Wednesday, July 22, 2009

... --- ...



More games leads to more losses and a few wins. This several month losing streak may be coming to an end. At least now I'm recognizing the major errors in each game. And those errors are happening in the endgame. Usually when I'm winning. Then that question surfaces. Go for the kill or play out the long game while consolidating advantages? Former or latter? Former or latter? Former! Then I lose. I'm seeing the little red dot on my forehead just not moving out of the way. Without further ado... a game against Wang that he "swindled" (his word not mine) and a game against my brother that he also swindled (my word).

Wang v. Shaman


Bro v. Bro


Also, Grecian Delight has come to Flagstaff. Mmm... Grecian.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Kasparov on US-Russian Relations



Garry Kasparov is interviewed by Paul Gigot on The Journal Editorial Report about President Obamas visit to Putins paradise and US-Russians relations. The peice starts at 21:23 and the interview with Kasparov starts at 20:41.

Thursday, July 09, 2009

The Deadliest Blogger



Wang and I played a friendly game on Chess.com. I got hosed. It was one of those games that was lost before it even began. My chessdar was lit up with bogeys everywhere. And for some reason I knew I was going to lose. Not just because I haven't really been playing much or studying much or even thinking about the game more than a handful of times a week. Call it intuition or an educated guess it doesn't really matter. It made me realize something though. More admit than realize actually. I have little desire to make my game better in any significant way. At one time I did. But no longer. I like to occasionally play, do some studying, whatevs.

Mt. Humphreys


Twigs snap, roots of large beastly trees reach out of the earth and exotic, illusive blue-green mountains disappear. Entering the Mt. Humphreys trail is like closing the door on reality. Check that. Its like slamming the door, locking the knob and flicking the dead bolt. You'll never see more than a few yards of the winding dirt path. At times its a mirage, jumping up levels, snaking around boulders and crouching behind fluorescent grass that may possibly be juiced on steroids. Its hard to tell in a place so surreal, yet so natural, exactly what this place has been doing for the last few thousand years. But one thing is definite. The path always stretches on, materializing here, immaterializing their. On and on for three to four hours up and a couple down. Down is shorter. Maybe its the rubbery legs, dreams of crammed subway subs or dreams of long naps, I don't know. But its definitely shorter. Up takes forever. Through the dense forest, the not so dense forest, the awesome views. The last fragment of rocky terrain reminiscent of lower altitudes leads to the highest peak in Arizona. The whole enchilada, you can almost taste it. But it will cost you. All day.









Friday, July 03, 2009

July 4th!




In the words of Anthony Bourdain "America the weird, America the delicious, America the slightly scary. America the beautiful."


Happy Independence Day dear readers. Enjoy your grilling, enjoy your blogging and enjoy your freedom.