Unbelievably, all the planets must be aligned because I'm going to Chicago for the Arden Cup. Ridiculously cheap flight ($128.00 round trip from Buffalo), a place to stay (thanks etheridge2!), and got the time off work. What more could I ask for?!

This will now mark the furthest from Toronto I've ever travelled to go to a Scrabble tournament (replacing Lake George, NY) and the first time that I'll fly to a tournament. It also ties as the longest tournament I've ever played in (20 games - same as Albany in July 2005).

Some of the Scrabble studying I've been doing, I've bumped it up for the next two weeks so that I get a specific list of words completed before the Arden Cup, instead of planning on finishing it by mid-June.

So I'll be studying like a madman over the next two week.

This is going to be "my tournament"... Division 2 cuts at 1550, with play up at 1450. They will use your "peak" rating from January 1, 2008 to present. That's 1458 for me. There are presently 22 people in that division. Adding me, I would be seeded 21st of 23... projected needing to win only 5.5 games out of 20.

My griping and bitching about consistently being seeded high... this is the tourney I've been waiting for...

It'll prove either that either:

1. I *CAN* play against 1500 and 1600 players and win, or

2. The Dunlop quote of the last two years is right... "You don't deserve your rating!"