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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.

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.

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.

Others writing the Sunday Somethings: Kerry

Something that made me happy this week: People reacting favorably to our homemade Christmas cards.

Something i struggled with this week: Being in something of a crisis situation with my boyfriend, with tensions high, and trying to communicate and make decisions when we wanted different things.

Something tasty i ate this week:  Belgian Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies from An.

Something i learned this week: The goodness comes out in people in the middle of crisis situations.  I saw so many acts of good will this weekend.

Something from the bridge table: I opened a normal 3D in first seat on K xxx KJ76532 Qx, white on red.  Unfortunately for me, RHO doubled and LHO left it in.  RHO admonished his partner, before the opening lead, “you can’t leave that double in.”  1700 later, he still hadn’t apologized.

Some things i am doing towards my goals: I have an unofficial and previously unstated goal of never having to sleep in the car.  Yesterday we took steps to avoid that outcome, so yay!

Something i am reading: Still working on The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco.  Maybe i should have just watched the movie instead.

Something happening around the house: Apparently the snow was disappointing in Raleigh, so i’m sure our house is fine.

Something i am thinking: Why are there so many hotels in Wytheville, VA?  I had never heard of this place until this weekend.  There are 20+ hotels within like 2 miles.

Something i am looking forward to next week: Christmas!

Something i am hoping: That we can get home safely today.

Something random: On the road Friday we counted 13 salt trucks (i know there were more that i didn’t see, especially going the other way).  We also counted 15 accidents, which doesn’t count the single cars that had simply slid off the road.

Something captured: Whatcha gonna do?

Others writing the Sunday Somethings: Kerry

Something that made me happy this week: Completing and order our yearly photo book from Shutterfly.  I even remembered to use all my coupons and got free shipping.  I can hope it gets here before next weekend, but in time for Christmas would be good enough.

Something i struggled with this week: My first bad cold of the year.  I’m convinced the only reason i got sick was because i gloated about how i wasn’t getting sick while Lance was suffering through it.  Oops.

Something tasty i ate this week: My group went out for our holiday lunch at An.  I had the tuna.

Something i learned this week: Nathan introduced me to the concept of Narrative Theology.

Some things from the bridge table:  I’ve written up several interesting hands from the San Diego Nationals.  I also wrote up the hand from this week where i got to endplay my ex-husband.

Some things i am doing towards my goals: I completed my 10th prepared speech for Toastmasters, which makes me a “Competent Communicator.”

Something i am reading: The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco.

Something happening around the house: We beat Bowser in New Super Mario for Wii and uncovered a secret World 9.

Something i am thinking: What is the purpose of punishment?  To deter an individual from repeating an act?  To deter others from doing the same thing?  Are some things just worthy of being punished?  A combination of these things?  What if you didn’t know better or couldn’t control your actions?

Something i am looking forward to next week: Wrapping presents - it’s a big part of the fun for me.

Something i am hoping: To get a start on organizing the discussion Nathan and i have been having.  I’ve referenced it a few times here, and i want to blog about it some.

Something random: We have canceled our Direct TV subscription and are now subsisting solely on what’s available on the web and what we get through Netflix.  Honestly, i haven’t even really noticed.  Plus, since i can’t flop down in front of the TV, i seem to be getting more done regarding my various projects.

Something captured: I have no new pictues of my own this week, so i’ll steal Kerry’s photo from last week’s annual Christmas date.

Others writing the Sunday Somethings: Kerry

Something that made me happy this week: Spending the week in sunny San Diego and playing bridge the whole time.

Something i struggled with this week: I’m having trouble getting Shutterfly and PhotoBucket to cooperate with me when it comes to uploading photos.  One of them ought to work!  I’m not sure if this is a Windows 7 thing?  It really shouldn’t be this hard.

Something tasty i ate this week: We had SO much great food this week.  One of the best restaurants was a place called Royal India just a few blocks from our hotel.  Yum.

Something i learned this week: Having a flexible travel schedule helps with stress when the airlines change everything at the last minute.

Something from the bridge table: I have a lot of stories to write up about bridge hands from the week.  For now i’ll just say that i collected my first TWO THOUSAND for doubling the opponents.  That’s doubled and down 7 vulnerable.  I didn’t even know what that score was, i’d never seen it before.

Some things i am doing towards my goals: We competed in two national events this week at the bridge tournament.

Something i am reading: Just finished Perdido Street Station by China Mieville.

Something happening around the house: Chilling out, trying to get my photos in order so i can create our yearly book.

Something i am thinking: One of my favorite parts of the year is creating the picture book of everything we did in the previous year.  It’s so much fun!  And makes me realize just how good i have it.

Something i am looking forward to next week: Getting back into a normal routine, and even going back to work.

Something i am hoping: That i don’t get Lance’s cold.  He’s been miserable the last 3 days.  For awhile i was gloating to myself that i wasn’t going to get sick, but i find myself a bit sniffly tonight.

Something random: I got a tie-die shirt from the bridge tournament that says “Bridge, Sex & Rock & Roll”.  Awesome.

Something captured: I want a hippopotamus for Christmas.  Only a hippopotamus will do…

Others writing the Sunday Somethings: Kerry

Something that made me happy this week: Having Nathan and Heather and Dakota and Lola all visiting, and seeing Lauren, Robert and Anna.  We had so much fun this weekend.

Something i struggled with this week: I have over 40 ‘continues’ playing the New Super Mario Bros.  I kind of suck at this game, but it’s fun.

Something tasty i ate this week: Manicotti at Cinelli’s in North Hills.

Something i learned this week: Neat stuff about evolution.  We’re watching a PBS miniseries called Evolution, narrated by Liam Neeson.  Fascinating stuff.

Something from the bridge table: An interesting pair of hands.  Ax AKJ9xx Txx AK.  You open 1H and partner responds 1N.  What is your rebid?  The companion hand is KJx x KQxx Qxxxx.  What do you bid if partner rebids 3D?

Some things i am doing towards my goals: Nothing in particular is happening with goal-oriented things right now.

Something i am reading: Loving Frank by Nancy Horan.

Something happening around the house: There is a humongous pile of laundry waiting to be folded on the bed.  We’ve been doing it off and on for a week and the clean stuff is never folded.  It WILL be folded before bedtime.

Something i am thinking: It’s Thanksgiving, and i have so much to be thankful for.  Lately i am overwhelmed with awe at the wonderful people i am lucky enough to call friends and family.

Something i am looking forward to next week: We’re heading to San Diego for the fall nationals.  We have one day slated for sightseeing and the rest will be bridge bridge bridge.

Something i am hoping: For save travels with few heartaches this week.  For all my loved ones who i know are traveling.

Something random: At New Moon, i took bets on when during the movie we would hear the first squeals.  It was not when Edward first appeared, nor when the first shirtless werewolf appeared, nor when Jacob first appeared, but later when Jacob peels his shirt off to dab Bella’s bleeding head.  Yes, that was a very fine moment.

Something captured: Two girls giving Jacob Black a little love.