Contesting can yield some interesting rivalries. It was only a year ago that I was part of my first effort at W1AW, a multi-op entrant in the 2007 Phone Sweepstakes with W1KRB, K1MMH, WY7FD and Ward, N0AX. We ate great food, worked a Clean Sweep and earned the top multi-op spot in Connecticut. It was fun.

Fast-forward a year. N0AX was awarded the 2008 Amateur Of The Year at Dayton. Ever since then, his demeanor has...changed. Once mild-mannered and generous with his time, Ward has let his status go to his head. You know those pistachios that are really hard to open? Where he used to patiently use his fingernails to pry them open, silently and contentedly enjoying the fruits of his labor, he just doesn't mess with them anymore, leaving them for the minions to deal with and instead choosing to find, as it were, easier nuts to crack.

So it was that I found myself on the receiving end of a challenge by the Contest Update author. In an email this morning, he informed me that he will be operating SS CW from his home turf of Missouri this year, and wouldn't it be interesting if he were to best me in the weekend's activities.

I set my coffee down and read the email again...did he really just say that?

Yup, sure did.

Being a man of reasonable honor and not-so-ill repute, I had no recourse but to pick up the gauntlet that was thrown before my feet. And so, 'twas ever thus: a competition within the contest, each party trying to outdo the other, with killer Thai food on the line. Should you happen to tune past us this weekend, remember that, for one of us, victory will taste surprisingly similar to Green Curry Chicken.

How many other such competitions are going on this weekend, with the loser buying a round of frosty malts and pizza?

Anything to keep it fun...remember that, folks.