SO what's with no FB Doppelganger week again?  (sigh) I guess I'll have to continue my own.  Memory Lane anyone?

Last year's submission #1, #2, and #3
Last year's submission #4




A la Tosh.0, I hope this is my Web Redemption for vinylchances since Christopher Eccleston is a much better and more attractive actor than the last guy:

Hey-o sports fans!  I returned to the legendary Albany NYE tourney after skipping two (for financial reasons, not lack of addiction).  It feels good to be back in the crease (yes, I know the humorous potential here, but it's still less dirty than 'five-hole')  It was fun seeing some folks I hadn't seen for 3-4 years. Also playing bingos not played before was pretty cool.

I really appreciated how low-key (no lowkey#?) the attendees were, which made for some pretty enjoyable environs.  And not having the block ('s businesses) shut down so early and often was nice too.  All hail the Queen of Div. B!  dianagram was clearly on a hot streak as her bingers below show!  I was 4-0 against her going in and am now 4-2.


( Paydirt... )

Newly-rare sighting of poor sportsmanship foiled! 

So I'm in a game with a legendary sourpuss.  Let's call him Mr. S.  I came from behind to bingo-bango with (G)ENTIL(e)S then ENAMOUR and left in the bag is AAU (*sad trombone*).  Thankfully, he has to block AU(R)A and I've got the out in two, but not before he whips out 'Oh, that's so lucky, that was the only bingo in that pool!'  I  considered myself lucky to have the snap-back answer to his sourness within 3 seconds and it's pretty basic.  The only thing I can figure (in terms of why this STEE didn't see it) is that it's 'new.'  TILES:  AAAEMNROUU.  Anyway, deflation of sourness achieved, and more importantly HE WAS O.K. WITH THE LOSS!  AND we discussed a position in the game where he missed a bingo (which I would have bingoed through anyway, so it came out in the wash). 

Hey all you ISC junkies!  I'm trying to use the Chat feature on the application and my Dell laptop simply cordons off the feature into the start bar without actually opening it.  All attempts to

1) drag it off the start bar to use it
2) right-click to maximize it
3) left-click to open it

are thwarted- right-click simply offers an option to close it. 

Any tips?  Is it a security settings issue on the setup for the laptop (I have to run ISC as an administrator)?  Or should I reinstall WordBiz hoping to have it clear up?  Environ is Windows 7. 

This weekend was awesome.  I drew 25/36 blanks and went 14-4 +1300+ for the [ETA: Div. 2] gold.  I particularly loved:
( Paydirt... )

 My eXchange with the winningest of food bloggers I know (xpmorgan ) has spawned the release of a recipe I had bubbling in the cauldrons of season past.  I originally got it from lowcarbfriends.com which means (as someone veg. and/or Spanish-speaking might have grokked) IT'S TIME TO PUT THE MEAT ON!!! Unabashed carnivorism* has never been so tasty.  I realize love of the tomatillo can be vegeterian, sorry mthgeek , but this has to be cooked by those of us who can taste our ways past the resource footprints:
( Food Porn Awaits... )

Sometimes I find that in order for internet exchanges to be entertaining they have to be either meaningfully constructive or trivially funny, but are too uncommonly both.  The Average Observer's conundrum is always how much they should get to judge someone else's work, attitude, appearance, etc. when they are none of the critical parties in exchanges and it is therefore really none of their business (assuming you recognize there is still is such a thing). 

Anywho*,  what made me think of this is a bit posted at regretsy.com (whose creator is known for her respectful-of-effort yet cutting snark) about the (viral) exchange over a Kindle review of "The Greek Seaman" (insert title-based joke here).  

Awesome exchange

The comments thread is entertaining for many reasons.  Sure, some commenters have delightful bits of painful prose to relate to others and their own spin to place on the events.  What's remarkable is how composed and civil the 'detractors' of the author are.  It is very refreshing to see a number of people refuse to step up the level of drama in the situation.  Granted, many of the commenters issue the (occasionally vague) passive-aggressive  'Hunh!  We're publishers and we'll remember your attitude' proclamations, but as a body none of them seems to get really personal, particularly as personal as the beleaguered author gets.  The lack of negative engagement serves to underscore the unwarranted hostility on the part of the author.   (I suppose it may be easier to avoid engagement with the author since she clearly Has Issues)

 Hey, it's February right?  Where's the love, FB?  Sigh.  Fine, you made me do it.  These are not perfect twins by any means, but certainly if movies were to be made featuring  these scrabblers, the respective actors would be at the top of the casting lists.  Fair notice:  most of the actors of my height and girth have the wrong hair, eyes, or face but if anyone finds someone they think would make a good doppelganger of me let me know.  

 The trend is hardly fresh, but maybe y'all will get a kick out of this:

So here are two notable games from Portland, conincidentally the last two of the tourney, against sr_orangepants and scrabblek8  (thanks for rax).  The first was my lowest-equity-loss game at around 45 points (and at least a semi-bagging) but had a great engame too.  The second had a great endgame too, hijinks ensuing.  My average equity loss per game was about 95 for the tourney, which is normal for me.

Game 1 

Game 2

Dr. StrangeFingers : How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Draw All the Blanks The Last Day

Sheesh, what a run! I felt like I slowed down, showed some initiative and played aggressively this tourney. It almost always worked. I don’t remember once getting a bingo spot stomped on after the jeez-please-don’t-take-my-spot-not-staring-at-it-too-much-to-jinx-it mental concentration dance.

Blanks were running exactly even the first two days, 16/16 games but then I started drawing and playing much better the last day- all 8 blanks in four games.   Record against LJers 7.5-1.5

( The Nitty Gritty )
The weather was great and company quite pleasant in the playing room.  That may sound like faint praise but compared to playing in a room with sourpusses, I vastly prefer the former. It was also cool socializing about Top Chef and other foody shows with sr_orangepants  and Lisa Odom. 

ETA:  Anyone got racks if I didn't get them from you already?