Misc

Last night was the Greenwood Chess Simul exhibition and my first time participating in one. The SC Chess Association had arranged for chess Grand Master Gregory Kaidanov to play exhibitions in four cities.

We didn't have a huge turnout in Greenwood, maybe 15 players and a small crowd of spectators. This allowed the GM to play quickly and it seemed like every time I looked up, he was coming around for another move. I think everyone would have played better with a little more time to think. I was amazed when two of the Greenwood club's strongest players were out quickly. I somehow managed to hang on for a few more minutes but was just as soundly defeated. A few more guys hung on for a little longer, but the simul was over quickly. Here is my game for your enjoyment.


In retrospect I wish I had moved 8...Bb7 instead, but I'm sure there are plenty of other mistakes in my moves.

As if the regular simul event wasn't fast enough, it was followed by a couple rounds of speed chess, 5 minutes per side, with the GM playing four simultaneously. I still had nearly 90 seconds on my clock when I was checkmated.

The coolest part of the exhibition was the "blindfold" game. The GM sat facing away from the board and each player called out moves. Despite drawing one of the better Greenwood players, the GM made quick work of him. It's amazing to be able to keep track of the entire game in your head.

I really enjoyed the event and want to thank Mr. Kaidanov for taking the time to come to Greenwood.

Check out my sister's new website, No Retakes. She's traveling the country with her two boys.

If you're a Twitterer, please post a tweet for Katie Reider this weekend!

3!

Last Saturday I participated in my first triathlon at Santee State Park. It was an "off-road" triathlon which consisted of 3 miles of trail running, 3 miles of lake kayaking, and 7 miles of mountain biking. They had lots of participants for the short and long races, and the weather was excellent. It was good mix of people, so I didn't feel intimidated just by being there. I was there more just to compete with myself anyway.

The race made for a good excuse to exercise during the winter. I did a little more activity right after Christmas, but I didn't really get into it until the last month. Then I spent extra time at the gym and also did some "mini" triathlons here in the neighborhood.

For the race, the running was tough; I should have trained more for that and run more on trails instead of roads and treadmills. I felt great kayaking, and passed several people, but my wide poly kayak was a barge compared to the sea kayaks and racing kayaks that some other folks had. The biking was harder than expected; I was pretty tired by then and you can't coast as much on a trail as you can on the road. But all in all, I was happy just to finish! And to not be last was a bit of a bonus. I came in 19th of 26.

Now you give it a "tri."

I hereby declare my candidacy for President of the United States. So please write my name in when you vote today. Why did I wait until today? My platform is procrastination. You can expect me to drag my feet on such projects as:

• Expanding offshore drilling
• Invading foreign countries with no reason, or made-up reasons
• Renewing spying on American citizens

In the immortal words of Mark Twain, "Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow."

And whatever you do, please don't vote for this guy!

Katie Reider, 1978 - 2008

Katie is part of my family, and it hurts so much that her fight had to end this way.

Keep her singing in your heart.

Peace.

Links: Details, More of the Story, Beautiful Photos of Katie

Please tell me why the credit/debit card producers cannot put a bit on their cards to let systems automatically determine if the card is a debit or credit card? What a waste of my time and the employee's time to ask me this question over and over again.

My 2003 Saturn Vue is for sale. Buy it!

Update 2008-01-26: Sold!

Apparently South Carolina is letting people vote online for the design of the new license plate. I think that's a neat idea, but I'm sort of disappointed with the three designs. Two of the designs feature a centered palmetto tree, just like the current one, but I like the current one better than either of those. The other design is the state flag tucked into the corner of the plate. It looks decent but I can see that one getting covered up by plate frames. My vote goes to the palmetto tree at sunrise/sunset, but I'd be happy to keep my current palmetto tree plate.

Update 2007-08-28: Looks like they picked the plate that I voted for (PDF warning). I still like the current plate better, and I don't care for the cheesy .com advertisement on the new plate. Plus, the new plate will aggravate SC Gamecock fans as it leans toward Clemson colors!

Today I was trying to figure out the chords in a song (Katie Reider's awesome "Slowing Down for the Silence"). I figured out a couple chords, but was having trouble guessing some of the others. So I whipped up this little web application. You tell it a chord in your song and it will tell you all the major keys where you can find that chord. Using that knowledge, you can try the other chords in the key and see if they fit the song you're playing. I'm pretty sure Katie's song is in D major.

Enjoy!

I wrote a song!

My oldest son loves to sing this song. It's dedicated to all the Carolina chickadees outside our windows. Here it is, complete with guitar chords:


It's not much, but maybe it'll lead to greater things!