April 2004 Archives

In December a picture was posted to the setlist section of guster dot com that prominently featured my taping rig smack dab in the middle of it (thanks, Allyson!). I've now managed my second indirect mention on the web site in the latest version of the band's road journal (as written by percussionist extraordinaire, Brian Rosenworcel) - a reference to the voice of dearly-departed front-of-house engineer (that's sound guy to those of you not in the biz) Gordon Reddy popping up on my recording of the Gusters at Radio City Music Hall last August. It's flattering to get the mention but the circumstances are rather sad - Gordon's been invited on the road to do sound for Sarah McLachlan and will not be doing Guster's sound this summer. I'm sad to see him go - he and I had gotten to be quite friendly over the past fourteen months (is that all??) and we had developed quite a rapport (which I guess you have to, when you see the same tape ape like THIRTY TIMES over that period...probably more). Have fun touring with Canadian people, Gordon. Run free. Come back and visit.

image courtesy Greg Germanowski

Yeah, I made that face too.

My best friend Chris has had season tickets to Fenway in his family for quite a few years. As we got to be better friends before his move to DC, he'd offer me the occasional pair of tickets that he or his parents were unable to use. But once he'd made the decision to move down to DC a few years back, I thought I'd be out of luck because he can't make it to every weekend game (his package is a weekends-only package which doesn't exist anymore, but it's still available to them because it was grandfathered in after the change to the new ownership group) and his parents didn't want to be tied to two games a weekend.

Fortunately, they decided to keep them and rely on their "A-list" of friends to buy the excess tickets off them, and we've worked our way to the top of the list - so basically once Chris and his parents have decided which games they want, we get first crack. The last couple of seasons we've even plunked down for a few games for my parents, so the wealth is being spread very well around the family.

When the schedule came out for this year's games, there were two weekends in April - opening weekend against Toronto and this weekend against the Yankees. Chris was in town for opening weekend with his girlfriend but couldn't make both weekends, so we got our choice of Saturday against the Blue Jays or the following weekend against the legions of Darth Steinvader. We cherrypicked the Yankees for ourselves (and gave my parents a nice Curt Schilling start against the Jays instead).

Coincidentally, our last game at Fenway was also against the Yankees, a rather boring defeat in the ALCS last year at the hands of David Wells (now living the exciting life in San Diego at Petco Park. Wonder how long it'll take for people to start calling it the Litterbox? After all, Minute Maid Park in Houston is known as the Juicebox...). So we were looking for some revenge.

The fans, of course, were in full-on revenge mode all weekend - after fairly convincing wins on Friday and Saturday, folks were starting to dream of a sweep - and the insanity was at a fever pitch anyway with the press having hyped everything ridiculously since He Who Shall Not Be Named ended the Sox season last year (and then had the unmitigated gall to tear up his knee, admit he did it while playing basketball, in violation of his contract, have it terminated by the Yankees, and clear the way for some new third baseman). A selection of the shirts, bumper stickers and other anti-Yankee paraphernalia sported by the fandom in the general Fenway area:

The classics: Yankees Suck!
The kid-friendly: Yankees Stink!
The word play: Foulke A-Rod
The vulgar: Gay-Rod/Jeter Sucks A-Rod
The lengthy: Take those 26 rings and shove 'em up your ass!
The visual: Yank These (accompanied by a scrotum-shaped pair of baseballs)

All sorts of intelligent, kinder gentler Red Sox fan stuff. Still, nothing can compare to the simplest and frostiest of frosty receptions that A-Rod got every trip to the plate - an extended and hearty booing from all corners of the ballpark. Also, nothing can compare to seeing the game without the father/son (uncle/nephew? grandfather/grandson?) pair behind us - a grumpy older guy who, as far as we can determine, has NEVER enjoyed himself at a game (always ranting about falling behind hitters, or giving up cheap hits, or the price of tea in China) and his bratty sportsaholic Yankee-fan kid who can't go more than 30 seconds without checking his cell phone for sports score updates, drone on about the Yankees (even when the Sox aren't playing them) or overuse silly nicknames for Sox players he dislikes for no particular reason (Shea Raisinbrand is one I remember in particular).

All in all, while it was great to be back at the park, it was a thoroughly unsatisfying game. All the action happened in the first three innings, both starters were gone by the 4th, and then both teams went to sleep. Blah. The best part of the afternoon was actually getting to go ON THE FIELD (see Viv's account) and then later randomly running into my friend Steve's parents in the conrouse while Viv was putting ketchup on her Italian sausage. Very nice to see them and catch up on all the family news.

Next game, May 22nd against Toronto for Tufts' 5th reunion weekend (I am, of course, an honored guest). Next tickets from Chris' family are the following weekend against the Mariners. Should be a good game...

If you've seen both movies, this is worth a glance. Got a good chuckle out of a few scenes in particular.

The Princess Menace

Other than 24/Alias and the entire Red Sox season, I'm really not much of a TV fanatic. I'll flip around and watch what's on, but I wouldn't consider myself a "fan" of too many shows. But with Viv working late the other night, I happened upon a show on the Discovery Channel that totally appealed to my inner geek (which some would argue isn't all that inner) - "Mythbusters".

The essential premise is that two special-effects experts use everything that they have at their disposal to either prove or debunk urban legends. This particular show they tackled three that you may have heard at one point or another. The first was the story of the unfortunate construction worker who had a 500-pound barrel of bricks fall from 30 feet while he was holding on to the other end of the rope. He shot into the air, hit the pulley, the barrel broke, he fell to the ground from 30 feet up, and then let go of the rope in shock, dropping the remnants of the barrel on him. So these guys took a dummy, fitted him with a quick-release hand, built a 30-foot scaffold and hung a barrel with 500 pounds of bricks in it. It took them a few tries before the barrel actually broke, but they proved that the story could have happened.

Next up - the question of whether you can get electrocuted by peeing on the third rail of a train/subway. They built their own dummy with ballistics gel inside a plastic shell, around a skeleton, and then outfitted him with a homemade bladder of human capacity, full of actual urine. They then electrified a section of railroad track, and had a release latch attached to the dummy's head. If an electric current passed through it, the latch would release and the dummy would fall over. It didn't work with an - ahem - human-sized tube, so they finally upped it to a more sizeable pee stream before the dummy toppled over backwards from his shock.

Last was the myth that eel-skin wallets can de-magnetize your credit cards if they were made from the skin of an electric eel. Turns out eel-skin wallets aren't even made of eel skin, but instead of the skin of the hagfish (which is a NASTY creature that excretes this oozy slime to escape capture). But just for kicks, they did all sorts of experiments with eel skin wallets, magnetized money clips, and even built an electromagnet that zapped credit cards with up to 15,000 gauss (units of magnetic induction). Credit cards started malfunctioning at 10,000 gauss. For comparison, the earth's magnetic field is a mere 1 gauss. Finally, they went to the trouble of lowering a credit card into a fish tank with an electric eel, with a gauss-meter attached to it. No dice. Myth busted.

A highly entertaining and edifying show. If you're a closet science geek - or even an out-of-the-closet science geek - it's well worth the watch.

When last we left our intrepid Scrabbler, he was in 8th place headed into the final day, and had just broken a string of losses to his fellow clubmates...

...back on the schneid. Chris Guilbert played a hell of a game and eked out a 20-point win to all but end my hopes of a high finish. We traded punches at first - he opened with JUNTA (a political or governmental council) for 40, I came back a turn later with a double-double ATELIERS (workshops) for 82. He responded a rack after that with DICENtRA (a perennial herb) for 83. I fought back with QAT for 26 but he laid down NONIDEAL for 68. I hit with PROWL for 42, but he had ZEK (an inmate in a Soviet labor camp) waiting for me for 36. I managed AHOY for 37 but then had three straight 16-point plays while he built up a 60-point lead. Finally, I drew the tiles I had been waiting for and dropped STRAINED for 80 to pull ahead by 16, but he just had too many points in his rack - ROUX (a mixture of butter and flour) for 22 and then another 22, while the best I could manage was EF for 20 and ABYE (to pay a penalty) for 10. Final score, 415-395.

Scott Appel was my next opponent, having a much better tourney than his showing in Danbury. Tgings started off slowly - 86-73 after five vowel-laden turns each (he played GALEA, a helmet-shaped anatomical part, while I dumped AREAE, sections of the cerebral cortex), but I managed to draw a blank and play NITeRIE (a nightclub). He came back with virtually the same rack a turns later and played REINCItE through the N of NITeRIE. After 26 points for BOOTH, I turned EINMSSU into MINUSES to retake a 40-point lead. He immediately dropped 43 on me with VAWS (the plural of a Hebrew letter); I came back with JET for 30, he played DEGRADES for 65, and I managed HEX for 44 to retake a 4-point lead. It all came down to what was left in the bag. With a rack of BEONNTU I figured out that the tiles unseen to me were really ugly, and rather than playing off four tiles with TONNE, it would be better to play two fewer with DUB. I lucked out and drew EI, while his play of IF left him with a final rack of KPTUUVL, and also set up a 35-point INTONE that put me up 7 with only two tiles left to go out, which I did, sticking him with 12 points worth of tiles and propelling me to a 420-390 win. Always a good game when Scott's playing.

Now I'm in better shape than I was, but I'm playing the guy in first place, Rod MacNeil. I strike first with BErATES for 67, but he comes right back with QuAINTER through it for 82. I reply with AZANS (Muslim calls to prayer) for 34, he drops PRYING for 36, I reply with XU for 38, he smacks down BEAKY for 62, and the best I can reply is HOVE for 34. He keeps pounding away, this time with ELUTIONS (removal by means of a solvent) for 66, and I toss in six letters of crap. Fortunately, the exchange is a good one, and I lay down NEROLIS (fragrant oils) next turn for 72 to pull back within 26. After a 19-point DROP and a response of JEED (to turn to the right), I was faced with a rack of FNSTTUW and only a few tiles left in the bag. Ideally, I'd play something like WAFT, keeping TUNS, but that wasn't possible. I couldn't even play WAT or WET after Rod's HA blocked the only open vowel to play W-T through. However, there was an open G, so after some careful thinking, I played FUD (an old-fashioned person) for 9, hoping to draw two vowels. Miraculously, an O and an I fell into my rack, and combined with the open G, INSOTTW would give me a bingo...but my hopes were dashed when Rod played GAFFED through the F in FUD for 48, enabling him to outlast my SWOTTING (to swat) and hold on 415-393. With that game, Rod actually clinched first place, and he got a round of applause once it was announced he'd won the division.

From there it was just playing out the string - I got rematched with Stu Goldman, who had a plane to catch from New York, so we blew through our game pretty quickly. He made the nice find of NARwHAL, which I extended to NARwHALE a rack later in making HAZIEST for 102 (my high play of the tournament). He made QUARE (queer) in response, and after I made LICHI (a type of nut) through the H in HAZIEST, he tried CUREaBLE through the E in QUARE for a triple-triple. Didn't buy it for a second, and challenged it off. He ended up making CURaBLE elsewhere for 78 anyway. I returned the favor two turns later with SOOTIER for 75, but he managed GRUMPIER right to the R for another 78 and a 50-point lead. I smirked when making my next play - GRUMP for 26 - but he kept scoring, ringing up 30 points for JIN (a genie - there's a bunch of spellings of that one, including DJIN, DJINN, JINN, JINNI, DJINNI, DJINNY, JINNEE and the regular old GENIE) and 29 for FENNY (marshy). I managed 46 for FIND but it was too little, too late, and I fell 443-421 to end up 8-7, +515, in 11th place.

Not as strong a showing as I had hoped, but I was rather pleased with my defensive skills in this one - I passed up some higher-scoring plays that instead enabled me to shut my opponents down. Made some boneheaded mistakes that didn't end up costing me (leaving a triple-triple open against Howie Greenspan), made some risky plays that didn't kill me (ILEX against Mark Fidler, which takes an S for SILEX - I didn't have either of the unseen S's at the time) but other than some well-thought-out challenges that didn't pan out (DOGHOUSE and LEFTISH), I felt like I played fairly well strategically, and didn't miss too many bingoes.

Overall stats: 30 bingoes in 15 games; I allowed only 17.
Forgot to keep track of blanks. Oh well.

Next stop...New Orleans for the Nationals!

When you're playing tournament Scrabble, the matchups aren't decided ahead of time, but instead are based on the previous round's results. So before each game, there's a ritual of filling out your player scoresheet, where you record who you're playing and what their player number is. Since I was seeded third in the division at the beginning, my player number was 3. There's always some apprehension among players about playing the upper echelon of one's own division, but as I drifted down toward the middle of the division, the running joke became that #3 was an honorary title only.

One example was Bruce D'Ambrosio, who was #37 in the division - I'd played him before, but there must have been some intimidation factor going on as he just never got off the ground in this game. The longest word he played in one turn was five letters - appropriately, the word was WORST. I opened with some very Scrabble-esque words: LEZ (lesbian) for 32, HADJI (one who has completed a pilgrimage to Mecca, also spelled HAJI or HADJEE or HAJJI) LAR (a household spirit, according to Roman mythology) for 21 and YONI (a Hindu symbol for the vulva) for 21 more. After he made his WORST play, I laid down an 82-point STRICKEN to go up 90. With one D on the board, two in my rack, and one unseen to me, I tried to set myself up by playing ELUDE one spot short of the top triple row, but it backfired as Bruce played VIDE (a literary direction meaning "see X") and DELUDE for 44. I did manage to draw a blank, though. I play off another U with GUAR (a natural sugar), and of course draw the Q. Dump the Q in an exchange, and draw the other blank, which lets me play lIvENED for 78. Promptly draw seven consonants, but I can get down CHIMP for 32, and the game's all but over. Final damage, 423-281, my second opponent held under 300 (quite a feat in which players typically average 370-380, especially considering over half of my Danbury opponents broke 400 against me).

Game 5 pitted me against Howie Greenspan, and my luck continued. On turn 4 I manage to get down ATAVIST (an organism that has the characteristics of a more primitive type of that organism) for 76, also front-hooking CAP to make SCAP. Thing is, SCAP is phoney, but Howie is concentrating too hard on whether ATAVIST is good or not, and comes to the conclusion that it is. I promptly shut the board down as much as possible, manage to stay ahead with intermediate plays like FANNY for 40 and ZONES for 48 before driving the final nail home with yOWLERS for 80 on a triple-word score. Turns out his last rack almost gives him a chance at a triple-triple, but he can't do it, and I emerge victorious, 460-355.

Next up is Arnie Horowitz, an old friend from the Lexington Scrabble Club I frequent (infrequently). This was a nip and tuck contest all the way through - we a mere ten points apart when I picked one blank and then the other. I got down MiGRATeD for 80 to pull ahead, but two turns later, with one bingo lane left open, he hits it - HARD - with a natural LEFTISH for 99. At this point I figure that if LEFTISH is no good and I can block that spot, he won't be able to catch up, and my rack is just awkward enough that I don't have a good comeback if I decide to let it go. I challenge, unsuccessfully - the word is good and I lose my turn. He hits again with KILO through the L for 39, and hangs on for a 386-342 win.

Following Arnie is another Lexington club regular, Steve Saul, and my luck against club members continues, as I drop to 0-3 (Elaine Patterson was the first). The game starts off with a bang as he plays FAITOuR (an impostor), and I come right back with CURATORS. Unfortunately, he has a response of BEFRIeND to go up 60. The lead is up to 80 by the time I lay down PREMISE for 66, but he drops XIS below it for 53, followed by HAEM (a component of hemoglobin) for 32, and I draw garbage for the rest of the game to fall 429-332 and drop to 3-4 on the day. Break for lunch.

There must have been something in the chicken caesar wrap I had, because that put me on a tear. I lead off against Verna Richards-Berg with AUDIENT (one that hears) for 68. I run into some bad tiles and she sneaks back into the lead with plays like ZOA (plural of ZOON, a fertilized egg), OKAPIS (a mammal related to the giraffe) and HAOLE (the Hawaiian word for people with white skin). Fortunately, I work through the problems and get down TRENDIES (trendy people) to pull back ahead by 50, and then start shutting down the board. She makes a few middling plays, then manages NEURoSAL (relating to a neurosis) but I hang on for a 365-342 win.

Poor John Scalzo...he never had a chance in this game. After opening with INLAY, I immediately extend it to INLAYERS to hit the triple-word the next turn. Three turns later I play a natural FINALIST (62) through the I, and then draw DEIOTUW, which I turn into WIDEOUTS (65). Two turns later I have ADERRSW on my rack, but REDRAWS/DRAWERS/REWARDS/WARDERS won't play, so I play REDRAWN to an N just to choke up the board for 22. After dumping two Vs with VIVA, my rack is ACMOSST. The only spot for a bingo is to pluralize TWEED, so I try SATCOMS, which is challenged off (I could have sworn that one of either SATCOMS or COMSATS was good...nope). Then John plays DELI from TWEED, also putting the L and I under a previous play of AXE, and I realize that I can play this, which I didn't see on my first play:

E		A	X	E
D	E	L	I
	M	A	S	C	O	T	S

That nets me 94 points. Tack on 45 more for HEX the next turn, and it adds up to a 486-295 thumping.

Diane Firstman is next up, and it's another "get ahead and shut the board down" game - turn two gives me ENSIGNs on two double-word scores for 82, putting me up 40, where it stays for the rest of the game. I clean up some garbage on turn 4 with AURAR (the plural of EYRIR, an Icelandic monetary unit), which draws a hold but not a challenge. It's obvious that she's working through some tough racks with consonant-heavy plays like DEBT, GYP, CRAB. The board isn't great but I'm stretching out the lead with HAJ (the pilgrimage a HAJI/HADJI/HADJEE/HAJJI does), PAVE, YEW and ILEX (a holly), all for 27 points or better. The ones I'm most proud of are a pair of late-game plays. The first is a random memory from my physics days - MESON (a subatomic particle) for 33 that takes up the last good bingo lane. The second is a cute play - HAJ is sitting one row and one spot to the left of the P in POTTED. I stick SI (a replacement for TI in the musical scale (do, re, mi, etc.)) vertically between the two, making SPOTTED and HAJI for 28 points. I win 362-289, holding another opponent under 300.

The last game of the day is against club member of Mark Fidler, and my bad-luck streak against the club is over. Early on I hold ?ADCENS when he plays VOE (a small bay, creek or inlet) between two double-word scores. I lay down ADVaNCES for a cool 92. He responds with GUNNIEs (a coarse fabric) for 81 two turns later, but I come right back with DIORITE (an igneous rock) for 71, ILEX for 34, and QAID (a Muslim leader, also spelled CAID) for 38 to build the lead to 74, and that's where it stays, as I win 428-339 to close out a 6-2 day in 8th place overall at 7-4. With a strong day 3 I could finish in the money, but there are three 9-2 players so first place is a distant longshot...

After my Danbury showing in February, I went into this month's Boston Area Tournament (held in scenic Westford, MA this year) as the third seed in my field. Expectations were high. Studying time (and actual studying) was low. And the finish was somewhere in between. The BAT is unique in that it has a "Premier" division, in which the top 15 players qualify for a "cream of the crop" round-robin. My brother Joey qualified in the middle of his pack, so there would be no replays of the Danbury brother-vs-brother faceoff.

Day one was actually night one - games kicked off at 8pm - and three games. Game 1 started off promisingly enough - holding DIINTTU, I just hoped that my opponent, Elaine Patterson, would lay down an E. She complied, and INTUITED netted 60 quick points. A few turns later, she drew even again with STARTED, and I ran into some dreck. By the time she got down DOGHoUSE a few turns later, it was to the point where if I was forced to challenge if I wasn't 100% sure it was a word (hey, it could be two words). Wrong, 116-point lead for her, ballgame. She ran it up to 449-280 before all was said and done.

Game 2 was just the reverse - against Stu Goldman, holding ?EFGLNS, I eschewed ENGuLFS in favor of FLaNGES (a rim on a pipe used for attachment) because FLaNGES puts the S in a lower-scoring row for a quick 78 off the bat. FEZ (a Turkish hat) for 29 and PIMPS for 33 extended the lead, and after two turns of fishing, I managed RETAINER for 61 which brought it to an even 100. Kept piling on with WAVE for 33, WHIN (to whinny) for 37, and BUGgIES for 75 more. That put me up by 190, but I still had a XI in me for 52 and took the contest 480-269.

After swinging to both extremes, a close one was in order, and Paul Avrin delivered in Game 3. After an I-ful of a beginning (he played ICIER, I responded with INKIER), he made the first big play with ZED (the British word for "Z") for 47. Fortunately, I was holding ?EEIRSU and made the blank a Q of all things - qUERIES netted me 62 points. I kept it up with HOOFING (28), GRAY (30) and JOW (to toll, as in a bell, 25) but he countered with AX (55) and SWEATER for 75 in what I thought was the last bingo spot, to go up 290-266. I played off a couple of consonants with END for 24, and discovered there was one more spot, where I laid down EANLING (also spelled YEANLING, a recently-born lamb), to grab a narrow lead. My last rack was awkward - BDMOOPT - and I couldn't get out in two plays, which allowed him the one extra turn he needed at the end - I was up 375-370, but he went out, scoring eight points and getting six more off my rack for a 384-375 squeaker. Ended the day 1-2 but on the plus side in cumulative spread.

Roamed around the playing room afterwards rather than going home because Viv was working as a word judge/assistant - we ended up leaving at 12:15ish, quite tired and greatly in need of sleep.

More to come in Day 2...

Hopefully, you'll find it amusing too. A good cackle for a Friday afternoon...

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