Week 3

Preparing for a trip

It was a truncated week, as I flew to Hawaii on Friday. My team spent the weekend on Maui, and now we’re in Honolulu for the regional. There’s always a lot to do getting ahead on work before a trip. On top of that, I jammed in three shows—a musical, a concert at the Philharmonic, and an opera before I left. All three were amazing, but going out during the week really cuts into my bridge training. I have to end the work day early, and I get home late, which means I get less sleep than I need. (I still wake up early the next morning—I don’t get enough work done if I don’t.) I knew I’d have to make sacrifices for this program, and I’m realizing this is going to be a big one—no shows on weeknights. I have some tickets already that I can’t change, but I’m not going to buy any new ones. I’ll save that for the weekends. I need the time during the week to work and sleep.

This week is my first tournament of the year. I’m not going to push myself with too much study beyond what I do at the table. I’ll try to get some reading in, and maybe do a little work with robots or VuGraph. My focus, though, will be on working on my partnership with Greg and studying what happens at the tournament. I want to really dig in to our results and analyze what we’re doing well and where we’re falling short.

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A reminder that I have put together a Leveling Up partnership desk to help folks coming along on this journey with me to find partners interested in a similar level of dedication. If you're interested in working on your game this year and want to find a partner similarly committed, fill out the form, and if I find someone who looks compatible I will let you both know.

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Here’s what I did this week:

VuGraph

I studied two more segments of the 2024 USBC, kibitzing Steve Weinstein. Steve has been great about answering questions as they come up. Watching him and Bobby play is really enlightening.

Robots

I played on IntoBridge most days and did one robot duplicate. Not as much this week as I would have liked. A sacrifice to the theater gods.

Duplicate

I played twice with students and didn’t make any egregious mistakes, though I’m still frustrated by my laziness when it comes to counting. I do it when it’s important, but I need it to become second nature. I’m working on it, mostly by tracking it when it happens in my spreadsheet, and trying to slow down and grind out every hand when I play against the robots.

Reading

I started Method Bridge, but didn’t bring it with me on the trip, because it’s pretty thick. I’ll finish it once I get home. I have a number of books on my Kindle, so I’ll probably start one or two of those. I also brought the issue of The Bridge World that I’m about halfway through.

Beyond Bridge

I’m sticking to my daily regimen of two sessions of meditation and a walk. The walks have been short due to the weather—the temperature has been in the teens most of the week in NYT. I’m doing some stretching, but physical fitness is going to take center stage after I’m home. When I don’t have a concert or play, I’m sleeping plenty. And I’m drinking lots of water. Feeling pretty good on this front.

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I encourage you to share your progress in the comments. We’re all in this together!!

Have a great week.

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