| Raffle luck |
[Monday 2008.07.07|13:11] |
For quite some time now, I've complained about my luck in raffles. The last time I remember winning something was grad night in high school...and that was me winning a gag gift.
When I go to bonspiels, I always participate in the raffles because they are primarily a fund raiser for the club, not a positive expectation opportunity for me. As expected, I never win.
But last weekend, that changed. I was at the Hollywood Curling Club funspiel. They had a lot of movie-themed items. I bought $20 worth of tickets -- 24 tickets. There were maybe 30 raffle prizes, and I won three of them! I guess it was almost kind of obnoxious. But what can you do? :-)
The next day, while walking on the Santa Monica pier, a pigeon pooped on me. My teammate told me I should go play the lottery. I say the jackpot isn't large enough. But how long does the poop karma last? |
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| Bonspiel, day three |
[Sunday 2007.09.02|23:59] |
I got up super early to get to the arena at 6:00 a.m. in order to observe and help with the ice preparation. The guys who did the ice prepping for the bonspiel (Jim and Chuck) were going to show us how to go about doing things. It was quite interesting. I learned a lot. But many things are still puzzling and fuzzy. Ice making is complicated and confusing. (And frankly, not well understood in my opinion, considering how many people who have been ice making for years and years don't agree on things.)
I didn't get to play today, but I brought my stuff in case a practice sheet was available. But that wasn't the case once the game started.
I watched all the games going on. The championship game between Birr and Markowski was close for a few ends. In the third end, Markowski had the option of going for a double takeout with the hammer which would have left them sitting four or five, I think. But it was a difficult shot. If they missed they would have given up one. The discussed it for a while, but in the end they chose to go for the hit / draw with backing which they made for one. One of the other observers I spoke to said he definitely would have gone for the double takeout, considering the opposition. I don't think either choice was *obviously* right, but I think I agree with the observer. If I play conservative game against Team Birr, who do I think is going to be more consistent or make the first mistake? The double may be a low percentage shot, but if I make it, I might be able to protect that lead. (The score was 1-1 at that point, I believe.) And the downside would have been giving up one and keeping the hammer. (I think. I couldn't see the rocks from where I was at the other end of the sheet. I'm not sure whether Birr was sitting one or two, but I know that they did not have more than two in the house.)
But Team Birr did prevail in the end. They were very gracious to the organizers. I think the Wine Country Curling Club did a great job.
Edit (00:04): Oh yeah, there was a news crew at the bonspiel from KCRA. They "interviewed" (that is, asked the same couple of questions) to Gabrielle and me and a bunch of other people. I don't know which footage they'll include or whether it aired tonight or some later date or if at all. I guess they stick segments like that on the website sometimes. |
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| Bonspiel, day 2 |
[Saturday 2007.09.01|23:23] |
I got to the ice arena about half-an-hour before our 8:00 a.m. draw, and hardly anyone was there. The ice making crew was doing their thing. I watched for a bit.
Our first game of the day (second overall) went well. We scored eight in the first three ends, then the other team got one. Then they conceded.
That's not unusual in curling, but at our club, ice time is so valuable that we always play it out even when the score is lopsided. Nevertheless, I did not mind because I could use the sheet to practice which was something I badly needed. (Practice time is even more rare than ice time!)
I watched a lot of the other games during the break.
In our third game, we got slaughtered by Dave Markowski's team (one of the resident Vacaville curlers). They scored two with the hammer in the first, then they stole one, then we were held to one, then they scored one, then they scored five (or so). That was basically the game. We had our chance to take one instead of giving up a big number, but it wasn't just that one shot. We were getting outplayed every end. They were clearly the better team that game.
I was disappointed. If we had won, we would have been in the championship game tomorrow morning against what turned out to be Todd Birr's rink. (Todd Birr and his team are the defending U.S. champions and world bronze medalists, if you didn't know.)
I watched more curling in the next draw. It's cool to see so much activity going on. And the publicity seemed to work -- people who did not curl did come in to see what it was all about.
Before the banquet, I volunteered to help the icemakers do their thing. It took a bit long and so I was a little late to dinner, but I learned a lot and got to run the Ice King a bit. (It's like a mini-Zamboni.)
The rest of the evening was dinner, raffle, music, dancing and drinking.
I agreed to come in at 6:00 tomorrow morning along with a bunch of other people to help the icemakers, but more importantly to learn so that we can employ the techniques at our own clubs.
Obviously, I should be sleeping now. |
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| Day 1 bonspiel |
[Friday 2007.08.31|23:17] |
I left work around 1 p.m. b/c Margery had me kind of paranoid about Labor Day weekend traffic. I had smooth sailing until just short of the 80-680 interchange. Then it was sloooooow. I was falling asleep. (Never good while driving.) Traffic was slow on 80 for a few miles then mysteriously cleared up.
I was early so I volunteered my services to help where I could. First I cut several loaves of bread (oh, what I would have given for a good serrated knife!), then I plopped myself down at the registration table. (Odd, huh??)
Anyway, let me tell you. I'm way impressed with the production that the Wine Country Curling Club put on. There were like what, eight people organizing the whole thing? They made the hospitality room look great. An amazing display of raffle prizes. Welcome gifts. (Crap, I left mine on the table. I hope someone picked it up for me.) They did a great job in a lot of areas.
The ice, unfortunately, still left something to be desired. It wasn't horrible, but I guess I was hoping for better.
Oh, you want to hear about actual curling?
We had an early draw. We were playing Dave Holt (president of the club), but he had two out-of-towners on his team. They won the hammer. I think the way the scoring went, they scored one, then we scored three, then we stole one in each of the next four ends.
So with two ends to play, we had a six point lead. They proceeded to score two, and that's not horrible since we had a four point lead and the hammer coming home.
We proceeded to have our worst end and missed practically every shot. With the hammer to play, our opponents were actually sitting five and could win the game if we missed. But Mike did not miss. Whew!
We have an early draw tomorrow, but I stayed through the next draw b/c I am a curling fiend. I just have so few opportunities to watch live curling. And lots of rooting interests too. I am not rooting against the visitors, but obviously I know a lot of people playing. I got to watch Todd Birr's rink play as well. Up close! Maybe I was annoyingly close since I went out on the ice and most people were watching from behind the glass.
Anyway, I'm at Andrew's place now and I should get to bed. We have an 8:00 draw. That's one thing they didn't get right. The winning teams should have the 10:30 draws. :-) |
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