I didn’t make time to blog while we were on vacation. The un-free internet access didn’t help either. So here are just some random observations from the trip.
- San Diego was beautiful. The second day we were there, it rained, and that was the first rain they had seen for 164 days. The day we went to the zoo, we wore short sleeves and were completely comfortable (until the sun went down). I was very disappointed to come home and find there was a possible forecast for snow.
- San Diego is expensive. I knew that going in, but wow.
- Bridge is hard. I’m a good player, but i just spent a week getting my brains bashed in by people who are better. I make way too many careless errors.
- Despite the fact that i’m still licking my wounds, i loved the competition at the high levels we played in. This is the way to get better. I wish we could attend all the national tournaments. Alas, after going to two (of three) this year, we might be forced to take a year off.
- We learned this week that we really need to improve our slam bidding.
- The mixed pairs event is pretty funny. To enter, you need one man and one woman. I have never seen such a squabbly, bitchy, unhappy bunch. I think this is what happens when you force men and women to play together.
- Years ago, there used to be a Men’s Life Master (LM) pairs event alongside a Women’s LM pairs event. The men’s event was the prestigious event that got all the attention, and the women complained. They wanted to compete in the “real” event, too. So they got rid of the Men’s event. Now, the prestigious LM event is open to all. However, there is still a Women’s event, and it still counts as a national win. As a woman, i think this is kind of bogus. If Jeff Meckstroth (arguably the best player in the world) can’t enter your event, can you really claim a national title? Is this golf, where we tee off from the Women’s tee? I don’t think anyone will say that outright, but i get the sense that there is an understanding that women need separate events. And i don’t like it.
- Petco Park was neat. Our tour guide was an old codger who grew up loving baseball and knew a lot of lore. These guys make the best guides. At Wrigley Field, our guide was a girl younger than me. A tomboy for sure, but she couldn’t make the place come alive. We’ll take the old guys from now on, please.
- The zoo is everything it’s cracked up to be. Humongous. We spent 3+ hours walking around, and my guess is we saw 60% of it, max.
- Our hotel was in walking distance of a lot of great restaurants. It was a fabulous venue for a big tournament. The hotel staff did a marvelous job accommodating the bridge crowd. Bridge players are awful guests, in general, leaving trash everywhere and they can be rude to staff. I’ve seen hotels get overwhelmed in dealing with bridge players’ needs, and there are more than a few hotels that won’t invite bridge tournaments back. However, this hotel, the Manchester Grand Hyatt, just absorbed the bridge players like it was nothing. It was great.
We already have plans to go back in 6 years when San Diego hosts the nationals again.