Connect Four and Other Stuff

Connect Four was a game I enjoyed greatly as a kid. So when I noticed an application for my iPhone called Four Free (the free version of Connect Four), I downloaded it. This was just over six weeks ago, on January 3.

I spent a little time playing the computer on easy. Then I moved up to medium. Then I moved up to hard. Then, I decided that my goal was to be able to win twice as many games as the computer. But at this point, I was already 15-20 wins behind such an accomplishment. I didn't think it would be too tough, so I kept playing and kept playing and kept playing, and I was obsessed.

By the end of January, Kristin was getting upset with me. By now, I was upwards of 40 straight wins behind my goal. So clearly, I wasn't even going in the right direction. But I told her I would quit, and so I erased the history.

Then, a few days later, out of boredom, I picked it up again. This time, my goal was to win twice the amount of games as the computer, plus 40 on top of that, to make up for my previous shortfall. I kept playing more and more. On occasion, I'd get hot and go on a run, and cut my deficit to 20, but then I'd go on a short losing streak, and have all my progress wiped out.

Well, this weekend, I finally did it. I made a run to cut the deficit back down to 30 and picked up some much needed confidence. Then I got it back down to 20, only to lose some ground. And then finally, I went on a phenomenal streak, and achieved my goal! At that moment, I was so very proud of myself. Of course, I had probably played 900 games or so in total, so that's nothing to be proud of. But I have now put the game down for good, or at least until I get bored again.

In other news, Kristin and I took a trip up to San Francisco this weekend. Our plan was to see the city and friends. I would post pictures here, but Kristin didn't bring the camera. (So much for NEEDING a new 10-megapixel camera.)

I did take this picture of the Marina Lounge:
This was my favorite bar when I lived up there. It was very small, open by 9am on Sundays, and patronized only by uncool people like me. And it was great!

Scared To Death

Holy Crap!

I just read the most disturbing thing I've seen in a long time. Please re-read my last post, and then read Cheryl's (Kristin's best friend) comment about the need for Kristin and I to have a daughter so that our daughter and Cheryl & John's daughter could grow up together and be BFFs (that's "Best Friends Forever" for all you people over 40) and go shopping together.

I'm not necessarily sure what caused this, but this freaked me out! (Possibly because I'm drunk on a Friday night after 1.25 Jack & Cokes while sitting at home waiting for Kristin to come home from work so we can go out to dinner.) I mean, we're not quite ready to have kids. But the very notion that we would have a daughter who would grow up to be Cheryl/John's daughter's best friend, and that they would feed off each other in their shopping habits, well I can only say WOW! That just blows my mind!

To put this in perspective, Kristin is a very smart, rational, and reasonable person. Her biggest weakness is her motivation to shop (although she would say that's her greatest strength). Cheryl is similar.

But when they get together, you can throw all that reasonableness out the window, and what you would call a small weakness (in isolation) becomes a death spiral to one's life savings. I mean, if we had a daughter as our first child and she became BFF with Cheryl's daughter, not only would they shop together, but they would probably want to help plan each others' weddings, and that would get completely out of hand. I don't have that kind of money, and I don't plan on it either.

I don't know what to do. Right now, I'm freaked out. I guess it's good that I started drinking. I better keep drinking. By the time I finish this drink, I'll probably be passed out (I get my tolerance for alcohol from my mother), and that will be a good thing.

Playing Catch

Yesterday, Kristin noticed how long my hair is. (It's really not that long, but it's a little longer than usual. I would have gotten it cut a couple weeks ago, but we had a trip to Utah coming up, and so I didn't want my head to get too cold because my hair was too short. Seriously, I'm not joking.) Anyway, Kristin also noticed that my grays hairs were becoming more prominent (as is always the case when my hair gets longer). She made some comment that I was getting old and that when we had kids (TBD) I would be too old to even play catch with them. This is ridiculous. First of all, I will not be too old if we don't have kids until I'm 35 or whatever the age is. But second, if I can't play catch with my kids, it'll because I have no athletic ability whatsoever.

Notes From The Weekend

So this last week, Kristin and I went skiing in Utah with the Nunnellys. This is the fourth time we've gone, and it's usually a good trip. I say "usually" because of past events (i.e. a dislocated knee cap two years ago). Anyway, we flew out on Wednesday night.

On Thursday, Randy & Garrett went skiing, while I stayed in while Kristin had some work that needed to be done.

On Friday, we braved the cold and hit the slopes. Because of my awesome note-taking ability, I was able to remember the proper techniques and weight distribution. I quickly go up to speed and comfortable. I had a great day of skiing. We then had lunch, had a few more runs, and called it a day.

Saturday, however, was totally different. All that confidence and skill I had built up disappeared immediately. I simply didn't have it. Suddenly, turning right became an impossible challenge. We skied in the morning. At lunch, I called it a day. I got off the mountain in one piece. Later, as I was taking off my boots, I noticed that the clamps on the boots had come undone. I wonder if this is what caused my crappiness to be exacerbated that day. Oh well, I shouldn't blame my equipment.

In other Utah ski trip news, we had a nice discussion about how curse words are not allowed in the Nunnelly household. Then, in that same discussion, a number of curse words were thrown out there all willy-nilly. Let's just say that I now have five get-out-of-jail-free cards, which I can use in their presence at my discretion. I can't wait to throw out a few four-letter words the next time I see Carol and Randy. I'm really looking forward to it.

Also, never play games with the Nunnellys. They're all cheaters, especially Garrett and Carol. They can't be trusted to play a fair and honest game. If you do decide to ever play any game with them, be ready to cheat yourself or you'll be at a decided disadvantage.

Finally, we got home just in time for the Super Bowl. I was rooting hard for the Cardinals, as they were the underdog, and I don't much care for the Steelers. Anyway, as I mentioned before, I took a rooting interest in 9 of the previous 10 NFL playoff games this year. In all 9, I lost. So in a totally winnable game, and with the Cardinals ahead (miraculously) with only 3 minutes to go, they blew it. I'm not going to take responsibility for their loss, but maybe things might have been different had I rooted for the Steelers. Anyway, I went 0 for 10 this year. In some of those games, I took the favorite. In some, I took the underdog. Therefore, on average, I had a 50% chance of success in every game. Using those percentages, the odds of going 0 for 10 are about 1 in a 1000 (.5 ^ 10 = 0.098%). I really do stink at picking winners in football. Unfortunately, as football is now over, you won't be able to put my anti-talent to work for all your gambling needs.

Ski trip - cursing not allowed in the Nunnelly household except when
they decide to curse, I am now allowed five  curse words; cheating
during apples to apples; poor skiing on day 2;
Odds of going winless in NFL playoffs - 1/1000

Going Skiing

Tomorrow, Kristin and I (and the rest of the Nunnellys) are flying to Utah to go skiing. We will be there until Sunday, arriving home just as the Super Bowl starts. (A big shout-out to Randy for realizing that our flight home was during the Super Bowl and making the appropriate changes to our flight schedule.)

Anyway, as we'll be out of town over the next few days, I shall not be posting. What I shall be doing is getting scared to death with each run down the mountain. To ensure that I don't fall too much or hurt myself, I wrote out some notes last year to help me remember weight distribution as well as other necessary techniques. Just so you know how screwed I am, I thought I'd post them for your viewing.

Traversing the Mountain:

• Weight on downhill ski
• Lean forward in boots

Turning:

• Move weight to uphill ski (outside)
• Lean forward on uphill ski
• Push toes down on uphill ski
• Start turn
• Turn hips
• Start turning downhill ski
• Lean downhill ski toward turn
• Bring outside hand around fully
• Outside hand (not downhill hand) should be lower than uphill hand
• Look up, not down toward skis

Other:

• Don't look down the mountain
• Look at where I want to go

First, I will be studying these on the plane ride to Utah. And second, someone who has to actually think through this many things is in a bad spot. If you can spare a thought of pity for me, please do so.

Thanks.

Philippe's

Today, I met up with a friend to discuss business. We met up at Philippe's, in downtown LA, right across the street from Union Station. I had a french dip, some macaroni salad, and chocolate cream pie. It was excellent.

If you have never been to Philippe's, shame on you!

If you have but don't like it, that is not comprehensible, and you should reevaluate your priorities, principles, and tastes in this world!

Bride Wars (Spoiler Alert)

Kristin is a very responsible and reasonable human being (except when it comes to shopping, in which case all reason and logic get thrown out the window). Her friend Cheryl is also a very reasonable person (also except when it comes to shopping).

However, when they get together, they start feeding off each other, and all you can do is hold on for your life. One aspect of their relationship where things got out of hand was in the planning of both their weddings. These are two women who spent a lot of time growing up and in their early adult years dreaming about their respective special days. So when the new movie Bride Wars came out, it was only natural that Kristin and Cheryl get together to watch. Now, just to be clear, this is not a documentary based loosely on Kristin/Cheryl's planning of their weddings, although it could probably pass for it. More precisely, it's a crappy romantic comedy based on two best friends who end of having their weddings on the same day in the same place and fighting each other over it.

So Kristin and Cheryl set up a time/place to meet to watch the movie, for some much-needed "bonding time." And of course, the husbands got dragged along. We met at the Century City mall. Anyway, before discussing the movie, a few notes about the Century City mall.

• First, this is the most technologically-advanced parking lot, with censors above each parking spot, and there's a light which tells you if the spot is open or taken. Therefore, you can see all the way down a row without driving down that row. Amazing!
• The mall is east of the 405. Kristin and I do not travel east of the 405 on weekends for much. Cheryl and John should consider themselves lucky.
• A vendor was selling shamwows. Click here to learn more, as it's truly an amazing invention. It holds 20 times its weight in liquid. And it's made in Germany, because the Germans always make good stuff.

Anyway, on to the movie. It's all right and funny in parts. However, the plot has a few BIG holes in it:

• First, Emma and her fiance decide in the final scene (after their wedding has begun) that they aren't right for each other anymore. Prior to this, the plot BARELY alluded to this, so this scene felt like a big stretch.
• Second, the wedding planner (Marion St. Clare, played brilliantly by Candice Bergen, formerly of "Murphy Brown," who bore a child out of wedlock in the show, which was viewed unfavorably by then Vice President Dan Quayle, who couldn't spell the plural of the word "potato") originally booked Emma and Liv to weddings during the first and last week of June at the Plaza, respectively. Through some mix-up (her admin screwed up), Emma and Liv end up having both their weddings booked on the same date in June. This is a major screw-up! Am I really to believe that a wedding planner, whose only asset is her reputation and good name, wouldn't fix this? Really?!?! Personally, who would use this wedding planner after something like this happened? No one would. Therefore, the rest of the movie from that point forward (something like 20 minutes in) isn't worth watching because it's not at all believable.
• Also, I'm not happy that matinee tickets are $10 a piece. It's a recession, and I think AMC Theater management had better get its act together and lower prices.