1 Out of 7 Cashiers / Weekend Gaming

Surprises can be found around any corner.

3-3-1

7 times I go shopping,

• 3 times I receive the right change,
• 3 times I receive too much change, and
• 1 time I receive too little change.

7 times I receive too much change, when I try to correct it,

• 3 times they correct it without comment,
• 3 times they argue with me, thinking I'm trying to tell them I received too little, and
• 1 time they thank me for my honesty.

7 times I receive too little change, when I try to correct it,

• 3 times they correct it without comment,
• 3 times they argue with me, thinking I'm trying to rob them,
• 1 time they apologize.

7 times I receive the correct change,

• 3 times they do so without comment,
• 3 times they try to hurry me along by scanning in the next person's items before I've packed my own, and
• 1 time they say "Thank you," or "Your welcome."

That 1 person in 7 usually gets my business again.

Games

I ended up playing more than I expected.

I played two games of Yinsh with the daughter before lunch. I won the first game fairly easily, but the second one was very close.

My friend then surprised me in the afternoon by agreeing to a game of Chess. And I thought he didn't play games altogether.

I actually gained a very slight advantage at the beginning but then made a mistake which threw the balance his way. A series of exchanges later I resigned. He turned out to be a reasonably good player, or, at least, better than me.

I then played a few introductory games of Go with the daughter again, six in all. On a 9x9 board, I started her with a 2 stone advantage that eventually went up to 5 stones. She still couldn't win. I think I'm not a good introductory Go game teacher.

Anyway, I discovered something playing the game: a corner of the board with four empty spaces in a square, surrounded by five stones as the two other sides a square, can't be saved, even though two eyes could fit into it.

Yehuda