5 01/12/2009 http://voilleque.com/ 01/12/2009 230 There are 53,644,737,765,488,792,839,237,440,000 possible deals in contract bridge. If that's not enough to get your coder brain racing, consider this: bridge is a universal language (with regional dialects!), creates conversation, and is one of the deepest things you can do with a deck of cards. Naturally recession-proof, bridge teaches logic, improves memory, and involves snacks. And despite what you may have heard, the basics are easy. One-minute-four-slides easy. Join the legion of Portland techies who play bridge. (The legion currently has a membership of one, so there's ample opportunity for leadership roles!) Legal beagle, cook, and gentleman's gentleman, J-P is a perennial proposer for Ignite Portland. Interested in everything, he nonetheless strives to focus on work culture, intellectual property, corporate law, and learning as play. J-P Voillequé 74 01/12/2009