AudreyPodrey.com

Others writing the Sunday Somethings: Kerry

Something that makes me happy: Winning.

Something i am struggling with: Bad dreams.  Last night i died a bunch of times.  The worst was dreaming about what it would feel like to get shot in the head.  I’m sure it’s not nearly as bad in reality as it was in my dream.  Thanks, Stephen King.

Something tasty: Homemade tacos.

Something i learned: Four diamonds doubled always makes.  I keep having to re-learn this lesson.

Something from the bridge table: A hand from this weekend’s sectional tournament here in Raleigh.

Something i am doing towards my goals: My first week of the Leanest Loser program was not exactly optimal.  I did not get in as many workouts as i should have.  I have more confidence about being able to meet all the goals this week.

Something i am reading: Just finished Under the Dome.  I guess Dracula is next, since it’s this month’s book club selection.

Something happening around the house: We did not watch the Superbowl, though i was pleased to hear the underdog Saints won.

Something i am thinking: That i will try Cindy’s spinach-mushroom pizza tonight.  It looks fabulous, and easy to make.

Something i am looking forward to: Going to see Love, Bits & Bites this weekend.

Something i am hoping: To get more sleep this week.

Something random: Someone told me that Puxatawney Phil only has a 37% prediction rate.  Come on, Phil!  Random guess should get it right about 50%!!

Something captured: A ballroom full of bridge tables, before all the people come in.

The Raleigh Sectional Bridge Tournament started on Thursday (yesterday) evening at 7 pm and will last through Sunday.  I am the partnership person; if you need a partner or teammate, i’m the one you call.  Thus, my name is one of two names on all the tournament fliers and publications.

Occasionally, i get calls that are not related to partnerships, either because people know me or couldn’t get an immediate answer from the tournament chair, which is the other number listed on the fliers.

Thursday night, it’s 8:15 pm when my cell phone vibrates in my pocket.  The bridge tournament is in full swing.  I’m in the middle of playing a hand, but i glance at my phone to see who is calling.  The caller ID says “RESTRICTED”.  Of course i can’t answer it, but whoever it was left a message.  A few moments later, i have a short break and step into the hallway to hear the following message.

Hello, i am not looking for a partner, i just need to get in touch with the tournament chair and i was hoping you could give me her phone number.  I don’t want you to have to pay for this call, so i guess i’ll just keep calling and hope you answer next time.

I am immediately amused by several different things all at once:

1. Cell phones are supposed to be off during bridge games (in fact you are penalized if a phone audibly rings).  It’s a fluke that i even had my phone on and noticed this phone call.
2. It is in the middle of a bridge session!  Even if i had my cell phone on, as i did, i can’t just answer the phone in the middle of playing!
3. Restricted?  How am i supposed to call you back and tell you what you need to know when you block your phone number?  Especially when you don’t leave a name or phone number in your message!
4. What century are you living in?  I live in the 21st century, where people have cell phones, all of which offer free long-distance on most calling plans.  You don’t have to worry about whether i will have to pay for the call.
5. Where did you get my phone number from anyway?  My guess is that it was from a flier or email publicizing our tournament (i don’t know where else it could have been from).  Guess what - the phone number you want is listed there right next to mine.

She did in fact call twice more, and of course i was unable to answer both times.  I’m very sorry, nice lady from the previous century.  I hope you found the information you needed.

As any Raleigh-ites know, the forecast was all over the place about the recent winter storm.  I saw 2-4″ predicted.  I saw up to 13″ predicted.  And those were within a few hours of each other.

With the news stations predicting the storm so far in advance, and talking it up, i heard stories about the grocery store lines.  Sadly, i knew i would have to stand in those lines Friday evening, because i had a huge grocery list.  My weekend  was going to be a cooking weekend, snow or no snow.

Despite the fact that the mob had been there before us, we were happily able to procure all the ingredients i needed, except for ground beef.  Nothing even resembling ground beef was left.  Of course, the recipe that requires ground beef is the one recipe i was dead set on making.  Oh well, i thought.  Maybe it won’t really snow or the roads will be passable by Sunday.

Outside, it was just starting to flurry.  We hurried home to unload the car and settle in for a white weekend.

Saturday afternoon we took a short walk up to Six Forks Rd to check out the driving conditions.  I was surprised to see that the road was still white.

Sunday was baking day: a) food for us, b) food for friends with a new baby and c) food for the upcoming bridge tournament.  My kitchen was vigorously used.  I ran the dishwasher four times.  The end result was:

• Spinach Balls - They look questionable, these little green and brown balls.  But if you pick one up and sample it, you will find yourself going back for more.  With “spinach” in the title, you might think these are healthy; they aren’t.  Not even a little bit.
• Cinnamon Coffee Cake - A tasty twist on yellow cake mix.
• Apple Crisp - this recipe comes from the cafe where i work.  I will make a special trip to the cafe if i know they are serving this.  This a dangerous dish because you can convince yourself that it’s healthy because it’s fruit.  And perhaps that’s fair; it’s certainly better for you thank the spinach balls.
• Homemade Peanut Butter Cups - Dangerously good, possibly better than the store-bought kind.  Easy and quick to make.
• Mexican Lasagna - It’s hard to go wrong with this dish, but you have to trust it.  When assembling the ingredients, you might think is this really going to be that good? The answer is yes.
• Orange Pecan Delights - A different kind of cookie.  Not your typical chocolate chip variety.  The nutty, orange flavor is subtle and light.

Before i could make the Mexican Lasagna, i had to walk half a mile to the grocery store to get the ground beef.  Thankfully, they had some and my walk was not in vain!  Otherwise, i would have had to bring a bunch of sugary sweets to my friend with the new baby.

It was fun to get out in the snow, but i am definitely ready for Spring!

Others writing the Sunday Somethings: Kerry

Something that makes me happy: Being productive and getting things done.

Something i am struggling with: Bidding slams at bridge.  I’m not sure when i got so conservative.

Something tasty: Homemade peanut butter cups.

Something i learned: Regular salt from your cabinet works pretty well at dissolving ice on the front steps.

Something from the bridge table: Raleigh is hosting its bridge tournament this weekend.  I’m looking forward to playing, and also am glad the partnership job is almost over.

Some things i am doing towards my goals: The “Leanest Loser” program through my work officially starts.  I can easily handle the water-drinking and fruit/veggie-eating portions of the program.

Something i am reading: Stephen King’s Under the Dome.  It’s due this weekend at the library.  I’m not going to make it.

Something happening around the house: Lots and lots of cooking this weekend.  For us while we’re snowed in, for friends who just had a baby, and for the bridge tournament this weekend.

Something i am thinking: I’m glad we got a nice snow, but now i’m ready for spring.

Something i am looking forward to: Meeting and holding a tiny new baby.

Something i am hoping: To get through this extremely busy week smoothly and with as little stress as possible.

Something random: I walked to the grocery store to get a few needed items.  The store is about a half mile away.  Walking in snow is harder than normal walking.

Something captured: Out in the snow, one of the rare time Raleigh actually gets a good winter storm.

Tuesday afternoon at work, my entire floor smelled like vomit.  After asking around, it seems that someone cleaned his whiteboard and the after-smell left by the cleaner apparently smells like vomit.  Did this product not undergo some kind of testing?  Ick!  For the entire afternoon!  But, that does perhaps give an alternate explanation of why my local library often smells like vomit.  Or urine…

People who sing in public bathrooms kind of weird me out.

Thursday, i attended an informational meeting about a program i signed up for at work, called The Leanest Loser.  Kind of like The Biggest Loser (which i’ve never watched), but a more healthy, sane approach.  It starts in February and will last four months, and we have a team and a trainer and everything.  I am energized about being exercised!

Today (Friday) i went to work and found a little aromatic sachet packet sitting on my keyboard.  It smells nice.  I have no idea who it came from or why.  Hopefully the gifter will reveal themselves so i can thank them.

No one seems to know what to expect from the big winter storm that’s  headed this way tonight.  Forecasts are all over the place, from two inches to thirteen inches (heard at lunchtime today).  I guess we’ll all know for sure in about 36 hours.  Unfortunately, i need to go to the grocery store.  I wonder how long the checkout lines will be?

After a month or more of no actual blog content, i’m getting back to posting more.  Coming up: some book reviews, letters from Nathan, bridge commentary and my usual ramblings. (-:

Others writing the Sunday Somethings: Kerry

Something that makes me happy: When you wake up the morning after a really good sleep and you have that feeling that you were really dead to the world and you just feel completely rested.

Something i am struggling with: Friday night, I mixed too much wine with too much liquor and the result was what you might expect.

Something tasty: Found a cute Indian place near our house, sort of.  We were the only ones in there at 1 pm on a Sunday, which doesn’t say much for their popularity, but the food was awesome.

Something i learned: How to play Tripoli.

Something from the bridge table: Didn’t play a single card’s worth of bridge this week.

Some things i am doing towards my goals: I ran a couple of times this week.  Short distances, but it was nice outside.

Something i am reading: Under the Dome, by Stephen King, still.  It may be awhile.

Something happening around the house: Watching Sex and the City reruns.

Something i am thinking: I am a pretty lucky gal.

Something i am looking forward to: Another few days of warmish weather before it gets cold again.

Something i am hoping: To find a piece of motivation this week.

Something random: I had to take Kerry to the hospital Friday b/c she started having contractions while we were at lunch!  I didn’t think that happened to real people!  I was happy to do it, and she ended the day with a lovely baby boy.  I’m so happy for her!

Something captured: I didn’t capture this particular photo, but it’s one of my favorite things to see on a winter night, and i had a beautiful sighting of it one crisp, cool night this week.

Others writing the Sunday Somethings: Kerry

Something that makes me happy: Tolerable temperatures.  Sun shining.

Something i am struggling with: The powers that be at work have turned off the ability for me to instant message people outside of work.  I think it is company-wide.  I understand if people are abusing it, but i’ll still miss it.

Something tasty: The bar steak at Bloomsbury Bistro.  Their menu is so highfalutin that it’s hard for me to tell what i’m getting, so i usually order the bar steak, medium rare, and am always immensely pleased.

Something i learned this week: I learned how much my old relationship jewelry is worth.  Answer: more than i expected.  Selling it feels too much like “blood money”, so instead i’m donating it and taking the tax deduction.  Everyone wins.

Something from the bridge table: We’re in the process of redesigning our bidding system, mainly to better accommodate slam bidding.  We’re using a lot of ideas from the Gran Slam subscription that Mom got for me last year.  Watch out, bridge world.

Some things i am doing towards my goals: Nothing really, but i found a new place to visit to add to the list - Victoria Falls.  And specifically, swimming in Devil’s Pool right at the edge of the falls.

Something i am reading: Under the Dome, by Stephen King.  This is the biggest book i have ever seen; over one thousand (yes, thousand) pages.

Something happening around the house: Video games, cooking, laundry, poker… this is what we do.

Something i am thinking: There are still race issues in our country, but we have come such a long way since the 1962 that is described in Kathryn Stockett’s The Help.

Something i am looking forward to next week: Uneventfulness?

Something i am hoping: That the weather stays like this and doesn’t go back to 20 degrees.

Something random: Somethings for a snack, i make toast and put butter, cinnamon and sugar on it.

Something captured: Nugent was so excited to go on his walk today that he didn’t even mind that i took pictures of him; usually he hides from the camera.  Here he is mid-lick:

Others writing the Sunday Somethings: Kerry

Something that made me happy this week: Hanging out with friends i don’t normally get to spend a lot of time with.

Something i struggled with this week: Relationships can be hard.

Something tasty i ate this week: Imitation IHOP pancakes - i was given a recipe book that had recipes mimicking restaurant recipes.  They aren’t the same, but they’re darn close.

Something i learned this week: It’s a good idea to bring a gift to a baby shower even if you’re told not to.

Something from the bridge table: We’ve been talking some about falsecards.  Here’s a description of one that caught my attention this week.  Declarer holds AK8x opposite QT7x.  If you hold J9xx “onside” then you should drop the 9 to try to convince declarer to play the suit differently than the normal way.

Some things i am doing towards my goals:

Something i am reading: The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  I thought i still had weeks to go, but it was surprisingly waiting for me at the library Saturday morning.

Something happening around the house: We got up early today and have done nothing but drink coffee and play video games.  Is that wrong?

Something i am thinking: Went to a baby shower yesterday and got a glimpse of both how wonderful and how chaotic life will be with kids.

Something i am looking forward to next week: Going to see The Young Victoria with friends (not with Lance - he can’t stand movies like that).

Something i am hoping: To figure out a sense of purpose for this year.  I don’t feel like i’m working on anything in particular.  I guess i need some new projects.

Something random: It’s been two weeks since my last blog post.  Yes, i’ve been lazy.  A few people have asked about it, though, so at least i know people are reading!

Something captured: Lots of stars in Mario 64 (played through the Wii Virtual Console).

Others writing the Sunday Somethings: Kerry

Something that made me happy this week: Our family played Mafia last night.  It was a total riot.

Something i struggled with this week: My 102 year old great-grandmother is on a campaign.  Four times she pulled me or Lance aside and told us something along the lines of how she would be happier if we would get married, us living together goes against her principles, etc.  She didn’t give Lance a Christmas card because we’re not married, and would not just put “Audrey and Lance” on my envelope, and made sure we knew why.  It wouldn’t really bother me if i could talk to her at all, but she’s pretty deaf, so i can’t even have a conversation about it.

Something tasty i ate this week: What isn’t tasty about Christmas dinner and Christmas goodies?  Everything has been wonderful this week.

Something i learned this week: Over one-third of the world’s population lives in China and India combined.  China alone has more than one-sixth of the population.

Something from the bridge table: Lance’s parents were kind enough to give me a subscription to a bridge website for Christmas this year.  It’s a new one, and Lance told me i should try it out since they have a free trial period, and see if it was up my alley.  I took one of the weekly quizzes, and only got 1 of the 5 answers correct.  Conclusion - i have some things to learn from this site.

Some things i am doing towards my goals: We’re going to make our own beer this week (Lance got a kit for Christmas).  It takes a few weeks to brew, but it will be a fun experiment.

Something i am reading: Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s by John Elder Robinson.

Something happening around the house: Lance got my dad signed up with an online poker account.

Something i am thinking: Nathan gave me an article by Marcus Borg about the concept of religious pluralism.  It is the acceptance of the idea that two religious with conflicting claims are both valid.  I’m only halfway through the article at this point, but it’s an interesting idea which i don’t think many people in this country would embrace.  It’s very different from “religious tolerance”.

Something i am looking forward to next week: Hanging around our house once we get back to Raleigh, playing morning bridge, and just being home without having to go to work.

Something i am hoping: I want to get a good start on our 2010 goals (aka new year’s resolutions) this week.

Something random: Lance and i received 100% of the books that were gifted on Christmas Day at our house.  Combined, we received approximately twenty books.

Something captured: Posing and displaying some of our loot at Grandma’s house on Christmas morning.

This should be a fun project - please take a minute to share your immediate reactions to the statements below.

Bridge kind of has its own language.  Sometimes you catch snippets of people’s conversations, and you know the gist of what they’re talking about.  I’ve been aware at times, though, that perhaps my bridge conversations are NOT easy to figure out.

Another bridge blogger is also interested in this, and has compiled a list of sentences you might overhear in a discussion between bridge players.

So tell me, if you heard someone say any of these sentences, what would YOU think was being said?  Please share your thoughts for any or all of these.

1. I didn’t have the right hand to balance with a double!
2. You’re supposed to have a stiff when you splinter.
3. Why didn’t you try a double strip squeeze?
4. I was five, five, two, one with hearts and diamonds.
5. I was trying to save the beer card.
6. We used the VCR to find the grand.
7. I tried to signal for a club, but I only had high spots.
8. Jack third isn’t a real stopper.
9. It was a two-suiter.
10. I couldn’t make it after I got stuck in the dummy.
11. My righty hit it in the pass out seat.
12. Who won the Swiss?