Monthly Archives: January 2007

Disc Golf 01/12/2007

Hole 7

I finally picked up the first “official” description of the winter-course at Old Settlers Park. On Wednesday night at 8pm, I make my way out to the billboard at OSP. I was told by the person who runs the weekly disc golf group that he would leave a copy for me there. It was quite an adventure getting there. They have taken out one of the entrances to the park due to road construction. But I ignore the large construction sign and cross where the new road will be placed to make it to the park road. Only to find out 50 feet later that they blocked the other side of the road as well. So I make it back out onto the main road and drive out to the second entrance and then to the billboard.

I can figure out from the course description where most of the tee boxes are. But I have questions about a couple of them. And, after a email to the leader of the group, I was still unsure of a couple of holes. So today I went out in the gloomy weather to do some exploring. He said that he would mark the tee boxes off with spray paint. And he certainly did that. I was able to answer all of my questions.

Here is the view from hole 7. It is a short and straight throw. Two trees have been marked as “mandatory” (meaning that you must pass to one side of them. since there is one on the left and one on the right, this will form a gate to pass through).

Hole 8

Hole 8 was the biggest of the unknowns. And I have finally found it. It also forms a tunnel to where the basket lies. But it is more forgiving. If you can avoid the trees of course.

Hole 10

And here is where hole 10 is. I had suspected that previously. But a confirmation is nice.

rock pile

Hrm… that’s not a good sign. There is a pile of rocks out by the lake.

Game Day 01/11/2007

Augsburg 1520

I tried another playing of Augsburg. I played it in the last week of December, so I thought that I remembered the rules. But I did get one rule completely wrong and some other rules slightly wrong. Sigh. People love to catch and report those issues. Kinda makes you want to never try out a new game…

Sticheln

Susan wanted to try out Sticheln next. As a three player game, I must say that Sticheln is at its best. And it is a good game for giving you the feeling of impending doom. But I was dealt some rather painful hands. When I pick 4 of a color as my initial pain card, you know I had some rather hard choices. So I spent most of the game looking over my collection of games and thinking “I would rather be playing this game…”.

Tichu

To end out the night, a game of Tichu was called for. On my first hand, I called Tichu. I was a little worried when Doug over-bombed my point-grabbing bomb. However, not only did I make it out first, but my partner, Jon, made it out second. It was a good start to the game.

And then we ran out of steam. The other side was catching up. Fortunately, we crossed the finish-line first.


01/11/2007 The scorecard for a game of Tichu

GT or T bet made or lost

This team scored more points than the other or one twoed
GT/T Team #1 GT/T GT/T Team #2 GT/T
MarkH & Jon AdamR & DougG
T+ 300     0  
  450 T+   50  
  485    
115
 
 
665
T+   135  
  715     285 T+
  715   T+ 585  
 
770
    730 T+
  790    
810
 
  990     810  
  1040   T+ 960  

Self-serve propane

self serve propane

Interesting. When I went to home depot to get a refill on propane, I discovered that they have now automated the whole process. You either insert a credit card or scan in your receipt (wrapped around a credit card amusingly enough). One of those doors will then pop open. Your task is to figure out which. You place the empty container inside and close the door. Another door will pop open and you hunt again. You then take the full container from the spot.

Pretty easy and it beats having to wait around for an associate to show up.

Lunch Time Tichuers 01/09/2007

Wow. Five one/twos in the game. For Adam’s Tichu call, he decided to call it because of the passed cards. Both Jon and Adam passed low cards to each other. Ed starts the round out by wishing a card out of Jon’s hand. Since Jon did not decide to call Tichu, Adam decides to make the riskier call. He figures that Jon had a strong hand since he passed low. This would promote his hand a little bit because he figures that some of the honors are in Jon’s hand. That was indeed the case and Adam makes his Tichu call.

On my call, there were three bombs out there. I have: A, KKKxx, 6 card bomb, a 6 and a 2. Thankfully Jon wishes the two out of my hand. I play my Ace which Jon Dragons. I consider bombing it but wait. Now I have to worry about is playing a six. But Jon leads a low single and, surprisingly enough, my six won that round! I play my full house and bomb it. Ed now steps up to the plate and goes for the one/two. He bombs a round but Jon over-bombs it. However, he didn’t need to worry about it because he still went out second.


01/09/2007 The scorecard for a game of Tichu

GT or T bet made or lost

This team scored more points than the other or one twoed
GT/T Team #1 GT/T GT/T Team #2 GT/T
Ed & MarkH Jon & AdamR
T+
165
    35  
  165     335 T+
 
245
    355  
T+ 545     355  
  745     355  
  745     555  
  1045 T+   555  

This next game evens out the karma I suppose. But I protest calling it an official game! For some unspecified reason… Can’t let the other team win now, can we?


01/09/2007 The scorecard for a game of Tichu

GT or T bet made or lost

This team scored more points than the other or one twoed
GT/T Team #1 GT/T GT/T Team #2 GT/T
Ed & MarkH Jon & AdamR
 
75
    25  
  100    
200
T+
 
195
    305 T+
  205   T+
495
 
  205     795 T+

Texas 42

The 42 group is the only group still active during lunch at work. So I play with them unless it is Tuesday and Tichu makes. Our team was down 0/4. Then we slowly fought our way to 4/4. And I get the following hand: 6:6 5:5 2:2 0:0 6:4 and two low tiles (maybe one was 5:1). I think about for for a while. And then I decide to plunge. This is a three mark bid where you have four or more doubles and your partner calls trump and leads. My partner perks up and bumps the bid up to four marks because he has the remaining 3 doubles and something to transfer the lead to me. Kinda flawed in a way since the game is played to seven marks.

I have also seen people overbid when they are behind just to determine the trump suit. And then get set because they have a poor hand.

links

7 wonders of your state link via

World War Three seen through Soviet eyes link via

Graph image of nuclear weapon strengths link via

3D art built by stainless steel powder hardened with a laser link via

Why the housing inflation? link via

Umm, how much is this check worth? link via

What if they released a movie and nobody came? link via

Coffee with a drop of milk link via

Stormtrooper Rose Parade link via

Pulp SF 2007 calendar link via

The 10 most outragous civil liberties violations of 2006 link via

Blanks on a blank filming challange (too bad I missed it) link via

Post-it note Jaguar link via

Star wars made as a silent film link via

Turn one 9-volt battery into 6 AAAA batteries link via

13 Photographs That Changed the World link via

What does 200 calories look like? link via

Simpsons in anime style link and Futurama in anime style link via

The universe within 14 billion lightyears link via

Celery straws link via

There goes my neighbor

for sale

Sigh, my neighbor is leaving… He and I are the only original homeowners in our neighborhood. Turn-over is very high around here. I am definitely worrying about who is going to buy the house. All I need is another loud and obnoxious dog barking at all hours of the day.

Gah! I tried to search for the house on the realtor’s site and failed. What an awful site under firefox. And I love this error message: “Your search returned 201 or more results, which is over the limit of 200 for this service. Please alter your criteria to limit your results to 200 or fewer records”. But I found it. I wonder how long that link will last… Nope. Not long at all: “There is a problem accessing this site through the requested URL. Please try again through an authorized URL”. Image wanting to link to a web site…

Pizza sepdux

Mexican Pizza

This is my best pizza yet. For toppings, I went South of the border: taco seasoned ground beef, H.E.B. roasted salsa, black beans, roasted poblano peppers, roasted jalapeño peppers, cooked onions, Monterey cheese, and topped with Crema Mexicana Agria.

The next time, I am going to try Japanese curry sauce, pork roast, and vegetables…