Sick Day!

Greetings!

What a lousy day. Well, a lousy last night. I got about an hour's worth of sleep all last night and was completely whacked out this morning. Even if I had the energy to scrap along at work, I was unable to drive my car so I took a sick day. Not sure where the insomnia came from. I was very tight and sore and about an hour ago I was stretching my neck and managed to crack my back and I feel a lot better now. :) I should start my own chiropractic office?

Michele's in the bedroom sleeping...it's only 7:30 PM. Perhaps she's preggers? :) Actually, she started a new job Friday and she may be wiped from that and the 100 degree frickin' heat today. :) Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.............

Just 3 more days until the tournament! I'm almost to the end of my opening study, and just in time! I only have a bit more of French study to go and then the rest is just re-study. My Yahoo! rating is also the highest its ever been, at 1685!!! This is quite a leap from the 1508 it was back in January, and I spent many of those months not playing on Yahoo. The tournament I'm in is U1400 (under 1400 rated players), and with my USCF 1378, perhaps that's underballed.

Nothing else much happened today. Being home from work is soooooooooooooo booooring. I played a lot of chess, watched a little TV, took a walk to blockbuster to return Luzhin...and did a lot of stretching. :)

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Is it Fall already??

Wow, yesterday was one incredible day! Overcast and rainy, 60 degrees, sometimes less, and all-around nasty. I love those kinds of days. :) According to the Blanco Dome Theory, my dome is about that, but without the rain (just overcast and *threatening* if you will). Beautiful dome.

Today is a busy day. I spent the morning with my sweetie eating bacon and egg omellettes and watching Fairly Odd Parents (...or did I?). Right now, I'm studying for my chess tournament next week. I need to be done with White study by tomorrow!!! AHHHH!!!! At 2, we head to the in-laws for a birthday BBQ for my new dad. Then, tonight, headed to Jay's place to watch a movie on the big screen: The Luzhin Defense. It's a John Turturro movie that just so HAPPENS to be about chess as well. But it's OK. :) MUA HAH AHA HAHA HAH

So sorry to hear about the Russian air disasters yesterday, and that they discovered bombing agents in each plane today. A cruel world. 99% of the world is nice, it's those other 1% that ruin it. And to hell they will go no matter what their religion, brainwasher, or otherwise, tells them.

TO HELL!!!!!

And now, for something completely different:

http://www.shade-of-grey.com/stuff/media/rejected.wmv

Broncos Win!

Hooray! The Broncos won a pre-season game even though the offense still hasn't met the endzone yet this year. But, oh well. Michele and I fell fast asleep while watching it and the Olympics. I was crunched up in the corner of our coach while she was spralled. It was sweet. (Michele seems to remember being scrunched as well, but it is pure falicy.) Broncos 19, Seahawks 3.

Here's a great little link if you've never heard it before:

Ozzy sings "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" at Wrigley Field

Off to the Vet...

with two kitties coming off of dental surgery just 2 weeks ago. Pray for me.

T minus One Month!

My next chess tournament begins September 4th and I've been hard at work studying for the thing.

Right now, I am studying a white repetoire. If yer chess-lingo impaired, a repetoire is a specific set of opening moves you plan on making in advance of a game. For example, I might play 1.d4 and I'll study all the possible responses and what I will play for my second move. Black could play 1...d5, 1...Nf6, 1...f5, 1...d6, etc. I'd need to have an idea of how I wanted to respond to those moves. In some cases, I'd have to study several moves into the game because many popular openings have the same starting moves!

And that's just openings...I'm also studying middlegame planning. Bishops vs. Knights. Space. Consolidation and Compensation. It's one of the hardest topics, but *the* most important. There is also endgame, but I won't do any specific studying for that.

It's amazing how much work you can put in for a game of chess. I'm honestly not sure why I do it. I love the game. I'm certainly not a master of the game. It's just that deep understanding I crave. One day it will subside. Perhaps a tournament win will do it for me? Retire on a winning note? :)