What's New!
Coburg Sectional
Shona, Dennis, Naomi and I played in the Sunday Swiss this weekend at the Coburg Sectional. We had a great time, the venue was perfect and there was great hospitality. The bridge was good too. We got to play against Andy Stark, who bid to 6C with - KJx Axx AKQJxxx opposite Axxxx T9xxx x xx, it made when I didn't lead my singleton trump holding KQxxx Ax KJTxx x. Our teammates were in 4C +2 :)
Ottawa
Shona and I, along with Ken & Don, went up to Ottawa to play in the sectional tournament. I'm really glad they have changed to a two-session format game. Shona and I ended up 2nd and had a really fun time. The meeting in between sessions was animated. We spent about half an hour discussing how the objects and aims of Unit 192 were not clearly defined in the new incorporation bylaws. I hope Unit 193 isn't jealous. I'm now the webmaster of the unit's webpage, check it out at http://www.unit192.ca
Toronto or Bust
Shona, Dave and and I went to T.O to play in the regional Friday and Saturday. Friday was the IMP pairs, I played from Mark from Erie Pennsylvania. All of our results were very flattish and we ended up +4 after 2 sessions. It seems amazing you can play 50 hands and end up +4. Maybe just a poor looser, but I started to feel the wrath of IMP pairs, when the opponents bid and made a lay down 7S which we lost 7.5 IMPs All in all, it was a fun trip.
No Drinking
I gave up drinking for New Years. My goal is to go without drinking for one year.
Bridge Base cheapened the value of a masterpoint. They now offer a speedball tournament every hour. These tournaments last 55 minutes. The masterpoint payout structure is as per your section, and about half of the players get points between .4 and 1 whole masterpoint to the section winner. Your odds rate better then any club game.
Hot Chilli
Ken and I had a fun time using the Chilli bidding system. The system prides itself on a simplistic approach and a conservative nature, but yet has some very unorthodox ideas. All jumps are fit showing or splinter, all bids over 1NT are natural. When bidding you always bid up the line, regardless of shape, so with 4 Hearts and 5 or 6 diamonds, you bid 1H. 1C = 16-19 and 1D = 22+. We ended with 70%. Ken attributes our success to the requirement of an opening hand to overcall. Even though you are required to overcall 4 card suits.
79.41%?
The snow had fallen. The radio said that work had been canceled. Dave was sent home early too. We met at the bridge centre. We filled out our card and were ready to go. When the smoke cleared we ended the game with 79.41%. Good game Dave! On Feb 2nd, my lovely wife and I had a 73.21% in the International Fund Pairs. Great game Shona!
New Job
I'm now working at the Department of National Defense. I've kept my job with corrections, and will be able to return when this acting is done at DND. This job is more in my field involving computers. Right now, I'm providing user support. I hope to eventually become involved in application development. Something perhaps a bit more challenging.
Kingston Sectional
Well the Kingston sectional wasn't all that it could have been. The highlight was on Saturday. After the first session, Dave (Shona's Brother) and Denis were leading the field. Shona and I had a reasonable game and then in the evening beat Dave and Dennis out of second by 1 Matchpoint. The team games I think were all my fault. During the knockout match I had some difficult pre-empts to tend with. The first Shona opened a nebulous 1D - 5C by RHO who was a strong player. Really put me on the spot, so with AJ KJ AQTxxx xxx I decided to take a stab at 6D. They doubled us and we went down 4! -1100. I think I have come to the conclusion if the opponents offer you a plus, take it.
Bridge: DONT Bidding System
Ken and I tried out the DONT bidding system last night. I had fun. I'm not sure if Ken did. The system has a few holes to say the least. Ken asked the club for special permission for us to play two illegal systems. About 8 months ago we played a forcing pass system. It worked out fine but did collect a few raised eyebrows. Despite having a bottom board the first and last hands we played, we ended up with 66%. A highlight for me was one board where I psyched bidding a 2 card suit after the opponents made a balancing double. I think if you are playing a totally artificial system where the chances to screw up are so vast, it makes almost no sense to psych. But in this instance, I figured what the hell we already are playing an illegal system why not bend the rules of moral obligations.
San Francisco
Shona and I went to the NABC in San Francisco Nov 22nd-Dec 2nd. It was awesome. We managed to keep it a fairly inexpensive trip. We ended up winning 1 knock out. I was expecting to win around 100 masterpoints, but ended up with 55. Shona and I played in the Blue Ribbon Pairs. We didn't have anyone famous in our section (At least that we noticed), we did see all the famous players though, Rodwell, Meckstroth, Sabine, Zia, Dan and Steinberg. One of the most interesting parts of the trip was the neighbourhood our hotel was in, the tenderloin. Lots of bums and crack addicts. People drink in the streets and approaching you in a disorderly fashion. Interesting.
Buffalo Regional
Shona and I went to the Buffalo regional a couple of weeks ago. It can be a scary place. The downtown core is pretty much deserted and not the best place to go for a walk. Or perhaps we just walked down the wrong street. The bridge was okay, we had poor start with compounded errors the first session, then played well 59%, 57% and 58%. We played standard for both session, something Shona wasn't too thrilled about. Saturday night we met up with Dallas and Les in Niagara Falls. Played a bit of poker. (It took over 2 hours to get on a table). I ended up losing, but twice doubled someone up in an all-in situation where I was a favorite at the showdown, and the river made their hand twice. Sure seems to be a lot of luck in Hold'em.
NEOP
This week after 4 years working for CSC, they have sent me on New Employee Training Program. Most of the content is a repeat of things I already learned at P.O. Training. At least we have get free lunch.
Big Day
Shona and I were married Aug 4th. We had great weather, and everything went better then I could have imagined. We danced, we laughed, we cried.
Thanks to everyone who attended!
Wedding Picture
Honeymoon in Las Vegas
Shona and I just returned from Las Vegas, where we spent a 1 week honeymoon. We were nonstop. Most of our time was spent playing 'penny' slots. To play the game you have to put $1.00 in the machine and press spin as slow as possible, see who can lose the least money, and who can get the most free drinks.
Another highlight of the trip was Shona took me to see a Beatles show on my Birthday. It was excellent. I thought it would be mostly old stiff Beatles, but they had three phases of old mid and newer acts.
VMware revisited
I had tried VMware's emulation software about 7 years ago. Just for fun I tried it out the other day. It works extremely well. Especially now that common desktop computer hardware is fast enough to run the emulation, a install of Ubuntu ran extremely well. It worked so well in fact that I plan to delete my other Linux partition and just use a virtual installation for the time being.
Parole Officer Training
I am extremely lucky that I am able to take part in Parole Officer training through my work. Its basically 2.5 weeks at the Staff College where we are learning from some long time CSC employees how to become a Parole Officer. (Write reports, different resources we need to use etc)
Wedding Fast Approaching
The wedding is coming up very fast... Aug 4th. We still have some things to do.
Ubuntu Linux
Just for fun, I decided to install Ubuntu Linux to see what all the fuss was about. Like most versions of linux I have tried lately, this one is excellent. Everything setup without a glitch. One small problem I had was it wouldn't boot properly from my second hard drive, and ended up overwriting Window's entry on the MBR. This has happened to me more times then I can count. With any operating system I have ever installed :)
Went to Las Vegas!
For my bachelor party, I was taken to a secret local. We had a blast, playing poker and drinking vodka and redbulls. We stayed at a really nice place the Excalibur.
Going to Las Vegas
Shona and I have booked a trip to Las Vegas for our honeymoon. Matt & Claire might be joining us for the last 3 days. Shona and I are also flirting with the idea of going to the Fall NABC in San Francisco in September.
Silver Life Master
After winning 50 master points between the Toronto and Gatlinburg regional’s, I've now reached the title of Silver Life Master. This means that I have collected 1000 master points. What will I do with them all? You will have to wait and see.
New Job
Starting May 2nd I will be starting work at Millhaven Institution as a Psychology Testing Clerk Assistant. It is a bit of a demotion, but my position there will be full time. (Instead of term)
Working on kinsmenclubofkingston.com
Recently I spent some time working on kinsmenclubofkingston.com website, fixing it up for the upcoming Dream Home Draw.
I've signed up for the social networking site facebook.com. Be sure to "write on my wall" if you check out my profile
New Website
Hey, isn't it funny how people always put the launch of their new website on their page? If you take the time to read it, then you would know its new.