JoAnneM

I have been around both machines pretty often. I was speaking about the Bridgemate II when I said I hoped they would be at Reno. We used the Bridgepad at the Chico Sectional recently and it went very smoothly as our TD was trained by Diane Barton-Paine who was their first TD-Demonstrator. But, surprisingly, she is now pushing either machine - just get them!!

I noticed some interesting enhancements: Show player names at start of round. Have you ever wondered who you are playing? You rarely actually see it on a convention card. Players can review and edit their scores. Hope that is an option! Show Current Ranking. How many like barometer scoring? I hope they will be using some of these machines in Reno, hope to see some of you there.

I got a Bridgemate II demo unit in the mail from the company. Seems nice, not sure what I am supposed to do with it.

Dave Sleepless In Seattle Fargo My Cousin Vinny You've Got Mail

This reminds me of why I have been happily married for 48 years. A large part of life is knowing when to pick your battles. In a casual setting what purpose is gained in embarrassing someone, unless of course someone is asking directions to the hospital. But we all listen to friends talk about things they have done or that they know that we are also familiar with, and if they make a slip what is the purpose of correcting them? It's distracting to what they are saying and probably not even important to the story or the moment. In fact it usually makes the person doing the correcting just look silly. This is totally different from an academic or professional situation, some people can't tell the difference.

Pets help people live longer and happier, go for it!

Great thread! Our cat is an orange tabby rescue cat that we adopted from the animal shelter. He was about six months old and had got himself caught up in the engine of a sheriff deputy's car. They had treated a wounded front leg and we thought that was it. When we got him home we noticed he was limping on his right hind leg. A visit to the vet the next day confirmed a fractured hip. Unfortunately it could not be repaired so she said "just remove the hip joint, he won't miss it"!! So, $800 later we took our pound kitten home missing one hip joint, with a shaved rear end, stitches, and wearing a cone around his neck so he couldn't reach the incision. Within a week he was walking without a trace of a limp, he can jump as high as a tallboy dresser, or just about anywhere he wants. The vet's only stipulation was that he become a house cat only, which was our intent anyway as we live on a busy road and had already lost two pets to it. Oh, and we named him Barney Fife (Barney for short) because of the sheriff's car. He is three years old now and a big baby who thinks he rules the roost. My favorite dog is my son's golden retriever, Peeka, a beautiful cream colored softie who loves and protects my granddaughters, and who lets them do just about anything to her.

I like all of the characters on the Mentalist, they are a great ensemble. I also like Criminal Minds, does anyone watch that? We just found it this year so don't know how long it has been on. As for leads, no one outshines Simon Baker!

Was it a complete waste of time? Would be nice if the interview went well and the position was interesting. What a nightmare!

I fail to see how my paying off my credit cards (only 2) every month is screwing the shop owners. They get the sales and pay the fee, which is built into the sales price. The credit card companies love me because I just funnel purchase fees to them and never cause them any trouble with collections, etc. Everything is done automatically online. I get money back from them every year for spending a lot of their card and generating those vendor fees. And both my cards are "no fee" cards. I don't see the problem, ethical or otherwise.

We have the Kindle Dx and the smaller Kindle. They are both great - I prefer the larger DX. The e-ink is extremely easy on the eyes and the Kindle has six font sizes, most of which I use for various purposes. I also like being able to have either portrait or landscape reading. Amazon makes it very easy with their free wireless, and you can also download other e-books, pdf, etc. Nothing has disappointed me yet. On the other hand, I have been given an iPad for my birthday, which of course, has not been shipped yet, so I am waiting to see what that is like. I don't know which model it is.

That looks like bread you can find in almost any San Francisco bakery.

How big is your club? We have a partnership chairman, and she records who is coming for specific games and she has a list of "set" partnerships for the different games. She also knows pretty much who won't paly with who, and she knows to try to match people up by phone or when they are by themselve, not to trap them into anything with other people standing around. So, she pretty much knows who needs a game.

As our players get older/slower using the bye stand/relay 8 round 3 board movement is a welcome break when we have 8 tables, as most of our movements use 27 or 28 boards. Once in a while we get to go home early. And they are really good at relaying and using that bye stand.

We have two metal tv trays at each table. It's a pain because we have to set up and put away each game but it is so much more comfortable not to have all that stuff on the table. And most people put the boxes on the trays during after the bidding and it's a nice clean table.

We watched "Up", probably the only animated film we have ever rented and it was amazing. A wonderful story, cute animations, and a beautiful film.

Actually I was just comparing similar "attacks" on Microsoft that have been in the post in this thread about Apple. Maybe not by people here, or even in this Forum, but Microsoft is a favorite target, just like Apple. I have a Kindle, too, so I am not selling the iPad. My only interest was iPad and BBO.

The basic iPad comes with Wi-Fi capability that does not require a subscription. Anywhere there is available wi-fi you can connect. I upgrade models require subscriptions for 3G. I know nothing about the flash situation but I have an iPhone and have downloaded lots of free apps. Shame on Apple, and Microsoft for that matter, for wanting to make money. :)

What's your point? I want to be able to play BBO bridge on this new "thing", so I am talking about it. My point was that you should have continued that thread, not started a new one. I just posted a comment in that thread similar to what Uday wrote here. Without Flash, it will require an entirely new app to be written from the ground up. I forgot about the other thread completely. I humbly apologize. :)

What's your point? I want to be able to play BBO bridge on this new "thing", so I am talking about it.

Tomorrow is the big day! Apple introduces its new 10" tablet that will have both an OS and use Apps. Even my daughter-in-law won't tell me the final name, but she does tell me it's fantastic. So, will I be able to sit in the car and play BBO tournies via 3G or "Whispernet" while tooling down the road? (as a passenger of course) The screen is certainly going to be large enough and think of the potential, people being able to play wherever they are. Only the addicted would understand.

There is a reason ACBL books their NABC's so far in advance. At a meeting with ACBL in planning the upcoming Reno NABC I was told that there are 15 suitable venues in the US and Canada for holding NABC's. That's not many to choose from.

I am reading the J.P. Beaumont series by J.A. Jance. I just read for fun.

Does the tie rule apply to women too?

I would prefer to play the hand. I don't know that I am better than GIB but I have watched GIB go down on cold contracts because of totally weird plays early in the contract. I am not saying I would never go down on those contracts or that I would always get a higher score than the other tables, but with a contract where the bidding has exactly the same and my GIB partner is declaring, the hand the hand is essentially over after the bidding. Having South declare just adds another variable to the scoring.