Crazy

I'm in this old video. Not the guy rolling thru the fire, tho.
.....Crazy days.

Paniolo o Waimea

BeachBoyz

More photo editing fun. The pic was taken this past summer as they played in the backyard kiddie pool.

Animation

Here's another animation - this is Jeff playing Nathanael a game of chess.

Click on the picture to animate.

The Lord and the Centurion!

Philippians Chapter 4 Verse 7: And the peace of God, which is deeper than all knowledge, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.















The text preceding verse 7 tells us not to worry about anything, but pray about everything. Praise God with a thankful heart while offering up your prayers, letting your requests be known to God.


Thank you, Nick and Glen, for the ideal title and verse!

Merry CHRISTmas!

T'was the month before Christmas
When all through our land,
Not a Christian was praying
Nor taking a stand.
See the PC Police had taken away,
The reason for Christmas - no one could say.
The children were told by their schools not to sing,
About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.
It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say
December 25th is just a "Holiday".

Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit
Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!
CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod
Something was changing, something quite odd!
Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa
In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.
As Targets were hanging their trees upside down
At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where to be found.
At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's and Sears
You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.

Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-is-ty
Are words that were used to intimidate me.
Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen
On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton !
At the top of t he Senate, there arose such a clatter
To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.
And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith
Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace

The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded
The reason for the season, stopped before it started.
So as you celebrate "Winter Break" under your "Holiday Tree"
Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.
Choose your words carefully, choose what you say

Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Not Happy Holiday!

Simplicity

Yukon

Thanks to two deer that cracked up our van last Friday, here's the latest vehicle our ohana has been blessed with.

I've always wanted one of these - either in Blazer or Yukon form and it's everything I thought it'd be.

So, we're modestly stylin' now. :)

Here's to hoping we can afford to drive it. :/

The Soap Opera That is Les Miles

Everyone knew Les Miles wanted the Michigan head coaching position and would likely address the issue after LSU played the SEC championship game.
On the day of LSU's conference championship game, ESPN reports that LSU head football coach, Les Miles, will accept the Michigan job.

LSU's Atheletic Director & Board scramble to create & offer Les Miles an incredible new contract, increasing his annual salary by at least another $1.5 million and who knows what other incentives.

Then after the game, Mr. Miles declared his love for Michigan and announced that he'll remain as LSU's coach & has signed a new contract. Now, Les Miles is probably the highest paid coach in the country behind Alabama's Nick Saban, or maybe even the new highest paid coach.

ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit (also a former Ohio State quarterback) sticks by his original sources & believes LSU intercepted Michigan before Michigan could actually move in with a contract offer.

I believe Herbstreit's initial report that Miles was going to Michigan. Then LSU's staff moved in.
In hindsight, this smells of an Ohio State conspiracy - at least to achieve the following:

1. Thwart Michigan's hire of Miles.
2. Stick the new Michigan coach (whomever it will be) forever with being the "2nd choice guy" even tho Michigan never formally offered Miles the job.
3. Who knows what else - trying to create some negativity & controversy involving Michigan.

More like The Soap Opera That WAS Les Miles.

Odd coincidence - LSU's Michigan Man has his team playing against Ohio State in the National Championship game on Jan. 7, 2008. I'm not sure which team I want to win that game. I like Miles & would like to see him win. On the other hand, Ohio State should win because they're representing the BigTen conference. If OSU wins, Michigan people could say, "See? We didn't want Miles if he couldn't beat Ohio State anyway."

I've a feeling OSU will lose again.

Linear Burn - Linear Dodge tools

....in PhotoShop.

Michigan football coaches, Lloyd Carr & Bo Schembechler.

So long, Coach

University of Michigan Football Coach, LLoyd Carr announced his retirement.


Finishing with the National Championship in 1997, five BigTen championships and an overall record of 121-40 in 13 seasons as the head coach of the Wolverines.

More PhotoShop Animation

The rockin' Mamaw!

Click the picture to see
the animation.

All it needs is that "What
is Love" music like the
Saturday Night Live skits.

Pistol Grip

I knew some of this but it's fascinating to watch a pro demonstrate -

Awesome!
I wonder what type of round they shoot for that style of competition.

THE GAME!

It's regarded as the greatest rivalry in ALL of sports.

Yes, it's that time again. Hunting season. Just kidding. It's Michigan - OhioState week!! Hopefully it'll be different than the way it's been the last few years - with Michigan winning for a change.
They start 'em young down there. I'm sure his parents are quite proud. Someone ought to wash that boy's face! His parents are probably very busy working but hey, McDonald's should certainly allow some time off for that!

Excited!

I'm the geek of the week because today, my beautiful wife said I can pick up her new pistol! Just kidding. I'm also excited that tonight is her counsel meeting night & that means me and the boys get to have chips for a snack and chocolate pudding for dinner! Just kidding about that, too.

Pictures are soon to follow!

Easy on the fur!!!

Yep, more PhotoShop fun.

Ya know, I gots lots of interests. Too many to have time for them all.
God and family first, of course. Here lately, I've been thinking hard & heavy about an automatic pistol - 1911 style. First, I wanted to build one as I've done on a couple of AK's (Yugo & Romanian). But it's not easy to find a parts kit. Buying the ingredients individually is WAY more costly than buying a new one outright.
By the time I found a couple of parts kits & priced frames & everything needed to complete a 1911, I thought it'd be better to buy a cheap 1911 & modify it to make it function reliably & be reasonably accurate at the range. That's somewhat standard procedure for handgunners - buy one then send it off to the gunsmith for trigger jobs & other modifications to suit.

In my research, I've come across a couple of really inexpensive 1911's ($339.00) that would certainly fit the bill for a fixer-upper. I've got some videos on trigger jobs & tweaking 1911's to make them accurate & reliable so I would certainly feel comfortable working on them myself in the shop.

I also stumbled across some reviews of a new 1911 model made by Taurus that were extremely positive. It comes standard with a ton of mods & customizations that would cost over $2,000 alone - not including the gun itself. Customizations that many 1911 competetors consider necessary for a high-quality race gun.

After spending hours & hours checking out forums, websites, & other sources of information where lots of people express their first-hand knowledge and opinions of the Taurus PT-1911, I figured it should be the one I get. Mainly for price and because nobody had anything bad to say about it. NOT ONE! Most swear the Taurus PT-1911 is competitive with $3,500.00 custom 1911's such as Kimber & S&W right out of the box! That's not just coming from biased owners - it's from experienced & knowledgable 1911 enthusiasts that have many different 1911's & know them inside & out (I'll end up being one of those guys, by the way).

It's highly recommended by serious 1911 enthusiasts & most of all - the price is right!

Taurus's first 1911 was previewed in 2005 and available in 2006 for $490.00. Prices have increased to $620.00 and beyond now primarily due to increasing popularity & demand. Which is good for them because Taurus is not necessarily known as a super top-notch manufacturer with the likes of Kimber, Smith & Wesson, Colt, Winchester, & some elite other firearm manufacturers. Now it seems that with their new PT-1911 and the changes they've made in their manufacturing, they've added more stature to the Taurus name.

But I still want to build one! Maybe after my wife gets her 9mm for concealed carry.

:)

PS. I hope you had a chance to check out some of those links - they're interesting!
(RIGHT CLICK ON THE UNDERLINED TEXT, LEFT CLICK ON OPEN LINK IN NEW WINDOW)

Photo shop

Doesn't everyone like to play with Photoshop?

November 2007

Patriots vs. Colts

The only Colts I really like are 1911's!

Go Pats!

Michigan at Michigan State

It's Michigan - Michigan State week. Should be interesting, especially after last year.

After last year's game, the Michigan State fans were throwing firecrackers at the Michigan fans.

Really.

The Michigan fans were picking them up, lighting them & throwing them back.

Kasparov - Maher 1-0

Bill Maher doesn't need anyone's help to make him look like an ass, but here Kasparov nicely obliges.

Kasparov Komedy

Legendary Chess World Champion, Garry Kasparov goes on the political satire comedy show, The Colbert Report.



He wins there, too.

What?

My wife attends a treasurers' conference & the next thing I know she's making her stage debut!

???!

Funny. Check out the video -



Talent!

The latest

I'm still 199 lbs, it's bow-season & I haven't even shot yet. Still eager to play more chess but it's officially fall & there's lots to do.

I know, it's been 15 days & I promise - I'll start posting on here more.

Health-wise I'm feeling much better.

Welcome Back

Here's the first game I've played online in a while. Pretty rough. It'll be slow-going for this new start at chess again.



That sucks.

Here's another welcome back - diverticulosis, as I found out Friday night / Saturday morning.

Suspecting a recurrence of diverticulitis, I went in to emergency with moderate to severe pain in the lower left quadrant of the abdomen and after a CT scan & x-rays, it was confirmed.

After a 12" sigmoid resection surgery in December last year there was only a 10% chance of it coming back. So, what great news it is to know I'm one of the few, the not so proud, the ten percent.

That sucks, too.

But I DID have a nice weekend being with family.

Marshall Beaners

Sarah, manager at the Beaners in Marshall, called today gave us the go ahead to play chess there on Sunday afternoons.

That's great! I'm looking forward to making a new blog dedicated to Marshall Beaners Chess.

Battle Creek Chess

I managed to talk my family in going with me to the chess club at Barnes & Noble in Battle Creek yesterday afternoon. My mission had 3 objectives:
1. Spend time with family.
2. Recruit some players that may want to play in Marshall on Sunday afternoons.
3. Get a game of chess in.
All three objectives were successfully met. I actually played 3 games - one with Nathanael & two with Jim. Jim's a very good player & he is better than I am (who's not these days?). I managed to win the 2nd game by winning a bishop & trapping his queen. I think it was just luck. I hung a pawn & he grabbed it, allowing me to develop with tempo & eventually his queen got trapped on the kingside of the board. It was difficult enough to win when I was playing all the time so, winning one was unlikely.

I got to watch Christian play against Larry. Larry's such a good sport - tolerating my 3 year old's way of playing. They split, by the way. :) 6yo Nathan also played Larry & he lost one & drew one.

The 200 lb Barrier

Finally, it seems I've broken the 200 pound barrier - weighing in at 198 this morning. That's 15 lbs of weight loss since mid-July. Again, it's all basically from not over-eating or snacking before bed.

It seemed like I was at 200 - 201 for such a long time.

Gonna try to hit the chess club in Battle Creek tonight.

A Michigan Man?

Sam McGuffie, an unreal running back from Texas is said to be committed to the University of Michigan for the 2008 recruiting class. It seems he may be the closest thing to Barry Sanders since Barry Sanders except Sam seems to hit the hole a little faster and he's already better than Mike Hart!

Funk

It seems I'm past the infectious funk experience of strep blood. No fevers & I'm feeling less & less fatigued everyday & more motivated to get more things done around the house.

I miss playing chess - still haven't played any. But when I do manage to start again, I think I'll start from square one & coincide it with this blog. You know, basic principles first. Those are always good things even for advanced players for some reason. A little reinforcement helps sometimes, I guess.

Starting slow might be a good idea - like longer games against Fritz or Chessmaster. Then I could progress to faster games on the internet once I've acquired a level of comfort again.

Better

I'm feeling much better, now. No fever - feeling as if I'm well on the path to full recovery. I'm still taking antibiotics, tho.

After my boy's birthday get together this weekend, I hope to be able to concentrate a little more on some chess and that I feel enough like cutting some wood! It's starting to get rather chilly.

I Got A Fever!

And the only prescription is ...MORE COWBELL!

Low-grade

Still got a low-grade fever but the doc believes the worst of my strep-blood illness is past. I'm thinking he may be right, because tho I'm still very sore with a headache, it seems more manageable than the last three or four days.

More blood work was done today. In Feb 2006 I had functional endoscopic surgery to remove 6 cysts in my sinuses and straighten a deviated septum. It was very successful & I've been much better overall since.

The CT scan from Sunday showed a cyst that came back in my left sinus that is significantly larger than the one scanned in May of 2005, and one cyst in the right that is significantly smaller than the one that was there in 2005. The rest is A-okay. With that one exception, my sinuses look good. The doc said I'd have to get that looked in to but didn't indicate that it was a great concern at this point. I'm supposed to call his office once a week to provide a health update.

More of the same

I went to bed last night immediately after the last post on here - 'bout 10 pm. It was a pretty sound sleep until 6 am. I got up feverish again & took a Tylenol and two Motrin (lower doses than what I usually take) and went back to bed.

At 8 am I awoke freezing, shivering, weak, with a sore and achy body - especially the lower back
again with 103.6 temp. Again, one Tylenol, two Motrin, & my antibiotic (Augmentin - 875 mg).

More info -

Bowels - normal
Appetite - normal
Throat - just some mild irritation
Abdominal, muscle & joint soreness

Comfortably Numb

Holy shirt. Damn. I'm tired of this being sick stuff already. I went back to the doc last Tuesday & he didn't want to put me on any more antibiotics because he felt any more would lower my body's ability to resist infection. So he sends me over for blood work, calls me the next day & says I've got a serious infection & prescribes me a different antibiotic.

Okay, no problemo. Finally, I can start to feel better. That is except until last night - I got up at 3am with 103 fever. So, I medicate, get the fever down & slept from 7am until 10am. I wake up delirious & medicate again. Then I lounge around until the Michigan game starts. Right when it started my temp was 102.6. So, at 3:30 pm I medicate again & sit back & observe the ass-whoopin' the Ducks put on the Wolverines. By the second quarter, my fever had jumped to 104.7. I'm weak, achy sore, but mostly numb & it became difficult to breath without pain on my right side. My breaths were weak & shallow & my heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest. I tell you, it's like another world when your fever gets beyond a certain point. Comfortably numb is about the best I can describe it.

Jill freaked, she calls the doc & they said to take me in to emergency. I get there at 5:00 pm & my fever had started to come down (103.3). They gave me an IV with saline & a massive antibiotic, ran more blood tests & xray'd my chest. I had a nice plasma TV with a remote in my room in the ER & the doctor & I watched the last half of the 3rd quarter till the last 7 minutes of the Michigan game - discussing my medical issues between plays and during commercials. Gotta love a doc like that. He asked me if Michigan had ever scored 31 points in a quarter. I told him yes, at Minnesota three years ago. We both knew it wasn't going to happen today, tho.

Anyway, the doc said my x-ray was normal & the blood count was 9,000 compared to 17,000 earlier in the week. That's wierd, I didn't have this bad of a fever back when it was higher. He went on to recommended that I stay the night. I thought about it but decided against it because what, exactly were they going to do, anyway? I was already feeling better by then & the doc recommended that if I didn't stay, I should come back tomorrow for another massive antibiotic treatment via IV again. So, I'll be back in there at noonish tomorrow.

My temp right this second is 103.1. Crazy, huh? I felt so good by the time I left the hospital. Now I'm wondering if I should've stayed. I just took more Tylenol & Motrin to reduce the fever. It seems like I've been living on that stuff lately. The nurse at the hospital freaked when I told her how much & how often I take it to control the fever. If I don't take Tylenol or Motrin, what am I to do? Soak in a cold bath?

Ok. Nevermind.

Hovering at 200.5

Still hovering at 200.5. I haven't officially dipped below the 200 mark yet. I was 216 going in and 196 coming out of the hospital last December.

213 in July and 200.5 right now. And I still haven't been determined enough to specify a period of time dedicated to physical activity. Except for softball, if that even counts. I have a feeling that when that actually does start, it'll probably drop rapidly.

Chessmen

Diss a wook

Deep Thoughts

Direction determines destination.

Pastor Clare Loughrige said something in church this morning that really struck me. Pastor Scott did, too. But what Clare stated can be completley related to chess and life. Since this is a chess blog that is "not just about chess", I'll go into it.

As it was explained to her by a Haitian missionary right then, she said, "Sometimes, we don't really want what God has for us. We want what works for us."

How true. If it isn't convenient, or if it doesn't serve ourselves or our interests in some fashion, we tend to basically ignore it. The jist of it was that we should, as Christians & believers, allow God to lead us.

Minimal in comparison, but this is also a principle in chess. Instead of doing what we want to do, we should do what the position requires us to do. Wiser men and wiser chess players know this. If you can read or interpret a position, it'll tell you what is required for the plan. If you don't listen or heed its instruction, you may not neccessarily lose but in some form you'll eventually pay even if your dues are just knowing you didn't play the strongest possible move. Using the mentallity of Fischer, it was not the truth.

So, how do we learn to read a chess position? I'm not an authority on chess or God. So, my answer would be - lots of interaction & study, I guess.

It's a search for truth. There are certain amounts of pain and freedom that result from the honesty and if you've tried it before, you know that doing the right thing is sometimes the hardest thing to do.

Seek and ye shall find.

:)

Colossal Upset - Wolverines Stunned!

Despite having more 1st downs, passing & rushing yards and more talent, Michigan lost to a motivated division 1-AA school today.

Hey, just where in the heck is Appalachian State, anyway? They're pretty darn good. Fast, too.

They so deserved to win. Michigan special teams couldn't get their assignments right - having two field goals blocked in the 4th quarter. QB Henne didn't seem on top of his game, either - going 19 of 37 for 1 TD & 1 INT. #20 - RB Mike Hart had 188 yards despite being played sparingly.

Bad snaps, fumbles, & stumbles in the backfield.

Oh, well - hopefully Jeff is pulling off some upsets of his own at the 2007 Michigan Open Chess Championship.

Michigan State won, that's a plus. And it's sometimes nice to see the little guys win like App State did. I can't deny enjoying it when State lost to Central two years in a row or when lowly Michigan State thumped on the top-ranked Buckeyes a few years back.

It's Michigan's turn, now.

....sigh

High Speed

Well, not really. Not quite the T-1 I use at work, but compared to what I was getting with dialup, it's pretty good. It's the slowest package of Wildblue's satellite internet and the download transfer averages 65 kbps - roughly 20 to 30 times that of dialup. Uploads are much slower, tho. Still faster than dialup.

There is a slight latency with send signals (22,000 mile distance).

Long weekend can't get here fast enough

'nuff said.

Guilt

I've so much to do around here, for some reason I feel guilty for wanting to play chess. I miss playing and learning new things. But chess season is near & it won't be too long until I can hang & shoot the bull with the players at the club in Battle Creek.

Another

Checked in this morning at 200.5
:)
Weight loss at what they consider a healthy rate. No fast food. No soda-pop. Little or no candy. Eating reasonable portions & not stuffing myself silly 'cause damn it, I love to eat and tend to get carried away!

Of course, that'll like change this weekend because it's the annual SweetCornDays!

Crazy Graphic

That Warrior Chess title sign is kind of nutz, huh? Darned thing won't keep still. Click on it to see the full effect.

Anyway, I weighed 201.5 this morning! Yep, I broke the double digit weight loss barrier now up to 11.5 lbs of fat loss. Under 200 is the next goal. I guess if there's a good side to getting ill......

It seems to be a sinus infection, maybe a little upper respiratory, too. Getting better, tho.

Having to stay away from the wife & kids is hard 'cause I just want to squeeze them all the time. They need tickles & Daddytime.

Andrew Ooi, Web Developer, Programmer Extraordinaire

Andrew created Chess Publisher much to the appreciation of myself along with thousands of other chess bloggers around the world. He's done a great service to chess and the chess blogosphere - done for the game, not for the money.

Thanks, Andrew! Best wishes to you in your developing & online endeavors! And thank you for taking the time to comment here!

The new Chess Publisher is improved. One way is that you can see commentary between the moves.

The main difference as far a functionality goes, is that the site visitor must press the "[Replay Game]" just under the game heading before any moves can be cycled. It took me a while to figure that out. You know, instead of just hitting the buttons to cycle the moves.

Here's a game I played today -



An easy win, but black could've made it more difficult. White wins nicely after creating a positional advantage by doubling up black's pawns.

Sick again

I'm really tired of this. Sick again & missing more work. This really sucks.

It's the same thing as before. I guess the antibiotics never really knocked it out. It lingered & reared its ugly head on Sunday with a fever just after church. I went in to work on Monday knowing I'd have to check out & head to the doctor's office. So, again I got a seven day supply, only now I'm to take 4 pills/day.

It's one of those illnesses when the fever throws your sense of time off. I've sat here for almost an hour & it seems like I've been here most of the day.

Anyway, I should probably do something. I've rested some but still, I hate being idle & unproductive - especially on a missed work day.

New Poll

I weighed 203 this morning. That's an official double-digit loss of weighted mass.

Had to post a new poll because the changes in this blog rendered the old one inapplicable. Many thanks to those of you that participated in the previous poll. Please take part in this one.

Regarding the current poll, my feelings are towards the plain-colored board diagram because the file sizes are smaller, that's all. I like the look of all of them.

I was advised to checkout mychess.com's chess viewer. I did. I like it. The only downside is that hosting space is required as it's not blogger-friendly. I can temporarily set it up just to check it out but it cannot be permanent. So, until I find some free hosting space somewhere, I'll stick with Chess Publisher.

Thanks, Kurs for the tip!

'Bout time

'Bout time I played a game. Actually, I played two - won one, lost one that I should've won. Yep, they say the hardest thing to win is a won game. I was under time pressure, up a pawn in the endgame & blew it. Fritz awarded a tactic medal to both games. The first tactic was pretty easy -







White to move.

Find the shot.






I know that one is pretty easy for you chess players. The answer is Nxf7 (knight on e5 takes the pawn on f7, forking black's queen & bishop). I went on to win that game easily.

This next one is tougher. I was the black side against a good guest player (GuestFN). The game involved a lot of positional manoeuvring. Both of us were seeing eachother's tactical & calculated traps & ideas, which was pretty neat. We played very similar, it was like playing against myself. Anyway, here's the diagram -






BLACK to move.

Find the shot!







Things are pretty even here, with maybe a slight advantage in space for white. I played Nxe4+ thinking it put me up a pawn. It did and I played into a winning endgame but that was not the best move there. The best move is actually Nd3+! The other move, Nxe4+ did put me up a pawn and was answered by white's Be3 & the knight had to go back to c5.

The best move, Nd3+ actually wins & stops white from playing Be3 altogether.

Anyway, I dropped a two pawn endgame advantage & succumbed to a blunder. We both missed deep tactics. If you can spot the one white missed that would've completely won, you're a very good player! Comment this post if you can't find it & want me to give the answer. Here's the entire game if you're interested -

2o3point5

Yep, 203.5! That's 9 1/2 lbs since July 18 - roughly 4 weeks and that's just from a semi-conscious effort to resist sweets, soda pop, not stuffing myself silly when it's time to eat AND not eating late at night out of boredom. Also, smaller lunches that help me to avoid that "food coma" that can come from eating a lot at lunch time.

I still partake in some junk, tho. Two things of M&M's yesterday & one this morning. I can't help it. I need a snack or something an hour or two before lunch and and hour or two after lunch.

I've got to start playing chess again. I played the one game mentioned in another post. Other than that, I really haven't played much since winter. Jeff (my cousin & reigning Michigan Class E Champion) and I played 4 games Sunday night & I pretty much got outplayed in every game, losing 3 out of 4. Still, it's not just from me not playing much. I must credit Jeff, too, because he's a strong player and seems stronger every time we play.

Here's an interesting position from our first game after white's 19th move, f3. I'm playing the black side.







BLACK to move.









What's the best continuation?

Assessment: Material is even. He's ahead in development and space, he's got an advanced knight on e5, and two bishops aiming at my kingside. My knight on e4 is being threatened and must move.

All of this favors white. Being the patzer that I am, I spot the knight move to f2 - forking the two rooks and that's the move I played.

In hindsight, I realize that if his two bishops weren't beaming fire to my king's corner, that might be a good move. But in this particular position, I think both of those bishops are more valuable (or potentially deadlier) than either of his rooks so it would've been better at this point in the game to swap out one of his bishops instead of going for the rook fork.

Fritz said the play should've continued from the diagram with ....Ba3+ (opening the e-file for black's rook and pressuring white's king). White then moves Kb1 (the only move) and THEN black swaps out the knight for white's bishop and from there the position is assessed by the computer as totally equal, although black still has his hands full - considering the eventual white expansion & pawnstorm on the kingside.

Yes, there are times when a bishop is more valuable than a rook. I believe this to be one of those situations. What do you think?

I ended up losing on time in what the computer says is an equal position. My anti-computer sense tells me white should have a plus here.

Here's the game -

Honey

The best doggie in the world. Always with one ear up, one ear down, she still played like a puppy even in her old age.

Chess Publisher

Here is a different way to publish a game of chess. I think it's better than what I was doing, because you can cycle the moves and add in your own variations and then hit the "R" button - reverting back or resetting the position. I don't care for the white background, tho, and the browser must have Javascript enabled. The guy is 90% done with a new version but it's been 8 months in the making so I don't think it'll be available anytime soon.

The animated graphics I was making are original and you don't see those on other chess sites or blogs. I'll miss the "Check, sucker" and things like that when viewing them.

This particular game below (which I have no idea why I'm actually posting it), I lost in spectacular fashion. At some point, the phone rang. I answered it. It was the hospital & I went into a deep conversation about my hospital stay. I believe this to be around White's 32nd move because that's when I started moving like I never played the game before.

Yes. This is evidence that I cannot play chess online & talk on the phone at the same time. Jeff, my opponent, was gracious in obliging my sacrifices. I went from an easily won game to an embarrassing loss. Funny, I can just imagine what was going thru his mind after my moves 32 & 35.



I resigned at move 63. Anyone can see Black has a checkmate in 13 moves.

Just kidding. Fritz pointed that out to me.

Close game

White to move and win.








Click on the graphic to see the animated continuation.

This was an online game I played back in 2002. If the checkmate wasn't there, I'd be in serious trouble.

Skateboards = obsessed, sweaty kids with skinned knees, scratches, cuts, bruises, & scrapes. I must applaud them because they always wear their helmets & they get back on & try again.

Penny Lane is one of those tunes that makes it fun to play bass guitar. It makes the entire thing what it is. Not anything like the other instruments in the tune, it's doing its own thing far apart from them. So different. Which is why it's so unique. All the instruments are playing from the same book but on different pages & they beautifully coincide. The theoretical structure suggests a simple bass line, but McCartney makes it almost complex with many subtleties that render the tune such a masterful production. They must've spent some time on it.

Well, I should get off my ass & finish the trailer because the grass is getting long after all the rain we've had and the garden needs some tending to.

I weighed 205 again this morning. That means I'm about to drop another pound or two.

Question: Does coffee contain any calories? Someone told me it does.

Queen Sacrifice

White to move.








White should easily win this position regardless of the nice tactic.

Click on the graphic to see the animated continuation.

205

Ha! 205 poundaroos dee iss mo nin, baby!

Not too bad

Today I weight 206. Less than I expected but still not considered progress. I don't expect tomorrow to be any better. I wasn't as bad, but still not as disciplined as before. So, I just gotta step it up.

I haven't started the P90x thing yet, either. Lazy? That may be part of it. I'll try go get going on that this weekend. Yeah, I know ....you've heard it before. : )

The problem with the car was indeed the alternator. After having it towed to the shop, I paid $160 for the alternator to be rebuilt and a new belt put on. Not too bad, I guess. Except for the $95.00 towing bill, and even then - from south Marshall to Litchfield was a long way to tow for $95. That put an unexpected dent in the budget. I hate those.

Had about enough of this heat & humidity yet? Geez, I just walk outside somewhere & come in the house all damp, sweaty, & stuff. I imagine it's a little worser down south.

Garuns

A picture of Flappy devouring a cricket from Nathanael's hand. He still talks about that bird.

Garuns - I'll gain another pound. Yep, I was 207 this morning and didn't hold anything back today. That included a Snickers, a small bag of Doritos, some Oreos & about 1/2 a can of Pringles. For the record, I did spread all that out throughout the entire day, but still.

Hey, I had a light lunch & only a salad for dinner so it's all right. :)

Nah, gotta get back to the discipline I had not too long ago. Starting tomorrow. :)

Something's bothering me & I don't know what it is. Does that ever happen to you, when you just can't exactly point it out?

Oh, yeah, now I remember. My car took a shit today. Something electrical. Hopefully something as simple as a new alternator but it completely failed on the way home from work. Lost power, everything. It started on the way to work this morning, just the battery light on the dash came on, then the ABS light, then the brake light, then the radio quit, then it wanted to stall at a stop sign, then it wouldn't start after I pulled into work. That happened to me once before when a belt broke on another vehicle. But I still had power steering so it couldn't be a broken belt.

It did start after work & got me about 1/2 way home. Before it quit altogether, the instrument panel was going nuts, like you'd see in a scary freak movie. I'd be doing zero then it'd shoot up to 100 mph, then back to zero then back to 50 then zero, etc, etc. As if I was in the presence of some alien force (not to be confused with an alien work force) and it was taking over. Really, it was taking a shit right then. Because it never worked again.

So, with no air moving I sat there & waited 40 minutes for Jill and then we waited 40 minutes on a tow truck. That's $95 bucks right there. Two cars passed by doing about 70. It was peaceful, tho, in a remote area of the county & it was in the shade. It was towed to Shaw's in Litchfield. I do trust those guys.

Didn't sleep much at all last night - maybe an hour & a half. I'm thinking it was the anxiety of returning to work with all I've got to do & after such an absence, knowing that I've got no more paid time off left. Plenty of unpaid, tho. So, if we're to keep straight on finances, I basically can't miss another day of work till New Years. I should be sleeping right now.

So, it's the big truck tomorrow. Yeah, the one who's MPG is in the single digits. Damn hotrod.

Weekend's over

Ok. It's been quite a ride. My illness was pretty much completely gone by Saturday afternoon. Seems strange considering the high degree of fever from Thursday night & Friday hovering around 101. But on Saturday afternoon I felt well enough to play basketball or work on normal stuff.

Got this crazy program from www.e-sword.net. It's the Bible in almost EVERY version with graphics, dictionaries, concordances, maps, & commentaries. TONS o' stuff. More than I can possibly take in. Did I mention is was free? There are some versions of stuff that you can purchase but there's more free stuff than most anyone can handle.

Church was cool. We went on to the Michigan Whitetail Museum & fed the deer & turkeys and checked out all those crazy racks & mounts in there.

Me, Nathan, Shyanna, & Jacob took apart my Mom's trailer. I hope to finish it sometime this week & will post photos.

I probably gained weight since Saturday. Not too much, I hope.

Finally, I played a game of chess. I haven't played in a long while. It was a blitz game & felt good to play but I wasn't very aggressive. I played mostly passive against an attacking opponent that seemed to be roughly my strength. The game was long (25 minutes) & I was in a lot of time trouble, probably 90% of my moves were just trying to defend my position - making defensive moves that offered some hope of an offense at the same time.

I played Black. He gave up an exchange for an attack & I had to give it back later just to save myself. He finally wore down while trying to force things & I ended up better.

In chess, there are times when the position calls for subtle moves. Knowing when & how to recognize that is real good knowledge that can only be acquired with experience. He probably should've won that game had he known when to slow down & not let the position get out of hand. My big mistake is usually NOT bustin' out the whoop-ass when I should. That's been my downfall. Just sitting back & playing solid instead of going after the guy doesn't cut it against a very good chess player. But it works much of the time against average competition.

That's always been my thing. Just wait for the opponent to make a mistake & make him pay for it. The best chess players simply pick you apart if you wait for anything. That's something I've got to get better at.

Anyway, here's the end of the game. He resigned before I could checkmate him on the next move.






Black to move.

Which move knocks him completely out?

(This is NOT an animated graphic.)

Poll

Added a new poll about chess content. You may want to check out the two previous posts before answering.

Feeling a little better today. I still weigh 205.5 and the fever is just about gone. The throat is still very sore, tho. I'll be going to Dave's big bash today. I don't really feel up to it but I've got to dig in & find some strength. I've layed around resting this thing away.

Funny, as I sit here & watch the kids play in the driveway, I realize it's not just a driveway. It's like a playground. They have absolutely no reservations about getting out there in their bibbideez. Little Pottimus gets his legs going so fast on his tricycle, Punkin' thinks he can really work that skateboard.

Rooks belong on open or semi-open files!

Sorry if it seems choppy. There's no audio. I'm tailoring this stuff to my slow-ass dialup connection.
:(
I added the highlights & arrows to bring special attention to those areas for attack, defense or just ideas.

Mate by force!

I was losing this game until....








If you click on the picture, it will animate in a new window and you can see the continuation.

Woe is me

....for I've entered into a sickness. I stayed home from work today. I hope nobody there gets ill from me because I've basically had the virus all week. It's just now getting me.

I left work at 10:45 yesterday to go to the Dr. He prescribed an antibiotic that I hope works.

The worst of it is the sore throat & fatigue. It's extremely painful to swallow. Ice cream really helped yesterday. I had some 4 times! I put on a half pound probably just from that.

Yep. I weighed 205.5 this morning.

I guess the other worst part is the fever. I took two Tylenol PM's as I went to bed & I still got up once an hour to address fever issues with either Tylenol, Motrin or both. At 3 am it peaked at 103.4 and I felt like I was freezing. I awoke at 4 am & it was 102.2. At 6 am it was 99.7 & it's there again now (8:14 am).

Gotta rest today. I've missed enough work & I don't want this shit to spoil my weekend. It's kept me from Jill & the kids & that's difficult to deal with. Jill says that after 48 hours, it's' not contagious anymore. She's an excellent wife & mother & has always taken good care of me & the kids. I'm truly blessed.

205 with a sore throat

Makana had a sore throat with a 104 degree fever on Monday morning. He said it had bothered him Sunday, too, but he didn't have a fever then. So, Jill gives him some Motrin at about 5:30 am, he sleeps until 10:00 am, he gets up & he's all better. That's it. His temp ran about 99 the rest of the day but he was basically better & now he's back to normal. Praise God for that!

Me? I'm down with whatever he had. Just a slight fever, sore throat, fatigue, etc. I'm still at work, but might have to check out, tho.

:)

Anyway, I got up this morning & weighed 205! That must be from my efforts to limit calorie intake yesterday.

Check this out -



These things are freaky. I found three of them on my tomato plants yesterday. They can be difficult to spot.


The "horned tomato worm".

I found a few about 3 weeks ago & got rid of them before they could do any damage. This time, they did do a little bit of damage because I haven't been out there in about 3 days. Nothing major, tho. They're nasty to kill, too. Bunch of green goopy slimy stuff. So, I buried two & stepped on the dirt real hard. And the other one I threw against the ground real hard. Yep, it splattered some. But the neat thing was that the ants pretty much had him gone in no time.

They're eating machines that quickly devour its food. Tomato worms turn into these things when they grow up -

207

I'm hovering at 207. I think I'll be around there until I start some sort of consistent activity.

Today I plan on getting Makana to help me tear apart a trailer I'd like to modify. I'll get some before & after pictures for that project. It should be interesting.

The best time for me to exercise is right before bed, or within a couple of hours of that, anyway. That allows me to be serious about it. What do you think? The only adverse effects I've read about is that it can some negative effect on sleep.

Discovery

Black is to move.

What piece should be moved ...and to where?







Study it before reading further. For you non-chess players, the answer is Knight on e5 to f3, check. This opens a discovered attack on White's queen sitting on d4. White is forced to respond to the check by Black's knight and on the next move Black will take White's queen with his bishop sitting on g7, giving Black a sizable advantage.

This type of manouvre is called a "discovered attack".

But you already knew all that, didn't you?

The Garden

A picture of part of our garden taken last week.

Right now I'm jammin' on O'ahu-boy, "Jammin' Jake Shimabukuro" - ukulele artist extraordinaire. He plays mostly instrumental ukulele-ized arrangements of some older types of popular secular tunes. Funny - on some of his tunes, Yngwie Malmsteen's influence is very apparent. Early on, Yngwie was one of my influences, too. That is, until I changed somewhere along the road of style. Changed into what? I don't know. Certainly, I've slowed down. But I don't play anything anymore. Haven't played guitar for over a year and a half. But I still think about it a lot, tho. Usually that's when the change of style takes place - after an absence and then a re-approach from a different perspective. I was entering the realm of jazz & differing modalities when I left off. Just knocking on the door, actually. Not exactly true jazz, but some of its theory & I wanted to add some of that to bits of my music.

Tempting is the idea of going back & taking a Nugent approach to making new music. To me that's when you throw the idea of applying something you've learned out the door & go forward with what you already know so well, as simple as it may be. Rather than impress the listener with theoretical novelties, it's all just simple shit played with feel and an "in your face" attitude. But ANYBODY can play that way and to me it's redundant and not very appealing. Nah, that's not for me. It's fun to jam that way sometimes but I feel I'm not moving forward if I'm not learning something new to get me a step ahead of the next guy. I guess I could still be pretty good.

Funny how some of the best stuff to listen to is really simply arranged with simple chords & structure. I guess that's why the poppy stuff is so poppy. It's simple. People get the melody in their head & it's happy & easy to enjoy.

Shania Twain's husband, Mutt Lange, also wrote most of Def Leppard's songs & a lot of tunes for other artists & he basically fools around, comes up with a neat little "hooky" progression (usually a chorus) & creatively fits everything around that catchy little thing that hooks right into the listener.

Maybe, if I ever get back to playing again, I'll do a little bit of everything.

Pull Up Bar

Finally "got 'er done"! ....the pullup bar, that is.





Nathanael got up there & did two and 1/2 - his first time. No shirt! I couldn't do one without momentum. He is so grounded. I can still kick his ass in basketball, tho.

...And chess.

Neutral bouyancy

Neutral bouyancy -

Last night I had a salad - twice. This morning I weighted 207.5

It's not a loss of weight but it's not really a gain, either. Get this - I lost 6 pounds just thinking about losing weight in the last two weeks.

This is the weekend for the P90X fit test and the start of a grueling regimen of physical activity the likes of which my body hasn't seen in a looooong time. It's been a long time coming & I'm eager for the pain.

Neutrally Bouyant

Neutrally bouyant ....did I spell that right?

Anyway, Jill decided, based on my recommendation, we should not go to KY. I think it's a mixture of my persuasion and her workload at the office but I'm pleased nonethe less. Nathan mentioned earlier in the day that he'd rather stay home. That may have had an effect, too. But, she no doubt did it for me. Do I feel better? Not exactly. I feel bad because she really wanted to go, and her parents really wanted her there, I just feel somewhat relieved. This weekend can be for some serious QFT while getting things done.

....a start

Got up this morning & weighed 207. That's a six pound loss. I credit that to nothing but a conscious effort to eat sensibly portioned meals instead of eating till I'm stuffed. That's all. And no change in diet except some restraint from the chocolate snacks - tho I blew it this morning (Snickers). Oh well, I'll have to consider that (280 calories) when portioning throughout today's meals, so maybe it'll come out even.

I worked a little more on making the pullup bar last night after everybody went to bed. There may be a slight change because it may not be low enough for where I'm going to put it.

The fit test is planned for sometime this weekend & excercising to start soon after.

For lunch I had some salad with ranch, a slice or two of corned beef, and two of those little frozen burritos.

*NOTE TO MEN* - Be careful if your wife ever asks you to hand her a tissue, she uses it, and then asks you to throw it away for her. Mine did that to me last night. I went to toss it in the trash & it stuck to my hand ...twice! Yeah, tricky. Put the boogie on the OUTSIDE! Uh huh. I see now.