For those just joining us, or those who've known me since before I made this entry... welcome to the unofficial home of Nidoking's brain! This is a place where I dump a lot of information every night that I really don't want to carry around in my head, or maybe I've got a CRAZY notion that it'll entertain someone other than me. *pfft* Like THAT ever happens. Anyway, feel free to take a look around and see what I've been up to recently.

The Audience Participation exercise to end all Audience Participation exercises (except those that come after it):
Respond to this entry with interview questions that you'd like me to answer in my daily posts. Each day, I'll pick a question (if there are any I haven't answered yet) and answer it in my daily post, then respond to the comment here with a link to that entry. So if there are already some comments down there, you should be able to hunt down the answers easily enough and see what I've already said about myself or the random topics these jokers like to post about. (My friends are great, but a little off their rockers at times. I, on the other hand, have never been ON my rocker to begin with, so nobody out-randoms me and gets away with it!)

I may add some links here to favorite entries of my past, but other than the Young Ones/Monty Python crossover I listed in my Memories, I can't think of any right now. Oh well. We'll see what happens as I remember more things.

Today's Bridge: I declared 3NT with S x-x H J-9-x-x-x D A-K-J-x C K-x facing S A-K-x-x H A-Q D 9-x-x C 10-x-x-x. Brent opened the auction 1C, I responded 1H, and he bid 1S, so I jumped to 3NT to guard against a club lead through the king. As expected, the opening diamond lead gave me an extra trick there, but I still needed a few more, so I started with the hearts. The queen won, and Ken dropped the king under the ace, but I had no way to finesse against the ten. I crossed back in diamonds, and iMatt (the new player for the day) showed out. Had I known that Ken had only two spades, I might have tried stripping the hand and throwing him in with the last diamond, but I think the opponents could wrangle five tricks out of that. The question is what iMatt throws on the last diamond - I'm down to H J-9-x D x C K-x, and he has to keep two clubs, or I can throw him in and he has to lead a heart away. Likewise, he has to keep two hearts, or I can cash the suit. So he has only two spades. As it was, I had to duck a heart, and when he led a low club back, I tried the king and it won. I don't like the 50/50 chance, but I think it was necessary. We set Ken's 4C by two after that, but Brent didn't read my heart lead as a singleton. I had S K-J-10-9-8-x H 8 D K-Q-x-x-x C 5, and pre-empted with 2S during the auction. I don't know whether we'd have done much better with the heart ruff, but taking the first three tricks after Ken ducked the first spade and still having a diamond trick in our pocket, as well as a guaranteed trump trick in Brent's hand, should be a minimal improvement.

Today's Bridge: There were some really weird splits today, and only one of them was a goulash. Raymond opened that 3S when I predictably had no spades. I had no way to urge him to bid his next best suit, and figured spades might still be the best choice. They may or may not have been. But I opened S K-Q H Q-x-x-x D A-10-8-x C A-10-x with 1D, because I was just too weak for notrump. Ken overcalled 1S, and Raymond responded 2C. I tried 2H, he corrected to 3D, and I went for the old standby with a minor suit fit and stoppers elsewhere and bid 3NT. His hand was S x-x H A-x D 9-7-x-x C K-J-x-x-x, which didn't offer much hope. The opening spade ran to my king, and I strongly considered tossing the queen back and hoping that an opponent would be squeezed by the last spade. But that was doubtful. I needed to set up the clubs, so I started by cashing the ace, on which Ken dropped the queen. I cashed the suit, and he sluffed two hearts and then two spades, while I threw a diamond and a heart. That gave me the opening I needed to run the nine of diamonds. Ryan covered with the jack, but I ducked anyway, and Ken had to take the king, exiting with a heart. I let that run to my queen, and when the queen of diamonds fell under the ace, I made an overtrick. I tried 4C with a slight mismatch, but it came down to the trump layout - after each opponent had ruffed once, I needed trump to split 2-2 with the king onside (missing K-J-10-3), and that wasn't the case. Ryan also threw away an early 2NT by failing to cash the long hearts in dummy, although Raymond gave him another chance by not leading a diamond back to me. He made right at the second opportunity, though, and I was able to run the suit.

Today's Bridge: We started with a grossly underbid 2NT, but I didn't want to jump to game and risk missing something. I finished with a hard-fought 1NT (with A-K-x-x of spades facing J-9-x-x, the queen fell, so I didn't need to fight for a trick in Anna's diamond suit), then put Brent in 3NT with eight tricks on top and the eventual heart for the ninth. In the final hand, Anna opened 1NT, and with S J-x H A-K-Q-J D A-K-9-x-x-x C x opposite a passed hand, I opted to overcall 2D instead of doubling. (The chances of finding a good heart fit are remote.) Anna persisted with 2NT, and while I figured 3D was a likely make, I just doubled. Sadly, I didn't dare lead a low diamond to Brent's Q-x-x, which would have been worth off five, but after I cashed my tricks, he still got the queen, and Anna had to lead up to his king of spades because there were no entries to dummy at all. Since we could only make 4D, I think 300 was a great score for the hand.

Today's Bridge: I was really disappointed that Brent passed my 2NT jump with more than enough power to go for game, but we were wide open in hearts and the diamond finesse that was my only hope for a ninth trick was off, so I had to cash my eight and call it done. The opponents made 2C with an overtrick and no play for game, and then I declared 4H. Raymond tried to ruff a club with a spade, then ruffed my spade lead and led a spade back. At one point, I tried to sluff a diamond from dummy on a club lead, but the opponents caught that, naturally. The final hand was S 4-2 H x-x D Q-x-x C A-K-Q-9-x-x facing S J-10-9-8-6 H J-x-x-x D A C J-x-x. I played in 3C over a 2D interference bid. The ace won the opening diamond lead, so I started with the jack of spades, hoping to set them up eventually. Ryan went right up with the ace and cashed the king before switching to a low diamond. The queen held, so I tossed a heart from dummy and led my last diamond to Raymond's king and a low ruff. I ruffed another spade with the ace, but they split 3-3, so I led the king of clubs and another to the jack. When that suit also split, I was able to throw my hearts on the spades for two overtricks.

Today's Bridge: Not a great day for anyone - I botched the opening 4H by misplaying the trump suit. I had K-10-x-x-x-x and dummy had J-8-x, and I couldn't afford to lose more than the ace. I ruffed a diamond in dummy, then played all of the side suits without touching trump, losing the last trick to LHO. He led back a diamond, and I ruffed in my hand, completely blowing it. I needed to win in dummy and lead to my hand, catering for a 2-2 split with the ace on my right, the only layout that would let me win. After that, there were a lot more contracts that didn't make, but I ended with a 2H Dbl that I nearly lost when I took Raymond's double to mean that he had the bulk of the trump. In fact, he had a void, but Dan ruffed one of Raymond's club tricks, allowing me to maintain trump control and throw him in to lead to my trump tenace for the last tricks I needed.

Today's Bridge: It was my turn to bid contracts that I had no business playing, but my opponents were generous and my skills were up to the task. The first hand was S x-x-x H 10 D A-x C A-K-J-8-x-x-x, which I felt was more than worth a 1C opener. Anna responded 1NT, indicating precisely 3-3-3-4 distribution, and Ken cut in with 2H. Given my singleton in his suit and our combined 11 trump, I jumped straight to 5C based on the Law of Total Tricks. With the obvious heart opening lead, Anna laid down S x-x H x-x D K-J-10-x-x C Q-10-9-x - not quite the distribution I was expecting, but it was the right number of trump and just as much power as I could expect. Ken took the ace of hearts and then tried the king, giving me a chance, but I still had to set up the diamonds with some delicacy. Clubs split 1-1, but it didn't matter, since I crossed to dummy with a second round to lead the jack of diamonds, placing Ken with the queen for his bid. He covered, so the rest was simple. I navigated the 4-2 diamond split to discard two spades and make the contract. Dan tried 2H in the next hand, but the 5-2 trump fit didn't help him and despite a non-targeted defense, we set the contract by one. My next hand was S A-Q-8-x-x H K-x D A-Q-10 C A-K-9, which was just enough for a 2C opening. Anna predictably responded 2D, so I bid 2S. She bid 3C, which seemed like a reasonable trump suit, but as usual with distributed power and a fit in a minor, I felt 3NT was the best contract. She had S J-9-x H A-x D J-x-x C 10-7-x-x-x, which makes 4S look like a decent contract, and we might have had the ten of spades, which would have given me nine tricks after forcing out the king of spades. I don't remember. I took the opening heart lead in hand to keep the dummy entry and cashed the top clubs, finding Ken with four to the Q-8. So I led the nine, hoping to set up the last two clubs, but Ken thought about it and dropped the eight under it - a great move, in my opinion, since it means I need two dummy entries to establish that last club trick. I had to guess which king Dan had, and tried a spade to the jack. When it held, I could clear the clubs, win Ken's spade return, and cross to dummy for the rest of the tricks I needed. Later, I got to open 2S with S K-10-x-x-x-x H A D x-x C K-10-7-3, and Anna raised me to 3S (even though Ken had already passed) with S Q-x H K-J-x D Q-x-x-x C A-Q-4-2. Not bad, but I think the bid is either 4S or pass. Dan started with the six of clubs, and while I wanted to let it run to my hand for the free finesse, I went up with the queen to see whether Ken had the five. He played it, so I knew Dan wasn't starting a high-low. I unblocked the ace of hearts, then led a low club, which Dan ruffed. At least he was only ruffing a loser. Then he inexplicably led the queen of hearts, letting me jettison both of my diamonds. A low spade to my ten held, and I led back to the queen, under which Ken threw the jack, leaving him with just the ace. I cashed my two clubs and conceded the ace of trump for an overtrick. Ken ended with a 3H where I think Anna had a cunning deceptive play available in trump. Ken led a low trump, and she jumped right up with the queen. I'd bid during the auction, so he was planning to finesse through my hand, which would have given her the queen and an opportunity to lead me a spade to ruff. All Ken had to do was ruff higher than my six to make the contract, but it would have given him an opportunity to make a mistake, which is the best you can do sometimes. Still, it was a solid day for us and I enjoyed it throughout.

Today's Bridge: Ken rejoined us today, and I think he was a bit excited, because he made some highly aggressive bids. He made 4H with an overtrick on an overcall so thin it was two-dimensional (the distributions of the two hands were a perfect fit), then tried to shift Anna out of a 3C opening on 4-4-5-0 distribution with even less power. Granted, a trump void doesn't look great, but first rule of holes: When you're in one, stop digging. Even worse, I had K-6-5-3-2 of trump, and Dan's spades were just good enough that I could throw away my Q-x of hearts. Anna led hearts at me rather than pulling trump, and I had plenty of diamonds to exit with, forcing her each time while I scored my baby trumps. We ended up making their contract - off five vulnerable, which I couldn't double since it was obvious that Ken had places to try to escape to. Dan opened the next hand 1D, and I had no diamonds and five points. I made a disciplined pass, and he ended up off one - the opponents missed a decent contract with a diamond fit. I finally ended up with a decent hand - S A-8-5-4-2 H K D 4-2 C A-K-x-x-x. Not great, but opposite Dan's 1C opener, it was worth a positive 1S response. He jumped straight to 4S, which could only be a closeout, and while I wanted to look for a slam, that was an obvious discouragement. He didn't mean it - he had S K-J-6-3 H A-Q-x D A-Q-J-x-x C 3, which is worth exploring with in my opinion even with not much more than the minimum. If he supports with 2S, I cue-bid 3C-3D-4C, and whether he bids diamonds or hearts, I jump to slam. Even if we're missing the ace of hearts, it should be a fine contract. As it is, we're likely to lose a spade and that's it. Ken led the seven of spades to Anna's nine and my ace. (No point ducking at this point, I think. If I'm going to lose a trump, I can afford to lose it later.) I unblocked the king of hearts, then cashed the ace of clubs and ruffed a club. Cashing the king of spades brought a club from Ken, so I threw both of my diamonds on the hearts and a club on the ace of diamonds, then ruffed a diamond, ruffed the little club with the jack, and ruffed another diamond. I led the good king of clubs, and whether Anna ruffed with the queen and promoted my last trump or let me have the king, the slam we failed to bid was made. I had a 1C hand of my own, balanced and 16 for a 1NT rebid, but Ken doubled me and Dan responded 1NT, showing 8-10 balanced. I invited game with 2NT, but he passed that, and still missed by two while trying to set up an eighth trick. Other than missing the slam, we didn't do too badly, and I'm sure we're very out of practice by this point. I've been practicing with Vu-Bridge, but I don't think anyone else spends much time outside of our lunch games keeping up their skills.

Today's Bridge: Our summer employee is back, so we rounded up enough people for a game. I was willing to double 2C with S K-J-x H Q D A-x-x-x C K-Q-8-x-x, but didn't double Brent's raise to 3C - off three, but the play left something to be desired. They went for 4H next, and I had a hard time leading from S K-10-x-x H Q-J-x D K-9-x-x C A-10. Fortunately, after I ruffed a club, Anna took an ill-advised finesse, letting me have another heart. Finally, I got to play a hand: S Q-x H J-x D A-K-Q-x-x C K-x-x-x. Dan had S x-x-x H K-x-x D 9-x-x C A-Q-J-x, and we ended in 3D. Anna ducked the opening spade lead to my queen, so I led another one to Brent's jack and her king, and she led the ace, which I ruffed. I cashed two top trump, leaving just the jack out, and ran clubs until Brent ruffed in. He returned a diamond, so I threw a heart from hand and ruffed in dummy for an overtrick. If he returns a heart, I duck it and should be guaranteed a heart trick, however the suit lies. Brent followed with a 2C, uninteresting from my perspective, and then I opened 3H on S K-x-x H K-J-10-9-x-x-x D 8-x C x. Dan had S J-10-x-x H Q-6 D x C K-Q-10-9-8-x, and Anna took the opening diamond lead with the ace and led a club, the only lead that would give me the contract. A spade at least keeps things open, while a diamond eliminates my dummy entry before I can set up the clubs, and cashing the A-x of trump leaves me a diamond loser to go with the other four. As it was, Brent took the ace of clubs and led one back. I threw two spades under the K-Q while both opponents followed, then led another club. Anna ruffed with the eight and I covered, while Brent threw a spade. I ruffed a diamond back to dummy and persisted with another club. Anna ruffed with the ace, so I threw the king of spades, leaving myself trump-tight and one trick over again.

As for work... I'm taking on a huge effort that's all-or-nothing, and everyone else needs me to babysit them while they work with our new repository, so I'm getting very little done. At least I'm not the only one who won't be finishing the work for this sprint on time.

Today's Bridge: We finally rounded up enough people to play, so Dan and I took on Jerry and Ryan. They made the first game after a bit of a false start in 1C, and then I picked up S K H x D Q-x-x-x-x C A-J-9-x-x-x. I opened 1D, Jerry overcalled 1H, Dan passed, Ryan bid 1S, and I jumped to 3C to show my distribution. Dan wasn't sure what to do with his S Q-x-x-x H 10-x-x-x-x D 9 C Q-10-x, but he made the right decision to pass. It was a pretty simple elopement hand with an overtrick - I ruffed three diamonds and overruffed Ryan in hearts, since the bidding made it clear what the opposing distribution was. Then I got S 10 H K-10-9-7-x D A-Q-J-10 C 8-x-x, which had enough quality that I elected to fudge a 1H opening. Dan jumped me to 3H, and then Ryan cut in with 3S. I hadn't planned to accept the game invitation, but given the opposing bid, I chanced it. Dan's hand was the very promising S Q-x-x H A-Q-6 D K-9-x-x C Q-J-9 - strong, but hardly distributional. I clumsily tried to play on an elimination without enough trumps to pull it off. I ruffed the second spade with the nine (just in case, probably a mistake), then pulled trump in three rounds and cashed my top three diamonds. Then I led a club to the queen, and Ryan covered and cashed the ace, handing me my tenth trick on a silver platter. Had he led a spade instead, I'd have been off at least one. What I needed to do was leave the last trump out, cross back to my hand with a diamond, and lead a club to the nine, playing Jerry for the ten since Ryan was marked with the honors and likely short clubs. Ryan would cover, and any lead but a spade would sacrifice a tempo, giving me time to set up the club trick in safety. So I ruff, lead another club, and dummy's last heart protects me from the final force in spades. As it happens, Ryan had 5-3-3-2 distribution, so it would have worked had I played it that way. I just assumed he had more spades and played to avoid an overruff.

I really don't know what's going on at work anymore, which is why I haven't bothered to make entries while my lunchtime activities have been restricted to Santorini. I've had some interesting matches, though.

Today's Bridge: Not a particularly fun day. The best hand was a 3C pre-empt that made the opponents miss 5D. I actually had a biddable hand for the finale, and it was Ken's turn to pre-empt 3S. I went for 4D and Ryan declined to correct to the superior heart fit, so I didn't really care how badly I played it, but on the bright side, 3S would have made exactly. I don't think there was a way for either side to take any different number of tricks.

Today's Work: Still rather painfully slow progress, and we're running into some problems with the things we thought were wrapped up. Alas. And who decides the middle of the day is a good time to shut down half the floor?

Today's Bridge: It was an experienced team against a less experienced team, and the results spoke for themselves, but I believe it was instructive. ( A great lesson in card reading.Collapse )

Today's Work: I started the big training effort, and was happy to discover that if I pass the pre-test in a learning module, it just gives me credit for it without having to take the course. That should help me hit the deadline.

Today's Bridge: Dang, it was a good day. ( We stopped short of slam, and I'm not sure whose fault it was that I made the contract.Collapse )

Today's Work: We're starting to resolve things, but I have an issue to discuss tomorrow morning to determine how we're going to finish what we're doing. I also made it to my morning training on time despite dreaming that I'd missed it, waking up, realizing that I still had a chance, missing it again, and then waking up from THAT dream.

This weekend's manga: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders hardbound 6, Oh My Sweet Alien, One-Punch Man 13, Queen's Quality 3, Sword Art Online Progressive 6, Today's Cerberus 7, Bloom Into You 4, Haganai 15, I Am a Hero 5, Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon Sword Oratoria 2, No Game No Life Please 3, Magical Director Mako-Chan's Magical Guidance, My Hero Academia 11, Nameless Asterism 1, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime 4, Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka 2, the first novel of Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest, Citrus 7, Clockwork Planet 7, Gabriel Dropout 2, Love & Lies 4, Netsuzou Trap 4, Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card 2, Akame ga Kill 13, Alice & Zoroku 3, Assassination Classroom 20, Fairy Tail 63 (the last one!), Kase-san and an Apron (book 4), and A Certain Magical Index 12, which I believe I skipped before because I still don't have book 11, but figured I might as well pick up this time around. I also bought a copy of Smallworld for 20% off, because I've been interested in it for a while. We played a game of it, and I won by a single point.

We also played a few rounds of Wizards Wanted, which is a neat and surprisingly strategic game, and the first two rounds of the Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle expansion, but we failed horribly at the second one twice in a row and gave up. I think the challenges in that one are patently unfair, especially since it's possibly to render one of them impossible to complete.

I may have had the experience of dreaming while wide awake. I can't say one way or the other, but the dreams were definitely weird enough.

Today's Bridge: We had some pretty impressive hands today. ( Two slams! One of them made! Neither by my side!Collapse )

Today's Work: Making definite progress toward something I've been wanting to do for a long time. Also hating Windows fonts. Lots of hating Windows fonts.

I tried steak fajitas for the first time tonight. I don't think they turned out very well. I probably used the wrong kind of steak and didn't cut it thin enough. But even bad fajitas are still pretty good.

Today's Bridge: Ken found the time to join us, so he partnered Brent against Dan and me. We've been partners surprisingly often recently, which is great for practicing Precision bidding. ( Great for those who care, anyway.Collapse )

Today's Work: Some arguments, but some decisions that I'm happy with for how to move forward.

Today's Bridge: I partnered with Ryan, who left me in a 4-2 heart fit when we had a 5-3 spade fit. S A-10-x-x-x H A-Q-x-x D K-x C x-x facing S Q-x-x H K-J D A-x-x-x-x C x-x-x or so. Dan led the top three clubs, so I knew Brent had the spade honors and finessed accordingly, eventually pulling trump and running the diamonds. I eventually got to finish the game with a 1NT, hard-fought, and 2NT to end the day, again barely making it. That was S A-J-x-x H A-Q-x-x D K-J-10 C 10-9 facing S 10-9 H x-x-x D x-x-x C A-K-Q-x-x. I opened 1D in fourth seat (barely too weak for 1NT), Dan overcalled 1S, and Ryan bid a light 2C. Despite the power being in the wrong place, I went for 2NT for lack of anything better. The opening lead was predictably a low club to Brent's king, which I ducked - a mistake, I think, in retrospect. I planned to duck the spade return to retain a double stop in spades, but he switched to a diamond, and my ten lost to the queen. Dan led the queen of spades, pinning the ten, so I took and led the ten, covered by the jack. I ducked as a safety play, even though I probably needed all five club tricks. Dan led another spade to clear the suit, and I ran the clubs. Dan threw one of his spades, which rendered him safe to lose a trick to. Thus, I led a diamond, and Brent hopped up with the ace to return a heart. I just took the ace and cashed the king of diamonds. Had he not sluffed a spade, I would have had to depend on the heart finesse, which would have lost.

Today's Work: More information about yesterday's problem, and a new problem that came up on a computer which was wiped before we could finish poking at it. So we've just got to work with what we have.

I've been quiet for a number of reasons, including some stuff at work that I'm not ready to talk about just yet. I've also been busy in the evenings with LP stuff, so I haven't bothered to find the time to write anything. I really should, though, since I found two Bridge hands from last Wednesday interesting enough to write down.

Wednesday's Bridge: ( Most people won't be interested in reading it, but it's a fascinating pair of hands.Collapse )

Today's Bridge: I teamed up with Nathan against Ryan and Dan, so the play was rather eclectic, to say the least. The hand I declared was S K-x-x-x H x D 9-x C A-Q-10-8-x-x - hardly a hand to bid on at all, but Nathan passed and Dan opened 1S to my right, so I knew we weren't missing a spade fit when I bid 3C. Nathan had S x-x H Q-J-10-x D Q-x-x-x C J-9-4, which was more than I could have hoped for. The lead was a low heart, so I put up the queen, and Dan took the ace and led a low heart back. I tossed a diamond, hoping for developments, and Ryan took the king. At last, he switched to the queen of spades, which ran to my king. I wanted to try to reach the good hearts, but I couldn't afford to give up the king of clubs on top of my other losers, so I exited in spades. Dan took that and led... another heart. Okay, there went my other diamond, and the first actual gain so far. In dummy at last, I ran the nine of clubs to Ryan's king, so the contract was a bust until that heart lead. Ryan tried the last heart, which Dan ruffed with the seven, but it no longer mattered - throwing a spade or a diamond wouldn't have helped him, since he'd still have a spade left and couldn't possibly cover dummy's four of clubs. I overruffed and led a spade, which Ryan ruffed with the five. I just overruffed with the jack and declared the rest on the crossruff.

Today's Work: Waiting for the world's slowest computer to install programs, only to discover that the program that needed to be installed before we started wasn't installed. Gah.

Today's Bridge: Dan and I teamed up again, and it was mostly a series of triumphs for Precision bidding. I started with a 4H pre-empt that was a bit of a stretch at S A-K-x H K-Q-10-9-8-x-x D x C x-x, but I saw no reason to cut corners and ended up off one. We hit 3NT after that, and I should have raised to 3NT in the next hand, but forgot my point count and was a bit shy with Q-x in diamonds. The defense was kind and we made 6. I stuck Dan in 4H with a Moysian fit in the next hand - we were probably short of power, but I had 3-5-5 shape with a void in his spades and all of my power in Diamonds. We finally finished the rubber with 2S in the next hand, and then went for a gross sacrifice 2S in the hand after that. I was hoping one of the opponents would brave 3D, but they left us to it.

Today's Work: We've officially run out of things to do, once the people running our repository get it up and running again so we can finish the last of what we had. That's not to say we'll be idle - we just have to do administrative stuff, which also badly needs to be done. It'll be a relief to spend some time on it.