February 2012: Vol
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N A S P NASPA Bulletin® The monthly news bulletin of the North American SCRABBLE Players Association A February 2012: Vol. 4, No. 1 The Big Easy & Other Points Hither and Yon by Chris Cree Official SCRABBLE tournaments re- turned to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day weekend west of the Mississippi and did so with a big splash! Lila Crotty (Metairie, LA) and Kate Fu- kawa-Connelly (Kittery, ME) produced the Inaugural Crescent City Cup SCRABBLE Tournament in New Orleans, LA. Their hus- bands, Tim & Tim, handled respectively data entry and direction of the event. The event took place at the Inn on Bourbon, a quaint oasis in the midst of the French Quarter. The room was the perfect size for the event. In a wild finish befitting the personality of this city, 6 people had identical records entering the final round. Jesse Day (Berke- ley, CA) bested Joel Sherman (Bronx, NY) at Table 1 and had enough cumulative point spread to fend off the two others who fin- ished with Jesse’s 14–6 record. The hostess, Alan Mason (Eureka, CA) won the SCRABBLE Flash game at the Redwood Coast SCRABBLE Kate Fukawa-Connelly, finished second and Club’s February 12 tournament in Arcata, CA. The tournament was directed by Leah Kruley. Jim Burlant (Grapevine, TX) finished third. In the Lite Division (with a nod to Port- Member Services 2012 NSC Update land’s description of the second division at an by the Web Committee by John Chew Open), Roy Dixon (Dade City, FL) held off We are often asked if we can provide some As we go to press, we have broken 100 Lindsey Dimmick (Baton Rouge, LA) and sort of information or service to our mem- paid registrants to this year’s National Harry Durbin (Collierville, TN) for the title. bers and directors. Most of the time, we can SCRABBLE Championship (NSC), which In the Collins Division, Dave Wiegand point people at the Member Services section will take place on August 11–15 at the Royal (Portland, OR) held off hard-charging Brian of our website; if what they want isn’t there, Pacific Resort in Orlando, FL! We have play- Bowman (Villa Hills, KY) and February’s in- we are happy to add it. Here’s what’s avail- ers registered so far from 27 states and Cana- ductee to the Texas State SCRABBLE Hall of able for NASPA members now: access to the dian provinces, with the event still more than Fame, Geoff Thevenot (Austin, TX). current Bulletin issue, a printable NASPA five months away. Attendance was strong and diverse; both business card, printable full-page board dia- Last month, the organizing committee coasts and both countries and all of the grams for presentations, the Code of Con- met on site with conference center staff to places in between that make up NASPA were duct, a tool for submitting Bulletin contest go over plans for the event. The hotel, an represented. Many came early and/or stayed entries, printable membership cards, a tool extremely popular Universal resort prop- late to enjoy this unique destination. I had for searching for fellow members and their erty whose guests automatically get priority plenty of superb meals. Even the airport contact information (if they have agreed to access at the neighboring Universal theme served scrumptious fried shrimp poboys. share it), a payment tool (see below), a profile parks, has been the venue for several Na- Lila has announced that she and Kate photo upload-er, a referral bonus link to give tional School SCRABBLE Championships have decided to do it again for 2013! This to your friends, membership renewals, and (NSSC)s as well as the 2008 NSC. We are event will be a sellout. Get your reservations the online voting system. looking forward to working together both in early. Email Kate <[email protected]> or In addition, directors have access to the on this year’s NSSC in April, and our NSC Lila <[email protected]>. following services: adding new members on in August. It’s a real pleasure working with Also this weekend, Ian Weinstein (Coral account, enhanced member search, informa- professional hotel staff who get SCRABBLE Springs, FL) kept his hot streak going by tak- tion about accommodations for players un- tournaments. ing the 20-game Ft. Lauderdale tournament. able to play according to regular rules, infor- While in town for the planning session, Randy Greenspan (Delray Beach, FL) and mation about player suspensions, renewing Chris Cree and NSC Director Dallas John- Robert Kahn (Plantation, FL) rounded out members on account, the complete member- son (Stow, OH) also played in a weekend the top 3. Kit Morehead (Berkley, MI) took ship list, rating data submission and our the tournament organized by Art Moore (Ocoee, Division 2 and Shereen E. Weinstein (Tama- certificate of liability insurance that covers FL), and were impressed in all respects with rac, FL) captured Division 3. sanctioned activities. the quality of the event. When we are scout- THE BIG EASY continued on p. SERVICES REVIEW continued on p. NSC UPDATE continued on p. NASPA Bulletin, February 01, Vol. 4, No. 1 The Big Easy Member Services Collins Update from THE BIG EASY, p. 1 from MEMBER SERVICES, p. 1 by John Chew The second annual charity event in Dur- Our Committee members have access to The international lexicon (often still called ham, NC founded by David Klionsky (Dur- an even wider range of services, which they SOWPODS, but now properly Collins, or ham, NC) also took place this holiday week- use to perform their duties CSW) was revised this year, with 2,809 ad- end. All proceeds went to benefit the Duke and maintain the website. ditions and 396 deletions. If you’re one of Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Pro- The payment tool men- those players who loves this game for the gram. $5,655 was raised for this very worthy tioned above is one of the opportunity to learn new words, now’s the cause (NASPA made a donation of $200). most frequently accessed time to dive in. (Regular TWL players will be Winners were Erickson Smith (Cary, NC), parts of Member Services. getting their own lexicon update in the next Susan Bertoni (Clemmons/Winston-Salem, You can use this page to year or two.) The addition of the new lexicon NC) and John Price (Cary, NC). check that we have received also occasioned a new edition of Quackle, There were also 30 players at Cornelia your mailed-in payment; re- version 0.97, which fixes a few minor bugs as Guest’s (Bethel, CT) one-day event in Nor- view your account payment well as including the new words. walk, CT, won by Sheng Guo (Amawalk, history with us; or make On the night before the change, WC3 di- NY), Scott Leifer (Mansfield, MA) and miscellaneous payments for rector Travis Chaney (Ashland, OR) posted Brandon Randall (New Haven, CT); and 25 items for which we do not gleefully on Facebook: “It’s CSW12 eve! players at a one-day event in Winnipeg, MB, have specific webpages, such Whether you are in INDIA or QUEBEC, re- directed by Linda Pearn and Julie Kading, as NSC division change fees joice! Whether your name is JULIET or MI- won by Donna Carruthers (all of Winnipeg). or the Director’s Test fee. At CHAEL, be glad! And don’t be a BUZZKILL All told, 200 NASPA members participat- the request of some of our tonight.” I replied: Also among my frequent ed in official SCRABBLE tournaments dur- more prolific directors, we SCRABBLE correspondents, CONNIE, ing the attractive three-day holiday weekend. have recently made changes to this webpage. NANG and PUKY (Barbara, from QUE- As I write this, the next big three-day It used to display your entire account history BEC), but nobody who is weekend is Presidents’ Day weekend in Feb- with us, dating back as far as our launch on MALTESE or a NUTJOB. ruary. Sam Kantimathi has brought back July 1st, 2009. It now displays by default the Nick Ball (Victoria, BC) has SCRABBLE tournaments to western North past 365 days’ worth of transactions, and of- posted a QUICKY READ- America on this holiday weekend with his fers you the choice of adjusting that range. ME WIKITORIAL about huge event at The Palms in Las Vegas. The We welcome additional suggestions for im- the changes. I’d write more, Eastern Championship will take place on provements to our site. but I’m BONETIRED from Travis Chaney the “right coast” in beautiful Charlotte, NC. a long drive yesterday; time Ryan Fischer has been at the helm the past 4 New at the Bulletin to AUTOSAVE and MOBCAST to the years and just does it better and better each by John Chew TOPSCORED BLOGGERATI here on time. He has found a superb location at the With the extremely helpful support of the FACEBOOK on the INTERWEBS, brush Doubletree Charlotte South Park. rest of the Bulletin Committee, in particu- out the BEDHEAD, change into my DAY- With these two events and one day events lar copyediting and proofreading by Kristen WEAR, put on the WIREFRAMES and in Dallas, TX and Guelph, ON, NASPA ex- Chew (Toronto, ON), and design and layout TRICKSILY BOOGALOO downstairs to pects approximately 300 attendees playing in by Alice Ching-Chew (Kingston, ON), we pour myself a bowl of CRISPIES. FABBIE, official SCRABBLE tournaments this Presi- managed to publish a record eleven issues in INNIT?” dents’ Day weekend. See ya on the circuit! 2011. That was one issue short of our target Other names appearing in our member- of one per month, due to unanticipated per- ship database that are also now acceptable Up From Down Under sonal difficulties; we will work hard to deliver are: COHEN, DIANE, MELBA, SHAHID, by the International Committee twelve issues in 2012, and welcome your sug- TIAN and TINA; the only one we’ve lost is In Vol.