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Others writing the Sunday Somethings: Kerry

Something that makes me happy: Fall weather.

Something i am struggling with: Relationships are hard.

Something tasty: Frozen lasagna from Trader Joe’s.

Something from the bridge table: At the Morehead tournament, i doubled a 6NT contract with my two aces. That ended the auction, and we just put the cards back into the board, no one showed any of the hands, and we just scored it up as down 1. And here is another fun hand from the tournament.

Something i am reading: What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, by Marshall Goldsmith and Mark Reiter.

Something happening around the house: New grass is poking up through the straw in our back yard.

Something i am thinking: Leaves are falling in the yard. I love fall, but raking/blowing leaves is not a chore i love.

Something i am looking forward to: Malcolm’s birthday dinner. We have a couple of really fun gifts for him.

Something i’m watching: Recently discovered Modern Family. Loving it!

Something random: We have a woodpecker. Today i scared him away by banging on the wall while he was pecking. Maybe it will work.

Something planned: A return to playing in a home poker game, the first since Lance’s terrible experience with armed robbers at the end of July.

Tags: somethings

Others writing the Sunday Somethings: Kerry

Something that makes me happy: Playing bridge with Lance. He is such a good partner.

Something i am struggling with: Lance is having a rough year; how do i cheer him up when the cards never seem to fall his way?

Something tasty: Does anyone else get cravings for Diet Coke? I do. You can keep your classic Coca-Cola.

Something i learned: Upper management doesn’t always know what they’re talking about.

Something from the bridge table: We played in the Raleigh bridge tournament this weekend. Always fun. We have a lot of good players who come to our tournaments, and it is really a pleasure to play against expert players.

Something i am reading: The Tea Rose, by Jennifer Donnelly

Something happening around the house: We cleaned out the garage (again). Maybe now we’ll actually start using it more. Lance is in there now with one of his strat-o-matic baseball buddies.

Something i am thinking: We’re thinking of going to another tournament in Morehead City in a couple of weekends. Might make a 3-day weekend out of it.

Something i am looking forward to: Signing off on the latest version of our software this week. Goodbye and good riddance!

Something i am hoping: That there are no major catastrophes or show-stoppers at work in the next 2 days.

Something random: The 40-Year Old Virgin is a so hilarious.

Something planned: Returning some overdue books to the library.

Tags: somethings

Others writing the Sunday Somethings: Kerry

Something that makes me happy: I just figured out how to make my Firefox browser scroll up/down when i press the up/down arrows! I am so thrilled! Used to be when i pressed the down arrow, it went all the way to the bottom of the page. F7 is magic!

Something i am struggling with: To run or not to run?

Something tasty: My new homemade guacamole recipe was a hit at last night’s bridge party.

Something i learned: Not 100% sure this is true, but i read that if a woman really really truly believes she is pregnant, but isn’t, her body will think she is and milk ducts will form.

Something from the bridge table: Lance has been getting invited to play some high-profile matches on BridgeBase Online. He plays with his buddy from California. On teams with Jimmy Cayne, former CEO of Bear Streams (for reals!). And against players like Michael Seaman and Garozzo. All Grand Life Masters, all super players. I’m thrilled he gets that opportunity!

Something i am reading: Still working on Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. Having a hard time getting into it honestly. The first 125 pages have gone by and we’re still trying to get past the first day. It gets another 75 pages max (that will get me about a quarter through) before i give up.

Something happening around the house: Derrick has been at our place cleaning up the yard for us again. He’s only partway done, but it already looks tons better.

Something i am looking forward to: Bowling league with a group from work – has turned out to be great fun!

Something random: The rear right window in my car has started falling down all by itself. I’ll be driving along and the vibrations of the car will slowly cause it to fall down. I can manually force it back up, so it’s not too big of a deal. I think i can last with it this way until my next oil change.

Something planned: Raleigh’s fall bridge tournament is this Thursday through Sunday.

Something captured: Man and dog descend to beach.

Tags: somethings

Others writing the Sunday Somethings: Kerry

Something that makes me happy: The angle at which one has to hold one’s head in order to bite into a taco.

Something i’m struggling with: Well, it’s not me that’s struggling, but our Wii may be on its last legs. A year ago or so it started making this jet-engine noise whenever it was playing a disc, and now it’s flaking out and shutting down randomly.

Something tasty: I love sampling bruschetta whenever i find it on the menu, and i found a great one at Cristo’s, a new Italian/pizza place that opened very near us.

Something from the bridge table: Haven’t been playing much bridge lately.

Something i am reading: Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese

Something happening around the house: The fridge is full of green stuff. I always feel better when i eat more vegetables.

Something i am thinking: We’ve been watching Breaking Bad on Netflix, and just watched the season finale. Things have really gotten out of control here. This is an excellent show.

Something i am looking forward to: Alaska! It’s official – we made our arrangements to visit Nathan and Heather in Alaska over Thanksgiving. As a bonus – Heather and i can continue our tradition of seeing the Twilight movies together, as Breaking Dawn Part 1 will be released just two weeks before i get there.

Something i am hoping: I hope the Braves win the wildcard. They were almost a shoe-in two weeks ago, but they’ve been trying to blow it.

Something random: I like it when strangers ask me for directions.

Something planned: Our book club will meet to discuss A Great and Terrible Beauty. And i’ll have my second night of league bowling.

Something captured: I can only rarely capture Nugent in the house, because he leaves the room if i even go near my camera. I swear, he knows where it is at all times, and leaves the room if i touch it. But this night he was tuckered out and i caught the cute guy snoozing.

Tags: somethings

Others writing the Sunday Somethings: Kerry

Something that makes me happy: The sound of the ocean.

Something i am struggling with: Mosquito bites galore! In five previous years of this beach trip, we have never had an issue with mosquitoes while we sat outside in the ocean breeze sipping our wine. This year, we all got eaten alive! The funny thing is, of our many trips to the grocery store, no one ever put bug repellent on the list. I think we were all in denial.

Something tasty: Wine is tasty, and the Shull family as a whole consumed a fair amount. I have to say my favorite was a Zinfandel that we tried (can’t remember the label). I don’t think i’d ever had red Zinfandel before.

Something i learned: I learned that i apparently have a very good email archival system at work. I checked work email a few times this week, and oddly three times i was asked to resend something or dig up something. From vacation, i was able to very quickly do this without hassle. I rock.

Some things i am doing towards my goals:

Something i am reading: The Panic Virus, by Seth Mnookin.

Something happening around the house: We have done minimal unpacking so far – just the toiletries necessary

Something i am thinking: I’m really grateful to the Bojangles staff in Tarboro, NC. I left my purse there when we stopped for dinner on the way back from the beach, and didn’t realize it until we were 30 minutes away. Crapola. But we called and they had found it and kept it safe. Along with the Southern biscuits we were served for dinner, they served us a nice dose of Southern hospitality, and the manager called me ‘Sugar” as she handed me my bag.

Something i am looking forward to: A business trip to Denver, CO this week.

Something i am hoping: I’m hoping to find the inner extrovert inside of me this week, as one of my primary functions is to talk to customers and bring back their perspective on our software.

Something random: Ann Taylor is my new favorite store.

Something planned: A ballpark tour at the Rockies stadium. It has become a “thing that we do” whenever we visit big cities – we try to get a tour of the baseball park. They have so much history, so even if you’re only a so-so baseball fan, like me, it’s always fascinating.

Something captured: The beach! It looks so peaceful and tranquil in this photo, but the waves were particularly rough this year.

Tags: somethings

Others writing the Sunday Somethings: Kerry

Something that makes me happy: Nugent’s crazy dance-bark-bark-dance after you ask him “Wanna go for a walk?”

Something tasty: Ice cream sandwiches.

Something i learned: How to correctly pronounce “timbre,” which i used in a sentence (correctly) but mispronounced.

Something i am reading: Finished Tiger & Fly. Still working on my A Dance with Dragons reread.

Something happening around the house: Lots of online bridge.

Something i am thinking: One more week of work. Then ! ! ! B E A C H ! ! !  After that, one day of work. Then i’m off to Denver for a conference. Which is work but is still off-kilter and hopefully fun.

Something i am looking forward to: ! ! ! B E A C H ! ! !

Something i am hoping: For good sleep – haven’t been sleeping that well.

Something random: I joined a bowling league through work. It starts in a couple of weeks. (Note: I am a terrible bowler.)

Something planned: ! ! ! B E A C H ! ! !

Tags: somethings

Others writing the Sunday Somethings: Kerry

Something that makes me happy: Wind and thundery nights, just before a storm. (Nugent doesn’t like it much, though.)

Something tasty: Sloppy Joes. They were sloppy and they were good.

Something i learned: I learned about the history of the ‘jump ball’, or the possession arrow, as it is now known in basketball. The possession arrow  has been used since 1981. One of the reasons cited is that the old ‘jump ball’ gave an unfair advantage to the taller team. To which i reply, doesn’t the taller team already have an advantage?

Something from the bridge table: The thing that makes bridge so very interesting is the way different and complex end positions can arise, depending on how you play or how the defenders play. Often the play of a single card can change things completely.

Something i am reading: A Dance with Dragons, by George R.R. Martin.

Something happening around the house: Working on the 7th load of laundry. There will be a helluva lot of folding before bedtime.

Something i am thinking: About a documentary we watched a few weeks ago called The Cove. I believe it was Ann who blogged about it and it was why i recognized the film title among the dozens of others we might have watched. It is about a cove off the coast of Japan where a lot of dolphin slaughters take place. Apparently this is also the place where nearly all the performing dolphins in the world are captured. Those performing dolphins are of course not killed, but they provide huge sums of money to support this lethal killing ground for thousands of dolphins each year. Definitely worth watching.

Something i am looking forward to: Cooler temperatures? Kind of? It’s supposed to only get into the 80s for the next few days. I’m ready for fall, ya’ll!

Something i am hoping: That Lance’s sister Emily does decide to come to NC early before beach week and spend some time with us. And her little dog, too.

Something random: Today i noticed the neighbors’ dog frolicking in our yard. They weren’t home, so i went after her. I called and called for her, and finally found her – in her own backyard, where she had meekly returned when she realized she was found out. I closed the gate so she couldn’t escape again.

Something planned: Getting acquainted with the new memory card for my camera. Thanks for the tip, Ann and others! Removing a few steps will make sharing photos much easier.

Tags: somethings

Others writing the Sunday Somethings: Kerry

Something that makes me happy: Spa days.

Something i am struggling with: I feel a sucking vortex slowly pulling us into north Raleigh country club bridge. Help!

Something not so tasty: Lance and i did our juice fast thing for two full days, and then quit. That third morning, neither of us could quite force ourselves out of bed to do the hour-long juice-machine operation required for the day.

Something from the bridge table: I wrote up a couple of hands from this past week. Just stories.

Some things i am doing towards my goals: Marking off the juice fast and managing people at work.

Something i am reading: I’m rereading A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin. Slower this time. I’m in a slight reading funk right now.

Something happening around the house: There are Netflix DVDs that we’ve already watched still waiting to be mailed.

Something i am looking forward to: Our beach trip is only a couple of weeks away!

Something i am hoping: That one day soon they invent affordable cameras that automatically upload photos to a website wirelessly. To me it is a cumbersome task to find the camera, find its USB hookup cord, upload to the computer, then upload to the website (which can be slow) in order to finally share photos for your enjoyment.

Something random: Lance is playing softball again this year. So far, no serious injuries. Let’s keep our fingers crossed. He does like to slide and dive for balls.

Something planned: A movie date, a bridge date.

Tags: somethings

Others writing the Sunday Somethings: Kerry

Something that makes me happy: Hearing from all my peeps on my birthday.

Something tasty: So many tasty things this week, but i’ll have to highlight our Saturday lunch at Sweet Basil in Southern Pines. It is a delightful little restaurant, lunch only, and everything is superb. This time i tried an Indian-chicken-curry-with-mango-chutney soup that was absolutely divine.

Something from the bridge table:I think defending well is one of the harder things to learn in bridge, and this is where the more obvious differences are between good, experienced players and those who are less so.

Some things i am doing towards my goals: Made it through another year.

Something i am reading: Namaah’s Blessing by Jacqueline Carey. The final book in the latest Terre d’Ange saga.

Something happening around the house: Getting the house ready for guests.

Something i am thinking: Lance and i are talking about doing a 10-day Juice Fast/Feast. We watched a documentary named Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead that was particularly motivating. In the movie, the guys consumed nothing but vegetable/fruit juice for a full 60 days. Not sure i could do that, but 10 days seems do-able. It’s been on my Goals list from the beginning.

Something i am looking forward to: A visit from Mom & Dad Shull this weekend. It is a tradition that they visit each year toward the end of July for our birthdays. We’ve got a few interesting things planned.

Something i am hoping: Safe travels for loved ones.

Something random: I learned what a pencil skirt is.

Something planned: I need to take my car in for an oil change, which will usually leads to a surprise large expense with my 10 year old car.

Something captured: This week i was one of the lucky winners of an online auction of these unique banner bags. The proceeds benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of Wake County. The bags are made out of banners that previously were displayed on the light poles around campus. I love it! There are only 10 of them.

Tags: somethings

Others writing the Sunday Somethings: Kerry

Something that makes me happy: Finding a good gift for a man who has everything. My Dad’s birthday was yesterday and i was on the phone when he opened his gift – a toothpick dispenser in the form of a bird. You just press his little head down and he’ll grab a toothpick for you!

Something i am struggling with: Hackers!

Something tasty: Watermelon, one of the things i love about summer.

Something i learned: You can order pet food online. We did so, at the recommendation of our vet, from www.feedyourpets.com.

Something from the bridge table: A hand from Thursday night’s Swiss teams at the Raleigh Bridge Club, about the importance of hand evaluation.

Something i am reading: A Dance with Dragons, by George R. R. Martin. At long last!

Something happening around the house: Laundry, mountains of it.

Something i am thinking: This drama about the debt ceiling that’s going on in Washington is so much B.S. As i understand it, the debt ceiling is simply a formality that is necessary due to the obligations our country has already committed to. Unfortunately it has been turned into a dog-and-pony show so the Republicans can pretend to be worried about fiscal responsibility. The irony is that defaulting is about as fiscally irresponsible as you can get. Not to mention, how many times was the debt ceiling raise when Bush was in office? Only every year of his term. Why did we never hear about it? Because it is a formality. The time to have an argument about money was back when you actually passed the budget bill, not now.

Something i am looking forward to: Dad is coming for a brief visit and will stay with us for a night. It will be nice to see him.

Something random: Our next door neighbor often brings gifts. Today he brought some beautiful roses and tomatoes from his garden. I wish i was a better neighbor.

Something planned: Perhaps a trip to Wet ‘n Wild.

Tags: somethings