that was interesting: my internet access disappeared on Saturday night, sometime between 10 and 11. Not that I did anything, y'understand, it just ... went away. So, I tried AT&T helpdesk, but they only operate til 7 p.m.
Sunday after breakfast, I tried again - after negotiating their very hostile voice-response program, I eventually got to talk to a technician, who took me through all his standard fixes, without any result. His conclusion? there was some problem with the setup of my PC, and I should either
(a) call Microsoft for support, or (b) call AT&T's out-of-scope helpline and pay for support. I did point out that this occurred without my intervention or changing anything on the PC, but this apparently did not matter.
So, I called Microsoft help, and they wanted $75 to help me. That seemed a bit silly, so I said no, and called the AT&T helpline. It turned out, they wanted $129 to help me! although, to be fair, that would let me call with other problems for free, for the next 6 months. Obviously they expect quite a few problems in any six month period.
I restrained my temper, declined the offer, and asked if they could tell me who to contact, to terminate my account with them. This, it turns out, is the Billing Department, who aren't open on Sundays, so I noted the phone number.
Ten minutes after this, again without my having taken any further action, my internet access was restored.
Nothing like a little revenue-gathering exercise, is there.
Sunday after breakfast, I tried again - after negotiating their very hostile voice-response program, I eventually got to talk to a technician, who took me through all his standard fixes, without any result. His conclusion? there was some problem with the setup of my PC, and I should either
(a) call Microsoft for support, or (b) call AT&T's out-of-scope helpline and pay for support. I did point out that this occurred without my intervention or changing anything on the PC, but this apparently did not matter.
So, I called Microsoft help, and they wanted $75 to help me. That seemed a bit silly, so I said no, and called the AT&T helpline. It turned out, they wanted $129 to help me! although, to be fair, that would let me call with other problems for free, for the next 6 months. Obviously they expect quite a few problems in any six month period.
I restrained my temper, declined the offer, and asked if they could tell me who to contact, to terminate my account with them. This, it turns out, is the Billing Department, who aren't open on Sundays, so I noted the phone number.
Ten minutes after this, again without my having taken any further action, my internet access was restored.
Nothing like a little revenue-gathering exercise, is there.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Bridge
The other thing we've started this week, is attending the local Bridge club, about half a mile from home. Mondays they run a 0-300 night - more or less equivalent to a B grade night, I think - and Wednesdays they run a 0-20 night, for beginners (the other nights are either open, or for higher graded players).
The Monday night crowd was about 30 - 8 tables, so we played 3 hands per table, 21 hands for the evening. That worked well, as it meant stopping around 10 p.m. Given it was our first time playing for 10 years or more, we did pretty satisfactorily I think - 43% & slightly under halfway: a couple of fiascos, as to be expected when we were so rusty, but also a few good top boards, including a slam noone else bid.
Wednesday night was only 7 pairs, so we played 6 rounds, 3 hands per round, shifting from N/S pair to E/W pair partway through, to allow all the pairs to play eachother. This was much more relaxed, with time (and the inclination) to stop and discuss tricky hands afterwards, which made the whole thing feel much looser and friendlier. We did fairly well again, placing right in the middle this time (4th of 7), after a couple of blips - and again a few really excellent hands. Overall I think our bidding is working fairly well, but we need to work on defensive play.
All in all, a good start, and hopefully a small bridge to congenial companions.
The Monday night crowd was about 30 - 8 tables, so we played 3 hands per table, 21 hands for the evening. That worked well, as it meant stopping around 10 p.m. Given it was our first time playing for 10 years or more, we did pretty satisfactorily I think - 43% & slightly under halfway: a couple of fiascos, as to be expected when we were so rusty, but also a few good top boards, including a slam noone else bid.
Wednesday night was only 7 pairs, so we played 6 rounds, 3 hands per round, shifting from N/S pair to E/W pair partway through, to allow all the pairs to play eachother. This was much more relaxed, with time (and the inclination) to stop and discuss tricky hands afterwards, which made the whole thing feel much looser and friendlier. We did fairly well again, placing right in the middle this time (4th of 7), after a couple of blips - and again a few really excellent hands. Overall I think our bidding is working fairly well, but we need to work on defensive play.
All in all, a good start, and hopefully a small bridge to congenial companions.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Cars, again
On the bright side, now that we've got our own car, I can start driving again - and I did so, last Sunday.
We went back to the Starving Artists cafe, as it had (a) really good interesting food, (b) delicious deserts, (c) isn't a chain, and (d) has lots of baaad art on the walls, allowing us to feel comfortably superior, plus a bit of quite good stuff that we could gawk at.
Sadly, that turns out to be their last brunch - they're located right in the middle of the CBD, and weekends, it's just a desert, man: No shops around to speak of - they're all out in the suburban malls - so noone much goes into town. They've also cut back their evening openings from 3 or 4 nights a week to just Fridays, and survive on weekday lunches, when they do a really roaring trade. Despite this, they've decided to move the cafe to North Little Rock, somewhere closer to residential areas: I'm hoping they will then resume brunches in the weekend.
Driving there & back was actually very simple and easy, once I got over my initial nerves - a month of sitting beside Cat when she was doing all the hard work, seems to have really helped me adjust more easily to this driving on the wrong side of the road business: Not that I don't periodically have to mutter to myself 'rightie tightie, leftie loosie' when executing a turn, but I haven't actually tried to turn into oncoming traffic, which can only be a good sign. I even felt safe enough to make a couple of other minor excursions, to do some shopping. Actually, driving a brand new car certainly feels pretty good!
Saturday we spent mostly building kitset furniture - 2 DVD racks, 2 computer desks (one to serve as my painting station), and 2 computer chairs. We actually bought 3 desks, but they are so large that we've decided to try and share one for both PCs - certainly seems large enough - and that means we can put the third one together to serve as Cat's workstation for sewing & the quilting that she's now busily engaged with.
We went back to the Starving Artists cafe, as it had (a) really good interesting food, (b) delicious deserts, (c) isn't a chain, and (d) has lots of baaad art on the walls, allowing us to feel comfortably superior, plus a bit of quite good stuff that we could gawk at.
Sadly, that turns out to be their last brunch - they're located right in the middle of the CBD, and weekends, it's just a desert, man: No shops around to speak of - they're all out in the suburban malls - so noone much goes into town. They've also cut back their evening openings from 3 or 4 nights a week to just Fridays, and survive on weekday lunches, when they do a really roaring trade. Despite this, they've decided to move the cafe to North Little Rock, somewhere closer to residential areas: I'm hoping they will then resume brunches in the weekend.
Driving there & back was actually very simple and easy, once I got over my initial nerves - a month of sitting beside Cat when she was doing all the hard work, seems to have really helped me adjust more easily to this driving on the wrong side of the road business: Not that I don't periodically have to mutter to myself 'rightie tightie, leftie loosie' when executing a turn, but I haven't actually tried to turn into oncoming traffic, which can only be a good sign. I even felt safe enough to make a couple of other minor excursions, to do some shopping. Actually, driving a brand new car certainly feels pretty good!
Saturday we spent mostly building kitset furniture - 2 DVD racks, 2 computer desks (one to serve as my painting station), and 2 computer chairs. We actually bought 3 desks, but they are so large that we've decided to try and share one for both PCs - certainly seems large enough - and that means we can put the third one together to serve as Cat's workstation for sewing & the quilting that she's now busily engaged with.
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