Month: October 2006

First three rounds down

We completed the first three rounds of a six round chess tournament this evening. This is an individual tournament, not a team event like the last one.

My rounds:
Round 1 was Saturday night against a very nice older man named Carlos. I would guess that he is probably 70+ years old. He played well and it was obvious from the outset that he was the superior player. Our round lasted almost 2 hours though. That was definitely my longest game to date. I was doing very well on an offensive tact and he seemed to just be playing Chessdefense. What I did not realize was that he was slowly getting set up. Once, I was just one move away from setting up a checkmate against him. But that is when he started his attack and forced me into some moves which blew my strategy. I held on to the end. I even made him work real hard to not stalemate me.

Round 2 was against my team captain from the last tournament. Daniel and I have played several times against one another in class. Daniel has always won. So, he had a psychological advantage going into the round this morning. He made an aggressive move early in the round putting one of his knights behind enemy lines. I knew it was a bold move for a reason, I just never could displace it or capture it. That ended up being my downfall. He sat there with that knight not really threatening me in any way, but always present. When it came time to finish the game, it was very obvious that he was in control from early on. If I get a chance to get my notation back from that game I will post it with comments.

Round 3 was this evening and I played against Andrés. He is probably 14 years old. I have seen him around some. I got one move on him that I thought was going to bust up the game in my favor. He had a bishop sitting off to the side that neither one of us considered a threat at any time in the game. When I made my stellar move, it took him about 10 minutes to find that bishop (which I never saw) and make his move. That was the end. He won.

So my record is 0-3 through 3 rounds.

My son’s rounds:
Round one was well foughtCarlos playing chess. He thought he had the win at a couple of points, but then she forced a few moves that cost him his opportunities. He lost that one.

Round two was easy. He had a bye. Somehow though, there was another boy who had a bye. After 30 minutes of enjoying his free point, the head judge came to him and asked him to play with the other boy. They sat down and started talking. I am not sure if they actually started their game or not. But their conversation was something to the affect that they both won a point for having a bye. If they play, best case scenario is that they will tie and get a half point. Or, one will lose the game and their point. They went to the judge and said they would not play. I was glad to see that.

I was quite torqued over the fact they they would be awarded a point as if they played and beat their opponent, then be told that that game did not count and they would have to play again. The Chess Association of Yucatán will be getting a letter from me concerning this. This is the second time something similar took place. Last time it was against me.

Round three had his team captain from the last tournament as his opponent. Carlos is ranked as the number 1 player in that division. My son is ranked 12th out of 18. The fact that Carlos won every game in the last tournament and that he is ranked number 1 and that my son has only ever tied against him once before, kinda spelled out a bleak ending. My son was not disappointed. He knows he will get more chances to play Carlos in class.

So that leaves us with scores of 0 for me and 1 for my son. We have three more rounds next weekend. These things are kinda fun.

“Give me a Coke!”

Today was our first day in our new church building. We finally signed the lease agreement three weeks after we first said we wanted to rent the building. That was taken care of Friday night and Saturday was spent all day in cleaning and preparing for today.

After the morning services we were eating lunch. A man walked in off the street right into the building to ask what we were doing. Well, obviously we were eating. This building is a colonial style house but has been an auto parts store for many years. So it would not be unusual for the neighbors to still see this as a public business. And, of course, we would welcome anyone into our church. So it was all fine up to that point.

I told the man that we had started a church for the Deaf and that we had services there on Sundays. He was welcome to join us. He declined saying that he goes to mass and did not want to come to our church. Then he proceeded to ask me to give him some Coke. We had a 2-liter bottle of Coke sitting on the table. And we were all sharing it, so it would not have been a big deal to give the man a Coke. But, what if someone walked into your house (he did not know until after he was in the building that it was not our house but a church) and demanded a Coke. Would you give him some?

I then asked him if he would come back and visit with us. He said, “Yes, I will come by every week to see you. Give me some Coke.” Well, if he is going to come back every week and ask me to give him some Coke, then I think I will pass on the opportunity. He then proceeded to ask one of the young men at the church to give him some Coke. I just had to laugh. Remember this is a Deaf church. He was properly ignored by the Deaf teen who was playing a game. He was not being rude, he just did not hear the fellow.

Birthday Season

October is a big month amongst my family and friends. When we used to live near each other we would have an October birthday party. Everyone got lumped together, kinda like birthdays near Christmas. But since there were so many, it was a really good time.

There are three birthdays that surround today. One yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Yesterday was the birthday of my best friend as a teenager, Pastor Phillip Winn. He was a big influence in my life in a good way. Though my parents may have something else to say about that. He is 10 years older than I and was my youth pastor at church. We remained very close friends through the years, though distance separates us and we have not been able to spend much time with one another. He now pastors a church in Oklahoma. I was looking for a link to his church or him, but found nothing. I did find a Phillip D. Winn that I am pretty sure is not him. If it is then: HEY! YOU NEED TO SHARE SOME OF THAT LOOT WITH ME!

Today is the birthday of one of my all time favorite software packages, OpenOffice.org. I have been using this since it came out, at least since early 2001. They celebrate 6 years today and they also released a new version of the software. It is available for Linux, Mac and Windows. I have used it on all three platforms and it is the only office suite that I have used for a few years now.

Then tomorrow is my favorite mom’s birthday. She has been with me for a long time. Probably since the day I was born, though I don’t really remember.

Happy Birthday everyone! 

Podcasts and Hate round 2

About a month ago I ranted on what I hate about podcasts. I have come up with a couple more items to add to the list.

Before I get to the negative, I want to highlight a change for the better. Dr. Monte at Fitness Rocks podcast said on his most recent episode that due to listener feedback he would be changing the format to less music and making it just the intro and a highlighted song at the end. This is great news. I love the information presented in the show and think this will make his podcast better. I actually had the privilege of discussing this with him through the original post and email. Thanks for listening Dr. Monte. I know I did not sway the whole decision, but one voice can make a difference.

Since my original post on the topic, two other things have popped up. One has always been there and another one seemingly has gotten worse in the last few weeks.

The problem that has always been there is related to the music. Yes, I hate your music! If I want to listen to music I have my own thank you. Leave yours at home. Beyond the fact that I don’t like Joe Podcaster’s choice in music he plays it too loud. I don’t really understand audio levels, but when I am listening to speech I have to turn the volume up a bit to hear it well. Then, when the insanely loud music blares in I have to fumble with the player to either turn down the music or fast forward the song before my ears start bleeding. What is the deal with that? If you insist on having music that I have to fast forward through, you can at least not hurt me in the process.

Secondly, I think someone told all podcasters within the last couple of weeks that they are not under FCC jurisdiction and they can say anything they want without being fined. I realize that there are “adult podcasts” out there (read “smut podcasts”), but I don’t subscribe to those.

I ran for two and a half hours on Saturday. You get to listen to a lot of podcasts during that time. Without even trying I started noticing all the profanity. These are shows on fitness, running and technology. At what point did it become sociably acceptable to swear when talking about video cards, capacitors and trail running? I will tolorate only so much. Then I won’t just stop listening to the shows. I will first contact the podcasters and bring up my concern. Then I will post publically that it is not getting any better and hopefully someone will start taking notice.

I realize there are some people who talk like this all the time. I don’t. Never have. Podcasters who want to reach a wider audience shouldn’t either.

Here is a snippet from Wikipedia on profanity.

A profanity (or swear words, or curse word, or foul language, or dirty word) under current colloquial use is a word, expression, gesture, or other usage which is generally considered insulting, rude or vulgar.

The original meaning of the term was restricted to blasphemy, sacrilege or speaking God‘s name in vain. Profanity represented a secular indifference to religion or religious figures, while blasphemy was a more offensive attack on religion and religious figures.

Whether you think certain words are considered curse words or not, you should consider what may or may not be appropriate. What is acceptable to you may not be to your audience. Certainly there are some words that everyone knows are unacceptable.

Try thinking about how you would talk to a 90 year old lady whom you have never met. That is the way I want to be treated. I know we want podcasts to be personal and not stiff, but proper speech is not stiff, it is creative. Do what your teachers told you in school, look for good adjectives to say what you want to say. You can impress me with good words. You only offend me and cost yourself a listener by using inappropriate words.

Up to this point I am not naming names, but I will when it comes time.

Smoking or Non-Smoking

“Four people. Non-Smoking please.” I said to the wait staff when we walked into Boston’s Restaurant today. We don’t normally go on Monday, so we did not recognize any one in the place. Normally we are there on Sundays or Fridays.

She took us to a table. Right next to it was “Dragon Lady” blowing smoke. I am talking the very next table. I told the seater that I did not want to sit there. Indignantly she said, “Sir, this table is in the non-smoking section. And that table [with Dragon Lady] is smoking.” To which I replied, “Yes, I know. I don’t care. I won’t sit here.”

She reluctantly took us to another table.

Interesting tidbit. When I went to look up Boston’s to give a link I decided to see where their restaurants were in México. Come to find out, we have the only one. Aren’t we special?