Towards the Bridge

Monday was simply a relaxing day. Warm weather 33 or thereabouts and pleasant. Went for a long walk around the hotel and adjoining ‘District’ shops etc. Has a passion for a bagel and smoked salmon for breakfast so that was a bit of a mission solved by the hotel buffet but at $6.99 it seemed to be reasonable given I didn’t eat anything else.



Gambling has been going OK with small advance on my ideal ending position of ZERO.


I really didn’t sleep well last night so go to bed early.


Sorry forgot to share this sign I saw on the side of the road (subsequently downloaded from the internet)

Tuesday was headache day! I had a one from the moment I woke up till I went to sleep and as a result it was a relaxing day being my last day to myself. I went to the Outlet Centre to get some ‘corporate’ shirts for my darling daughter and despite being there with a sole purpose I managed to spend almost three hours there but didn’t buy anything for myself.

That night I went to ready the computers for the online bridge only to find that one was on the fritz with a corrupted disk. It limped along and would be OK for the first day of bridge after which I could buy a DVD drive and copy one computer to the other – Wednesday night’s task.

Wednesday was game time. 08:30 and I go and set up the computers and webcams and go to the welcome breakfast which is always lovely on the patio around the pool but you have to get their early to get a place in the shade – inside information thingy. I take some photos which is included in my job description.

During the day I get a message that my dog-sitter wants to resign after this stint as she isn’t comfortable in the area which is surprising as I feel safer there than I did in Paddington but I guess as a single female who doesn’t drive and may have to walk home late at night I can understand how she may feel. So with a 3-4 week trip planned for September/October I have to find somebody as kennelling the dogs isn’t an option so if anybody knows anybody……

Everything goes really well the first day no glitches, dropped connections etc. In fact I only do nine of the 54 boards as there are two other operators who are very keen to do sessions and a third casual one who decides to do two matches as well. Anyway I am not complaining but do like doing the operating. Anyway I sit in my room and do some commentary which is OK too.

That evening Michael and Vivien arrive and we settle in for a lovely dinner at Hank’s, the fine dining steakhouse in the Hotel/Casino. Ashley Bach joins us after he arrives at the hotel from his German home.

Back to my room to fix the computer which takes a mere 12 minutes and all is good again. If you haven’t heard about my gambling it is because there hasn’t been much but enough for it to head slightly South of zero.

The website for the event is www.cavendishinvitational.com where you can read the Bulletins and see the photos as well as all the conditions of the contest, entrants etc.

Oh well not much else so catch you all soon

XX David

More Phoenix and then to Vegas

Thursday morning and the weather has turned very cool and windy – down from 95 degrees to 70 degrees.

I know I am in holiday mode when I sleep in till 09:00 something I rarely do. I mooch around the apartment until lunch time when I meet Penny at Flo’s a modern Asian restaurant which is actually quite good. My experience with Chinese meals in the USA has been, let us say, less than ideal especially when I once asked a Chinese waiter if they had Chinese vegetables and was told yes carrots and broccoli – but this defies the odds.

I spend the afternoon with the kids after which Penny cooks an amazing baked lemon fish dinner. She is on a diet basically eating only vegetables and salads with 75 grams of protein with each. She has los 4lbs so far and looking good for her aim of 10-15 lbs over 4 weeks – not that she has that much to lose.

Friday and its Ipad day. I decided to buy an Ipad and the model I want is being released at 17:00 so I am planning to get there at 18:00 after the crowd and pick one up. I spend 30 minutes on the phone to my US Bank explaining that I am visiting the USA, will be using my card in Phoenix and will be making a substantial purchase at the Apple Store. I have had bad experiences in the past so made a pre-emptive bid this time.

Penny and I lunch at the local micro-brewery which claims to have more varieties of beer than anywhere else on the planet. I head off to a lovely gift shop called Artafax looking for something for Mother’s Day but nothing suitable there despite having a wonderful product range.

Oh well it is 15:15 and nothing to do maybe I’ll go to the Apple Shop at Scottsdale and queue up – something I NEVER repeat NEVER do. I arrive there at 15:30 to find 20 people queued up already. One nice thing about queuing is the conversation you have with random people while waiting. Apple do things well – they have a trolley with water, cookies and other treats and they take this up and down the line offering it to customers waiting.

Anyway 17:00 grinds around with another 100 people behind me in the queue. At 16:55 the fifty – yes fifty – staff they have run down the queue giving everybody high fives and at the appointed hour they let people in with each person receiving personal service.

My ‘Genius’, Sean assists me to grab my Ipad and accessories and I pay – well almost pay – card declined. FARK!!!!! I phone Bank of America and ask if they specialise in stupidity and after some choice words they unlock my card. As an aside there was a fraudulent $80 charge on my card in December and after six hours on the phone and eighteen people in the Bank now knowing my mother’s maiden name they fixed the problem, not before firstly saying that the charge was legitimate and making me prove it wasn’t. Note to self – fraud has to be substantial to waste your time else it is cheaper to just let it ride.

Back to Penny’s and we head off for the kid’s soccer tryouts – it is now freezing, yes freezing in Phoenix in April/May. I take Riley for an IN/OUT burger for late dinner and drop him home while Penny does a few things and head back to the hotel to pack and set up my Ipad.

First Impressions: The Ipad is a wonderful device for those on the move. Instead of dragging a notebook or even a netbook computer it provides a wonderful array of internet, email and application possibilities. It is a very impressive unit.

Saturday morning I check out of the hotel to spend a night at Chez P/G. Graeme arrives back from Manila where he runs a business in which I am greatly interested. In brief it is a BPO business which is a 13 billion industry in the Philippines. BPO stands for Business Process Outsourcing whereby it is possible to save 50-65% of equivalent domestic costs for web design, accounting, order processing etc.. In the Philippines one can hire a university educated accountant for $US500 a month or about 20% of the equivalent amount in Australia. He currently employs about 35 staff on behalf of Australian and US based companies and headed towards 60 by the end of the year. I am thinking of flying to Manila to have a look at his operations and see if I can get some clients for him.

The kids head off to Wet and Wild for a party while Graeme Penny and I go to Flo’s for lunch. We had to wait 20 minutes as it was full which was surprising but when I got the bill $21 I realised why – all mains are $5 for Saturday lunch.

I promised the kids mini-golf which works out well as Graeme is in need of some sleep. I usually lose to 9 and 10 year olds but this time I managed a handsome win. Back to earth when Riley beats me 3-7 at air hockey and hey he did score one of my goals – as Justin aid – ‘You scored 3”?

Dinner at an excellent Mexican restaurant where we have dined before and back for a good night’s sleep.

Next morning I wake at 05:30 to watch what is likely to be the match of the year Chelsea vs Liverpool with Chelsea likely to win the EPL Championship if they win the match and lose it if they draw or lose. Of course they aren’t showing it on TV here so I am chatting with Graeme who has woken early and watching the score on the internet while keyboarding with Justin for match reports.

At 10:00 I head off for Vegas using the car that Graeme and Penny have kindly lent me – a large SUV – Lincoln Navigator with the darkest windows you have ever seen. I have been driving it all week so am used to it.

Now the drive to Vegas is supposed to be 5 hours. I was thinking of pulling over around half way but for some reason I regretfully didn’t. 5 miles from the Hoover Dam and 40 miles from Las Vegas there is an accident with a dead stop queue of cars. Luckily I have my computer which I turn on and watch two episodes of The Bill. Long story short – 2 hours to travel just six miles. The Hoover Dam crossing is always problematic but this made the five hour journey seven hours without a stop or food.

Anyway joyfully arrive at the hotel to find that I am booked in from tomorrow but luckily they have a room tonight in a part of the hotel that I prefer given that I have to drag computer gear back and forth.

I am on a bit of a high so have dinner, mooch around and yes gamble for a short period of time before having a drink with Alexander Smirnov (who ordered gin not vodka) and heading off to bed around midnight.

So here I am Monday morning beautifully warm and sunny. With the teams and work starting on Wednesday my main roles are photographer and BBO (online Bridge) co-ordinator where I bring all the equipment and run the online presentation working two sessions out of three. . Now work isn’t very hard at all but it is tiring standing there doing all the inputting and commentating – cerebrally tiring more than anything else.

As I get busy from Wednesday to Sunday, anything I want to do in Las Vegas I need to do in the next two days and I must say, this being my eleventh year at this tournament, there isn’t anything I HAVE to do but I am sure I will find something.

Anyway you have caught up with my life
Love to all
D

A Few Lazy Days

Monday and Penny is at work so I have a moochy day visiting Costco and some other shops not buying much at all. I have offered to make dinner so buy the necessities for that. Around 15:00 I meet Penny and we pick up the kids from school and go back to their place where I cook a steak and Pavlova dinner. Unfortunately Penny is on a strict diet so can only eat some prawns and green salad .

Hunter has a science test the next day and is very nervous about it so Penny sits there grilling him on the contents.

I head back to the hotel around 21:00 where I answer emails etc. finally going to bed at 01:00.

Next morning and I have lunch arrangements with John and Loreali Kerr with whom I became very friendly in Seattle and who, not uncommonly, spend six months of the year in Phoenix and six months (summer) in Seattle. I gravitate back to Chompies for lunch where it has been good to catch up as I missed them here last year.

Back to Penny’s place where she has been told that one of the kids hasn’t handed in two homework assignments so I pick up the kids and bring them home while she sees the teacher. Hunter has aced the science test with 91% but this is overshadowed by Riley getting an infraction for coming to the classroom 15 minutes late and not handing in the two homework assignments.

I help Riley with his homework and am really nervous about how I did as it was h-a-r-d – and he is only 9! Anyway I find out the next day he got 100% - phew.

Wednesday I get up late which is a good sign for relaxing holiday for me. I headed for the Musical Instrument Museum which is two minutes from the hotel where I spend a relaxing couple of hours.

It is a remarkable place which shows musical diversity from around the world. The setup is that each country has a display comprising an LCD TV surrounded by all the instruments and as you approach the audio tour device automatically switches over to the LCD TV where you can hear musicians playing the music of that country. It is so hard to understand how much diversity there is in music and musical instruments. I am told however that the Museum in Seattle, paid for by Paul Allan, was originally scheduled to cost $50m and ended up costing him $250m is unbelievable – a weird building that’s for sure http://huichun.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/800px-ariel_of_empsfm.jpg

I then head over to Nordstrom Rack and buy nada nothing – what a bust. I go to the Apple Store before meeting a bridge friend Haig Tamitsch across the road at Zinc Bistro for lunch. He makes his living giving bridge lessons and playing bridge professionally and at around 50 years old, single and no kids has a nice relaxing life travelling and pursuing his passion for photography.

Back to the hotel where I meet up with Penny and the kids for a few hours around the pool. Afterwards I head off to John and Loreali Kerr’s place for dinner and an extended chat. I do get a little jealous when I see a lovely large three bedroom townhouse with big rooms, double garage etc. selling for $A225k which in Sydney would buy you a 0 bedroom shoebox. Anyway back to the hotel for bed.

I must say I really like the desert vista and architecture. The cacti, rich red earth and the small mountains which surround the city. Phoenix isn't a tourist haven but if you stay at a resort it is a good place to relax and chill. This is evident by the number of resorts they have here.

Anyway a few relaxing days and not much to tell. Haig has told me to go to the botanical gardens and butterfly enclosure and may do that today.

Best to all
XD

First Few Days

Here we go again my annual pilgrimage to "Mecca" Phoenix for a week of chilling out and a week of bridge, sun and gaming in Las Vegas. Can life get any better.

Check in at the airport goes smoothly and my advance planning pays off when I manage four seats to myself albeit in the last row of the plane. I doze for moost of the trip The Bill in between getting off the plane feeling in remarkably good shape.

I check in to the hotel using their automated check-in to room 2062 which I imagined would be on the twentieth floor of this nine storey building. All became clear when I realised that there were 153 rooms on each floor and of course mine was about 500 metres from the lift - GRR!!

I meet a former business associate for a sandwich lunch at a nearby Salad/Soup cafe.

Back to the hotel for a relax after which I head off for dinner. I decide to save the $40 cab fare and get the free shuttle 3kms to the airport and the Rapid Transport system to downtown just four blocks from the restaurant - Foreign Cinema. It is my fourth visit here and again I am not disappointed. Three varieties of oysters, foi gras and a magnificent dessert. www.foreigncinema.com

OK if it was good enoiugh to get there it would be good enough to get back so on the tain to the aiport and shuttle to the hotel and a good nights sleep.

Up early next morning for my short flight to Phoenix. Easy check-in and very short security line compared to what I saw thirty minutes later As I am very early I download the morning paper to my Kindle and read the paper while having a coffee.

Interesting company on the plane - an attorney specialising in IP in his way to a family holiday in Hawaii. Now I know little about American geography but Hawaii via Phoenix would be leading me to a new travel agent.

Picked up at the airport and back to the Warring’s house to collect around 20 boxes of ‘stuff’ I had ordered in the past few months in anticipation of collection this visit. Nothing too startling except my birthday present from my kids www.handpresso.com which I subsequently tried and is excellent for coffee on the go.

Off the Marriott Canyon Villas and a lovely one bedroom apartment, beautifully appointed and which will be a comfortable home for the next seven days. We spend a few hours around the pool, I beat Penny at Chess on a life size board (my first chess win in 25 years I think) before I excuse myself with jetlag now setting in.

It’s dinner time so I head down to the local supermarket and buy some supplies ending up having Piroshkies for dinner and a relatively early night.

I wake up at 06:30 on Sunday morning and it is full daylight and luckily fall asleep until 08:30 which means I have to rush to get ready as I am going to watch a friend of the kids compete in an Arabian horse show. It was very good fun and she finishes second of her group of eight having won the previous five rounds of the competition. It is quite amazing how done up the horses and riders are, both immaculately groomed – both.

Back to the Marriott Hotel for a few hours and lunch around the pool and what they call the lazy river – a long circular pool with slow running water dragging lilos and other floats around the pool.
I then have a few hours back at the hotel before heading off to watch the kids take a two hour soccer training session which is REALLY interesting. A former Belgrade Red Star and Yugoslavian national soccer player, Peter Balsic runs a soccer training school at his home. Hi backyard is a beautifully manicured walled soccer field about 15 metres by 30 metres where today he has four groups for two hours each with eight students in a group. I probably had better career choices when I learn that he charges $50 per student earning $1,600 for a day’s work. That said I must say he was unbelievably good, tough but outstanding.

He taught the kids ball trapping skills using both legs, kicking skills including just how to turn and strike the ball and then for the last 40 minutes they played a 4 vs 4 game where he often froze and rewound the game explaining what the kids did wrong – really good to watch. He is also an accomplished artist.

Dinner at Sushi Bistro saw an end to quite a long but relaxing day. Off to bed and love to all
David