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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in dolson's LiveJournal:

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    Wednesday, January 5th, 2005
    9:59 pm
    I took last week off to go play in a big bridge tournament in Charleston, South Carolina with my father. We did rather well, and I found out this evening that we won something special - a qualification to play in one of the strongest pairs tournaments in the country, the Blue Ribbon pairs. This is a special event that is played at the fall national tournament every year which is only open to people who have earned their way into the event through strong play in other tournaments.

    Woo hoo! I am one happy bridge player!
    Monday, September 27th, 2004
    9:19 pm
    del cross B
    A conversation I had this afternoon at a conference:

    Person One: (Discussing his college education) I was fine with statics and all that, but the rest of physics was annoying.
    Person Two: Yeah, E&M was really tough.
    Me: I suppose this would be a bad time to break out into the Maxwell's Equations song.
    (General laughter)
    Person Three: Is that to the tune of Maxwell's Silver Hammer?
    (General laughter)
    Me: No, it's to the tune of Let it Be.
    Person Three: Oh, so it's still a Beatles song.
    Me: If it had been written to Maxwell's Silver Hammer, people would have started running away even faster than they did.
    (General laughter)
    Wednesday, August 18th, 2004
    9:59 pm
    Today after work, I left the office, went out to my eight-month-old car and started it up. Immediately, this little annoying bell started dinging and "POWER STEERING" flashed in the little information area above the radio. Looking down at the dashboard, I saw this little icon depicting a car with a wrench lying diagonally across it. I felt a sinking sensation, familiar from my old car, hit me somewhere between my heart and wallet.

    I went ahead and tried to drive away, hoping that I could make it back to my apartment, only to find that the utmost exertion of my geeky musculature could only turn my car ten degrees or so in either direction. Unfortunately, the parking lot had cars inconveniently placed in parallel lines in front of my car, so I gave up and parked it back in the same spot.

    Sighing, I got out and walked around it, looking for anything excruciatingly obviously wrong that I could fix on the spot. Alas, nothing was apparent, so I stood there for a few minutes trying to come up with a plan for what I would do.

    After a while, I got back into my car to try again, and lo and behold, the steering worked when I started it up. Cackling with glee, I drove back to my apartment, hoping that it would work on some future morning long enough to drive it to a mechanic.

    I got out of my car, went up to my apartment, and changed out of my work clothes and into jeans and a t-shirt. I left my apartment to go get my mail and as the door closed behind me, I put my hand down to my pocket and felt wallet but no keys. Oops.

    I live alone, so I have few options when I'm locked out of my apartment. In fact, I only have one option, which is to head down to the apartment office and ask them to let me in. So I did. Unfortunately, the office was closed, as it was after business hours. Fortunately, the head maintenance guy was wandering in for some reason, and he took pity on me and gave me the spare set of keys without charging me the $10 after hours entry fee.

    So I got back into my apartment, got my keys, returned the spares to the mail slot at the main office, got my mail, and ate dinner.

    Hopefully Thursday will be better.
    Friday, July 9th, 2004
    6:11 pm
    good news
    I've had a good week.

    Last weekend, I took Friday off and spent a four-day weekend playing in a big bridge tournament in Alexandria with my father. It was held at the same hotel where I played in the US Open chess tournament back in 96 after I graduated from high school. We did rather well, and I enjoyed myself immensely.

    Today, I found out that I passed the actuarial exam I took back in May. I've now got four of eight, two-thirds of the way to becoming an Associate of the Society of Actuaries and halfway to becoming a Fellow. Time to start studying for Exam 5....
    Monday, May 17th, 2004
    6:47 pm
    Today, I was attacked while walking from the parking lot to the building I work in. This damn periodic cicada buzzed right into the back of my head, caromed off and buzzed menacingly at me. I could see a malevolent glow in its beady little red eyes.

    Why hasn't something been done about this menace? These evil creatures have been hiding underground in and around our nation's capital for the last seventeen years, waiting to strike en masse when the moment is right. Administration after administration has ignored this threat, doing nothing to protect us, and now the cicadas are swarming forth, flying blithely around, with no regard for human life or hairstyles. Millions of innocent people are living in fear of these bugs, worried if they will be the next target of random peltings.

    I can only hope that this time, action will be taken to ensure that these cicadas will never threaten us again.
    Friday, April 2nd, 2004
    8:15 pm
    My sister Kathy called me this evening with two pieces of good news.

    The first is that she was accepted to the jazz baritone saxophone masters program of the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Further, she got a scholarship to help pay for it, which is a nice plus. Her interview went reasonably well, but this was her reach school, so she's very happy to have gotten in. Talking to her reminded me of a few years ago when I got my first acceptances to grad school.

    The second piece of news is that she and some of her friends are taking a road trip up to Baltimore from Charlottesville, VA to see the Orioles-Red Sox game on Tuesday. Apparently, someone bowed out, so they have an extra ticket, which I get to use. I haven't been to a live baseball game in years, so I'm looking forward to it.

    Life is good.
    Tuesday, March 23rd, 2004
    5:28 pm
    Two interesting things have happened to me in the last few days.

    On Saturday, driving home from the local bridge club, I swear that I saw my old Pontiac turn left in front of me at a stoplight. It was like seeing a ghost, and I felt a faint twinge of longing for the way it was when I first drove it. This feeling slowly ebbed into being sorry for the poor sap who paid good money for it.

    Today, I got a letter in the mail today asking me to join the AARP. I don't know where they got my address or why they think I'm getting ready to retire, but I got a good laugh out of it.

    I came up with two places they may have gotten my address: one, I'm a member of the American Contract Bridge League, which has an average age high enough that they may find new members, and two, I work for the Social Security Administration, which I suppose may put me on a list of people who would be interested in retirement issues.
    Sunday, March 14th, 2004
    10:51 pm
    This evening I wandered out of my apartment to find a grown man, about my father's age, lying on the ground outside of my building talking on a cell phone and searching for his glasses. I watched him for a little while as he finished his call, then asked him if he was okay. It turns out this guy, who has been unemployed for a while and has a daughter in college, drove across half the country from Kansas City over the weekend to start working at Social Security tomorrow.

    So I helped him dust himself off, found his glasses for him, commiserated with him over the thorny bushes next to the porch which he had fallen into, then helped him lug a bunch of stuff up to his new apartment after the maintenance dude showed up with his keys.

    And so life goes on.
    Tuesday, October 14th, 2003
    12:33 am
    Woo Hoo!

    In a week, my long and rather boring period of unemployment will be ended by my first day of work at a new job.

    I had an onsite interview at the Social Security Administration in Baltimore about a month ago, which went quite well and ended in a tentative job offer. After a few weeks of applications and paperwork, I got a more formal offer, which I accepted. Today, I was in Baltimore signing a lease for an apartment, and I'm going to spend the next week or so moving stuff and settling in.

    I start work next Monday, so wish me luck.
    Thursday, June 12th, 2003
    1:03 am
    I had an ugly day last Friday. I had a phone interview scheduled at 3pm, so I got out my interview stuff and waited. After a half-hour, they belatedly called me to tell me that they had already filled the position. Fifteen minutes later, I got the formal rejection news from a job I interviewed for last month. Sigh.

    I spent the weekend revelling in geekdom - I watched the US bridge team championships on the internet. It's fascinating to see what people who know what they're doing bid and play hands in real time.

    There was a strange deal that was a brutal loss for one of the teams. One of my heroes, Bobby Wolff, held the freakiest hand I've seen so far in my studies - five spades, no hearts, no diamonds and eight clubs. At his table, his partner insisted they defend six hearts doubled (i.e. their opponents contract to take twelve of thirteen tricks with hearts as trump, with points at stake increased by the defenders.) At the other table, their teammates defended six clubs doubled (i.e. same as above with clubs as trump.) At both tables, the contracts were made, which took a massive chunk out of the lead they had built up in the first half of the match. D'oh!

    Anyway, I'm waiting around for news about that last interview, which I think went well enough for me to get the job, so it was nice to have that to concentrate on for a while.

    Weyerhauser!
    Friday, June 6th, 2003
    1:44 am
    I was out in suburban Washington for a job interview on Wednesday. I've gotten used to the routine of these things: various people ask me questions about myself and my skills and I ask them questions about their company so I show them that I'm a suitable employee.

    While I was talking to the chief actuary at this firm I was at, he asked one of those questions that I've come to expect from potential employers. He wondered whether, with my background, I would be satisfied doing (menial) entry-level work. Even if I don't get this job, I got a big laugh out of him and scored a moral victory by deadpanning "I have worked at the post office."
    Wednesday, May 14th, 2003
    1:43 am
    I took a day trip to Cincinnati a few weekends ago to play in part of a big weeklong bridge tournament with my father. I've been playing in the local club here in Charleston for a while, and I'm starting to do pretty well there, so I thought I'd see what real competition is like. In the afternoon session, things started out pretty well, but took an ugly turn about halfway through. I had a number of tough decisions which I took a bad view on, so we finished near the bottom of our section. The evening session went much better, and we won "masterpoints" for placing in our group.

    I had a pretty good time. It reminded me of my senior year of high school, when I used to wander out to chess tournaments once a month or so. It's a good feeling when you meet those first glimmers of understanding and begin to see what's going on in a forest of complicated stuff.

    Bridge requires a certain amount of detachment, though. You can see the truth of how you should play the cards, but if the unseen hands don't lie correctly, you can still lose. The key is to keep plugging away, trying to do the best you can, in the hope that things will work out.
    Wednesday, April 30th, 2003
    10:55 pm
    Things have gotten much more interesting around here. I've been in contact with a number of potential employers, so my prospects are looking up.

    One of these, to my pleasant surprise, is in the greater Cleveland area. I'd like to be living up there on the north coast again.

    It looks like a good company, and I know it's a nice place to live, so I'm crossing my fingers.

    Weyerhauser!
    Monday, April 21st, 2003
    12:35 am
    I watched Sling Blade on television this evening, and I was amused by the commercials they periodically interrupted the movie with. I mean, hey, if you're watching a movie about a paroled homicidal mental patient's adventures in the big wide world, are you really going to be interested in buying an SUV?

    I do have to admit, they did show Zoloft commercials (prescription anti-depressant), which seemed vaguely appropriate.

    Perhaps if they showed Leaving Las Vegas, they'd have beer commercials.....
    Monday, March 31st, 2003
    11:13 pm
    Well, it's been a while since I wrote anything here, and tonight I feel like writing a bit.

    The job search goes on. I've applied to a number of firms, and I had a phone interview last Thursday. It was for Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Kansas, and the guy I was talking to seemed interested in me. Hopefully, I'll be hearing back from him sometime soon.

    I've fallen into a pretty nice routine of unemployment. Everyday, I wake up and read the paper to see what that wacky Bush administration is up to. The rest of the day, I study statistics, chess, or bridge, or, if I'm feeling lazy, I read science fiction novels or history books. Tuesday evenings, I head over to the chess club to play blitz, and Friday evenings, I play at the bridge club.

    Sometimes I wonder whether this is what life is going to be like when I retire.

    Anyway, I'm enjoying my freedom to relax until I get myself involved in some grind again.
    Wednesday, February 19th, 2003
    2:06 am
    I played a classic endgame shot in a skittles game at the chess club this evening. The following diagram is the aftermath of a race in a king and pawn ending where both sides queen pawns on consecutive moves:


    |00000000|
    |00000000|
    |0000000p|
    |000000p0|
    |000000P0|
    |0K00000P|
    |000Q0000|
    |qk000000|


    White, the lowercase pieces, is on move, and their hapless queen in the corner has no way to deal with the various mating threats. The pawnless version of this is one of the few forced wins in K&Q vs. K&Q endgames.



    (Those silly zeroes are placeholders I put in there because many browsers use fonts that aren't text-art friendly.
    Sunday, February 9th, 2003
    1:15 am
    I got a letter the other day "signed" by the presidents of the society of actuaries and the casualty actuarial society congratulating me on passing my first actuarial exam and encouraging me to continue in my actuarial career.

    This was a nice touch, but I'd prefer for them to find me a job.

    Anyway, my resume is floating around out there, and hopefully, it will land in the lap of some HR person who will be enticed to hire me in the near future.

    Ho hum......
    Saturday, February 8th, 2003
    12:56 am
    Today I saw the beginning of the end.

    Over the last few weeks, Garry Kasparov and the computer program Deep Junior have been playing a six-game match. Kasparov won the first game, drew the second, and lost the third in a complex position. Two more draws made the match even going into the last game today, where Junior had the advantage of the white pieces. Junior played the early middlegame lackadaisically, and Kasparov was able to equalize the game with ease. Soon afterwards, Junior made an error by allowing Kasparov to sacrifice a rook for a knight, two pawns, and a preponderance of pawns in the center.

    I was following the game over the net at the time, and I looked forward to seeing Kasparov attempting to grind out a win as the computer defended. Unfortunately, Kasparov viewed this as an opportunity to avoid losing, and offered a draw. The Deep Junior team initially refused, probably because the position was unbalanced and required artful play, but a few moves later, they realized their error and offered a draw themselves, which Kasparov accepted.

    Thus, the match ended in a draw because Kasparov chose not to press the computer in a position where he was objectively better and had the only real winning chances.

    In the late eighties and early nineties, he would have played out a game like this to the bitter end, and laughed at anyone who offered him a draw if he had been defending. I guess he's losing his fighting spirit as he's getting older.

    Two years ago, he lost the world championship to a young man named Kramnik. He's still playing very well, and he should get a rematch, but I'm starting to think he'll never be world champion again.
    Wednesday, January 29th, 2003
    3:17 pm
    I was reading a statistics book today, and I ran across the following footnote:

    "We have chosen this particular symbol ("Xi") because it is the most difficult Greek letter to write and pronounce. It is an unwritten rule of textbook writing that it appear at least once."

    All Hail JIM!
    Tuesday, January 14th, 2003
    2:49 am
    I went out looking for a suit today. I found exactly -four- suits in the Charleston area which fit me, none of which were very appealing.

    It turns out that I am at the small end of sizes for men's clothing. Kinda makes me wish my metabolism was a little slower, so that all those chicken-fried steaks would have shown up somewhere. A few more layers of muscle and fat, and poof, I'd have a nice grey herringbone at my disposal.

    I'm considering going to Cleveland early for the sci-fi marathon to find a store with a thinner selection.
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