The Weekend that Was:

Saturday morning I headed down to Tyler's house, and form there we headed out to Issaquah, and more specifically to Tiger Mountain for an Orienteering Meet. In a shocking development, I actually beat Tyler. However, I really didn't do all that well, and, frankly, hardly beat him on my own merit. Tyler should easily have covered the course 20 minutes quicker than me, but he had a disastrous day with some horrible navigation snafu's near the end of the course. It was a particularly long and demanding course, which for the most part was more like a trail run than anything else, and I seemed especially adept at screwing up the "easy" controls, but finding the "more difficult" ones.

Tyler and I had attempted to arrive "early" so we could get an earlier start, so that we could "help" at the finish when we were done. We got off a little later than we expected, then it took us just a bit longer than expected (that's an understatement) to finish, so we found our planned finish area positions already filled by some people who, frankly, weren't doing all that good of a job.

Tyler and I sort of stood around for a while, before being tasked with "checking punchcards." Most of the people reading this probably don't know the first thing about orienteering, and I don't really feel like boring you all with details, so let me just say that when someone finishes, they hand in their punchcard so their time can be confirmed, and to establish the fact that they have indeed visited all the controls in the proper order, and thus "finished" the course.

Having never actually done this before, but having enough familiarity with orienteering in general, I had no qualms about doing it despite the fact I was never properly briefed on procedure. "How hard can it be," was my attitude.

As usual, with things that are run by volunteers, thing were kind of a mess. Tyler, myeslf,, and a third guy sprted through the pile. I quickly got the hang of it, and if I found any incomplete or mis-punched cards I wrote "DNF" on it and dumped it in the "cards to post" bin.

At some point I realized that I should be writing "DNF" in much bolder, redder, letters, and nearer to where the elapsed time is written. Tyler had already started posting some of the cards by then, including a few of the "DNF",s, and he noticed most of them, but missed a couple of the meekly marked DNF's I had checked, and put them in with the finishers times.

One of these was a time that would have been the winning time for course 4, the long course the "serious" competitors do. The card hung from the string, in the 1st place postion, for probably half an hour, time for many people, including that competitor himself -- who was watching anxiously to see if anyone woul beat his time -- to see it. Tyler finally noticed it, and it was subsequently moved to its proper position.

This created a bit of a stir, but, fankly, I have no sympathy for the guy. He had missed #7 entirely, and then punched the #7 control in the #8 spot (so I guess that means he really missed #8). It was plain as day that there was no punch in the #7 spot. That means he Did Not Finish.

I also found out, a while later, that there is a difference between "mispunch" and "DNF." I had been marking everything "DNF," (although I only came across a couple "mispunches,"), but one of the "DNF's" that should have been marked "MSP" was spotted by one of the high school coaches (there was a high school meet also happening) and he complained about it.

Neither of these things is that big a deal, and it really didn't bother me. As Tyler noted, "they got what they paid for," and things were ultimately rectified. However, there are a lot of people that take this a lot more seriously than me, and if I screw up something They did, I can see how they can take it personally, and I'm sensitive to that.

Beyond that, I assured myself, without my help they would have been seriosuly backlogged, and without my help, the giant pile of "problem punches" probably wouldn't have been sorted through, as I took it upon myself to do this (most of them were DNF's and MSP's, but they still needed to be looked though!)

So, after that ordeal (it was Cold and Damp, and neither Tyelr or I had brought dry shoes), we headed over to the Issaquah Brewhouse for some lunch and beer. They have a fantastic selection on draft there, but I rarely find myself out that way.

I went home and vegged out for a bit before starting the process of making some Beer (Greg's B-day Bock), then DanG came over, and after a bit we (Rich, DanG, me) played some Simpson's Monopoly while I finished the brewing. Poker didn't end up happening, but that's what you get for giving short notice.

Yesterday, I played soccer, then after the game a few of us went to the Sloop on Ballard (by the Locks) for their $5 34-oz beers (good stuff, too, like Hales, Maritime Pacific, Red Hook, the Guiness is $5.50!). I sort of bummed around the rest of the day, including watching a bunch of Simpson's episodes (all repeats) and much of the "new-look" Sonics close loss to the Lakers (it was a good effort!)