Hi all
Some random update: I’ve been thinking about going back to school. There’s a place nearby in Oakland where I can enter a program to become an OCP DBA. The idea that I’ll be learning new stuff and expand my Oracle skills is exciting, the crazy amount of money that’s involved gives me some gray hairs. Oh well, I have some other options as well, UCB Extension has some nice (and cheaper) summer programs I can sign up for.
Last week my team (Greg V, Mark M and Mike S) participated in the Sacramento regionals. Mental note to self, it really takes an hour and a half to get to Sacramento from Berkeley. We agreed to play in the top flight so Greg and I could use our relay tools. It’s funny, most people in the US are comfortable when you tell them you’re playing some exotic big 
system, but when you tell them you play a multi 2
they get confused. In Europe it’s the other way around.
Here’s a story from the finals. We played some darkhaired sponsor in tight pants, a guy with an army haircut and two Polish pro’s.
You’re red vs white. RHO opens 1
and you have an easy double. Slightly annoyed you double again when 4 comes back to you. Everybody is fine with that.
I started with a top and switched to my singleton trump, scared after seeing such a powerhouse come down.
We collect only +100 when Greg didn’t push in trumps twice more when he was on lead. So East has successfully psyched us out of our 4
game, even 5 has reasonable play.
What’s my problem, I hear you ask?
How would you like it if the opponents exchanged a couple of words in Polish between every board? For all you know they are informing each other about a pending psych. I cannot prove it, but there sure is a putrid smell to this deal.