Bulletin

Lost in virtual space? (in English) author erkki, 4.11.2006 at 19.54.
Summary: Team Seniorit describing who they are, where they come, and where they go

SENIORIT (FIN)
The core of the team Seniorit is composed of players representing Finnish seniors in the Warsaw EC. Their goal in the NFL is to make it to the 2nd round, not minding the final placing. Photos will be added in the Pictures section of the Bulletin.

Väinö Kelhä "viski"
Team Seniorit has a merit unlike any other team. Very fine pieces of technology designed by professor emeritus Väinö Kelhä currently float in space as parts of the spacecraft Cassini. The goal of the Cassini flight is to gather information on planet Saturn and its rings and moons. It may also bring clues of the origins of the solar system, the planets and life on Earth. The flight has been a success, with lots of valuable information collected. In March 2006 Cassini made a surprising discovery of a geysir erupting water into space on the moon Enceladus.

Väiski's recent bridge merits include the victorious finish in the Las Palmas year 2006 teams competition. He was partnered by waltsu.

Tor Meinander "tauno"

Tor retired last spring after working as an engineer and a researcher at Helsinki University of Technology and at Technical Research Centre of Finland. He was väiski's colleague for many a year. This is how he describes his level on BBO:

"I'd like to classify myself as Advanced, but the truth clearly is retrograded. Greatest pleasure comes from a bit of improvisation, especially if your partner is able to think along the same lines. I suppose the last time that worked for me was in 1988," Turre explains.

"It is unfortunate how often my literature pseudonym Tauno Tuskainen, Tauno the Troubled, describes the state of my mind at the bridge table. This is why I chose tauno as a nick name, too."

Needless to say, tauno is the joker (probably in all senses of the word) of the team.

Johan Lindstedt "waltsu"

He is the waltsu who played in the victorious team in Las Palmas.

Pirjo Juuri-Oja "mutsi"

It was lucky she was unable to read the map at the time Pipa (Pirjo) and Eki (Erkki) were planning to take up car orienteering as a common hobby. Turning point was when Pipa criticized Eki for taking a small and curly road when she had instructed him to drive the direct main road. Closer inspection revealed that the "main road" was in fact a railway... After some burning conversation and then burning some rubber, they were soon on their way towards the town Vammala in a four wheel slide in order to take part of the course at Vammala Bridge Club back in 1966. Her nickname "mutsi" is a Finnish slang word derived most likely from Swedish "moder" or German "Mutter", mother.

Erkki Juuri-Oja "erkki"

Self description: madman of the village and ill-tempered old man. "Jääräpää," or "jäbäkyörä" in Estonian, or - a rough translation - stubborn in English. Worked as the chief of news for the Finnish commercial TV channel. Building, constructing and crafting in many ways take high places in his list of hobbies. Lives in Jyväskylä, Central-Finland with his wife Pirjo.

Written by erkki, translated and slightly edited by kaapo.

To read more about Cassini