Bump countdown = -3 days

Bump shut down last night, and after the odd fit and start, judge ranking began. Having CP rank his own judges and, hence, discover that odd fit or start, is a nice plus: now that he’s working with the Lexwegian LDers, you don’t have to tell him something’s wrong because he finds out for himself. I like that. Did I mention he’ll be working with JV in VLD and VPF tab? Kaz, who’s usually in there with Joe, is off to Scranton in aid of supporting her Policians, meaning that down there she can get rounds for the whole team and not just half. Understandable, although I would have loved to have her with us. I mean, it is the old NFA tournament, after all, transposed to Hen Hud. With PF instead of Policy, though. Big difference, I guess, when you think about it. I must say, running a PF division or two is a lot easier than running Policy, when you aren’t in the Policy universe. Can’t say as I miss the headaches…

My food parent told me yesterday that our judges’ lounge is under construction and hence out of commission. Not good, of course. We will find a place to set up the grub and coffee, but if it’s a classroom, it just isn’t the same. Judges need comfy chairs. Even if there aren’t enough to go around, the knowledge that they could get one if they timed it right makes all the difference. I have to admit I’ve been to some great judges’ lounges in my day. Yale in the olden days had one where I think they held the Pagan Party Nights that was pretty snazzy. Villiger’s was nice and heavily couched, if I remember correctly. O’C tells of storied judges’s lounges hither and yon where Swedes come in and give you full body massages and iced Aquavit and iPods, or something like that. I may be confusing this with something Bietz said about USC giving people iPads and iPods instead of trophies and tab thank-you’s. Holy cannoli, as they say in Paris, but only in the Italian restaurants. If CP and JV and OC think I’m giving them iPods or iPads, they’re nuts, much less giving them to the debaters. At Hen Hud it’s crappy prizes all the way. Maybe I’ll make ‘em iCrappy prizes, to punch ‘em up a bit. And the Jon Cruz award will be the iCruz award. I like that, actually. I don’t know what the iCruz is, but I’ll bet when Apple starts selling them, they’ll be flying out the door. Me, I’ll wait for the iCruz 2. You know it’s going to be a much better model in every way.