JoAnneM

Too violent and crude for me but my husband loves it. I am more the Doc Martin and The Office type. They always cancel ones I like - Six Feet Under, for instance.

This is nothing more than a Zero Tolerance Policy for a whole town. :)

Maine had a regional three years ago, Vermont 2 years ago. Given attendance at those and the leanings of those now in charge in New England, it will be a while before either gets another regional. One of the troubles is that in New England the two most successful regionals are held in late June and Labor Day Weekend. The other two are held in November and February. It's hard to justify moving one of the money makers to Northern New England, and expecting people to travel to Vermont or Maine in November or February is sort of silly. The last two Maine regionals were held in November and it snowed during both. BTW, I was President of the district when the contracts for the most recent regionals in Vermont and Maine were signed. It is my opinion that some regionals should move around to cover less populated areas of a District where there is still interest in bridge. It was my hope that regionals would be held in Vermont and Maine once every 3-4 years. But, it seems that was a (small) minority opinion and there are no Vermont or Maine regionals currently planned (that I know of). The Regionals are listed by date at the ACBL website www.acbl.org Click on Tournaments. We face a similar problem in our area (District 20, of which I am currently President). Players want Regionals in their outlying areas so they won't have to travel for their gold points but they don't realize how much it costs to put on a Regional and that they do have to make a profit. We expect our three larger Regionals to carry our two rotating smaller Regionals that make little or no money, plus pay for our District publication, N/A events, Education and I/N expenses, and admin costs. Now there is a movement by the uninformed to dump one of the larger Regionals and add another small one. I can sympathize with their motivations but when you look at the money, which someone has to do, it is just not possible. Then we are the bad guys. Oh well, that's why we get the big bucks. LOL

That map is fascinating. Look how many Regionals Florida has, and not one Regional in all of Utah, including Salt Lake City, or Wyoming, South or North Dakota, Maine, Vermont, or West Virginia. You can certainly tell where the population is centered, especially the retirees.

Just talked to my brother-in-law in Tuscon. He said at one new car dealer it's buy one new car and get another new car - free!

It sounds to me like most people didn't even know they were in a Ponzi scheme. Also, what about the guy who had been complaining to the SEC for the past 8 years about Madoff. I think there are some people in the SEC who should go to jail! Probably some very rich people.

Back in the 50's I went on a church camping trip to Yosemite and all of us kids rode in the back of the pickups on top of our sleeping bags. What a great time that was! Could you see that happening now? On the other hand, when we were living near Ft. Meade in Maryland many years ago ten kids were joy riding in a pickup truck at night and eight of them ended up in trees, the field, and the ditch - all dead. Two sets of siblings in that group, very tragic. Of course in my case adults were driving.

I might point out that there are five Regional Tournaments going on between Xmas and New Years in the USA, so lots of ftf tournament action. That's where I will be - Reno!.

I plan to start saying "no"

These haven't been the answers I expected based on my question but it has been really interesting reading everyone's replies. Mostly we think we are a pretty savvy, and sophisticated group, from what I read. One answer did make me think back to my childhood. My father was raised on a farm; a plantation in fact. But even though his parents were very well off he never received a Xmas or birthday gift while he was growing up, until he was 12 when his father gave him a shotgun. When my father became a parent his happiest times were our birthdays and Xmas because he made them so special for us. We were not overindulged, but we got presents and some were from him and my mom, and some were from Santa. I don't think he ever forgot that lack in his own childhood that was probably just part of a lifestyle, but to a kid was just pure rejection.

Thanks, Fred :blink:

I have rented GIB, and have a few questions: 1. Where can I see a review of the system GIB plays 2. Can I choose conventions, defenses, etc? I don't see anywhere to make these selections, of course that may be my answer.

I used to be in business to, albeit the wholesale farm equipment business, but is the cost issue really that important? Just about every major department store sells their fine jewelry at 50% off all year round, so you just accept that the sale price is the real price. Besides, every store has its "loss leaders" and those truly are bargains, if you can pick them out. You opened a shop in a difficult economic time - the best of luck to you.

Input errors off a traveler or pickup ticket should be the exception to any rules about time expiring. There are all kinds of reasons why you can't check your scores right away, including the crowd around the scores, in Boston the rail system shutting down too early, your ride won't wait for you, etc. I think people need to lighten up about this kind of stuff.

Conundrum: : a question or problem having only a conjectural answer While out shopping and listening to the radio I was hearing ads for incredible sales. One ad I heard was for $700 coats marked down to $170, and this was at a very expensive store. My question is this: are people going to go to the stores they usually shop at, take advantage of the sales there, and thereby spend less money this Christmas; or, are they going to go to the more expensive stores, buy better quality goods and spend the same amount or even more than usual. I just wonder what it would take for someone to change their shopping "habits".

Where is 30 minutes coming from? That's not for one session regular events. I work in Director's offices, they are correcting the next day! And what medals and prize money are we talking about? I have never seen any of that, maybe I am playing in the wrong games. ACBL doesn't even allow prize money.

How many play that opening 1NT is forcing? I don't know anyone but that is what it is call in the GCC - Forcing 1NT Opening Bid. BTW, Rick Beye is no longer head honcho for the ACBL Directors and they are in a "transition" period which I finally tracked down was where my "picky" emails from ACBL were coming from recently.

Even when the daily bulletins are printed at NABC's there is the disclaimer that the scores posted are not final, due to possible errors. It just seems incredible to me that an incorrect score would be allowed to stand, no matter when it was discovered. And I can't imagine a DIC wanting to run a tournament that issued points based on incorrect scoring.

What makes you think we would rather not be there? I think volunteer directors are probably there for the best reasons, they want to help the club. It would just be nice to have more of them. Another pet peeve of mine - It would also be nice if players took the time to learn the basic rules, not so they can make their own rulings at the table, but so they can know when to call the director! Some players get away with "murder" because other players are ignorant.

doesn't it almost seem like the directors are poorly chosen, poorly educated on the matters and their "directing" is hardly ever scrutinized? AMEN Are you kidding? My co-director and I have been pleading with our two clubs for 4 YEARS for someone else to step into director shoes. At almost every Unit Board meeting we plead for them to sponsor more directors, I have offerred to give director classes, no one signs up, we have even bought the books. But you go right ahead and critcize us volunteers who get paid NOTHING to come out twice a week and put up with the children at the game. At least at our club the directors know the rules and we have trained the players to call us. Oh, BTW, I am on the west coast, in Northern California

Well let me ask this. Tournaments are more and more now posting session results and and scores online. If you are attending a large tournament and spend the morning online checking all your scores and looking at the results and notice an error from two days ago for a two-session open pairs event do you think the direcotrs should correct it? What if it is a computer entry error?

I think this is a gray area. The 30 minute rule applies to scoring errors, but I have never seen it enforced. I have seen directors at Regionals correct scores even the next morning. But I think claim and revoking charges are limited to the start of the next round, unless agreed to by all parties. I also really doubt that person revoked on purpose. I once over ruffed declarer twice in one hand only to realize I had three of that suit. Honestly, I didn't do it on purpose, I even played the cards later and no one said a thing.

10 points and 6 clubs vs a 10 point nt? Of course everyone is going to bid that. It was a perfectly good ruling.

I have to agree that the competency of directing at the club level can range from National Directors to near novices who barely know how to run ACBLscore and maybe keep the boards moving correctly. I think ACBL fails in director education when it should be a key ingredient to running a successful club. I have been lucky to co-direct with a Tournament Director but I have been the "victim" at other clubs of bad rulings. And knowing the correct ruling just makes it harder to accept. However, I have never experienced a director making a biased call.

If "don't work too hard" is actually meant as an official serious critique then the user should be fired. If it is used by an equal level employee then it really means nothing, just chat. The thing about sarcasm is that even though there might be a disclaimer like a smiley face, or a "just kidding" there are always some underlying true feelings there. I know I say things that I think are funny and they come across to others as sarcastic. Part of it online is a lack of facial expression and tone of voice.