Right Where I Wanted To Be

Yes...he LIVES...!!! :-P

2007-09-26T21:41:00.000-07:00

"…It's late September and I really should be back at school…!" – Rod Stewart, from "Maggie May", 1971

Yes, yes, yes, yes…I know…why the heck do I take so long to post anything? Well, let me tell ya sumpin'…! (points to anyone who gets the reference to Jim Carrey's "Fire Marshall Bill Burns" character from the classic TV 1980s comedy series 'In Living Color').

Well, sometimes "real life" issues just overwhelm you to the point that you have to prioritize. Unfortunately that means that taking the time to post a blog has to take a back seat to other considerations. Recently, that has been all the time. If I had some free time available to me, I usually found myself too tired to really get around to starting something. This of course sets up another problem. The longer I go without blogging, the longer the blog will become once I actually make one. Naturally, after six months of no blogging, I have a lot to share, and that in itself is a daunting task, one that would make most aspiring bloggers drag their feet, and in turn further lengthening the process. As it is, it has taken me a couple of weeks, in bits and pieces, to complete this entry. After nearly six months, what's a couple more weeks, huh? So, without further adieu, on to the good stuff!

Well, I suppose the most obvious thing I should talk about first is baby Aiden! He is now six months old and is happy and healthy! He isn't as pudgy as Rowen was at the same age, but he is still in the middle of the length (height) and weight charts like Rowen was. Rowen shot up to the ninetieth percentile by the time he was a year old, though, so we shall see how Aiden does. Unlike Rowen, Aiden wasn't born with a full head of thick hair. His is definitely more fine, but it is coming in nicely now, and he is fair-haired, as we expected he would be (both Bridget and I were quite fair-haired as children). He definitely has a different personality than Rowen. Aiden appears to be more thoughtful. He appears content to sit back and observe. He is very sensitive to sudden and loud noises. We are now introducing (semi) solid foods, and so far he seems to like everything we have given him. Aiden smiles a lot for us, and is now truly laughing/giggling, especially with Rowen. He is paying a lot of attention to Big Brother, and we have so far been very lucky that Rowen is being so good with Aiden, and even interacting with him more than we thought he would.

What about Big Brother Rowen, you ask? Don't! Just kidding! The big issue with him right now is Operation Potty Training. And it has not been going so well. Rowen knows how to go pee-pee in the potty just fine. Getting him to actually do it is another thing entirely! For some reason, he often simply refuses to go willingly to the potty, and seems to have no problems at all with wetting himself. I learned from my mother Peggy that I was a real difficult case at age three as well, so I suppose that it should not come as some surprise to us. Otherwise, Rowen is doing very well with his daycare (where he is usually going to the potty, it is at home where the real difficulty has been), has learned a lot of letters by sight, and can sing the "A…B…C…" song! Most recently, he can identify his name! He is very independent and will do at least initially try to do everything himself, although if he isn't successful after the first attempt he is quick to ask for help!

Just before Memorial Day weekend, the transmission on my trusty 1998 Saturn SW2 station wagon gave up the ghost. At that point, I had 157,400-odd miles on the vehicle (all but 36,000 put on by us, as we bought the car used). I never had a major mechanical issue with the vehicle, and tried to keep up with the major servicing aspects. So, in a sense, we got our money's worth out of the vehicle, and we were very happy with it. The timing, however, was of course not good. Any kind of car payment was not in the already limited budget, much less paying for even a cheap used car outright, but I also had no choice but to get another car, as the old car's transmission was not economical to repair. The money would be better spent on a replacement car.

So, we went back to Saturn of Marietta. We had already purchased four Saturns in the past ten years from them, and from the same salesperson, a sweet lady named Charlsie. If you ever are looking to get a Saturn, go and ask for her, and tell her we sent you! Seriously!

We were initially looking for a late-model, slightly-used car, but there just happened to be a Memorial Day Zero-percent interest promotion going on for their "closeout" models, the Relay minivan and the ION. The 2007 model year is the last for these two models. The Relay was being phased out due to poor sales, and the "entry-level" ION was due to be replaced by another model for the 2008 model year. We did try applying for the zero-percent financing, and much to our amazement, we actually qualified! The financing offer only applied to new Relay and ION models, however. As it turns out, having interest added to our payment on a used car would have probably cost us more per month than that for a new car. I ended up picking out a nicely-equipped 2007 ION four-door, in black, of course, and the total price including the extended warranty, was only about $22K. My payments only came out to about $346 a month. That was about as good as I could get, given the circumstances, so we were happy with this. Remember, though, a car payment of any kind was not in the budget. Even though a new full-time job was on the horizon, there wasn't enough money to pay for everything. That is another story.

Starting in mid-June, I started working for Pirelli Tire North America (PTNA), in their consumer affairs department. PTNA moved their corporate headquarters to Rome, GA back in about 2003, and it is on the same grounds as the tire factory they built here. It is unfortunately a temp-to-perm type of position, and it doesn't pay very well at the moment, but if things work out well, I could end up being a full-time employee, making a bit more money and benefits. So far, I have enjoyed working there, and it is an interesting environment, as PTNA's parent company, Pirelli & C. S.p.A. , is based in Milan, Italy. So, I get to hear a lot of transplanted Italians talking around me all day! Perhaps I will learn Italian though osmosis! Based on feedback from my immediate supervisors, they are actually quite pleased with my performance overall. That does a lot for one's self-esteem! I am getting very close to working there ninety days now, and I know I will be up for a performance review soon, so I hope that this bodes well for future full-time employment! It is a typical office-type of job as far as the hours go, so it was going to come in conflict with continuing to teach with Kid Chess in the coming school year. I miss being able to enrich the minds of my Kid Chess "kids", but I had to again prioritize. As it stands right now, I have not burned any bridges with Kid Chess, and I am presumably welcome to return to teaching there if the circumstances permit; however I would classify myself as "inactive" with teaching at this time. If you live in the North Metro Atlanta area and have school-age children and want them to really broaden their minds and their mental aptitude, you should look into getting a Kid Chess program at your school or at least have your children attend one of their summer camps!

I am actively looking for additional part-time work to help cover the bills. As I am effectively under-employed at this time, I am simply not making enough money. We had hoped to be out of debt (at least what is considered to be "bad" debt) by this time next year. Due to my gaps in employment and/or under-employment in the past year, not to mention taking on the additional debt of another car payment, our overall debt has substantially increased. I am also counting whatever financial assistance our families have been able to provide us to the overall debt. It is my sincere intention that they will be paid back in full someday. Anyway, we will have to just keep working really hard towards reducing our overall debt as best as we can and hope we will be essentially debt-free in a couple more years.

The search has so far not gone well. Most area retailers, including one I used to work for last year, Kmart, are only looking for Holiday help, which means temporary part-time employment at best. I really need something that I could continue working rather indefinitely. I haven't given up! I can't...too much is at stake!

In mid-August, I noticed evidence of some kind of insect bite on my lower left leg, almost on top of where my shin bone was. It was rather small, and was not painful or itchy, but due to its almost perfect roundness, I thought it was likely some kind of spider bite. I immediately feared another bite from a Brown Recluse spider. As you might recall, two years ago, (and in August as well, apparently a very active time for Brown Recluses, as they are trying to reproduce) it was determined by my physician (after the fact) that I had been bitten on the top of my left ankle by one of these tiny yet potent beasties. I was fortunate that the bite itself wasn't too serious, due primarily to its location, but my later bout of cellulitis in my left foot a few weeks later was directly attributed to the spider bite. Then of course came the bout of cellulitis' more-evil relative, fasciitis, in my left leg almost six months later, which was a potentially a life-threatening condition. Now, granted, it was not the infamous "flesh-eating bacteria", aka necrotizing fasciitis, but it started as a case of cellulitis that developed into a more severe (and potentially dangerous) condition once this notably aggressive infection reached the fascia beneath the dermal layers. None of this was far from my mind when I first thought of the possibility that I was again bitten by a Brown Recluse.

Well, as it turns out, it probably was some kind of spider bite, but most likely not a Brown Recluse. Or it was and it didn't manage to inject much venom at all when it bit me. The bite healed quickly, and it didn't leave a noticeable mark afterward like my first one did (and it was actually a relatively small Brown Recluse bite).

The last weekend of September will find me, Bridget and the boys in Tallahassee, FL. My mom Peggy will be watching Rowen and Aiden while Bridget and I (and my sister Beth as well…her husband Josh will be unable to come down) all participate in our twenty-year high school reunion, the Robert F. Munroe school Class of 1987. Beth and I, being "Irish Twins" and born in the same year, were always in the same class in school, so we graduated high school in the same year as well. We are looking forward to this reunion! Beth and I went to our tenth in 1997 (that was also the time that I had my car literally go up in flames…another good story). We both initially felt that we would generally not enjoy ourselves, but much to our surprise, we had a great time! This time around, there has been a lot of email traffic leading up to the reunion, and everybody who is attending seems to be very excited, and those who know they will not be attending are most upset that they will miss out on what appears to be a great weekend coming up! Beth and I are also eager to show off Rowen and Aiden to our former classmates at the "family time" set up during the weekend!

After many delays and/or much foot-dragging, we finally have a date for Aiden's baptism. Due to the aforementioned reunion, it will be the last Sunday of October, October 28th. I feel bad that Aiden is going to have just turned seven months old and is just getting around to being baptised. Typically, babies are baptised within the first few months after birth. Rowen was not even three months old when he was formally baptised (he had also gotten baptised by a priest in the hospital just prior to his surgery…just in case). I hope that the Reinwald (Bridget's) family baptism gown will fit him, as I know that the Evans (my mother's) family gown probably won't now. It didn't fit Rowen either, but then again he was just so big, even at three months. Aiden is more "normal" sized, but he is also going to be seven months old. And we seem to have to go through more hoops this time around regarding godparents. Bridget's sister Sarah and her husband Edgar were Rowen's godparents. This time around, Beth and Josh are to be Aiden's godparents. I was pleased to find out that Josh was baptised Roman Catholic, although he grew up non-practicing in the aftermath of his parent's divorce at a young age. Hopefully, that will be enough. I want Aiden to have both a male and female godparent, but I don't have that many friends that are at least raised Roman Catholic, especially males. Beth was also Royce's godmother, but that was under extreme duress and very unique circumstances of the moment.

No promises, but I will do my utmost to post another update before the end of the year! Honest!

Bill

New Arrival! Film at Eleven...! :-)

2007-03-28T22:12:00.000-07:00

Sorry I have been absent lately, but you know...! ;-)

I am very pleased to announce that my wife Bridget delivered a healthy baby boy by C-Section on March 27th at 8:41AM EST! His name is Aiden Patrick Christopher Kargel and he weighed in at 7 lbs. 13 oz. and is 20 inches long! Both baby and Mommy are doing great! It appears that this one has no signs of the genetic condition that Royce and Rowen have had (if you don't know about any of that it's OK...a long story). As it was, the statistical odds were in our favour, anyway! Rowen got to meet his little brother for the first time that afternoon and seemed very excited! :-D More info and pics to follow!

Cheers,

Bill, Bridget, Rowen and Aiden Kargel

First Post of 2007

2007-02-07T06:34:00.000-08:00

Well, I thought I should give some kind of update since we are now into February of 2007!

I haven't posted much lately because there is simply not that much to tell about. My daily routine is basically the same. I have been working a few hours in the weekday mornings at PTS, then travel to whatever school I am scheduled with for KidChess in the afternoons. Then I come home and take care of the household, as Bridget needs to take things easy. By the time everything I need to take care of is done, I am basically exhausted and I retire for the evening to try and get a decent night's sleep, only to get up and do it all over again the next day. Even though I have the weekends off, I spend the majority of that time cleaning the house and doing the laundry.

Now, all that I am sharing with you here is NOT a complaint. I am doing my best to be a responsible adult and do what I can to provide for and care for my growing family. Right now, that means my taking up the slack around home in addition to my work responsibilities. It's just that at the end of the day I have had little or no time for anything else. If I do have some time, I am generally so tired that I would rather go to bed early. I feel that I am way behind on a number of small personal tasks and/or projects. None of them are necessarily all that important or imperative that I complete within a specified timeframe, but I wonder when I might ever get the majority of them completed.

I mentioned in my last post about me laying down some vocal tracks to post online sometime. I have obviously not finished this project, either. Partly because of the time constraints I just mentioned, but also because I have hit a number of technical snags. I have been slowly working my way through these, and I hope to be able to proceed with this project soon.

Bridget's parents, Gus and Carolyn Reinwald, are coming for a short visit this weekend. They are bringing us an old sofa-bed and other items. We are getting rid of our old sofa-bed, which is rapidly deteriorating. We have also started rearranging furniture in the living room. God knows why...but Bridget and her mom have some kind of plan. I will likely be moving the desktop PC, desk, peripherals and all, out to one corner of the living room where there is sufficient space to allow more room in Rowen's room for the addition of the crib and another dresser. That is going to be a big project!

We had decided to change Rowen's day care, but ended up having to change back. The condensed version of the story is that we had decided to make a change because his current daycare was with the school system Bridget works for, and was only good for the school year, and then somebody would have to watch Rowen during the summer. With a new baby coming very soon, having the option of Rowen being away for most of the day over the summer made sense, and having him in a year-round daycare seemed to be a good idea. All the arrangements had been made and Rowen started at the new daycare when Bridget returned to school after the Holiday break. The "new" daycare was actually his original daycare we used during his first year, and the staff still there remembered Rowen and were excited about his return! Rowen was there for three days when his endrocinologist, Dr. Inger Hansen at Emory Children's Center notified us that Rowen's treatment parameters were to change. Nothing serious, but Rowen would now receive a small dose of slow-acting insulin every morning (Lantus), and if his blood glucose readings before meals still went above 200, he would require a very small dose of fast-acting insulin (Humalog). Well, that would mean that SOMEBODY would have to give Rowen a shot of insulin at daycare if he needed it. The problem was that although the staff at the daycare had no issues with testing Rowen's blood glucose several times a day, they would not administer the insulin if he needed it, and would require myself or Bridget to do it. Well, this daycare is too far away from either of us to make this practical. I can understand their point of view on this issue, as they are playing the game of "CYA" and avoiding any possibility of something going wrong and them getting sued for it. It just makes things quite inconvenient for us.

We had to have Rowen go back to his old daycare with Bridget's school system after all. At least then Bridget is only ten minutes away and can go over and give him insulin if he needs it (and he has a couple of times since he has been back there). At least we won't have this problem once Rowen is in school. In public schools, the school nurse is both qualified and required to administer medications (including insulin) to students.

We have a due date for the arrival of the new baby! We are to have a scheduled C-section delivery the morning of Tuesday, March 27th at Floyd Medical Center in Rome, the same hospital where both Royce and Rowen were delivered!

Of course, if history is factored in, it is entirely possible that Bridget will go into labor before this and we will deliver the baby earlier much like we had done with both Royce and Rowen. Bridget's parents, Gus and Carolyn Reinwald, will come up a few days prior to the delivery date and will assist us with "all things domestic". This includes taking care of Rowen. Since they are both now retired, they have the time and means to do this. My mother Peggy would not be able to stay at this time, but has volunteered herself to spend a lot of time with us and the new baby during the summer. If all goes well and there are no complications or other problems, I will probably go back to work the next day. I will take at least a few more days off once the baby is ready to come home.

Since history has shown that our babies tend to come early (although some factors were likely involved that may not be an issue this time around), we are basically going to be on "high alert" status after mid-February. As far as we are concerned, scheduled delivery date or not, it is still quite possible and even probably that the baby might decide to come early by several weeks! We have to be ready!

Rowen just went for his periodic checkup with Dr. Hansen at Emory's Children's Center yesterday, and she seems to think that (for now) the parameter and dosage changes have stabilized things well enough that she will make no further changes at this time. She did mention, however, that within the next year the subject of compensating parameters and dosage with respect to carb intake would have to start being addressed. Overall, she was very pleased with how Rowen is doing so far given his history! She also mentioned to me that just this past month of so this year, there have been three new cases of congenital hyperinsulinism that had been admitted to Egleston Children's Hospital in Atlanta (where both Royce and Rowen spent some time), which was a very unusual event, as they typically only get one or two a year. She did tell me that one child was actually eleven months old and had been a borderline case where they had to admit her again for surgery, as other options had been exhausted. Another child was actually from Mexico, and all signs were that this child had the very rare familial (genetic) form of hyperinsulinism like Royce and Rowen. The family had previously had five other babies born that had all soon died. At some point, I guess the doctors in Mexico figured out what was going on and arrangements were made for more intensive measures this time around to save this baby. I have to assume that the family was poor and did not have regular access to proper medical care.

Bridget also had an another appointment with the perinatalogist, Dr. Jeff Korotkin at Atlanta Perinatal Consultants yesterday. I could not be there with her as the two appointments were too close together. We are far enough along with the pregnancy that things are being even more closely monitored. Dr. Korotkin had been having us monitor Bridget's blood glucose this past month for signs of gestational diabetes coming up again (a high probability since Bridget had it while pregnant with Rowen). Although so far it appears to not be as apparent as the last pregnancy, her numbers were such that Dr. Korotkin elected for Bridget to finally start taking insulin (again, this is beginning later than the last pregnancy). Her dosage is a small dosage of Humalog right before each meal, and a sizeable dose of Humalin (slower-acting insulin) before going to bed at night.

In addition to the insulin, it has been noted that Bridget's blood pressure is starting to go up. It is not dangerously high as of yet, but it seems to be higher when she is on her feet and active versus off of her feet and inactive. Basically, this means it is higher at work than when at home. Dr. Korotkin does not want to take any chances. Effective immediately, Bridget is to take half-days at work, and could be made to not work at all before the due date if this does not alleviate the blood pressure readings.

This is in effect going to really screw us over financially. Right now, I am making just enough money to cover my part of the bills. I cannot cover for Bridget as well. As it is, we are hoping that our income tax refund will be sufficient to cover Bridget's part of the bills for the time she is out on maternity leave. Another couple of months short and with nothing there right now to cover for it is going to be a big, big problem!

We still have not decided on a name for the baby yet. I have been dragging my feet on this, since the worst fights Bridget and I have had in our entire marriage have been over naming our children. I hate conflict like this, and this is a large part of my reluctance to discuss the issue, which is almost just as frustrating to Bridget as arguing over a proposed name would be! I know that I am going to have to do it very soon...we don't want to be surprised by an early arrival and not have a name selected!

Another thing I am concerned about a few months down the road is the baby's baptism. We need to find appropriate godparents. My sister Beth was really the only choice (although a perfectly good one with better circumstances) where Royce had been concerned. We could choose Beth again for this baby, but she is now married, and her husband Josh is not Roman Catholic. We have already chosen Bridget's sister Sarah and her husband Edgar as Rowen's godparents. Now, I understand that there is nothing wrong with repeating things and have them as this baby's godparents as well, but I think it would be nice to have somebody different as well. The problem is that Bridget and I have few friends that are Roman Catholic, much less practicing Catholics. I have a few candidates in mind, but they must also be willing to do it, as they would for the most part have to travel a good ways to actually participate in the baptism. Giving them plenty of notice would help a lot I think. I should have the invitiations locked up before the baby comes, to give them time to think it over.

I made a few New Year's Resolutions back at the start of the New Year. As we all know, New Year's Resolutions tend to start out strong and then flag and fail later on, anywhere from a few days to a few months. I of course had losing weight at the top of my list (one of the most common of the resolutions made, and also one of the most likely to fail). I dragged my feet and got a late start on it and did not start until a couple of weeks ago, but I at least did it. I am not doing anything radical. Real excersise is not a realistic option right now, so I had to figure out other ways. I decided to try and drastically cut back on some things that I know are not helping me. I am trying not to drink any sodas during the week, and only one or two as a treat on weekends, as they are full of carbs. I have tried drinking lots of water (of course) and unsweetened iced tea instead. So far, I have been largely sucessful, but I do miss drinking them! And diet sodas don't work for me, as they have an aftertaste that I don't care for. I have also tried cutting back meal portions by about 20 to 25 percent to reduce caloric intake. If I must get fast-food, for example, that means not "upsizing" whatever I am getting. The hardest thing I have attempted is to cut back on eating sweets. So far I have failed miserably with this, but I will keep trying. In another week or so I will weigh myself and see if I have made much progress or not.

Another resolution I made is to try and catch up with a lot of old friends I have not kept in touch with enough, or in some cases not at all or never. That means tracking some people down. Due to time constraints, I have not made much progress here, either. However, I have gotten a few good leads on some old friends I lost touch with. More on this later.

Very soon (Feb 15th) will be my 38th birthday. This day will likely be a non-event, as I am not only not relishing the fact I am getting older, but the simple fact is that I will be too busy to really celebrate anyway. A lyric from the song "Another Birthday", a favourite songe of mine by the late, great Atlanta band Salem Ash was "another birthday closer to my grave..."!

Regards,

Bill

Holiday Update

2006-12-24T17:02:00.000-08:00

Well, I figured I should post something before Christmas and the New Year came around!

I have been rather busy and have either not had the time, or when I did have the time lacked the motivation, to post.

Well, other than Trophy Day (trophy presentations) sessions, my first semester with Kid Chess is all but finished. There were some bumps in the road, certainly, but working with Kid Chess has been the single most rewarding work I have ever done! Not only do I have fun being with the kids and showing them new things, I also feel that I am really doing something important and good by enriching their minds and therefore by extension their lives! The results of my work appear to me much more apparent and tangible!

Bridget has just had another ultrasound down at Northside Hospital. Dr. Jeff Korotkin of Atlanta Perinatal Consultants has noted that the baby's size is barely above normal for twenty-five weeks of pregnancy. Based upon what we know about PHHI, in which a strong indicator of the presence of the disease is large size/birthweight, which is quite apparent by the twenty-fifth week of pregnancy, the fact that this baby is very nearly of normal dimensions is very encouraging to us. Perhaps this one won't have the same condition as Royce and Rowen, after all! As it is, the statistical odds are in our favour! Oh, and it's official: Baby is going to be another boy!

To help with income, I am now also working at a tax preparation software company in the area, called Personal Tax Services (PTS) (not UTS, for whom I did do temp work with in 2002) part time through tax season, assisting with technical issues. This might turn into something more permanent, so we will see. At any rate, it will at least buy me some time to figure out what to do, and have some money coming in over the next couple of weeks when there are no Kid Chess classes. So far I am enjoying the work; my coworkers are very nice people, as are my supervisors, and believe it not - I have my own office space! Not a cubicle, but an actual whole workspace within a room all to myself! That is a bit overwhelming!

Some of you might recall this, but the unthinkable happened four years ago. It was following the deaths of Royce and my Dad, as well as being suddenly unemployed, all within the span of six months. Afterward, I no longer felt musically inspired. It was as if all the wind went out of my sails. My last musical performance was during the 'Convoy' music show in September 2002 (organized by my sister Beth). 'Convoy' was a "musical tribute to the internal combustion engine", and all music performed by the artists present were appropriately automotive-themed. An example was the band Beth plays in, Silent Kids, performed "Double Life" by The Cars. I played bass on three songs onstage with Kenny Howes while he was still living in Atlanta (he is now in the Los Angeles area), "Drive My Car" by the Beatles (predictable where Kenny is concerned...LOL) , "Don't Worry Baby" by the Beach Boys (featuring Beth singing the lead vocal, but as it turned out, nice vocal harmonies from the rest of us as well), and "Little Old Lady From Pasadena". I also played bass on a song sung by Beth and Renée Nelson of Envie, our friend then-Homeroom drummer Tony Jenkins on drums, and Mitchell Parsons on guitar, performing "Dirty Back Road" by the B-52s. After that, nothing. I have not even picked up a musical instrument since November, 2002. With the exception of me singing a Rush tune onstage with my friends in Paine's Promise on their invitation during a show in October 2003, I have not even sung in public in the past four years!

Back in May, I started to have an urge to work on music again (writing and performing), but was hesitant, since it had been such a long time. Then Bridget got pregnant so the whole idea has been shelved indefinately. I need to know how things turn out with the baby's delivery, etc. I may get back into doing something in the Fall. I want to work on "solo" material as well as working with a band doing original music in a group setting. I will have to get some new gear to accomplish all this as well, and that might take a while due to finances.

While visiting various MySpace pages of musical artists (many whom I know), and listening to the tracks posted there, I got an idea: why not have my own MySpace music page? Yes, I have no recorded output, but in the meantime I could post samples of my singing. A lot of people still have not heard me sing at all, or at the very least not been exposed to my full singing range. I believe that I am technically a baritone, but I have a wide range in my "head" voice, allowing me to sing some tenor notes. And in falsetto, I can go quite high. The key is trying to make the falsetto notes not sound obviously falsetto. I can do it, but only with the drastic loss of volume. My most natural range is basically that of a baritone. My voice has been (favourably) compared to that of John Wetton (which is awesome, since JW is my favourite singer and a huge inspiration to me musically), but I can also be (I believe) favourably compared to the likes of Justin Hayward, David Gilmour, Peter Gabriel, Greg Lake, Eric Woolfson and others.
OK, all that being said, how do I get something recorded to showcase my singing? I am pursuing two different solutions. One is to simply record my vocals over songs being played from Standard MIDI files. There are tens of thousands available over the internet for free, although the quality of them varies greatly. So, I have to listen to them carefully and choose the best-quality files to use. I have software I can use to add reverb and chorus effects to my voice just like if I were in a recording studio. However, there is a distinct shortage of quality progressive rock MIDI files, so I may not be able to sing on many "prog" tunes, at least initially. The other solution is to remove vocal tracks from MP3 files of whatever songs I want to sing over, very much like karaoke. I use WinAmp as my default MP3 player on my PCs, and there is a free plugin that supposedly does a good job removing/suppressing vocal tracks from MP3 and Wave files. I can rip and create MP3 files from just about any song I want, prog or otherwise, from my CD collection, so the variety of songs I want would be there. The drawback here is that older songs may not be removed or suppressed enough to make a difference, and most of the prog songs I would want to sing would fall into this category.

So, once I decide on a path to take, I will begin testing the platform I will use and make the necessary adjustments and record the songs with my vocals as Wave files, then convert them to MP3 or whatever format is necessary to upload to MySpace. For music purposes, I think I will eventually create a seperate MySpace page for just my music-related stuff.

My mom Peggy arrived last night and will spend part of the Holidays with us, and then just as she leaves, Bridget's parents, Gus and Carolyn Reinwald, will stay through the New year. My sister Beth and her husband Josh are actually going to spend part of the Holidays in Las Vegas!

I had hoped to have some kind of online newsletter to send as an email Holiday card like I have done in recent years, but I have not had the time or energy to tackle that. That and I have not had the chance to scan a good pic of Rowen to include. I feel like a real ass for not staying on top of things better, as Holiday cards are commonly the only communication some of my friends receive from me all year (unless they check my blogging regularly, but a number of them don't even know about that yet). Maybe I can get something out in the eleventh hour, or even around the New Year...better late than never, right?

If I don't get to post again in time, everyone, please have a happy and safe Holiday Season and New Year!

Regards,

Bill

Home Alone

2006-10-12T22:00:00.000-07:00

That's right...Bridget has taken Rowen and gone to her mother's...!

OK, OK, OK...before you start drawing conclusions, allow me to elaborate...!

This week is Bridget's Fall break in her school system. As it is, the teachers got the shaft and had Teacher Planning Days on Monday and Tuesday.

Bridget wanted to go to Florida to spend the remainder of the week with her parents at their new home near Amelia Island. Unfortunately, I had work commitments and could not go along.

They will be back on Sunday.

So, for the balance of that time period, I am coming home to an empty house and having to fend for myself. In a way it is cool, because I have no "curfew", so to speak. I am not restricted by domestic duties like I have been deluged with for the past months.

Anyway, I am looking to catch up on a few personal tasks this weekend...maybe visit with my sister and her husband in Atlanta...maybe see a friend or two...it should be good!

Regards,

Bill

Update - World Chess Championship 2006

2006-10-12T20:57:00.000-07:00

The score for the World Chess Championship Title (and title reunification) match between Veslin Topalov and Vladimir Kramnik is tied with a score of 6:6. A series of tiebreak games will begin tomorrow (Friday October 13th - Yikes!).

The match has been frought with controversy, with the instigation of "Pottygate", et al. For all the gory details, visit the Chessbase news page at www.chessbase.com and click on the various headlines.

It seems likely that FIDE, the World Chess Federation, is going to be sued by Vladimir Kramnik, regardless of the match result, for their poor handling of the "Pottygate" issue. Maybe it will cause enough of a shakeup in FIDE that they will finally get a clue and get their act together. Wishful thinking!

I am not "rooting" for any particular player per se, but I definately side with Kramnik in regards to what happened during the match. FIDE really botched things up, and then made things (initally) worse by trying to "fix" things and also allowing Game Five to be started and forcing a forfeit win for Topalov (a BIG sticking point in the lawsuit if Topalov actually wins the match).

Once again, bad behavior away from the board puts top-level chess in the mainstream headlines, and not the games over-the-board themselves. When will it ever end?

2006 World Chess Championship...what the @$%& is going on?

2006-09-29T20:02:00.000-07:00

WCC, Game Five: Topalov came to play, but now Kramnik was a no-show...

As I posted before, Veselin Topalov lodged a complaint with the arbiters about Vladimir Kramnik's frequent bathroom breaks during the match games. The Arbiters Committee apparently overstepped their bounds and forced both players to use the same bathroom that would be basically under surveillance...this is also in violation of their player contracts. Topalov then is ready to play, but now Kramnik was upset and refused to play Game Five, which has now been apprently categorized as a forfeit for Kramnik. There is a strong possibility that the match may not continue, and this would be a very bad thing for chess as a sport. What are these guys THINKING? I have FIRST GRADERS in my Kid Chess classes that behave better than this!

You can read up on the latest details of this developing story at Chessbase.

Here's to hoping that there is a Game Six tomorrow (or a rescheduled Game Five, as some are calling for)...a game at all would be nice!

The Immortal Game: A History of Chess

2006-09-28T23:09:00.000-07:00

"The Immortal Game: A History of Chess, or How 32 Carved Pieces on a Board Illum" on Google Video

GOOD MORNING AMERICA - Monday, September 4th, 10:45 a.m. EST

An interview with Mr. David Shenk about his new book, as well as the connections with chess and aging and Alzheimer's Disease, children learning chess at a relatively young age, and an interesting anecdote about chess in his own family history! An entertaining interview!

David Shenk's new book, The Immortal Game, discusses chess history from varying realms of the human mind. Throughout the book, the author weaves in an out a game titled "The Immortal Game" played between Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kierseritzky in London, 1851. This is the first time a non-chessplayer attempted to write a most enticing and informative account of the game. No other chess history book (written for the general reader) relies on some of the world's prestigious researchers for historical analysis. Not only is it intended for the general reader but David adds a little personal touch to the book which later on one will find out that an ancestor of his was a well-known chess master! From Caliph Muhammad al-Amin of the Abbasid Empire to Marcel Duchamp to war and Garry Kasparov and computers, psychology and Artificial Intelligence, Mr. Shenk, no doubt has offered a well-written book that can be enjoyed by everyone. Towards the end, the author includes a Coda quotes his sources with notes, Appendix I, II, & III, includes a nice bibliography and an acknowledgement section. For only $17.16 (Amazon) it doesn't get any better than this!

Reviews

"Shenk, a spry writer . . . [offers] a strong case for the game's bewitching power."-- The New York Times

"A thrilling tour . . . an engaging, colorful look at a world that blissfully remains black-and-white."-- Entertainment Weekly

"Fresh and fascinating...a world-spanning story [Shenk] relates with skill and verve."-- Chicago Sun-Times

"Fascinating . . . [Shenk] writes about chess history with contagious zest."-- Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Shenk weaves a masterful tale that all readers can enjoy, no matter how little they know about chess."-- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"Fun, factual, and a good read . . . Not a reference book to be stored on a shelf [but] a book to be read and enjoyed, and even read again . . . buy this book!"-- Chess Life magazine

"Besides detailing chess's broader social significance, Shenk brings it to life with tales of its personal impact . . . Shenk's passion will leave readers yearning to play."-- Fast Company

"A globe-spanning, brain-stretching social history . . . Shenk's curiosity equips the reader to look at a board of chess pieces and understand what got them there and the endless places they could go."-- Paste Magazine

Value 10/10
Accurate 9/10
Orignality 10/10
Overall 9.9/10

Recommend it? Yes

Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: DoubleDay (September 5, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN: 0385510101

2006 World Chess Championship - BREAKING NEWS - Topalov threatens to abandon WCC Match

2006-09-28T23:07:00.000-07:00

Veselin Topalov - Instigating "Pottygate" scandal in chess world?

It seems that Topalov and his team think that Kramnik is spending too much time away from the chessboard and in the bathroom where there is no video surveillance. Now, they are not actually coming out and accusing Kramnik of actually cheating, but the veiled accusations are there, and since this leaked out to the mainstream press, it is causing a scandal that shouldn't even exist! American chess fans are already calling the debacle "Pottygate", and it seems appropriate!It remains to be seen if Topalov will even show up to play Game Five tomorrow or not!

More detailed information at Chessbase HERE.

2006 World Chess Championship, Games 3 & 4 - Drawn

2006-09-28T22:43:00.000-07:00

But what great games they were! Both games were "fighting" draws that will have tongues wagging in chess circles for a bit! Kramnik still has his lead, with the score now 3-1 in his favour. Topalov has his work cut out for him to catch up before the end of the twelve-game match...and we are a third of the way done.

Today (Thursday, September 28th) was a rest day. Game 5 is tomorrow.

Here are the game scores:

[Event "WCh"][Site "Elista RUS"][Date "2006.09.26"][Round "3"][White "Kramnik, V."][Black "Topalov, V."][Result "1/2-1/2"][ECO "D47"][WhiteElo "2743"][BlackElo "2813"][PlyCount "76"][EventDate "2006.09.23"]
Catalan, Open, 5.Nf3 (E04)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 dxc4 5. Bg2 Nc6 6. Qa4 Bd7 7. Qxc4 Na5 8.Qd3 c5 9. O-O Bc6 10. Nc3 cxd4 11. Nxd4 Bc5 12. Rd1 Bxg2 13. Qb5+ Nd7 14. Kxg2a6 15. Qd3 Rc8 16. Bg5 Be7 17. Bxe7 Qxe7 18. Rac1 Nc4 19. Na4 b5 20. b3 O-O 21.bxc4 bxa4 22. Nc6 Rxc6 23. Qxd7 Qc5 24. Rc3 g6 25. Rb1 h5 26. Rb7 e5 27. e4 Rf628. Rc2 Qa3 29. Qd1 Rd6 30. Rd2 Rfd8 31. Rd5 Rxd5 32. cxd5 Qxa2 33. Qf3 Rf8 34.Qd3 a3 35. Rb3 f5 36. Qxa6 Qxb3 37. Qxg6+ Kh8 38. Qh6+ Kg8 1/2-1/2

[Event "WCh"][Site "Elista RUS"][Date "2006.09.27"][Round "4"][White "Topalov, V."][Black "Kramnik, V."][Result "1/2-1/2"][ECO "D47"][WhiteElo "2813"][BlackElo "2743"][PlyCount "107"][EventDate "2006.09.23"]
Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav (D47)
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3Bb7 9. a3 b4 10. Ne4 Nxe4 11. Bxe4 bxa3 12. O-O Bd6 13. b3 Nf6 14. Nd2 Qc7 15.Bf3 Bxh2+ 16. Kh1 Bd6 17. Nc4 Be7 18. Bxa3 O-O 19. Bxe7 Qxe7 20. Ra5 Rfd8 21.Kg1 c5 22. Rxc5 Ne4 23. Bxe4 Bxe4 24. Qg4 Bd3 25. Ra1 Rac8 26. Raa5 Rb8 27. Qd1Be4 28. Qa1 Rb7 29. Nd2 Bg6 30. Qc3 h6 31. Ra6 Kh7 32. Nc4 Be4 33. f3 Bd5 34.Nd2 Rdb8 35. Qd3+ f5 36. Rc3 Qh4 37. Ra1 Qg3 38. Qc2 Rf7 39. Rf1 Qg6 40. Qd3Qg3 41. Rfc1 Rfb7 42. Qc2 Qg5 43. Ra1 Qf6 44. Qd3 Rd7 45. Ra4 Rbd8 46. Rc5 Kg847. Nc4 Bxc4 48. Raxc4 f4 49. Rc6 fxe3 50. Qxe3 Rxd4 51. Rxe6 Qh4 52. Rxd4 Qxd453. Re8+ Kh7 54. Qxd4 1/2-1/2

2006 World Chess Championship, Game 2: Sensational! KRAMNIK WINS AGAIN, takes 2-0 lead!!!

2006-09-28T21:07:00.000-07:00

Amazing! Blunders on both sides of the board, but excellent chess nonetheless! Topalov, with the White pieces, was on the attack as expected, and created a very sharp game, but Kramnik defended well and Topy finally committed a final innacuracy (some have called it another blunder, but things were very hard to find at the board) to lose the game.Tomorrow (Monday, September 25th) is a rest day for the players. It will be interesting how these two early losses affect Topalov pyschologically. For many players, the match would already be over. In fact, at this point, Kramnik could from now on play ultra-conservatively and play dull, uninteresting chess to get drawn games and win the match. If Topalov still has a fire in his belly by Tuesday, however, he will continue to fight for the win, as he has nothing to lose but the match at this point. Here is the game...analysis courtesy of my friend GM Susan Polgar at her own blog:1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.e3 e6 7.Bxc4 Bb4 8.0-0 Nbd7 9.Qe2 Bg6 10.e4 0-0 11.Bd3 Bh5 12.e5 Nd5 13.Nxd5 cxd5 14.Qe3 Bg6 15.Ng5 (Instead 15.Bxg6 fxg6 16.Ng5 Re8 17.Qh3 Nf8 18.Qb3 and draw was agreed in Petrosian-Smyslov, 1980)15...Re8 16.f4 Bxd3 (Possibly a new move. In a couple of other games, Black tried 16...Rc8 or 16...Nf8)17.Qxd3 f5 ( Black had to stop the f4-f5 advance. After 17...Nf8 18.f5 White's attack is very strong)18.Be3 Nf8 19.Kh1 Rc8 20.g4 Qd7 21.Rg1 Be7 22.Nf3 Rc4 23.Rg2 fxg4 24.Rxg4 Rxa4 25.Rag1 g6 26.h4?! (Ng5! maybe a better choice as White maintains a dangerous attack!) 26...Rb4 (Topalov is pushing as White as expected. He created a dangerous attack on the Kingside. However, it seems that he made an inaccuracy on move 26 by playing h4 instead of Ng5. Now, it looks like Kramnik is holding an edge) 27.h5 Qb5 (now Black holds an edge as Kramnik is trying to trade Queens) 28.Qc2 Rxb2? (Rb3 is needed to attack the Bishop and slowing down White's rampage on the Kingside) 29.hxg6! (Topalov is still attacking, offering to sacrifice his Queen! Now White once again has a dangerous attack and advantage. He may really pull it off in game 2!) 29...h5 (After 29...Rxc2 30.gxh7+ Kh8 31.Rg8+ Kxh7 32.R1g7+ Kh6 33.f5+ Bg5 34.R1xg5 wins) 30.g7! (now it comes down to who can calculate better. If Topalov can win this game, it may be the game of the year! Wow! This is truly an incredibly exciting game!) 30...hxg4 (After 30...Rxc2 31.gxf8Q+ Kxf8 32.Rg8+ Kf7 33.R1g7 checkmate!) 31.gxf8(Q) Bxf8?? (This is a losing move. 32.Rxg4 and Black can resign as there is no defense against a decisive advantage) 32.Qg6+??? (This move just threw away the win! What a shocking back to back blunder by both players!!) 32...Bg7 33.f5 Re7 34.f6 Qe2 35.Qxg4 (White still has an edge but big miss by Topalov on move 32) 35...Rf7 36.Rc1? (Qh5 with the idea of Rg3 is unstoppable. If Black takes with Qxe3, White would play Ng5 and game over. White is threatening fxg7 otherwise) 36...Rc2 37.Rxc2 Qd1? (This is helping King get to a better position. Gaining this tempo is not needed) 38.Kg2 Qxc2+ 39.Kg3 (White is clearly better but there is still a lot of work to do for White to convert this game to a win) 39...Qe4 40.Bf4? (Qxe4 may give Topalov a better shot) 40...Qf5 41. Qxf5 exf5 42.Bg5 a5 43.Kf4 a4 (I am also watching the game now on ICC. This has been an amazing game so far. I think nerve is the reason why you see so many big blunders. However, no one can say that the game is boring. Topalov will continue to push forward like a mad bull. This reminds me of the Ali - Foreman boxing match. Will the outcome be different for the aggressor in this match?) 44.Kxf5 a3 (This looks like a draw even though Topalov still needs to be very careful. I do not see any chance for Topalov to win this position. This has been a horrible start for Topalov so far. He could have been leading 1.5 - .5 instead of the other way around) 45.Bc1 (Kramnik now has an edge. This is a real tragedy for Topalov. What an unfortunate turn of event!) 45...Bf8 (This is the best move. With this move, I find it very hard for White to hold on for a draw. This is truly shocking!) 46.e6 Rc7 (This is looking bad for White. I can't even imagine what goes on Topalov's mind right now. Wow!) 47.Bxa3 Bxa3 48.Ke5 (Topalov is still fighting hard but I cannot imagine Kramnik letting him off the hook here. It looks hopeless for White) 48...Rc1 49.Ng5? (White had to play Kxd5 to have small chance. Now 49...Rg1 and game over!) 49...Rf1 (Wow! 49...Rg1 would have been much stronger!) 50. e7 Re1+ 51. Kxd5 Bxe7 52.fxe7 Rxe7 53. Kd6 (What a series of moves! Kramnik had an easy win with 49...Rg1. Now, he has to earn it!) 53...Re1 54.d5 Kf8 (this is still better for Black. However, this is much more than what Topalov would have had if Kramnik played 49...Rg1) 55.Ne6 Ke8 56.Nc7+ Kd8 57.Ne6+ Kc8 58.Kf7 (Here Rh1 is the only move to give Black chances to win) 58...Rh1 59.Ng5?? (Kd6 gives better chance. Now 59...b5 is over) 59...b5 60.d6 Rd1 (White is completely losing now. Too many blunders for Topalov!) 61.Ne6 b4 62.Nc5 Re1+ (This is the only move to win!) 63.Kf6 Re3 (Kramnik is finishing it off nicely! This reminds me of scholastic chess where whoever makes less blunders wins! Nerve is playing tricks on both of them now. This is an incredible set back for Topalov. He definitely should have been 1.5 - .5 and not 0-2) 64. White painfully resigned giving Kramnik a 2-0 lead with only 10 games left to play!

2006 World Chess Championship - Topalov vs. Kramnik

2006-09-23T13:52:00.001-07:00

Article courtesy of my LJ friend sonjaa, AKA chessgirl. Thanks, Sonjaa! I couldn't have done it any better!A sport dividedWhen chess über-grandmaster Garry Kasparov decided to separate from the World Chess Federation (Fédération Internationale des Échecs or FIDE, pronounced "feeday") in 1993 in a protest because he wanted players to have more of a say in FIDE's activities, what resulted was a great schism in the chess world. Imagine if the top team(s) of NHL or FIFA decided to split off and play in a separate league or association.So for 13 years, we've always had 2 separate world champions. As it currently stands, Bulgarian Veselin Topalov has been the FIDE World Chess Champion since 2005, and Russian Vladimir Kramnik is the "Classical" World Chess Champion by virtue of defeating previous champion Garry Kasparov in a title match in 2000 and then defended his title in 2004.Kasparov himself retired from competitive chess last year after winning the prestigious Linares tournament for the 9th time. He cited as the reason a lack of personal goals in the chess world and expressed frustration at the failure to reunify the world championship.Reunification matchThis is a huge event in the chess world! Game one is today.For the first time since the 1993 split, this FIDE World Chess Championship 2006 will bring the two titleholders together in a match to unify the World Chess Championship and determine the undisputed World Chess Champion.The two juggernauts Topalov and Kramnik will play 12 games between Septemeber 23 and October 10 in Elista, Kalmykia, Russia, alternating between black and white. A win counts as 1 point, a loss as 0, and a draw as ½. If after the 12 games it's a tie, then they will play an additional game, somewhat like overtime in other sports.I should add that a lot of the great reunification work was done by Syrian-born American grandmaster Yasser Seirawan, for which I gratefully applaud him. By the way, he writes excellent chess books for beginners and intermediate players.Topalov: creative and goes for the killVeselin Topalov is a 31-year-old Bulgarian. He currently has an Elo rating of 2813, the highest in the world right now. (In chess, an Elo rating is a number that measures a player's overall level and strength, calculated from the stats of games won and lost, and taking into account the relative Elo ratings of those opponents. To give you an idea, a really good casual non-tournament player might be 1000, an average regular tournament player might be 1600, and best player in Canada Kevin Spraggett is 2577. Kasparov at his peak was 2851, the highest rating ever recorded. Yours truly is about 1200 or 1300.)Topalov is a highly creative player who likes to execute complex combinations. Topalov's games are usually rich in well-prepared novelties (new uncharted moves in the opening to throw off the opponent, who may have not studied or prepared for them). Like Babby Fischer, he always fights for a win, even when a draw might suffice. Kasparov has described him as having "energy and confidence on his side".Kramnik: the computer brain in a painful shellVladimir Kramnik, on the other hand, is a 31-year-old Russian, currently ranked 4th in the world in FIDE's latest Elo rating list. He suffers from a rare form of arthritis, called ankylosing spondylitis (a condition that over time causes fusion of the spine or bamboo spine), which causes him great physical discomfort while playing. If both Topalov and Kramnik were to play against a computer, Kramnik would probably win more often, because as Kasparov describes, he has "a more profound undertanding of chess".Who will win?Despite Topalov's higher Elo rating, Kasparov himself commented that Topalov isn't the favorite many assume him to be and that he expects a quite even match. In chess, both sheer intellect and brainpower (Kramnik's specialty) on one side and psychology, energy and confidence (Topalov's specialty) on the other side are crucial parts of the sport.Personally I'll cheer for the Bulgarian, since I'm a bit of a Balkanophile, and I find Topalov's psychological type of play very exciting. (There was once a great Jewish Latvian chess grandmaster Mikhail Tal who excelled at this. Like Dracula, he could outstare an opponent and completely crush them with his willpower. He was nicknamed "the Magician from Riga", and many critized his style as "nothing more than tricks". But hey, it's an unignorable human factor of the sport, and unless you're playing against a machine, these things matter!)Like David Letterman said, It's a real pity that chess isn't televised the way the Olympics or FIFA or other sports are, because this really a huge event. Live broadcast and coverage of the games will be on ChessBase and FIDE websites.

World Chess Championship 2006: Kramnik WINS Game 1!!!

2006-09-23T13:52:00.000-07:00

A total surprise! Topalov appeares to have over-estimated his chances in this game with the Black pieces and pressed too hard...Kramnik cooly navigated the complications and then Topy was in fact losing the game! Tomorrow, we get to see what Kramnik now has up his sleeve when he has to defend the Black pieces himself!

Here's the game:

[Event "WCC Match 2006"][Site "Elista, Russia"][Date "2006.09.23"][Round "01"][White "Kramnik, Vladimir"][Black "Topalov, Veselin"][Result "1-0"][ECO "E04"][WhiteElo "2743"][WhiteCountry "RUS"][BlackElo "2813"][BlackCountry "BUL"][Remark "WCC Match 2006"][PresId "live"]Catalan, Open, 5.Nf3 (E04) 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 a5 7.Qc2 Bxd2+ 8.Qxd2 c6 9.a4 b5 10.axb5 cxb5 11.Qg5 O-O 12.Qxb5 Ba6 13.Qa4 Qb6 14.O-O Qxb2 15.Nbd2 Bb5 16.Nxc4 Bxa4 17.Nxb2 Bb5 18.Ne5 Ra7 19.Bf3 Nbd7 20.Nec4 Rb8 21.Rfb1 g5 22.e3 g4 23.Bd1 Bc6 24.Rc1 Be4 25.Na4 Rb4 26.Nd6 Bf3 27.Bxf3 gxf3 28.Nc8 Ra8 29.Ne7+ Kg7 30.Nc6 Rb3 31.Nc5 Rb5 32.h3 Nxc5 33.Rxc5 Rb2 34.Rg5+ Kh6 35.Rgxa5 Rxa5 36.Nxa5 Ne4 37.Rf1 Nd2 38.Rc1 Ne4 39.Rf1 f6 40.Nc6 Nd2 41.Rd1 Ne4 42.Rf1 Kg6 43.Nd8 Rb6 44.Rc1 h5 45.Ra1 h4 46.gxh4 Kh5 47.Ra2 Kxh4 48.Kh2 Kh5 49.Rc2 Kh6 50.Ra2 Kg6 51.Rc2 Kf5 52.Ra2 Rb5 53.Nc6 Rb7 54.Ra5+ Kg6 55.Ra2 Kh5 56.d5 e5 57.Ra4 f5 58.Nxe5 Rb2 59.Nd3 Rb7 60.Rd4 Rb6 61.d6 Nxd6 62.Kg3 Ne4+ 63.Kxf3 Kg5 64.h4+ Kf6 65.Rd5 Nc3 66.Rd8 Rb1 67.Rf8+ Ke6 68.Nf4+ Ke5 69.Re8+ Kf6 70.Nh5+ Kg6 71.Ng3 Rb2 72.h5+ Kf7 73.Re5 Nd1 74.Ne2 Kf6 75.Rd5 1-0

Regards,Bill

First Week(s) with Kid Chess, and other issues

2006-09-15T21:07:00.000-07:00

Well, Hell Week was officially over LAST week, but I am just getting around now to posting about it!

The first week of a new semester is supposed to be rather hectic, but add to that a new school, and me being a new guy, and all sorts of fun things can happen! I made myself physically ill the first day, I was that nervous! I have not felt that way since my wedding day! Overall, things went well enough. I am really, really enjoying this job and showing the kids a thing or two! Kid Chess is a great company doing great things for kids!

On the home front...Bridget is about to enter Week 12 of her pregnancy. We had an ultrasound back on August 23rd when Baby was at about eight weeks. If I get the chance to scan it, I will post it online. You can clearly see the outline of the developing head and arm buds! So far, so good! The bad news is that Dr. W. Pope Jordan, who had been with us throughout our trials with both Royce and Rowen (although he had not been able to be present to actually deliver Rowen) has phased himself out of the Obstetrics part of things. I suspect he is going to retire from practing medicine proper within a couple of years. Dr. Jordan was kind enough to fill Dr. Barry Brass in on our history, and he will still keep tabs on us. This is why we had liked him so much...he truly cares about us! After her next appointment with Dr. Brass in October, we will likely be finally referred to Level II specialists in Atlanta like last time with Rowen. We hope that we are once again the patient of Dr. Jeff Korotkin at Atlanta Perinatal Consultants at Northside Hospital. Not only because he is familiar with our history, but also because, like Dr. Jordan, he has a wonderful "bedside manner" that we are very comfortable with.We also had the misfortune to find out that Sylvia King, MSN, RN, FNP, the Nurse Practictioner who has been acting as our physician for several years, is now teaching at Dalton State University as an assistant professor and is only seeing patients one day a week, and only then females! Maybe you guys out there think it's funny that I had a female doctor see my "boy parts", etc. , but I must tell you that Sylvia is a wonderful human being that put both of us at ease with things (again, great "bedside manner" goes a long way with us) and she too knows our long and painful medical history. Now when I have to go see a real doctor for something again, I need to find a new one!

Also, the oil change establishment that we were loyal customers to ever since we lived here in Rome has just suddenly closed! I just happened to take one of our vehicles in for a routine oil change and found out that it was in fact their very last day open! Apparently the owners thought it was losing too much money and only gave the employees there maybe 48 hours notice! I am really bummed out about this mainly because they did very good work on some significant vehicle repairs over the years for us, and they didn't rake us over the proverbial coals financially in the process! Sure, there are a few other lube places in town, but its like finding a new doctor all over again (see above)!

I am soooooooo tired every night! I have not seemed to get caught up on anything! I am a full week behind on what I planned on blogging! This blog should have been posted a week ago! Bleh!

As usual, just not enough hours in a day...!

Kid Chess debut

2006-08-11T20:17:00.000-07:00

I went "out in the field" yesterday to participate in the school "meet and greets" to sign up kids for the Kid Chess "Fun With Chess" after-school programs that I will be an instructor in. The pic are from a group of photos I took with my cellphone camera while at Vaughan Element ary School in Powder Springs, GA (Cobb County). This was the presentation...on the right is the Kid Chess sign, demonstration board used as part of intruction and the actual after-school Kid Chess program flyers; in the center are four chessboards, and on the left was my laptop looping a Kid Chess instructional video. I unexpectedly got brownie points from the LEDs on my laptop cooling pad! It brought the kids over like moths to a flame! Ratana (Kid Chess Operations Manager) was impressed that I had so many new signups! Not that I did anything special, as these programs ultimately fill up anyway. But since I am one of the "new guys", I guess I did better than expected! It was stressful but fun!

Now, the actual instruction part of things doesn't begin until after Labor Day, and I have some additional training to be given in the meantime. And I have no idea what schools I will be at yet...so stay tuned!

Regards

Doh!

2006-08-04T19:55:00.000-07:00

Due to my extended sabbatical from the world-at-large, I have been woefully out-of-touch with a great many people that mean a lot to me.

To all of you, please accept my heartfelt apologies and please know that an email, letter, phone call and/or drop-on-your-doorstep is way overdue and will be coming very soon!

Part 5 - "Special Delivery"

2006-08-04T00:26:00.000-07:00

Part 5

Special Delivery!

Well, the latest (and possibly) greatest news I have to tell is this: it's a good thing that
the job situation is gelling together right now, because Bridget and I have just found out that
she is pregnant again! Yep! We are expecting another baby, probably in the spring of 2007.
That will put the new baby and Rowen about three years apart, give or take a few weeks. This is still somewhat "jumping the gun" as she has yet to see her doctor, but the pregnancy test
screamed "positive" this morning, and she has had physical symptoms similar to the early
symptoms she experienced while pregnant with both Royce and Rowen. No, no morning sickness yet. Too early. We are both very excited and also scared...we were not intending to have another baby at this time given our financial situation, and the need to move to a bigger place eventually just got more important! Cross your fingers that this pregnancy will be a better
experience and a better outcome than the previous two! The statistical odds are in our favour
that the baby will not be born with PHHI like Royce and Rowen did. Remember, it is an autosomal recessive trait and there is a 1 in 4 chance in any pregnancy we have that the baby will be born with it...since both babies so far had it, we are hoping that statistics will be on out side this time. But even if this baby has PHHI, the pregnancy will have been closely monitored like Rowen's was and we all know what the worst-case scenario is (Rowen) and what to do. So we are OK with all that. I am personally rooting for having a girl this time (one of each, a boy and a girl, would be nice)...however, I have heard that after having two boys (Royce and Rowen) in a row greatly increases the likelihood that it will be another boy. In the end, it really doesn't
matter. I am just thrilled that we are expecting another baby, as I always wanted to have more
than one child.

So, I have a new job (hopefully two new jobs, really) and a new baby on the way...all in all an
exciting 2006 so far!

Again, please stay tuned on developments as they come!

I'm glad to be back in the Land of the Living again...!

Regards

Part 4 - "In Search Of..."

2006-08-03T18:20:00.000-07:00

Part 4

In Search Of...

To help make ends meet, Bridget had to teach a session of summer school, which she had not
wanted to do at all. My mother thankfully helped us out throughout the summer to stay afloat.
I have such a strong technology background, especially with helpdesk/tech support experience.
Having the job in Cartersville, a mere 30-odd minutes away from home, was a blessing. However, the vast majority of such jobs are in the Metro Atlanta area, and I was not looking forward to a grueling commute during rush hour. As it was, so many jobs that I appeared to be
otherwise-qualified for in the field also required that I be bilingual and speak English and Spanish, so I was instantly not qualified.

I finally had to break down and pick up a night shift job at the local Kmart, doing night
stocking, etc. This would bring some money in while still allowing me to have my days for
interviews that might come my way. I had a few, but nothing had panned out. I was expanding my search beyond the tech fields as well.

My mother told me about an article she had found online at MSN about retirees staying in the
workforce by working from home as agents in what was known as "virtual call centers". Although I was not a retiree, I was more than qualified for the types of work involved and have set about working from this capacity. I have so far met the entrance requirements for a company that uses independent contractors that are individually incorporated as their agents, but I now have to work out the process of getting incorporated, finish their training programme, and get on with one of their client companies before I can start making money. I would earn as little as $10 an hour, but according to the company the average agent earns about $14 an hour. I am hoping that my experience will translate my pay rate to be at or even above the average. The best part about this kind of work is that I can do it from home with my own equipment (some additions and modifications are required, but nothing I can't handle), and that the hours I work are flexible. Even working a forty hour work week would gross me more money than I was making with my previous employer, too! As it is, it looks like I will only be averaging about twenty hours a week anyway, due to another (part-time) opportunity. Stay tuned for further developments with this.

I had talked at length with Justin Morrison of Kid Chess a couple of years ago about coming on
board as a chess instructor, but the instructors, although very well-payed, worked only on a
part-time basis. We were not able to work something out at the time. In June, the thought
finally had occurred to me that I should rethink my focus of not utilizing Kid Chess as a second
(part-time) job, but make it my main job and find other work AROUND Kid Chess. I contacted
Justin and was delighted to find out that he was still interested in me coming aboard! In the
intervening two years, they had expanded a bit closer to home as well, making the commute a bit less of a hassle. My work hours with Kid Chess would be at schools in the afternoons and
after-school programs, so I might get caught with afternoon rush hour traffic, but not all the
time. And no morning rush hour to deal with at all! There are also chess camps run by Kid Chess in the summer that I will be paid to be part of. Between Kid Chess and the virtual call center and the amount of money I would gross from the combined part-time jobs, I would have full-time hours that are flexible and I would make considerably more than I had been making with my previous employer!

I will begin to work for Kid Chess proper sometime next week, with some training required before instruction in the schools begin after Labor Day weekend.

I am not giving up the Kmart job just yet. I have, however, greatly reduced my hours there with school starting for Bridget and the fact I might be working a "day job" any time now. I will
probably work there as long as I can stand it just to have a few extra dollars in my pocket, not
to mention that I get an employee discount there! ;-)

But the biggest news is yet to come! More on that in Part 5!

Part 3 - "Let's Get Physical"

2006-08-03T15:02:00.000-07:00

Part 3

Let's Get Physical

Right as the job termination thing occurred, Bridget and I made the investment in a personal
trainer that worked with our chiropractor. I myself was at a record-high 280 lbs in the
hospital, with the majority of it in my belly area. This is definately not good. Despite the
expense, this had so-far been paying off. Even though we have not lost that much weight overall as of yet, we have, based upon our measurements in June, lost body mass in all the right places
and gained in all the right places, so this indicated that fat was converting to muscle, which
is more dense. So we were at least going in the right direction! I personally found a taste for the stationary excercise bike, and can now go about ten miles nonstop at an average speed of
13-14 mph without laboring, indicating that the excersise is having a positive effect on my
cardiovascular system. I have progressed so quickly that my trainer wants me to ride the Silver Comet bike trail with him. I am personally very motivated to do this, but will need a better
bicycle to really make it a workout, and I just don't have the money yet. That and I want to
ride the trail when it is a bit cooler outside, so perhaps sometime in the autumn. As it is, I
am really looking to getting into road cycling as a means to get a regular daily workout. Some
people jog, some swim, some just lift weights. I want to ride a bike!
So, as it stands now, we have been trying to eat better on top of the excercise and workouts to
help speed up our weight loss. My new goal is to lose an average of five pounds a month over
the next year to lose a total of 50-60 lbs, bringing me to about 220-230 lbs.

Thanks to my mother helping us out financially this summer, I have new glasses. If you recall,
my old pair broke last year, and I really needed to have something besides my contact lenses all
the time. I think that they look contemporary enough without looking too trendy, and hopefully
might take a few years off of my appearance!

What about my job search, you ask? I will cover that in Part 4. Stay tuned!

Part 2 - "...and Out..."

2006-08-03T13:19:00.000-07:00

Part 2

...and Out

I was already on thin ice with my employer due to past issues with tardiness. I will not make
any excuses about any of that, as it was my fault, but I had taken the needed corrective action
to make sure that it was no longer an issue...and my time in the hospital was documented as
medically-excused time off. However, I ended up with a number of "unexused absences" in short order right after my release from the hospital/return to work due to what happened with Bridget, et al.

Somebody "higher-up" at work wanted me gone and had all the ammunition they needed to
finish me off. My co-workers and immediate supervisors were aware of what was going on with me and were being (thankfully) lenient given the circumstances, but there was a crackdown at work coming and I was to be made an example. To make a long story short, I was terminated due to "excessive tardiness and absences"...they actually lumped it all together into one big
classification as a violation of company policy! This just goes to show how things can be
twisted to be shown in a different light than what actually happened to suit the needs of
whomever is doing the twisting! As I mentioned before, I will not make excuses about the
earlier tardiness, but that had nothing to do with the current situation, and I was basically
railroaded out of my job.

In hindsight, that might have been a good thing. I was getting increasingly frustrated at work,
as I was passed over twice for a "promotion" of sorts (heading a new department that I had
already been involved in the creation of, etc., which, by the way, control was given to a
complete outsider that knew nothing about what we were doing that was then my direct supervisor until I agreed to shift departments...two other supervisors had my back...thanks Susan and Barry!) despite having excellent job performance ratings up to that point. Perhaps the tardiness thing rearing its ugly head against me...I will never know.

So, here it was now the beginning of March, 2006 and I was suddenly unemployed and with no
savings to speak of. We were not going to survive long on just Bridget's income alone.

To be continued in Part 3.

Part 1 - "Down..."

2006-08-03T13:12:00.000-07:00

Part 1

Down...

By the end of January of this year, I had already not been blogging for over three months...it was just too much to handle at the time. I was about ready to resume regularly blogging when I found myself in a situation that required me to be hospitalized. That's right, I was in the hospital for a potentially life-threatening condition that (thankfully) was "headed off at the pass" before anything severe happened. Basically it was a very aggressive type of infection in my left leg (yes, the same leg/foot that I had cellulitis in back in August 2005) that required IV antibiotics for a week, hence the time spent in the hospital (see the attached picture to see just how ugly it was). I was required to take oral antibiotics for another 10 days after I was released from the hospital.

The day after I got released, my wife Bridget had a major episode with her back and was basically an invalid for three days. My mother had just gone home after helping out while I was hospitalized, and I found myself caring for both my ailing wife and our two year old son Rowen at the same time! Needless to say, since I was clearly not 100 percent myself yet, that this was not a picnic! I could have taken more time off from work per the doctor, but I insisted that I needed to get back after more than two weeks out, and now this happened!

What about my job, you ask? That is a story in itself! Check out Part 2.

I HAVE RETURNED!!!

2006-08-02T22:56:00.000-07:00

I'm Baaaaaack!!!

What a long, strange trip 2006 has been so far! After a long absence from cyberspace, I have returned!

So much has transpired that I will have to give you all the "Reader's Digest Condensed Version", just touching on the highlights and saving the details for later. This will probably end up as a multi-part entry, so please pay attention and follow along!

Missellany (erk!)

2005-10-10T14:41:00.000-07:00

When I have been able to, I have been working on various chess tactical excersises as much as possible as the main "preparation" for my participation in the upcoming 2005 Boris Kogan Memorial chess tournament. I would say this has been about 75 to 80 percent of my total workload so far. As I mentioned in a previous post, my friend David Guild and I have yet to meet OTB ("over the board") at a chess tournament, and there seems to be a strong possibility that we finally will at this tournament. Therefore, I wanted to have something up my sleeve to spring on David in case we did meet OTB. So I have been using the remaining "prep" time this past week or so in trying to devise something for the opening.

I have made my decision on what to play against David if I draw the White pieces, and I have a variation or two to try that he will likely not be familiar with. I should have decent chances in the opening against David as White.

I have not been too concerned if I draw Black, either. Despite my aforementioned knowledge that David is for the most part predictable in his opening choices to date, even if he did decide to deviate for our game I do not see any "major" deviation. I do not see him going for Bird's Opening (1. f4), or the "Orangutan" opening (1. b4) or some equally unusual or uncommon opening as White. However, David could decide on 1. c4, leading to the English Opening. In addition, this opening is rife with transpositional possibilities. Therefore, I felt the need to be somewhat prepared for this possibility. The few times I have encountered the English, I have always played what is known as the Symmetrical Variation. In other words, up to a point, Black just apes White's moves. However, there comes a point where a deviation will occur...since White has the advantage of "first move", then White will be the likely one to make a move that Black cannot just imitate without being at a disadvantage...in fact, the move itself may be very bad for Black. In this instance with David, I wanted to find an early deviation made first by Black that would produce (with ideally best play by both sides) at least an equal game for Black. I have come up with a couple of candidates that I am going to analyze with Joseph Frady at the chess club meeting tonight. Between him and my new Fritz 8.0 chess program, we should be able to find a promising line to work with. Joseph really enjoys going over the myriad possibilities of deviating from normal opening lines, as do I...so it will at least be fun...until we finish the evening off by playing some blitz. Joseph has been recently crushing me at games under five minutes. Blargh! Back to tactics!

The funny thing is that if either David or myself (or even both of us) do reasonably well at the tournament (i.e. win all of our games), we may also end up having to play Joseph, as he has told me that (for once) he is "playing down" into our section for this tournament. As he is nearly at the rating cap, he will be the highest or one of the highest-rated players in the section. Unlike David, I have a slightly more extensive opening repertoire. I really don't see Joseph investing so much time in opening preparation in this tournament. It would not make sense. As a "semi-student" of mine, I have already advised him that in this tournament he should just stick with practicing tactics and that should get him through all of his games. Odds are he will finish near the top of his section already. Against a player closer to his rating, tactics will still decide the game...here it will be more of who makes a mistake last, so Joseph needs to stay sharp and be patient and wait for his opponents to slip up where he can then pounce on them. Joseph is sixteen, but only started playing competative chess (at my urging) this past year...he is a great "natural" player with strong tactical abilities, but still makes a lot of "rookie" mistakes that I have been trying to help him with. He has a lot of potential if he continues working at it. That is yet another reason why I need to keep working on tactics...I will need it if I come across Joseph OTB!

It appears that after ten rounds the FIDE World Chess Championship being held in San Luis, Argentina is firmly in the grasp of Vesalin Topalov of Bulgaria. He needs to only draw (i.e. make sure he does not lose) his remaining games and he will win the title. There is a very interesting point to note, and that is when Topalov wins the World Championship, Bulgaria will be the home country of three World Chess Champions:

* World Women's Champion: GM Antoeneta Stefanova (2005 winner, defending her title in March, 2006)

* World Senior Champion: GM L. Spassov (recently won this title)

* World Champion: GM Vesalin Topalov (2006 champion)

I was personally rooting for Judit Polgar and Alexander Morozevitch, but this has not been their tournament. "Moro" has suddenly hit his stride and is now on a "hot" streak with three straight wins followed by a hard-fought draw with the Black pieces against Topalov, but too little too late. For poor Judit, this has got to be the worst tournament performance of her career. But you have to give her credit, she is still fighting in every game. Because of this, I think that she will not be in the cellar when the tournament ends. Then it will be time for her to take a rest, spend time with her family (including her now-toddler son), and regroup.

The lineup for the "A" Group of the 2006 Corus Chess Tournament at Wijk ann Zee, Netherlands has now been announced at their official site. The tournament will be held as usual in January, from the 13th to the 29th.

Per Mig Greengard on his "Daily Dirt" column at his ChessNinja website: "A powerhouse group as always. Only current top tenners not there are Svidler and Polgar. Aronian and Bacrot get their elite credentials checked. Karjakin gets to show if he's ready for prime time. Top-rated American Gata Kamsky will play in his first supertournament in ten years. He was rock-solid in the Continental Championship a few months ago and will have to kick it up another notch here. An even score in this crowd would be a major achievement.

A Group: Topalov, Anand, Leko, Ivanchuk, Kramnik, Bacrot, Aronian, Adams, Gelfand, Tiviakov, Sokolov, Kamsky, Karjakin, van Wely. Nothing about the B and C groups yet. The B group has steadily become a very strong and interesting tournament in its own right. After his amazing play in San Luis (yes, I know the tournament is still going), will anyone pick against Topalov until he shows he's human?"

Indeed, young Sergey Karjakin will get to play with the "big boys". This will be the strongest event he has ever played in. He has this opportunity because of his impressive win in the "B" Group last year. Corus always invites the "B" Group winner back as part of the "A" group the following year. A strong finish here will make many take notice. I happen to largely agree with GM Nigel Short, who has gone as far as saying (indirectly) that Sergey is a "future world champion". I feel that at his current rate of development he will most definately be a top contender in about ten to fifteen years.

I am also excited for Gata Kamsky, the current top-rated player in the USA. I am surprised he was invited to play in the "A" group so soon after his return to competative chess. I just hope that he does as Mig Greengard says and "kicks it up a notch", as I think that he is still a bit rusty. If he at least plays solidly, he should have a respectable showing in the tournament, but IMHO at this level of competition relying on "solid" play alone will not WIN chess tournaments!
I am rather peeved that Hikaru Nakamura has not been invited to play, but that may be premature, as "B" and "C" Group lineups have yet to be announced. I think that young Hikaru is good enough to play in "B" Group and at least hold his own, but we will have to see. Stay tuned!

Through The Looking Glass...Not!!

2005-10-06T13:10:00.000-07:00

The most bizarre thing happened to me at work yesterday.

I have been wearing my eyeglasses for the past few weeks instead of my contact lenses to give my eyes a bit of a break, and late yesterday afternoon I had taken them off to clean the lenses a bit...nothing out of the ordinary, right?

Well, in the midst of cleaning them, the frames just suddenly snapped in two! What's worse, it is not repairable...the frames are made of metal, and it just sheared right off...and the location of the break, on the bridge but very close to the left lens frame, and due to the curvature of the bridge, makes it impossible to "tape up" even temporarily.

So, here I was, less than thirty minutes before I was to go home from work, and I was going to be blind! I ended up driving home with one hand on the steering wheel, and one hand holding the opposite side half of the frame up to my eye so that I could at least see with one eye! I made it home OK! I went ahead and put a fresh pair of contact lenses in immediately afterward.

I had already noted that the last time I had worn my eyeglasses in between contact lens sessions that the prescription on them, being older than the contact lenses, was also weaker. I had more trouble focusing clearly on distant objects while driving (severely nearsighted I am...just about legally blind). This time around, the eye strain had caused some whopper headaches for several days until I got used to the glasses again.

The irony in all this is that as a result of all this I had decided it was time to get new eyeglasses...new prescription, new frames, the works. However, I saw no sense in doing this if I thought I might soon try the new Lasik laser eye surgery in the not-so-distant future. Now that I don't have a pair of eyeglasses in reserve, I am in a bit of a bind? Do I risk not having them in reserve and go without in order to try and have the Lasik procedure done at as yet undetermined time in the (hopefully) not-so-distant future...or do I just suck up and trash that notion indefinately and get the eyeglasses now? Although eyeglasses are still a lot less money than Lasik surgery, it would be a long-term savings, and as it is, even eyeglasses, new frames plus new lenses, are not cheap anyway. It isn't as if I had a lot of available money lying around to pay for any of this anyway.

On the chess front, the 2005 FIDE World Chess Championship being held in San Luis, Argentina is now at the halfway point, and Vesalin Topalov of Bulgaria has just been steamrolling everyone he encounters over the board, going undefeated with but one draw and a score of 6.5/7.0, a full two points ahead of the pack! Unless something equally radical happens and he nose-dives, "Toppy" should have the WCC in the bag. If he keeps up this pace, he can easily break some records...best rating performance ever in a tournament (already over 3000 ELO) and would also likely not take the top rating spot in active FIDE ratings afterward, but also likely overtake Garry Kasparov's last rating of 2812 (highest-ever on record up until now)...although Garry is now retired from chess, he will remain active on the rating list for a little while longer. Maybe this would be enough to bring him out of retirement? Ironically, Topalov was the the last opponent Kasparov had right before he retired, and he also happened to lose that game!

SPAMMING on Blogspot???

2005-09-30T12:17:00.000-07:00

I get three replies to my last post, and what are they...? Well, basically SPAM! I find this very irritating! I post identical blogs at other locations, the most important besides this one being LiveJournal, and none of them have ever had this issue! You can look at my previous post, and then look at these responses...not at all related to my post! Ridiculous!

*****

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*****

Any way to ban these folks from Blogspot?

**** UPDATE ***** Looks like I figured it out on my own:

"If you've ever received a comment that looked like an advertisement or a random link to an unrelated site, then you've encountered comment spam. A lot of this is done automatically by software which can't pass the word verification, so enabling this option is a good way to prevent many such unwanted comments."

I have enabled the word verification feature, so that should help minimize such crap from showing up.

Another Update

2005-09-30T08:23:00.000-07:00

OK, I just realized that another month has gone by without me posting anything. I just have either been too tired or too unmotivated...my apologies!

Tomorrow is October 1st. It happens to be my best friend Gerald's birthday, but Rowen will also be 18 months old!

Rowen is simply amazing! He can just about run anywhere now without falling on his face (LOL)! His vocabulary has just about doubled this past month (in addition to "Ma-Ma" and "Da-Da" "Ro-Ro"/Grover and "Boo", he says "Owww" when he makes a boo-boo that is not so bad that it would make him cry, "Ball", "Open", "Yes", "Happy" and "Baby")...and he tries to kiss and hug everybody, including the little girls in his daycare (he is getting an early start, I guess)! He loves music! He was dancing to some boogie-woogie sort of country song over Muzak or something when we went out to dinner last night...but I am not afraid since he also bobs along to Dream Theater on the stereo at home!

I am basically completely healed from my experience with the Brown Recluse spider bite and subsequent cellulitis in my foot. The area of the spider bite still looks ugly, but is not still an exposed wound like so many bite victims you hear about. Unfotunately, the bite area will probably look like this for a long time, based on what I have heard about these kinds of spider bites.

My sister Beth and her husband Josh have both purchased a new house and sold their present one, all within a week or so of one another! Beth is finally moving out of the city of Atlanta proper and into the suburbs! The new house is in a neighborhood near Dunwoody, outside of the "Perimeter" area of Atlanta!

My mother Peggy is currently on a trip to Alberquerque, NM, with daylong side trips to the state capital of Santa Fe and to Taos. This is part of some king of organization for (single) women over age forty. At age fifty-seven and a widow, my mom certainly qualifies. She has a "roommate" for the trip, a recently-retired elementary school teacher, so they should get along very well. My mom is taking a one year sabbatical from teaching herself this year, and taking the time to spend more time with family (and her grandson, of course) and to experience new things. I think that this is really good for her, as she needs that time following the death of my dad Chuck nearly three years ago.

I am planning on playing in the 2005 Boris Kogan Memorial chess tournament in Atlanta in a month. I intend, beginning this weekend, to "train" for the tournament...that is, do nothing but tactical excersises and problems for at least an hour every evening if possible (and perhaps even more if time permits) until tournament time. The section I will be playing in is a little wider than normal as far as rating ranges are concerned, so it is a strong possibility that I face either my friend David Guild or my (semi) student Joseph Frady OTB ("over the board")...or maybe even both of them! In a Swiss System chess tournament like this, a lot depends on whether you win/lose/draw round by round to determine who your opponent will be in the next round, and whether you will play with the White or Black pieces. I will likely face the highest or near-highest rated player in the section for the first round, and will likely pull the Black pieces.
David has said he has been working on something that he plans to spring as a surprise OTB on me, but that sounds rather cryptic. I have played David a number of times OTB at the Chess Club in the past, and I have found that we have very similar playing styles. We also tend to favour the same type of openings. All of our games, regardless of result, have all seemed to be rather close and hard-fought affairs. This upcoming tournament may be the first time we meet OTB in real tournament conditions, and I imagine the stakes will be much higher, making this game a critical one for both of us should we meet OTB.

So far, I can say one thing about David's play - he is rather predictable when it comes to openings. As White, he almost universally plays a King's Indian Attack (KIA) setup. Although a bit slow, this is a solid and flexible opening for White, and is useful against just about anything Black would play in response, and I have in fact employed it on occasion myself. Even Bobby Fischer once said that the KIA was "his favourite". As Black, David favours "hypermodern" style openings like I do...against 1. e4 he plays the Pirc Defense (a favourite of mine, and my usual "second-string" opening against 1. e4) and against 1. d4 he plays the King's Indian Defense (KID). Structurally the two openings are similar, so it makes sense to employ them. I am a mainly an e4 player myself, and I am equally comfortable playing against the Pirc Defense as White as well as playing it as Black. I know most of the main opening variations well enough.

So what worries me is that David might have learned something new that I will not be prepared for, or some lind of novelty unknown to me within his favoured opening lines, either as White or against me as Black. That being said, I have to probably find a novelty or two of my own. This is probably the only opening preparation that I will do for this tournament. Opening knowledge is probably the one main thing I have as an advantage over David. I can play an unfamiliar line against him, or play a less common opening altogether that he is not at all familiar with; either plan will certainly spoil his own opening preparation that I am certain he has been doing. I have to decide on a plan and proceed with it soon so that I will feel prepared against David should we meet OTB at the tournament.

The FIDE (World Chess Federation) World Chess Championship is underway in San Luis, Argentina. Round-by-round news reports from official event commentator (and 1993 title challenger against Kasparov), English GM Nigel Short, can be seen at http://www.chessbase.com/. Round Three begins today, with event favourite Anand (India) and also Topalov (Bulgaria), current world Numbers 2 & 3 by rating (Kasparov may now be retired, but his rating is still active on the list for now) are tied in the lead after their tense 97-move fighting draw yesterday in Round Two. Although Anand is the favourite, at this level anyone could end up with the title. I am personally pulling for Alexander Morozevich (when he is hot, he is REALLY hot, and he has had a bit of a cold streak this past year, so he is overdue to heat things up) and Judit Polgar (I would love to see top woman chess player in thge world upset the men). It is hoped that the winner of this tournament, as FIDE champion, will face Classical Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik later next year in a match to reunify the World Champion title into one title, where FIDE can then begin a new, sensible, championship cycle again.Oddly enough, now that Kasparov is retired, things seem to be happening (including this tournament), so keep your fingers crossed!

Quick Update

2005-08-30T13:38:00.000-07:00

My sincere apologies for now updating sooner than now. To be honest, I have not felt very motivated to do so. I felt that I did need to post something for the month of August, so here goes...
I got to participate in another chess tournament in August...I did so-so. I won games I should have lost and lost games I should have won. Yeah, figure that out! I am working on compiling the game scores to keep a record of them as I work to improve my game. The real problem is that I don't get to play in enough tournaments! The next one I have a chance to play in is the 2005 Boris Kogan Memorial tournament in Atlanta in October. Hopefully I will get to play in it.
On the chess theme...I still never got a response to two email inquiries to FM Paul Truong, business manager for GM Susan Polgar regarding the pics he took of me with Susan at the simul I participated in back in June. I figure I will try contacting him one more time about it and if nothing comes of it I will give up. He uses an AOL email address anyway, and I am not confident that he ever received my emails at all.
A couple of weeks ago, I had noticed a sore on the top of my left foot near the ankle...this started to look infected after a few days. I did some "home surgery" and cleaned out the pus and stuff and then kept it clean and bandaged, and it appeared to be healing nicely. Then last Monday, right after the chess tournament, I started having pain on the underside of my left foot, right where the arch was. By Wednesday, it was painful enough that I knew that something was clearly wrong, and I was hardly able to walk. My foot appeared to be swollen. I made an appointment to see the doctor the next day. I was going to tell the doctor about the earlier sore on my foot, in case it was somehow related to this problem. Once I got to the doctor's office, I only had to remove my sock to have the Doctor say to me "Gee, that sure is a nice spider bite you've got, there." It turns out that my "sore" from a couple of weeks earlier was in fact the result ofa bite from a Brown Recluse spider...likely one was inside of a shoe that I had put on and it bit me in self-defense as it was squished. Apparently you will hardly feel a bit from a spider that small, if at all. Anyway, the pain on the underside of my foot was actually the same infection, which had migrated down to the underside of the foot (gravity, I guess), and became a case of cellulitis. This is a potentially serious problem. In the days before antibiotics, I would have been hospitalized for something like this. As it was I got a big shot of antibiotics in my backside that day, and have been following up with an oral antibiotic since then. The location of the infection made this problem very painful, but that was a good thing because it made me seek medical attention that much faster. And not a moment too soon...the first night after the doctor visit my foot then hurt all the time, not just trying to walk on it, and I hardly slept that night due to the pain, but by the next night the antibiotics had kicked in and the pain had subsided considerably, as did the swelling. Last night, the infection (which is under the surface of the skin) began seeping out through the skin on the underside of my foot, forcing me to now have it bandaged to keep it from getting messy. All that gunk inside has to go somewhere, right? At least it is healing! As of today, I can almost walk on it with my full weight again, although I am not going to really try that for a bit longer. As far as the bite site from the Brown Recluse is concerned, I was also quite lucky to get bitten in a place where there is very little fatty tissue. The venom causes tissue necrosis, and in a fattier part of the body (buttocks, thighs, calves, belly) would have caused a large open wound that would have taken months to heal and left an ugly scar. I have a small blue-black spot about the size of a large pinhead, so that is about all I am going to lose, and I doubt any scar would be really visible that way.
On a lighter note, Rowen has said his first two-syllable word: "happy". It actually sounds more like HAAAAAAAAAP-PEE, but it's a start. He can also say "Boo!". He will have conversations with Bridget and myself in complete gibberish, but it appears that he has a lot to say! He is also starting to show signs of independence. If he doesn't want to do something, he will sit or lie down on the floor right where he is and make a fuss and pout! He is also really wanting to feed himself, even if he isn't always really able to do so properly as of yet. He is now able to move double-time through the house without falling on his face...not quite a dead run, but fast enough! Rowen will be seventeen months old in a couple of days.

Update - A VERY Long Post!

2005-07-05T13:20:00.000-07:00

I apologize for no new updates. I have been hoping to receive a picture or two of my experience playing in the simul against Susan Polgar (http://www.SusanPolgar.blogspot.com) to share with you, as well as describing that experience and the subsequent tournament. I will give you some kind of update on all this ASAP.

In the meantime...a VERY long post...likely the longest post I have ever made!

They're Back!

Bridget and Rowen returned home last week. I was afraid that Rowen wouldn't remember his Daddy after almost two weeks away. At first, Rowen acted strange...his expression and manner was consistent with "Hmmmm, I think I know this guy, but I can't put my finger on who, where or when...", so I got a cool reception. I was devastated! That was all short-lived, however. Within an hour or two he was acting like his old self. He definately was himself with me by his bathtime, which is OUR time (father/son bonding time). What a relief!

While he was away, Rowen learned to climb up on chairs and couches, as well as climbing stairs...well if you count crawling up stairs as climbing. Coming down is still a problem. We really don't have much in the way of stairs (carport door has two brick steps) for Rowen to practice with. Rowen also graduated from eating "baby" food to "adult" food. He will now eat with us at the same time, with a little help from Mommy and Daddy. He likes to eat meat (beef, chicken, pork, fish), and will eat various vegetables without them being altered in any significant way, but still has an issue eating fruit in the same manner. Processed fruits like applesauce is OK, so I think it is a texture thing that he still needs to get used to. He drinks from his sippy-cup all on his own now...we just have to hand it to him if it is out of reach, otherwise he grabs it and chugs away.

Rowen likes "push" toys on wheels that he can push around while walking. He has also learned to associate some shapes and colours, as he can push a wooden blue cylinder through a round hole on one toy...but he still hasn't tried any of the other shapes and colours. He just knows that the blue ones go in that one hole.

Rowen is much more "chatty" now, although his vocabulary is still limited. Besides "Ma Ma" and "Da Da", we swear he can say "Ro Ro" (Grover, his current favourite stuffed toy...and my favourite Sesame Street character as a child). Rowen hit fifteen months on July 1st, so for a boy I would say this is OK developmentally.

Rowen is starting to show his responses to music. I caught him bobbing up and down in front of the TV on Saturday in time to the music on one of our digital cable music channels (this time it was heavy metal). Bridget called me at work yesterday to tell me that Rowen also appears to be a fan of American Idol finalist Bo Bice! He made an appearance on a morning TV show (Regis & Kelly, I believe) and performed a song, and Bridget caught Rowen swaying and bouncing along! She even got it on video!

Wireless Networking Saga

I got the wireless network up and running prior to Bridget and Rowen returning. Everything seems to be running smoothly so far. I have a few minor things to overcome, but that will take some free time when I can keep Rowen away to do the work. The new Comcast high-speed internet service is awesome! I performed all my Windows updates, etc in just a few minutes versus hours with dial-up! Ugh! How could I have lived like that?

The devices in my new home network setup have been given baseball-related monikers (as a tribute to my dad, who was a baseball freak).

"Home Plate", or "Catcher" is the "main" PC, still located in Rowen's room (the main reason for the wireless network). It is also a new PC, a Dell Dimension 3000, which I basically got with the maximum features available without moving up to a higher-end (i.e. more expensive) model. Highlights include:

* Intel Pentium IV CPU w/ HT, 3.0 MHz (this is the new dual-core CPU that Intel has released)

* 2GB 333MHz DDR RAM (the maximum capacity the mother board recognizes)

* 160GB 7,200RPM HDD (largest they offered with the system)

* DVD-ROM drive

Also * 17" analogue LCD monitor

The video on the PC was of the "shared" variety, which I heartily dislike. However, this PC has only three of the older PCI standard expansion slots on the mother board, two of which were used (56K modem...not built into the mother board, how odd...and the Creative Labs sound card I ordered with the PC). I managed to get an NVidia GeForce video card for PCI that was 256MB, and still for less than $100 on eBay! Smokin'!

I decided to get USB external peripherals so that all PCs on the network could utilize them. Thanks to Iomega Corporation, I have:

* 16X USB Extrernal DVD-RW drive (can burn music and movies, sure...but also can burn critical archival data...first and foremost all the digital pics of Rowen, and especially the precious few of Royce we have)

* 400GB 5,4000RPM USB External HDD (will be the archival drive)

I picked up a KVM switch so that I can connect laptops to the system and use the LCD monitor when at the desk. I found one that also had two USB ports to allow two USB peripheral devices to be shared as well, so I thought that was an awesome prospect and spent the extra money to get it. The switch works great, but I have been having problems getting my HP Photosmart printer and HP Scanjet colour scanner to work through it.

I have a small four-port USB hub set up in front to temporarily connect USB devices, but I might find out that I need to connect more if the KVM switch won't work out as planned. I could get a seven-port USB hub at a reasonable price and just use it "switchboard" style, connecting/disconnecting my USB devices and peripherals as needed, since all would have extended cables. This is not as desirable, as it would be more cluttered-looking from the front.

The "main" laptop I have dubbed "Pitcher". It is a (slightly) used Dell Latitude C840. I purchased it off of a reseller on eBay. Basically it was a corporate lease that was eventually returned after the lease expired, was refurbished by Dell for sale and was purchased by the reseller to sell on eBay. It was basically the "top of the line" three years ago, but that means that it still has more than enough to make it useful for quite some time for me, and I got it for less than a third of what it was worth new nearly three years ago. Highlights include:

* Intel Pentium IV-m (mobile) CPU, 2.2GHz, with SpeedStep technology

* 1GB RAM (the published maximum RAM)

* 40GB 5,400RPM HDD (fixed drive) came loaded with Windows 2000 Professional, no media

* DVD/CD-RW drive (fixed drive)

* 64MB NVidia GeForce Go video card (maximum video)

* built-in Intel Pro 2200 wireless card

* 15" TFT SVGA LCD screen* PCMCIA card slot (Type II/III)

* Diskette drive module (media bay)

To this, I have already made some modifications:

* Replaced the 40GB 5,400RPM HDD with a 60GB 7,200RPM HDD and loaded Windows Xp Professional on it

* Got a 100GB 5,400RPM removable HDD for the media bay

* the laptop only has two USB ports, and they are the older version 1.1...I installed a PCMCIA card that has four USB 2.0 ports

* got a second battery so that I can effectively double the battery life of the laptop when both batteries are utilized (one in each media bay)

* I can upgrade the CPU to a maximum of 2.6GHz, but this may be prohibitively expensive...it depends on what I need to do with the "project" laptop I am detailing below.

* Dell user forums have indicated that despite the published maximum 1GB of RAM per Dell, it is possible to have up to 2GB RAM running on this model laptop, but there have been mixed results reported when this was attempted. Some ran great, other did not at all, still others ran SLOWER after the upgrade. There may be other factors involved that will require further research. It could be the speed of the memory (PC2100, PC2700, etc.), the bus speed (266MHz, 333MHz, etc.), or even the manufacturer that makes a difference. The current memory on the laptop is spec-ed as PC2100, 266MHz, so that is my best guess to go on right now.

I am supposed to eventually get my sister's old Compaq laptop as well. I plan on dubbing it "Left Field". Here are it's highlights:

* Intel Pentium III 766MHz

* 768MB RAM (maximum)

* 20GB HDD (Win Xp loaded)

* 8MB video memory on mother board (this sucks, but there is nothing more that can be done)

* 12 or 13-inch TFT SVGA screen

* PCMCIA card slot (Type II/III)

* CD-ROM drive

* Diskette Drive

This machine will still be good enough for surfing the Net and other basic tasks. It is intended for use by Bridget. To get it connected on the internet/network, I would need to install a PCMCIA wireless networking adapter card (no built-in NIC on this puppy, either). I already have it and am waiting to install it.

Bridget can also use her Toshiba work laptop from school, which is in fact quite a bit better than the Compaq. I have dubbed it "Pinch Hitter":

* Intel Pentium IV Celeron 1.2 Ghz

* 256 MB RAM

* 20GB HDD (Win XP Professional installed)

* 15" TFT SVGA LCD screen

* PCMCIA card slot (Type II/III)

* DVD-ROM drive (media bay)

* Diskette drive (media bay)

This laptop also has built-in wireless, but even though Windows Device Mgr sees the adapter, the wireless LAN connection is enabled and it appears to be working, the adapter refuses to detect any wireless network. When I installed the PCMCIA wireless networking adapter card that I have earmarked for the Compaq laptop, the Toshiba went online, no problem. That is another technical issue that I have to research in more detail. This laptop won't be home much when school is in session, but it would be nice for it to get online at home when needed.

I also have a gutted version of the laptop I recently got (Dell Latitude C840), that I got extra-cheap as a parts/repair candidate. It won't power on. The most common reason for laptops not to power on is a problem with the DC converter. On some models the converter hardware is on the mother board (bad news), and in others it is on a seperate (daughter) card. I am fortunate that mine is the latter, which meant it would be much, much cheaper to fix. The real expense is in replacing all the missing hardware. This will be an ongoing project. When it is working properly and can get online, it will then replace the old Compaq. I may keep it around, though. Bridget may object, but I see no reason why Rowen couldn't have his very own laptop once he reaches school age! Heck, in four or five years, it may be one of the Dells that he gets, though!

At work, my workstation PC (an old Piece-Of-S**t e-Machines PC) was just replaced with...you guess it, a Dell! It is an Optiplex 170L.

Dude, I got a Dell...and another Dell...and another...! :-P

Sixth-Year Wedding Anniversary

July 3rd was our sixth wedding anniversary. We did not have a nice evening out alone as we are unable to find anybody to watch Rowen. As it is, I spent much of the day working on a big project (see below). We ordered Chinese takeout for our anniversary dinner...that is what Bridget wanted (no cooking or big cleanup required). Rowen had fried rice for the first time!

The Great Purge

This is the "big project" I was referring to. I have to make room in our storage unit for some possible donated furniture coming from Bridget's parents when they move. Being the total pack-rat that I am, I knew that I was in for a big job...and I dragged this out for a long time, just making things worse.

The "quick" way to fix things was to take out the boxes I knew I needed to go through and bring them home. I did this on Saturday The hope was that I would throw out what was no longer wanted or needed and remove the majority of the boxes in the process. That was the theory, at least. Now, in practice, things turned out much different. On Saturday and Sunday, our carport was littered with scattered stuff from said boxes...mostly papers. It was hot and very unpleasant work, but I hauled three plastic garbage bags worth of stuff down to the curb Sunday night to be part of the garbage pickup. This was just the "first pass". I still have five storage boxes worth of paperwork to go through. I estimate at least two thirds of this is just scattered information and notes that I have to compile into a concise format, and eliminating the originals. That will be a very time-consuming task, as I have TEN YEARS worth of stuff that was in the unit for over seven years! As I am doing this, I will endeavour to have a filing system in place to keep track of this stuff and not allow it to get out of hand again! Some of the remaining stuff will go back into storage, but some will not...and I better have it organized right because Bridget will not stand for a lot of crap in the house!

First Post

2005-07-05T12:53:00.000-07:00

Hi...this is my new blog at Blogspot...one of my many blogs. I try to update all my blogs with the same information the same day, for continuity's sake! I hope to make new friends and enlighten you as I go along!