Learn to play Bridge (World Wide game of cards)

some family members have told me in the past that they might want to learn how to play bridge

wouldn't be fun to get together for an hour one nite and play a little bridge with your siblings ??

i play once a month with some doctors from Tampa (and my Indian friend who took me to Cuba) on the internet and play bridge....but THEY are serious and we play for 2 hours

i am also able to play with my Chinese student who is off to college

and my director plays with her daughter in South Africa often

there are million of people around the World playing bridge on the internet....it is a game the British taught India and China

anyways the first thing about bridge is that you need to know how to play SPADES

in Spades, you have 4 people....each person gets 13 cards (4 X 13 = 52 cards)

in Spades, the person sitting across from you is your "partner"...you two are a TEAM

there are 13 possible "tricks" or "rounds" of cards play

the object of Spades is to Predict how many of those 13 tricks you think your partnership will win

now what usually "wins" a round or trick ??

Aces usually win...and Kings....and sometimes queens (if you are very careful)

the #1 rule in Spades (and Bridge) is that YOU MUST follow the "lead"....whatever card is "led"

so if a person leads a HEART....everyone MUST play a heart....the highest Heart wins the trick

(wow, if you can FOLLOW all that....with words like "trick" and "lead" you are well on your way to learning Spades and Bridge)

BTW  the basketball players at JU all played Spades....so ANYONE can learn how to play spades

i have taught most of the nephews and nieces

now what happens if someone leads a Heart and you have no more Hearts left ?? then you can "Trump" with a Spade (Spades is a "wild suit".....that is why it is called Spades)

the 2 of spades can beat the Ace of Hearts

but be careful....if someone else is also out of Hearts....they can play a higher spade and win

and that is the basics of Spades

try to learn THAT game BEFORE thinking about playing Bridge

if you can not learn how to play Spades....then forget Bridge

and thus ends the FIRST lesson from the Tall Cuban

2011 Christmas letter

2011 Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years

Dear Family and Friends,

Well we really have to start with Dec.18, 2010 when Brandon, Austin and Manny went to Cuba.  (our good friend Steve Kitchens also went with them…”Esteban Cuisina”).  After being away for 50 years (Manny was born in Havana, Cuba in 1955 and his family left in 1961 after the Bay of Pigs fiasco), it was very emotional.  They were able to visit the farm “La Finca” and the sugar mill “El Doloras” and finally the beautiful beach “Varadero”.  It is a trip that they will always remember and a great cigar story to boot.

In January 2011, Austin transferred from UCF in Orlando where he got his AA degree early to UFla in Gainesville.  He was admitted into the Fisher School of Accounting.  We have enjoyed driving to Gainesville for basketball games and football games this fall.

In May, Austin flew to Boston to help Brandon move from Boston to San Diego.  They rented a U-Haul and drove across the country.  There are good Niagara Falls stories and Las Vegas too.

This summer Austin and Manny went back to Cuba (this time with the ex-Georgetown coach and his two sons).  Again they had a blast and this time it was more of a tourist like trip.

Of course the big event in 2011 was Brandon and Sophia getting married in California in Aug.  It was a beautiful wedding in LaJolla, California.  About 10 of Brandon’s MIT bball players flew across the country and many of Sophia’s gymnastic friends too.  We did play the traditional Suarez basketball game before the wedding.  The church was glorious overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Father John from Boston flew in for the ceremony. The reception was a lot of fun and the newlyweds were truly radiant.

This Fall Austin and Manny along with two alums Russ and Richie won the Berkeley Open golf tournament.  They shot an 11 under par, 61.  They have their names etched onto the Merluzzi trophy.

Kathy still works for Tampa General (she took a second trip to Colorado and loves it there) and Manny is at Berkeley.  Berkeley celebrating 50 years and Manny being there for 34 of them.

Love, Kathy, Manny, Austin, Brandon and Sophia

Merry Christmas 2013

Hello Family and Friends,

Well 2013 sure was interesting.  It really started in Dec of 2012 when Manny decided to move to Seattle to join up with Kathy in Edmonds, Washington.  The house in Tampa finally sold (thank you God) and Manny spent some time in the DC area living with Mane and Tony Diez.  Christmas 2012 was spent with Brandon, Sophia and Austin in DC for Paul Hamm’s wedding.  A good time had by all.

Then Mel agreed to drive with Manny across the country.  We made it in 4 days.  Too many stories to recount here.  Margy is also in Seattle.

Manny and Kathy settled into the Edmonds routine and spent some weekends with Brandon and Sophia’s parents.  Manny also played a lot of bridge and we would take ROAD Trips into the mountains.

In May, Austin graduated from UFla with a degree in accounting and got a summer job in Tampa at KPMG.  He also got accepted into the USF graduate program and lives with our good friends Dr. and Catherine Marston.

Kathy’s best friend Janet visited and eventually moved her family to Seattle too.  Kathy and Janet went to Oregon to see some Whales and Kathy fell in love with the Oregon coast.  It was on our bucket list to live near the beach some day.  So in July we moved to Astoria/Seaside Oregon where Kathy was offered a job.

On July 27, 2013, our first grandchild was born.  Ethan Immanuel Suarez to Brandon and Sophia who are now living in San Diego, California.  What a BIG beautiful baby.  We have visited several times and also Skyped on the computer.  We look forward to the Baptismal in Feb. 2014.

Manny is now still playing a lot of bridge and subbing at the three local public high schools: Seaside, Astoria and Warrenton.  Kathy loves her new little house (rental) and has spent a year decorating it.  We still take our Road Trips.  We got our first BIG snow storm in Dec. and learning how to drive on icey roads.

Hope everyone has a safe and warm Christmas.

Love, Kathryn and Manny Suarez in Oregon, Austin in Tampa, Brandon, Sophia and ETHAN in San Diego.

 

Christmas 2004

Christ-mas 2004

Merry Christ-mas and Happy New Years !!!

Well it has been another exciting year. It started last Feb. when Brandon’s basketball team made it all the way to Regional Finals. Those were an exciting three weeks. It even goes a little further back, when Charlie and Xavier and some nephews drove to Gainesville to see Brandon play in a national Christmas tournament. We even drove to Daytona to go swimming in the Ocean and of course play some ball at the nearby playground.

This has been a whirl wind year with colleges recruiting Brandon. Most recruit him because of his high SAT scores and 4.0 gpa. Others recruit him because he is Hispanic and some for his basketball. We have to wait until Dec. 15 to hear from his first choice MIT where he met the coach and went out with some of the players. The coach (who calls him once a week) says he is in, but we still have to wait for the admission committee. If for some reason he does not get in, then Cal Tech is high on his list (coach still calls Brandon). Amherst was nice enough to fly him to visit, but they do not have engineering. Ga. Tech is his third choice (Manny’s personal favorite) and of course U.of Fla. would be FREE and a strong alumni association for jobs after graduation (but he could not play ball for Ga Tech or UF).

Of course the highlight this summer was the family reunion in Miami. Brandon and Austin just love meeting and talking to the cousins and hearing all the stories about Cuba. Brandon used those stories in several of his college essays.

Kathy signed her new contract with Tampa General for a second year. She really loves her job and likes the free dinners at all the expensive restaurants around town put on by the drug reps.

Austin grew about 4 inches and is 6’2” now and made the varsity team as an 8th grader. In his first varsity game he scored 9 points, hitting 2 three point shots. This has always been a dream of Manny’s to have Austin and Brandon on the same team. Austin passed it to Brandon in the corner for a beautiful three. When the coach asked Austin why he wanted to play varsity, Austin said because I want to play with my brother (Austin passed up the leading scorer position in the JV team).

Manny continues to teach Pre-Cal and Calculus and of course run the summer programs with over 2,000 campers. He was able to find two more scholarships for two minority kids to enter 9th grade. And the girl that we drove to school for 7 years graduated from Berkeley and got a full ride at Northwest University.

We know many of you did not vote for Bush, but Brandon got to vote for the first time and he went 2 for 2: Bush for president and a Cuban Martinez for Senate.

Well we have truly been blessed and we continue to look forward to hear news from our family and friends,

Love, Kathy, Manny, Brandon, Austin
(PS: almost forgot, Brandon bought a motorcycle for his 18th birthday, it is a beautiful 1982 Honda 500 and Manny gets to ride it too.)

Christmas 2003

Merry Christ-mas 2003

This was an exciting year. Kathy earned her Masters Degree in Nursing and is now a Nurse Practitioner. She also passed the National Boards. She was hired by Tampa General Hospital and works in a clinic with three other doctors. She loves her job and they seem to love her. In addition, the drug representatives take her out to dinner about twice a week (and we are not talking Sonny’s or Wendy’s here). What a life. We did spend one week on call and the phone was ringing at all hours of the night (that was not too much fun).

Brandon is in his junior year and taking a heavy load with AP Biology and AP Physics. In addition he is an officer in the Math Club and Prom Committee. He serves as a Guide and on Student Government. He also started a remote control airplane club and even flew to Boston to learn how to fly from Uncle Mel.

Of course basketball season has started and we are 3-0 at this time and ranked 3rd in the State. He hit the winning three bucket to beat Jesuit (a school we do not like very much). Last summer he traveled to Five-Star Camp near NY City where Uncle Charlie drove him to the camp. He also attended a 3-day leadership conference at Disney for the top 200 rising high school juniors in Florida. He was invited to represent Florida in DC for the nationals.

Austin is in 7th grade and was asked to play JV high school basketball, but we decided to give the 8th grade team (where he was MVP as a 6th grader last year) one more year. Austin loves to work with his hands and he bought a go-cart which he took apart and put back together with his friends. He also recently bought a mo-ped skateboard. Austin earns his money cutting lawns.

Another highlight of this year was our trip to DC for Mimi’s wedding. We stopped in North Carolina on the way up and visited Duke and UNC. We also climbed the dunes of Kitty Hawk. Of course the highlight of the trip was the uncle/nephew game where Austin hit a few threes in uncle Xavier’s face. Staying with the Hammies was a blast.

Manny continues his work at Berkeley. You can visit his website at www.berkeleyprep.org just look for the Summer Programs. While there you can also visit the boys basketball website with updates on the basketball team. For the second year, Manny is teaching AP Statistics and he claims that the students are learning a little too much about the real world out there.

Hope this Christ-mas season finds everyone healthy and happy. We are still having a blast in Tampa, Florida

Love, Kathy, Manny, Brandon, and Austin Suarez

Christmas Letter 2001

Merry Christmas from the Suarez Family in Tampa
Dec. 2001

Well as you all know I usually mail out 200-300 Christmas cards every year with a one page family letter. This year I’m going to do it the 21st Century way…..e-mail

This year will be remembered for Brandon graduating from 8th grade into High School and playing varsity (where he is playing half the game and ave. 6 ppg) after a lot of soul searching. He also went on his first “official” date and is driving the car (Manny got many new gray hairs from that experience).

Austin won the 15K Gasparilla Run with the fasted time for 14 and under. He also has taken off with his school’s laptop and he helps Dad and Mom with our computer needs all the time. Austin also made it to the Nationals AAU 10 and under tournament where he made the all tourney team. He wants to thank Tia Margy and Uncle Stevie for helping to pay for him to go to McCallie camp in Tenn.

Kathy continues to study for her Nurse Practitioner (masters in nursing). She continues to be the helper for all her classmates. Her breast cancer is in remission and she has found a new friend the internet (on her graduation present her computer….which crashes every other month).

Manny is busy as ever. He had 2,400 campers last summer and raised close to a million dollars for the school. There are 100 teachers that are happy to have summer employment. Brandon helped with 10 black kids from the ghetto and Austin runs around running the clock and helping the coaches.

Well we are sorry that Uncle Xavier lost his election in Miami, but glad that he will be able to serve his people in other ways. And we still pray for Aunt Lala and the Moonies who lost her husband/father this year. The first of the immediate family to pass away. But we are happy about all the NEW arrivals….especially Joseph and Mary in Atlanta.

Have a wonderful and safe holiday. Kathy is going to NC with Austin to visit her sisters farm for some well deserved R & R. Brandon has three Christmas tournaments. And I am going to Atlanta to play some ball and eat some brownies….

Love, Kathy, Manny, Brandon (15 – 9th grade) and Austin (11 – 5th grade) Suarez in Tampa, Florida