Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Meme and mindless question

I've been tagged! Calliope tagged me on this one.

Step 1. Reference back to the blog that sent you.
Step 2. Make a list of 5 things that you have to get done this week, no matter how small.
Step 3. Get 2 other people off their asses to get their shit in order.

1. I must organize this weird blood draw for LV Clinic and ship it off by FedEx. I basically only have tomorrow left to get this done because I kept putting it off.
2. I should clean up the big pile of mail that is sprawling all over the dining table.
3. I have to start lupron on Friday.
4. I need to do laundry as I'm running out of clean clothes. Maybe I'll manage it tonight.
5. I really really must do my taxes this weekend as I need the refund. No more procrastinating!

But now I've listed them, does this mean I really have to do them? Even the taxes? Ugh.

I am tagging Bleu and Almamay.

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OK, changing the subject. Any Sudoku fans out there? I resisted Sudoku for a long, long time, because I tried playing a few times when it first came out and couldn't do it. But given that so many crossword fiends that I know are into it, I felt that I should try again. I can never resist a good crossword, so why not eh? And I'm getting better, but I'm playing it online with a nice little hint feature that tells you if you've got a full line right or wrong (so far I'm only at the "medium" level - I can do the "easy" level without hints and haven't tackled the "difficult" ones yet). And it seems that there comes a point in every game that I end up guessing, and make use of the hint feature to see which one is right. Usually it's not a huge guess - I know, for example, that the 4 and the 9 occupy two spots, but I don't know which one goes in which location. But it seems like I'm cheating, and if I was doing it in a newspaper I wouldn't have a hint available to me. Does there come a point where you don't have to guess any of the placements? Or are you supposed to guess, and then miraculously hold your guesses in your mind so you can work the rest of the puzzle around them? And if so, how do you do that? I can't remember a damn thing.

4 comments:

bleu said...

First off I CANNOT do meme's. I have no filter and end up saying way more than should be said. I am going to finally have to post about it. I have never ever been tagged and then yesterday two and today this. My gawd.

Next Sudoku. I totally didn't get it at first either then tried again much later and lover it now. I find that almost always you can do it without guessing, but sometimes it can take eons to figure out the right number. I really like Yahoo Sudoku and the ones on CBC.com. I enjoy the Zen music.

I am so glad things are progressing for you.

Anonymous said...

That is so weird about Sukoku. I didn't like it, didn't get it the first time I tried it either. Then this summer while I was traveling in the UK, I found out that someone I know who is much less puzzle/number oriented could do it, so I thought, I have to be able to figure this out..

Anyway, I don't really do it now, but progressed to medium on paper ones, before I quit doing them.

Sarah - As I am writing this, one of my cats (the siamese) - who I used to regard as the smart one - is fetching her little velcro strip for me. She keeps bringing it and meowing, I throw it into the next room, and she brings it back. Repeat, etc. Except that the last two times she has brought it back (in her mouth) one of her front claws has gotten stuck in it too. Instead of taking the time to get her claw unstuck, she is walking toward me using only three legs while her foot is stuck up by her mouth!!

Alacrity

Anonymous said...

I only do the paper version. In order to remember what numbers I need I write them outside the margin of each line. It makes it easier to remember what I have left to fit and what I thought went where. Also, you can't really finish one line at a time since they all fit together and the other lines give you hints.

And, sometimes it's easier to abandon the lines and just try to work the squares.

K said...

Love Soduko. You never have to guess, and I do them as hard as I can find them. I think it's easier with the paper version, but some online versions let you make 'pencil marks.' You just have to follow a methodical process, and you can always find the answer with logic. For example, when you are down to only 2 possible answers for 2 boxes in any given row (or column, or square), pencil them in and no other box in that row (or column, or square etc.) can have those numbers.

-K.