Suck it, Marky.

Finally. It all pays off.

BLET, to cross the 200-Point Lead Barrier.

Voulez-vous jouer Scrabble avec moi?

Scrabble de Poche - I picked up this little treasure at The House of Thrift last Friday. I couldn't get inside of it until I got home, so I wasn't exactly sure what I was ending up with. Luckily, I like both good gambles and good gambols. Plus, it would've had to have been pretty disappointing to not justify the 99¢ outlay.  

So what was in my little Scrabble packet? One complete French travel Scrabble set. All tucked neatly into a little pouch, perfectly sized to awkwardly fit into those big pockets of your high waisted jeans. Bonus: one more item to add to my growing collection of things manufactured in 1981.

I am missing one R, but I've got two extra blanks to make up for it. And a 10 pt. W. I call that Fair-Trade  Scrabble. Like I always say, "Yes to more expensive Ws!"

¬Seasonal Affective Disorder

 This weather is really getting to me and my pastimes. Wisconsin's winter get's talked about a lot but I don't really think about it much until it starts to throw in its towel every year. Then I remember how much I like playing Scrabble outside, and that I have two bicycles downstairs that I want to ride. Maybe I should have been bewaring the Ides of March better, but I was caught unawares by this reverse Indian Summer we're having right now.

A celebratory Face Down

Scrabble in the sunshine just feels better, like how Diet Dr. Luv taste more like Regular Dr. Luv. And look, we were playing UNITRIKE at the exact same time as this was posted to the internet. Kreepy.

Double Bingo.

Sunday night finished off with some hot chocolate and a Scrabble game with the elder Barnebeys. They may have been impressed when I played EDITION, but they were browbeaten by the time I laid down SQUALID two rounds later. Good thing they believed me when I told them that ET is a valid variant for the past tense of EAT.

The Triple Wedding: Part 2

Wedding #2: The Drum Circle Wedding

I met Angela & Gary last summer during The Great Barnebey/Sterr Escape 2008. Those few days we spent sleeping on their futon, back when The Sway was still young, were a heady mix of fireworks, Travel Scrabble, and spicy cheese balls; there was even a drum circle thrown in for good measure. Luckily it turned out to be a drum circle party, which is everyone's favorite kind of drum circle.

The big pay off came when Julia's wedding invitation showed up with a strongly worded recommendation that she bring me as her date. I'm going to claim that as a half-invite, and I'm flattered.

Careful planning over the summer ensured that my ORD-LAX-PDX flight would arrive just minutes  after her OKC-MSP-PDX flight, leaving plenty of time to pick up our car and drive out to McMenamin's Edgefield somewhere in the Oregonian hinterlands. Unfortunately Julia decided to take the OKC-DET-SEA-PDX flight instead, stranding us at an unfortunately smelling Super 8 for the night. Over breakfast we played scratch off lotto (I have my own scratcher!) and discussed our playlist options for the coming road trip. Then we got in the car, turned on the GPS, and drove the 8 minutes down the highway to McMenamin's. Beware: objects in Oregon may be closer than Julia believes.

On the upside, our shortened road trip provided just the opportunity we were looking for to break out the Travel Scrabble/wine. When I started to cuddle up to the 200 pt. lead barrier Julia made-up some excuse about a rehearsal dinner she had to get to; I'm still chalking it as a win.

In the morning we needed to get off campus, so we took a drive up the Columbia Gorge, stopped at Multnomah Falls for brunch, and proceeded to gorge ourselves on the most impressive buffet I've ever been a part of. Hopefully you know me well enough for that to mean something. I've never sucked so many crab legs dry.

Later, back at the ranch, there was a ceremony in the grass; short, sweet, and unsurprisingly featuring a drum circle. Later than that, there was a band, and dancing, and jumpshots! I didn't get any compliments from the waitresses this time, which would have been disappointing if there had been any waitresses. I did fall in love with a singer of the band.

Evaluation:

Location: really close to Portland, OR

Highlights: Julia, the buffet, the band, the dancing, the Asian Ringo Starr on guitar, the jumpshots, the sweater opportunities, the Scrabbles

Music: almost Funkiphino good, which is really good.

Company: very in tune with their chakras

Food Discovery: bleu cheese roast potatoes. They're like regular roast potatoes, but much bleuer. And cheesier.

Sway: Jerry's Sway

On a scale of 1-10 Ws: 9 Ws

Jenga; Lakeside

Madison's been pumping out some pretty enjoyable weather recently; I haven't shut my porch door in weeks. We took the Jenga blocks down to the lake today to make good on some of that enjoyability. I'm sure the weather would have been enough, but we brought a bottle of champagne anyway. And a Scrabble board, but just for structural support, not tile support.

The 1st game went by too fast; it didn't take long for the top to fall off. We clearly hadn't gotten our Jenga-fingers back on yet. Also, we were distracted by the elephants in the champagne. The 2nd game turned out to be a nail biter though. Luckily I bite my nails all the time

This move was successful.

This move was not.

In Which the Barnebeys Play Games, but I get upset when Evan's jawn beats me.

Life has been really rough the past couple of weeks. After that whole wedding shenanigan down in Charlottesville, I only had a couple of days to decompress before I had to start grilling hot doggs and concocting slaws last Friday. Then, the next morning, Papa Barnebey (a.k.a. The Old Welshman) got us all  out on some wild bike ride up to Phoenixville. I had to borrow a bike with gears. How embarrassing.

Luckily we took Sunday off to just play some games. No long guest lists, no aching bike butt; just some cards, a wood fire, and later, a scrabble board.

Kermit came out for a little bit, demanding to be included, so we let him hold some 3's and 4's in his big froggy hands, just to keep him quiet. Too bad sheepshead only uses Ace - 7.

By half-time I was leading and the kielbasa was ready to come off the grill, so we broke for lunch. It may look familiar.

[Look at all those TUBs!]

Later, after a trip to the custard stand, we reconvened on the deck for some Scrabble. It started off well enough with a cheeseboard, wines, and a bingo.

[The only pen to score Scrabble with is a Le Pen.]

This picture was snapped at the peak of our Scrabble high. The first game had just finished and had gone well. Despite the lead I had held since my SMUGGLE play, everyone was still feeling good about their scrabbling— the board had been open and the vowels had been well distributed.

Soon into the 2nd game though, things started to head south. The scores were close and people were getting testy. Then I was denied the use of GERMY. Look it up. Then I had to fight for AD and MAW. By the time I played OI, the table was set for an insurrection. Forced to use RID instead, I had to accept 2 fewer points, and more importantly, use my R. R's can be indispensable at the end of a game. 

Soon Roxy had gone out, Evan had given her the 12 points still left on his rack, and I had lost the game by 1 point. Some things were said. Words were questioned, dictionaries were questioned, peoples' characters were questioned. It was not a Scrabble high. Later, after consulting The Official Scrabble® Dictionary, Evan tried to debate what it meant to be a word, effectively calling into question not only my Scrabble knowledge but also the subject in which I'm getting a doctorate. Thanks. At least we could agree that jawn is a perfectly valid and useful word.

I'm not sure when we're going to play Scrabble again.

Rat in the Grass

Rizzo always tends to get jealous when I spend too much time with Kermit. I figured I'd take him out for a little game of Grabble® this afternoon to cheer him up. He's not the party rat for nothing; we had a great time. And some serious words got played (OLYMPIAD!). He still has issues with that frog though.

This nice little sweater vest was gifted to me by one T-Schwenn when he left for the Big Apple last year. I don't know how I lived my life before I owned it but that life can only have a been a shadow of the life I live now. It's become a staple. A big heavy duty wood staple.

Tommy asked when this sweater would make it into a Sweater Thursday lineup a while ago; it was too early then, it feels so right now.

# of Frames: 8

wEnvy

Just another E, tryin' to be a W.

Scrabble Babble

Breakfast Scrabble® this morning took place at Bluephie's, same as it did last year; this time Jobonga and Lucia were working the tiles. It was Leigha's first spin around the BreakScrab board; her nervousness subsided as soon as she realized Breakfast Scrabble exists in a plane free of expectations. Highlights included IDYLICH, which is German for idyllic, and BARFIX, which is a new anti-emetic. 

I ordered a baby quiche and they threw in 1 Name for free. Unfortunately it's the same one I've had since I was 2 weeks old.

Let's Talk About Blogs, Baby.

It's taken me a little while to find my words about last weekend. Now that I've got them though I'm going to use 'em.

The weekend started in The Kee Friday night for Schmatie's Sweet Sixteen Party. There were plenty of Scwepp's, Spark's, and Silver Bullets to go around; some were even convinced to take some Schitty Bombs, a drop shot of root beer schnapps in a pint of Schlitz. There's a reason they're known as Schitty.

Highlights included floor-dancing [below], drinking from the squirrel mug, an inexplicable power outage late in the night, and breakfast the next morning.

We couldn't waste too much time though, Joanna was due to show up in Madison in the near future. Ostensibly, she was coming to see me and/or make up for missing Katie's birthday. In reality it was because Sealander had made a spur of the moment 12 hr drive [add 15 minutes if you want to take the Canadian route] from Rochester, NY.

We got to Madison with plenty of time to make the 7:30 showing of Coraline in 3D ["The best movie I've seen all year(!), in 3D."]. The collection of child stealing she-demons, evil schnauzer-bats, button eclipses, and disturbingly proportioned body parts probably should have bumped this into the PG-13 category.

[Look at that turkey neck!]

Although we were excited about Sundance's amazing smoothies and wide variety of popcorn toppings, the thing that really made the trip worthwhile was the realization as we wandered back to the car through The University Bookstore that here lied the elusive and highly sought after Le Pen®.

[Katie, with pens]

After 15-20 minutes spent enjoying the wide assortment of colors and styles we made our decisions and began brainstorming things we could label with our new Marvy® products. We spent Sunday morning sitting in comfortable chairs, drinking coffee, and labeling maps.

[Canada, Europe, Africa, & the Periodic Table]

This may not seem like a fun time to you, but it is for us. I even played it on my birthday. There were some significant realizations too, namely: the relative positions of Whitehorse vis-á-vis Yellowknife, the capital of Macedonia (Podgorica), the location of The Orange River, Rutherfordium(!). Our mood was only enhanced when Joanna finally showed up. It didn't matter that she was 3 hours late; she came bearing gummy candies, cheese curds, a bottle each of Templeton Rye and goats' milk, an amish pickle, and a bag of frozen berries.

We immediately left for breakfast with Sealander and Brad. A Breakfast Scrabble event ensued in which FEAR-BONERTUB-SKI (a Polish container designed to hold fearboners) intersected INCHOATE-DRIHUMPER (a registered trademark for a person just at the onset of a dry humping act).

After breakfast we walked next door, purchased 4 bottles of cheap champagne, a 4-pack of sparks, and 4 40s. Later we picked up 2 gallons of orange juice. Then began an epic day of gaming, mimosas, and egg breaking. We started with a polite game of Jumbling Towers, moved on to a short-lived game of Bridge, progressed to an epic game of Apples to Apples To Go (100% New Card Content!), and finished the night off with a rousing game of Balderdash. Later in the night we played 4-Square egg toss in the street and read about how to squeeze an egg without breaking it.

Life skills that we learned:

➊ the correct ratio of champagne to orange juice is 4 bottles : 1 gallon.

➋ when betting shots of whiskey on your Apples To Apples cards, it is impossible for both of your cards to be picked first. If you bet on them both, you will lose. There is no other outcome.

➌ the White Kentucky [Iowan whiskey and goats' milk] ruins both the whiskey and the goat's milk.

➍ if you forget which definition you submitted during a round of Balderdash, and then proceed to vote for your own answer, you will be awarded one shot of whiskey by the DrinkMeister.

➎ it's completely possible to squeeze an egg without breaking it. But it only works with white eggs, and when you have paper towels handy.

What did you do learn last weekend?

Brought to you in association with:

From the pages of GQ...

GQ gave us their latest installment of the requisite semi-regular Men's magazine ode to breakfast this month. Their angle: "Breakfast, it's still regional!" They made at least one really good decision: Sophia's Bakery (a.k.a that hipster joint on E. Johnson). Famous for both outdoor dining and Breakfast Scrabble, they serve nothing that is not the best thing you've ever had. As long as you're ok with the tattooed Sophia judging your every move. And her ridiculously cute daughter touching your food before you eat it.

On the other hand, they seem to have made an editing error in their scrapple recommendation. Any fan of greasy ground pig parts knows that Pete's, not Little Pete's, is the best place to get your triglyceride fix. It's an understandable mistake though; Phila. has seemingly 50 eating establishments with "Pete's" in their names within a 3 mile radius of City Hall. And these two are in the same block of Fairmount; crazy‽ A rower would never had made that mistake; nor would one of Pete's waitresses who love when the rowers come in after morning practice.

Finally.

Primetime on the Scrabble Board

Things had been going so well. Then Joanna fogot what she was doing and played LINTS, which ruined everything. She feels really bad about it. I'm advocating we turn it into a Multiples of 13 game to maintain our prime number status.

In which Joanna issues a Challenge.

So far, so good.

Let's get together to discuss our vows of Chastity, Poverty, & Obedience

Nun Clubs

I didn't put much stock into these when Joanna first mentioned them. Then I did some research.


This Nunclub is some type of quasi-religious social club, based in St. Catharines, Ontario that reached its apogee in late-2006. They organize events like these:

• We will be meeting every other Sunday night, starting October 21st. One Sunday will be the study - the following nun nite will be a response to the study. The goal of the next few months will be transformation. This is not about learning more information, but about growth - in relationship to God, to each other & to our world.
• I still want us all to have fun together - and I think that this will actually be a great experience for all of us to share...

I like that they're still hoping to have fun together, even during their transformation. Also, I found this drawing, which is almost funny, there.

If religious transformation isn't what you're about there's also the United Nun Club. This club is "all about promoting the Nun Pigeon and the hobby." Don't miss the photo section for some of your future club-mates. Is that what you thought pigeon enthusiasts would look like? Does that cute little Yellow Nun make you enthusiastic anyway? If so, this is the club for you. You should know that Nuns are not the showiest of pigeons though, as PigeonFarms.com shows us.

The Jacobin is officially my favorite breed of domesticated pigeon. If you're interested in purchasing one for your own enjoyment there are many opportunities to do so online, for instance jacobins4sale.com.

1300 = ...

1. My highest 'scrabble' score ever. Cheapened only slightly by the non-conventional board layout and the blatant setups by Rochester Whitney.
2. My PSAT score in 10th grade.


Yes, I play scrabble against myself.

Our worst fears have been realized...

Not long ago I was excited about crossing the 1700 barrier in Scrabulous rating. How modest I was.

Class Warfare on the Scrabulous Board

Darcy and I are currently playing 4 games of Scrabulous at the same time. This is both time consuming and exciting. Today I played OEUVRE. I felt this was both a prudent use of excess vowels, and a pretty classy play. Darcy followed with POON. What a tramp.