Tuesday, April 29, 2008

By any other name

Some might call it just another day. But in a world of inifinite possibilities, isn't every day unique? As these things go, it's a matter of perspective.

I've been continuing to play a bit of chess. Not nearly enough yet, but enough for now. It is a beginning. My first game was a long one. It was only a g/25, but it went on and on for 80 something moves. It was against a computer on the ICC rated about 100 points lower than I. For this point in my progession, I thought it would be good for a challenge. It was. I'm quite certain that I was lost, though I managed to keep my pieces very active and create threats. Ultimately, I won. It was a great feeling after fighting for so long.

After that I decided to play a few blitz games (g/3) against one of the computers rated about 1000 points higher than me. After getting blown out of the water for 2 games in a row, I actually drew the 3rd. That was a lot of fun as well.

Until next time,

Ed.

Lucky Day

Tonight was bowling night.  One more week to go, then off for the summer!  I was feeling a bit lucky today, so you can imagine my surprise after my first game:

Game 1:  140

Ouch!  My average going into tonight was a 189, so I wasn't too pleased with that.  4 opens in the first 5 frames didn't help.  Games 2 and 3 made up for it though:

Game 2: 244
Game 3: 217

Don't ask me why.  When I got home I played a game of chess.  G/15.  I won!

And so passes another day.  Until next time,

Ed.

Friday, April 25, 2008

borked

Tonight was bowling night.  Another so-so night, I bowled somewhere around my average.  Unfortunately, as a team, we didn't do so well.  We took 1 point out of 4.  I believe the current slang for that is we got borked.  Today was certainly my day for getting borked.

This afternoon I was up in Gayle's office for a bit playing with her home-made stress ball.  What's that?  It's a balloon filled with flour.  Let me repeat that.  It's a balloon filled with flour.  More importantly, it's a balloon filled with flour that I'm playing with.  What could possibly go wrong?  Did I mention that I was wearing a dark grey shirt and black pants today?  I did learn something - I now know how to vaccuum myself.  I was going to go wash it off, but Gayle and Rae started laughing at me.  Apparently not a good idea.  Jim did offer to get me some newspaper.  

Maybe next time.

Ed.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Too hot to handle

So what's up with this weather?  It's april, and yesterday we saw a high in the mid to upper 80's?  Ouch.  My phone said 86, and when I got in my truck after work it was at 88.  Did I mention it's only april?  Hopefully it's not a sign of things to come.

Something about the heat just drains me.  I was totally dragging as the day went on yesterday.  Today shouldn't be quite so bad.  And it's bowling night!

Enjoy the day,

Ed.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

The first rule of chess

I played in a G/15 tournament last night on the ICC.  It was an elimination tournament with 8 players, so if you lose, you're out!  The first round went well.  I played someone lower rated than I and slowly ground it out.  The 2nd round I got to play someone a bit stronger than that, but still about 200 points lower than I.  I was mated on about move 6.  That's not rust, it's stupid!

The first rule of chess:  Don't be stupid!

Maybe next time,

Ed.

Monday, April 21, 2008

The name of the game

I was tired today. After a long weekend of WOW raiding, sometimes you just need a break! I got home tonight and spend a little while on doing some daily quests, but then I just had to get off. I really didn't feel like doing anything in the game. So what did I do? Chess!

I joined the 9pm bullet tournament. 9 rounds, game in 1 minute!!! I finished with 4 out of 9. Not too bad really. Considering my bullet rating isn't so high, I was happy with that score. And a few of the games I also had winning positions but ran out of time. After that I played a bit more. Chess is one of those games that I enjoy playing, but it seems like I can't take more than an hour or so a night.

Someone had asked what books I had purchased. The first one was "Paul Morphy, A Modern Perspective" by Valeri Beim. I've really just started it, but it's an interesting read. He had an incredible memory. He was fluent in many languages and many believe had a photographic memory. I haven't gone over any of the games yet, just read some of the text. So a ways to go.

I also picked up the IV and V volume of Garry Kasparov's My Great Predecessors where he talks about Bobby Fischer and Anatoly Karpov and an endgame book by Jeremy Silman.

Alright, I need to get an early sleep tonight! Tomorrow is another day.

Ed.

Just a glimpse

In addition to the usual weekend wow overload, I stopped at the chess club Saturday night.  I didn't actually play, just talked for a few.  As for wow, it was overall a good weekend:

Our 1st kara group saw a new boss.
Our 2nd kara group did I 3.5 hour clear of Karazhan.
We downed High King Maulgar in Gruul's Lair.
We downed the 1st 3 bosses in Zul'Aman.

I also continue my road to chess improvement.  June is the deadline.

All good stuff.  

I have the night off from bowling tonight.  That probably means a little bit of chess and a lot of wow.  But for now, I've got to get going.  For those of you that have the day off, enjoy!  For the rest of us, we do the best we can!

Hope you had a great weekend.

E.d

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Lame is the name of the game

Tonight was bowling night. We got done a little early because both teams were missing a player. For me, it was an average night and I wasn't overly excited about it. But we did take 3 points out of 4. So overall, not bad. I believe our team is in 3rd place.

After that I stopped to grab something to eat and headed home. My plan was to play a bit of chess and then do some W.O.W. daily quests. So I got home, booted up the computer, and got on to the Internet Chess Club. For some reason, I decided to dive into the G/15 tonight. Maybe because I was eating dinner so I figured it would be a good way to eat and play. I sent out the match request and was paired against a 1638 rated player. That's about 300 points lower than my current rating, but with rust and all, I was happy that it should be a good game.

As these things go, my opponent was taking a little bit longer than I to move. After move 6 he had about 12 minutes left on his clock to my 14 minutes. After my 7th move he seemed to go into a deep think. So I took the opportunity to start opening my new chess books! Yes, they arrived at my doorstep today. Woot! Some new light reading before bed.

Time slowly past and I started thinking he was just going to let his time run out to annoy me. Why? Because when you're playing someone rated higher than you, you don't think that long on move 7! So I found myself hoping that I didn't get disconnected from the Internet. I have my options set on the ICC so that if they have the same setting, a disconnect is an automatic forfeit.

In the end, his clock ran out and I won on time. Lame, lame, lame, lame, lame, lame, lame! 16 minutes of my life I'll never get back. I gained a few rating points - like those are deserved right now!

Until next time,

Ed.

The Tin Man

I ordered some new chess books from Amazon.com this week.  In case you're wondering, the last time I ordered chess books from Amazon was on December 17th... of 2003!  Since I was probably at my chess peak in 2006, I think we can safely deduce that those chess books didn't directly impact my playing strength.  

Sadly, I continue to hold the title of the "Tin Man" of Chess.  The rust continues to be apparent.  You know the saying "It's going to get worse before t gets better"?  Thankfully, it's not going to get any worse!  The biggest piece is time management, and that should come back fairly quickly.

Tomorrow is still a day away, so why not give today a shot!

Ed.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

A terrible thing to waste

My mind is not half empty, nor is it half full.  It's all empty.

And thus begins the journey of another day.

Ed.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

The rest is up to you

I took the long way back to my car after work. It was nice out and I felt like a bit of a walk. It was only an extra minute or two, but it was worth it. Some days, it really is the simple things.

Today I give to you the world and everything that goes with it. The rest is up to you.

Until tomorrow,

Ed.

Sims 3

The Sims 3 is due to be released in 2009.  I used to love that game.  I'd get addicted for a weekend, get tired of it, and try it again a few months later.  Ah well, a ways to go yet.

Ed.

Monday, April 14, 2008

A little bit of that

Yikes! My chess game is rusty. I played some bullet chess tonight. I actually played in a 1-minute tournament when I got home from bowling. It was 9 rounds, and I got a 1 point bye since I joined late. My final score? 1.5! Ouch. After that I decided to play a 3-minute game. Ouch again. I played reasonably, but my time management was horrible. So it's not all bad.

Bowling was good. How good? Well, I didn't get 3 200 games, but it was close:

Game 1: 224
Game 2: 194
Game 3: 247

On the lane right next to us one of the guys started with 9, then struck out. 279. Ouch! Only 3 more weeks on Thursday nights. Mondays I think we go until mid-may.

Hope you enjoyed your monday!

Ed.

Deliver us not

One of my W.O.W. accounts expired.  Oh the temptation to not renew it.  I'm going to though, right away.  That's just the way it is.

For now at least.

Ed.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Just another post

Do you ever take a moment at the end of the day for quiet contemplation?  Stop right now.  Don't think about anything...

How was it?

If you weren't able to do it, what can I say.  Stop living in fast forward!  

Finally at around 10pm tonight I...  renewed one of my ICC accounts and played a few games of chess.  How was it?  Rusty, but I wouldn't say terrible.  There's still hope.  Unfortunately I still don't like losing.  But I get lots of practice at it, so maybe some day it won't be so bad.  After all these years, odds are it will always be bad.

W.O.W. this weekend was a bit like drilling a screw into the wall... only missing the wall and somehow getting it into your head instead.  There were some high points, so overall I'm not unhappy about it.  But damn does it drive you crazy.  

Hope you had a great weekend!

Ed.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

The sound of Saturday

It sounds nice outside this morning.  Can you hear it?  I know, the sky is dreary and grey.  It looks like it's going to be another rainy day.  Still, it sounds nice.

For every day, there is a beginning.

Welcome to Saturday.

Ed.

Friday, April 11, 2008

or something like it

It might sound sad, but I'm looking forward to going to work today much more than I'm looking forward to the weekend.  I'm really not looking forward to the weekend.  Why?  Wow!  It continues to be a struggle to coordinate all the people for the weekend raids.  Even more so now that the nicer weather is upon us.  

Tom called me this week to ask me about playing in the club tournament in June.  Practice.  I must get back to chess.  

I also read this morning that World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King has gone into closed alpha testing.  It sounds like that will be a definite release later this year.  

Enjoy your Friday,

Ed.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Back to good

Today we're going to see 69 degrees.  Wow!  What ever happened to giving us a while to get from 50-70?  Right now it's really nice out.  I think it's in the high 40's.  Beautiful early morning coolness.  I kept my window open a bit last night.  It was great!  As for me, feeling much better today.  Look out world.

Have a good one,

Ed.

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Another night it's gonna be a long one...

The agony continues.  I'm not sure why, but it seems much worse from late evening to mid-morning.  I went to bed around 11 tonight... at least I thought I did.  I woke back up at around midnight.  At first I thought it was my alarm clock.  It was making that almost clicking sound that it makes right before it goes off.  Constantly.  

I tried to ignore it for a bit.  Then I realized that it was warm.  Not a good sign.  Finally the clicking got to me enough that I got out of bed to listen.  The clock was quiet.  That figures.  Source of the clicking:  unknown.  So I go back to bed and take off some covers.  Maybe that will help.  It helps for a minute, but then I get an upset stomach.  You know what that means...

It's going to be a long night.

I hope yours goes better!

Ed.

Monday, April 07, 2008

The Stomach Thing

There must be something going around.  My stomach has been terrible since Sunday night.  I managed to work just about a full day at work today... thanks to bowling night!  And I did bowl.  I don't remember the exact scores, but the were 200+, 200+, 190+ and I ended with a 607 series.  About half way through the last game the stomach pains started.  Hopefully it doesn't last too long.

I need to get my taxes done tomorrow.  As usual, I can't find a thing.  Everyone tells me not to wait until the last minute.  After all these years, I think it's a given.  

Here's to tomorrow!

Ed.

Stress Relief?

I saw an article today that starts like this:

A new study of computer gamers has found that a session in front of World of Warcraft can make players less stressed and more calm.. 

Excuse me?  I can only come to one conclusion myself.  Noobs.  The computer gamers they chose had to be a bunch of noobs.  

Enjoy the week!

Ed.

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Better than the last?

I hurt my back yesterday.  I don't know how I did it, but I'm pretty sure that it's real and not imaginary.  I'm eyeing that bottle of advil with much affection.  Ok, I have to leave really early (for me) today.  Getting up at 6am isn't my normal thing.  

And so another day begins...

Maybe this one will be better than the last.

Have a good one.

Ed.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

I will

Uncertainty and the great unknown.  Isn't that both the pride and sorry of the life we lead.  Once again we have come to the season of change.  Will this one be better than the last?  I hope so.  Small changes are the victories for which I currently aspire.  Victory may be but a state of mind, yet it is that state of mind for which I seek.  

Looking back I would have done a lot of things different, but to do it all over again I wouldn't change a thing.  But tomorrow, most certainly, I will.

Until then,

Ed.