I was sitting in the upper right of the conference Monday morning, as you can see from the closeup.
The rest of the pictures show me at the rump session studiously taking notes. (Please ignore the empty beer glasses.)
Sunday, June 04, 2006
That's Me in the Corner
Well, I've finally been reunited with my luggage. In there was a CD of photos that the organizer provided at the end of the conference. I thought that was a really cool gesture. I also thought I'd show that Russia wasn't all fun in games by highlighting pictures of me attending the conference. Little did I know I was this conference's Zelig.
I was sitting in the upper right of the conference Monday morning, as you can see from the closeup.
The rest of the pictures show me at the rump session studiously taking notes. (Please ignore the empty beer glasses.)
I was sitting in the upper right of the conference Monday morning, as you can see from the closeup.
The rest of the pictures show me at the rump session studiously taking notes. (Please ignore the empty beer glasses.)
Saturday, June 03, 2006
St. Petersburg Boat Trip
I just got back from Russia. Wow, when they say 4 star hotel in Russia, they don't mean the same as in America...or Poland, for that matter. But perhaps I deduct too many stars for the persistent smell of tobacco smoke. I did manage to take three interesting excursions in between conference talks, and I'll post pictures of them one at a time.
The first such trip saw me exchange cigarette fumes for gasoline fumes as we took to the waters of St. Petersburg.
On the bus ride to the boat, our guide talked a lot about real estate. The apartment building on the left is one of the crappy 1990s style buildings -- but not, the guide, assured us, as crappy as the ones built under Krushchev. She returned to the point of how bad those are. In fact, there was a lot of complaining in her narrative. On one hand, that seemed like an odd note on which to start the tour. On the other hand, it seems like Russians have a history to justify a lot of complaining. The apartment building on the right is being built now and is much nicer (but too expensive, of course).
Here is a typical view of the waterways of St. Petersburg. They may look like canals because of the man-made embankments, but they are actually rivers -- the embankments were public works projects of the tsars. I have a lot of pictures of backs of buildings where Pushkin lived or some tsar set up a home for orphaned girls or something, but they all sort of run together.
This is the Peter and Paul Fortress. It was the first set of buildings built in St. Petersburg, and Dostoevsky was once imprisoned there.
This is my big head in front of the Peter and Paul Fortress. Since I didn't feel like asking anyone to take my picture, this will be the first in a series of "big head" pictures.
This is a bridge allegedly built by the same people who built the Eiffel Tower.
The first such trip saw me exchange cigarette fumes for gasoline fumes as we took to the waters of St. Petersburg.
On the bus ride to the boat, our guide talked a lot about real estate. The apartment building on the left is one of the crappy 1990s style buildings -- but not, the guide, assured us, as crappy as the ones built under Krushchev. She returned to the point of how bad those are. In fact, there was a lot of complaining in her narrative. On one hand, that seemed like an odd note on which to start the tour. On the other hand, it seems like Russians have a history to justify a lot of complaining. The apartment building on the right is being built now and is much nicer (but too expensive, of course).
Here is a typical view of the waterways of St. Petersburg. They may look like canals because of the man-made embankments, but they are actually rivers -- the embankments were public works projects of the tsars. I have a lot of pictures of backs of buildings where Pushkin lived or some tsar set up a home for orphaned girls or something, but they all sort of run together.
This is the Peter and Paul Fortress. It was the first set of buildings built in St. Petersburg, and Dostoevsky was once imprisoned there.
This is my big head in front of the Peter and Paul Fortress. Since I didn't feel like asking anyone to take my picture, this will be the first in a series of "big head" pictures.
This is a bridge allegedly built by the same people who built the Eiffel Tower.
Thursday, May 25, 2006
My mother the singer
"This is the nicest group of women. As much as I love SaddleBrooke - and I do love it - it was nice to meet women from all over Tucson," Grantham said.
Here's an article about my mother and her singing group (but, from my perspective, mostly about my mother).
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Perfect Record
Well, I played in another go tournament today. My record is still unblemished by a victory.
My first game was against one of my opponents from my previous tournament. Since I had regressed to a 17 kyu ranking, and she had advance to 15 kyu, I got a two-stone handicap. It didn't help -- the same result. She cordoned off a massive amount of territory, I tried a desperate invasion, it failed, and I resigned. She ended the tournament undefeated, so I guess I shouldn't feel too bad.
My second game was against a 15-kyu kid. I played more respectably and lost by 32 or 34 stones (I can't remember). I feel like I was a few mistakes away from winning that game.
My third game was something else entirely. I played against a kid who entered at 35 kyu. That meant I had to give him an 18 stone handicap. I didn't even know what that looks like. (The most I had played with online was 10, and the most I had played in the tournament was 2...my previous two games.) After some consultation, we came up with the following diagram:
The more observant among you may notice that there are only 17 stones in the diagram. They couldn't figure out where to put the 18th stone. So they decided black could go first (normally reserved for white) as the 18th stone. Now, even if you don't know how to play go, if you recognize that the object of the game is to use stones to surround territory, you realize that black starts with a lot of territory almost surrounded. If I played an 18 stone handicap game against a 2 dan, I'm fairly confident I could pull that off.
But I almost did win despite the handicap. I made one mistake late in the game that allowed my opponent to win by around 30 stones.
The fourth game was much like the third, but this time I had to give my opponent only 15 stones handicap. Once again, I lost by 30 stones. This opponent also finished the tournament undefeated.
So I stand at 0-8 in competitive go. Despite all this (or perhaps because I'm hungry for a win), I am itching to play again. I'll drop to 19 or 20 kyu after this tournament, and I'll have an even better chance -- right?
I've been selling Christina on the idea of spending a weekend in Richmond next month for the Virginia Open. Winning (or losing) is not guaranteed, but a report here either way is.
My first game was against one of my opponents from my previous tournament. Since I had regressed to a 17 kyu ranking, and she had advance to 15 kyu, I got a two-stone handicap. It didn't help -- the same result. She cordoned off a massive amount of territory, I tried a desperate invasion, it failed, and I resigned. She ended the tournament undefeated, so I guess I shouldn't feel too bad.
My second game was against a 15-kyu kid. I played more respectably and lost by 32 or 34 stones (I can't remember). I feel like I was a few mistakes away from winning that game.
My third game was something else entirely. I played against a kid who entered at 35 kyu. That meant I had to give him an 18 stone handicap. I didn't even know what that looks like. (The most I had played with online was 10, and the most I had played in the tournament was 2...my previous two games.) After some consultation, we came up with the following diagram:
The more observant among you may notice that there are only 17 stones in the diagram. They couldn't figure out where to put the 18th stone. So they decided black could go first (normally reserved for white) as the 18th stone. Now, even if you don't know how to play go, if you recognize that the object of the game is to use stones to surround territory, you realize that black starts with a lot of territory almost surrounded. If I played an 18 stone handicap game against a 2 dan, I'm fairly confident I could pull that off.
But I almost did win despite the handicap. I made one mistake late in the game that allowed my opponent to win by around 30 stones.
The fourth game was much like the third, but this time I had to give my opponent only 15 stones handicap. Once again, I lost by 30 stones. This opponent also finished the tournament undefeated.
So I stand at 0-8 in competitive go. Despite all this (or perhaps because I'm hungry for a win), I am itching to play again. I'll drop to 19 or 20 kyu after this tournament, and I'll have an even better chance -- right?
I've been selling Christina on the idea of spending a weekend in Richmond next month for the Virginia Open. Winning (or losing) is not guaranteed, but a report here either way is.
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Border Issues
I thought I had weighed in on this subject before, but Google can't find a mention of it, so I must be mistaken.
I read in a USA Today article that the Senate has pushed back the date by which Americans need passports when returning from Canada and Mexico. I don't have an opinion on the technical details of the timing of this requirement, but overall I'm in favor of this requirement.
I don't necessarily think that this requirement will increase our border security. Conceptually, however, I think it's good for people to use their passports when traveling out of the country.
First of all, it's easier. After I traveled to a conference in graduate school and my non-passport-carrying fellow graduate students (one in particular) got chastised by Canadian immigration, everyone swore they'd have a passport next time they crossed the border.
Secondly, it makes people think about the fact that they're leaving the US. Maybe I'm being naive, but I think having to carry a passport into Tijuana might make a few people think about the fact that they're entering a sovereign nation with a rich history which wasn't just set up to provide them with cheap booze for a night on the town.
Finally, I hope that Americans who get passports for travel in North America will feel, "Hey, now that I've paid for this thing, I might as well use it." I love America, and I love Americans, but some of you guys need to get out more. Especially now that international travel is not that much more expensive than domestic, people can get out and see the world. And they should -- travel has given me a wider perspective on the world, and I think others could benefit from a more cosmopolitan experience.
I read in a USA Today article that the Senate has pushed back the date by which Americans need passports when returning from Canada and Mexico. I don't have an opinion on the technical details of the timing of this requirement, but overall I'm in favor of this requirement.
I don't necessarily think that this requirement will increase our border security. Conceptually, however, I think it's good for people to use their passports when traveling out of the country.
First of all, it's easier. After I traveled to a conference in graduate school and my non-passport-carrying fellow graduate students (one in particular) got chastised by Canadian immigration, everyone swore they'd have a passport next time they crossed the border.
Secondly, it makes people think about the fact that they're leaving the US. Maybe I'm being naive, but I think having to carry a passport into Tijuana might make a few people think about the fact that they're entering a sovereign nation with a rich history which wasn't just set up to provide them with cheap booze for a night on the town.
Finally, I hope that Americans who get passports for travel in North America will feel, "Hey, now that I've paid for this thing, I might as well use it." I love America, and I love Americans, but some of you guys need to get out more. Especially now that international travel is not that much more expensive than domestic, people can get out and see the world. And they should -- travel has given me a wider perspective on the world, and I think others could benefit from a more cosmopolitan experience.
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Millennium Bridge
My trip to England was mostly work, but I did have part of Friday free and in London. London! I like London, so this was cool. I finally got to do something I wanted to do in my 2000 trip there. The Millennium Bridge was built for the millennium (duh) and opened in 2000. It was quickly closed, as resonance from pedestrian footsteps caused the bridge to sway wildly. Well, they finally "fixed" it (there was nothing unsafe about the original design -- it sounded kind of fun) in 2002.
It turns out this is the easiest way to get from Paddington to the Tate Modern and the Globe. I just take the Underground's Circle Line to Blackfriars and then walk across the Thames.
It has quite nice views. To the north is St. Paul's Cathedral...
To the south, the Tate Modern...
To the west, the Tower Bridge...
It turns out this is the easiest way to get from Paddington to the Tate Modern and the Globe. I just take the Underground's Circle Line to Blackfriars and then walk across the Thames.
It has quite nice views. To the north is St. Paul's Cathedral...
To the south, the Tate Modern...
To the west, the Tower Bridge...
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Bristol Marriott Royal
Greetings from the Bristol Marriott Royal. I have the option -- do I pay 15 pounds/day (roughly $28) for Internet access through the hotel? Or do I use the free wireless network provided by a nearby independent cinema? Hmmn...
I have a very nice room. This is a quaint old hotel that has been remodeled recently.
They decided to keep the plumbing as is, which means separate hot and cold taps (I never understood the attraction of that). Also, if I'm running cold water in the bath, I can't run it in the sink. And if I'm doing either of the preceding two things, the toilet tank doesn't refill. Quirky, but reasonable.
Right now I'm waiting for room service. I used to feel like I should leave my room and have more interaction with local culture. But I've had plenty of interaction with UK culture over the years, and I'm going to have plenty this week. Plus, it was raining (trust me -- it started after I took the picture.)
I took the train out here, which was cool. I hadn't taken a UK train in over 10 years -- except for the Heathrow Express, which I also took today. I almost duplicated a feat from years back, when I started to nod off as we pulled into Bristol. Fortunately, unlike years ago when visiting my parents, I did not manage to sleep through my stop. A short taxi ride later, I was here and napping in my room. That's another thing I used to feel like I should avoid...but I've learned that I'm talented enough at sleeping that a nap won't keep me up all night.
Well, the room service is here, so I'm going to go enjoy my chicken caesar salad...
I have a very nice room. This is a quaint old hotel that has been remodeled recently.
They decided to keep the plumbing as is, which means separate hot and cold taps (I never understood the attraction of that). Also, if I'm running cold water in the bath, I can't run it in the sink. And if I'm doing either of the preceding two things, the toilet tank doesn't refill. Quirky, but reasonable.
Right now I'm waiting for room service. I used to feel like I should leave my room and have more interaction with local culture. But I've had plenty of interaction with UK culture over the years, and I'm going to have plenty this week. Plus, it was raining (trust me -- it started after I took the picture.)
I took the train out here, which was cool. I hadn't taken a UK train in over 10 years -- except for the Heathrow Express, which I also took today. I almost duplicated a feat from years back, when I started to nod off as we pulled into Bristol. Fortunately, unlike years ago when visiting my parents, I did not manage to sleep through my stop. A short taxi ride later, I was here and napping in my room. That's another thing I used to feel like I should avoid...but I've learned that I'm talented enough at sleeping that a nap won't keep me up all night.
Well, the room service is here, so I'm going to go enjoy my chicken caesar salad...
Friday, April 28, 2006
Us With Jake
I was going through some old files, and I found this picture taken last fall of us with Redskins great Joe Jacoby. Boy, that's one sweaty guy.
Sunday, April 23, 2006
New York, New York
Greetings from Manhattan. It's my first trip back since a 7th grade field trip in 1983, and it's Christina's first visit. (Boy, they don't make field trips like they used to, do they?) Yesterday, we dropped the animals off at the kennel, and then drove up to the Philly area to have lunch with our friends Cheryl and Jon, and their son Noah. Then we drove up to Piscataway, where we spent last night.
This morning we got up and headed to Liberty State Park in New Jersey, where we caught the ferry to Ellis Island and Liberty Island. Ellis Island was OK, but since neither of us felt a real personal connection, we cut short the audio tour when it started to get repetitive and headed to Liberty Island. The one good thing I can say about the weather is that the rain kept things from being too crowded. That's the Statue of Liberty there -- really it is.
There's Christina with the original torch.
After touring the statue -- another World Heritage Site off (or on) our list -- we parked the car at a PATH station, took the train into Manhattan, and caught a cab to our hotel. Our hotel is really nice -- it was completely renovated last year. We've got a flat-screen TV, a mini-fridge...all the mod cons. After a little relaxation, we headed out for some sight-seeing and dinner. There's Christina in Times Square...
...and there she is after our dinner at the Carnegie Deli. She was quite full after half a sandwich...I made a pig of myself and finished mine off. I won't need to eat for days.
On our walk back to the hotel, we saw various NYC icons like the Ed Sullivan Theater, where David Letterman tapes his show.
This morning we got up and headed to Liberty State Park in New Jersey, where we caught the ferry to Ellis Island and Liberty Island. Ellis Island was OK, but since neither of us felt a real personal connection, we cut short the audio tour when it started to get repetitive and headed to Liberty Island. The one good thing I can say about the weather is that the rain kept things from being too crowded. That's the Statue of Liberty there -- really it is.
There's Christina with the original torch.
After touring the statue -- another World Heritage Site off (or on) our list -- we parked the car at a PATH station, took the train into Manhattan, and caught a cab to our hotel. Our hotel is really nice -- it was completely renovated last year. We've got a flat-screen TV, a mini-fridge...all the mod cons. After a little relaxation, we headed out for some sight-seeing and dinner. There's Christina in Times Square...
...and there she is after our dinner at the Carnegie Deli. She was quite full after half a sandwich...I made a pig of myself and finished mine off. I won't need to eat for days.
On our walk back to the hotel, we saw various NYC icons like the Ed Sullivan Theater, where David Letterman tapes his show.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Renovations
We (and by we I mean mostly Christina) have done a lot of work on the house this year. Now we're at the point where we can relax and enjoy it. See below pictures of our living room and dining room.
I'm reclining in that chair right now!
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I'm reclining in that chair right now!
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Thursday, April 06, 2006
Hey from the UK
I've flown into London a bunch of times (I have 5 Heathrow stamps in my not-yet 3-year-old passport), but every other time it's been on a transatlantic flight. My flight from Cologne yesterday was on a small plane (regional jet) which came into Heathrow nice and low (it also came in from the East). So we were treated to a nice view of London, which I realized as soon as I heard the camera (or phone or Palm or whatever) of the guy behind me taking pictures. I took a couple myself -- this is what I think is a nice view of the Thames from the north. Can you spot any landmarks?
I can! There, that's the London Eye.
I can! There, that's the London Eye.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Pictures from a Go Game
Here are some pictures from the Cherry Blossom Tournament taken by my third opponent. (I'm playing black here.)
My opening wasn't too bad...because of my bad experiences having groups killed in the first two games, I took a conservative approach, opting for enclosures rather than approaching my opponent's corners. In general, this is not a bad approach, but in retrospect this was a mistake for me. It's not the way I usually play, so I ended up in an unfamiliar configuration.
I think the second picture shows where things started to go wrong. I haven't really staked out any additional territory. I have broken up White's territory on the left, and I'm starting to make some territory on the top, but in the mean time, White has made some solid territory on the left.
The third picture shows that I have made some territory along the bottom, but not as much as White did on the right.
In the fourth picture, I've conceded too much of the right to White. He's built up a solid territory there that's going to prove the difference in the game.
The fifth picture shows an abortive invasion I made on the right, but it was really too late at this point.
In the end, White had about 80 points on the right, which is about as much as I had in all of my territory combined. We didn't even bother to count the final score. Looking back, I am not as displeased as I was at the time. I did a few nice things in the game. I like the way I broke up the territory on the left, and I did a decent job of building territory -- just not enough.
My opening wasn't too bad...because of my bad experiences having groups killed in the first two games, I took a conservative approach, opting for enclosures rather than approaching my opponent's corners. In general, this is not a bad approach, but in retrospect this was a mistake for me. It's not the way I usually play, so I ended up in an unfamiliar configuration.
I think the second picture shows where things started to go wrong. I haven't really staked out any additional territory. I have broken up White's territory on the left, and I'm starting to make some territory on the top, but in the mean time, White has made some solid territory on the left.
The third picture shows that I have made some territory along the bottom, but not as much as White did on the right.
In the fourth picture, I've conceded too much of the right to White. He's built up a solid territory there that's going to prove the difference in the game.
The fifth picture shows an abortive invasion I made on the right, but it was really too late at this point.
In the end, White had about 80 points on the right, which is about as much as I had in all of my territory combined. We didn't even bother to count the final score. Looking back, I am not as displeased as I was at the time. I did a few nice things in the game. I like the way I broke up the territory on the left, and I did a decent job of building territory -- just not enough.
Final Tally
Well, the NCAA tourney is over, and it's time for one final evaluation of my picks. I ended up with 87 points out of a possible 168, good for #34,429 in the Yahoo! tournament picks. That's the 97% percentile...surprising me by improving from last weekend. I guess picking UCLA to lose the championship game was worth a lot. Too bad I didn't join a real pool this year...
Monday, April 03, 2006
A Splash of Cologne
Greetings from Cologne (or Köln, if you prefer). My flight got in late yesterday, so I didn't have as much time for sightseeing as I had hoped. My main goal was to see the Cologne Cathedral, a World Heritage Site. The parts that you have to pay to see were open until 6 pm yesterday, so I headed over there with about 2 hours to spare. Once I got there, I realized that these parts (the tower and treasury) weren't the impressive parts, and I had no great interest in them. The interior of the cathedral itself was quite impressive, but I couldn't wander around because there were services going on. I'll probably try to stop by today or tomorrow. The cathedral was built to house the bones of the Three Magi. It was started in 1248, but not completed until 1880. Unlike other cathedrals that took a long time to build, they managed to stick to the original Gothic plan.
I sat outside the Cathedral and enjoyed some falafel before going in.
From the conference reception, the cathedral is the dominant sight in the city. Unfortunately, someone decided to build an ugly building in front of it. The Cathedral is the one major pre-war structure. Allegedly, Allied bombers spared it so they could use it as a landmark to find the city. I've heard that story about other sights in other cities that were spared bombing, so I'm a little built skeptical.
I sat outside the Cathedral and enjoyed some falafel before going in.
From the conference reception, the cathedral is the dominant sight in the city. Unfortunately, someone decided to build an ugly building in front of it. The Cathedral is the one major pre-war structure. Allegedly, Allied bombers spared it so they could use it as a landmark to find the city. I've heard that story about other sights in other cities that were spared bombing, so I'm a little built skeptical.
Sunday, April 02, 2006
How Do I Rate?
Greetings from Germany! It's my first time here (besides the Frankfurt airport) since '72. I had hoped to post some pictures, but while I brought my camera to the Internet cafe, I appear to have left the cord back in the hotel room. Sigh. Hopefully I'll remember to download the pictures to the laptop tonight so I can upload them tomorrow.
Recently, I told you of my (mis)adventures in the Cherry Blossom Go Tournament, which I entered as a 15 kyu. I said, "My understanding of the ratings is that I will be bumped down from 15 kyu to something worse...17?" Well, the new ratings are out and guess what -- I'm a 17 kyu (closer to 18 than 16). To a certain extent these ratings are nonsensical -- since I lost all my games (and since the score of the game doesn't get reported), for all the rating system knows, I'm really a 35 kyu who resigned all my games. But it takes the (reasonable) assumption that people are probably somewhere near their first guess. So "17 kyu" is the answer to the question of, "What's the most likely rating of someone who enters as a 15 kyu and loses all of his games?" So I have a starting point for next month's tournament, which I hope to enter.
Recently, I told you of my (mis)adventures in the Cherry Blossom Go Tournament, which I entered as a 15 kyu. I said, "My understanding of the ratings is that I will be bumped down from 15 kyu to something worse...17?" Well, the new ratings are out and guess what -- I'm a 17 kyu (closer to 18 than 16). To a certain extent these ratings are nonsensical -- since I lost all my games (and since the score of the game doesn't get reported), for all the rating system knows, I'm really a 35 kyu who resigned all my games. But it takes the (reasonable) assumption that people are probably somewhere near their first guess. So "17 kyu" is the answer to the question of, "What's the most likely rating of someone who enters as a 15 kyu and loses all of his games?" So I have a starting point for next month's tournament, which I hope to enter.
Friday, March 31, 2006
Final Four
Well, well, well. My picks are doing better than I expected. Going into the Final Four, I'm in the 92nd percentile on the Yahoo! picks. My high water mark was actually after Saturday's games, when I was in the 95th percentile. Going into Sunday's games, I had teams alive in both games -- the favorites, in fact. Oh, well. I'm probably only going to fall further unless GMU beats UCLA in the title game. But I feel pretty good, overall. I'll have to check from Germany to see what happens, though...my flight takes off about 20 minutes before tip-off. Maybe the captain will put the game on Channel 9.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Monday, March 27, 2006
Cherry Bomb
All the time I've lived in this area, I had never been to the Cherry Blossom Festival...until Saturday. I still haven't gone to see the cherry blossoms, however. As mentioned previously, I signed up for a go tournament -- the Cherry Blossom Tournament.
After discussions with players at the local club, I entered as a 15 kyu. This seemed a little bit ambitious, as I am only a 21 kyu online. Nevertheless, it seemed better to enter at a better ranking than I deserved, and lose all my games than enter at too weak of a rating and consequently take home a prize.
Well, good thing I felt that way, because I ended the day 0-4. 15 kyu was too ambitious, but not incredibly so. In fact, it looked like I won the last game by 2 points until I reminded my opponent that she got 7.5 points komi (compensation), so she won by 5.5. If I had entered as a 16 kyu, she would have only gotten 0.5 komi, so I would have won by 1.5. So 16 kyu would have had me as 1-3, and 17 kyu would have given me multi-stone handicaps against the same players (or no handicap against weaker players)...
My understanding of the ratings is that I will be bumped down from 15 kyu to something worse...17? I don't know. So I may enter a tournament in May at that level and try to bring my rating back up again. I figure eventually I'll find my level, then each game should be at least an even proposition...better than that if I'm improving. So I guess I'll just wait a week or two for the results to post and see where my ranking ends up.
After discussions with players at the local club, I entered as a 15 kyu. This seemed a little bit ambitious, as I am only a 21 kyu online. Nevertheless, it seemed better to enter at a better ranking than I deserved, and lose all my games than enter at too weak of a rating and consequently take home a prize.
Well, good thing I felt that way, because I ended the day 0-4. 15 kyu was too ambitious, but not incredibly so. In fact, it looked like I won the last game by 2 points until I reminded my opponent that she got 7.5 points komi (compensation), so she won by 5.5. If I had entered as a 16 kyu, she would have only gotten 0.5 komi, so I would have won by 1.5. So 16 kyu would have had me as 1-3, and 17 kyu would have given me multi-stone handicaps against the same players (or no handicap against weaker players)...
My understanding of the ratings is that I will be bumped down from 15 kyu to something worse...17? I don't know. So I may enter a tournament in May at that level and try to bring my rating back up again. I figure eventually I'll find my level, then each game should be at least an even proposition...better than that if I'm improving. So I guess I'll just wait a week or two for the results to post and see where my ranking ends up.
Monday, March 20, 2006
How'm I doin'?
Well, I posted my tourney picks the other day. After the first weekend, let's evaluate. How am I doing? Surprisingly well, I think.
The easiest gauge of how I'm doing is versus other people picking games at Yahoo! In their Pick 'Em stats, I am in the 76th percentile. That's the top quartile!
I suffered a major setback when Iowa, one of my Final Four picks, went out in the first round, but other than that did decently. I'm doing the best in the Minneapolis bracket, where I picked 10 out of 12 games correctly, including Georgetown's upset of Ohio State. I think I only picked 2 other upsets correctly.
But what matters is that I'm in decent shape going forward. I have a maximum possible points of 155/192. Looking at the top 3 on Yahoo! right now, they have 157, 153 and 181. (None of them had George Mason, either.) So I could be right up there at the end. Probably not, but we'll see.
By the way, one of the top Yahoo! pick sets is entitled, "Jay Hawks? More Like Dumb Hawks". Earlier in the weekend, this was, "Jay Hawks? More Like Gay Hawks", which I believe was against Yahoo!'s terms and conditions. I wonder if Yahoo! changed it themselves, made the user change it, or whether the user just wised up.
The easiest gauge of how I'm doing is versus other people picking games at Yahoo! In their Pick 'Em stats, I am in the 76th percentile. That's the top quartile!
I suffered a major setback when Iowa, one of my Final Four picks, went out in the first round, but other than that did decently. I'm doing the best in the Minneapolis bracket, where I picked 10 out of 12 games correctly, including Georgetown's upset of Ohio State. I think I only picked 2 other upsets correctly.
But what matters is that I'm in decent shape going forward. I have a maximum possible points of 155/192. Looking at the top 3 on Yahoo! right now, they have 157, 153 and 181. (None of them had George Mason, either.) So I could be right up there at the end. Probably not, but we'll see.
By the way, one of the top Yahoo! pick sets is entitled, "Jay Hawks? More Like Dumb Hawks". Earlier in the weekend, this was, "Jay Hawks? More Like Gay Hawks", which I believe was against Yahoo!'s terms and conditions. I wonder if Yahoo! changed it themselves, made the user change it, or whether the user just wised up.
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Greetings from South Carolina
I'm currently in the Hampton Inn Greenville/Travelers Rest which features this sign:
I'm down here for my annual visit to the SERMON conference. This year it's being held at Furman University. Today after the talks, I walked around the Furman Lake, which is really quite lovely.
I'm down here for my annual visit to the SERMON conference. This year it's being held at Furman University. Today after the talks, I walked around the Furman Lake, which is really quite lovely.
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Go: February in Review
Wow...I haven't been posting much lately. In fact, my "January in Review" post was only two posts ago.
Anyway, despite a brief drop into 25 kyu territory, I ended the month basically up 2 kyu, at 22 kyu. This is pretty much my all-time high, so yay for me.
Highlights of the month were a victory over an American 19-kyu (with me getting 5 stones), a victory over Ben -- then 25 kyu, giving 2 stones, and a victory over a British 24-kyu player in an even game. The last victory was when my opponent ran out of time, but I felt I was getting the better of the game.
Lowlights were losses to a pair of Germans (on the same day)...one a 16 kyu who beat me despite giving me 7 stones, and one a 25 kyu who beat me with my giving a 2-stone handicap.
I dropped to 0-5 in the Dragon Tourney 2006 with a loss in an even game to a Dutch 19-kyu player. (I was actually 0-4 at the end of January, not 0-3 as I reported.) That leaves 3 games to go. Two of my opponents haven't moved in over a month, which is annoying. The other game should finish up pretty soon.
For the month, I was 9-5 in 19x19 games. I was 8-8 in 13x13 games and 0-1 in my lone 9x9 game.
In the real world, I've signed up for a tournament in a couple of weeks -- but it looks like I should save that for a later post.
Monday, February 20, 2006
Call Me Diamond Jon?
In my continuing quest to achieve "elite" status with Hilton, I finally made it to diamond level. This has a few advantages over my previous gold level. I get a 50% bonus on points (as opposed to 25%), better treatment at European Hiltons (so I hear), and perhaps most importantly, no blackout dates on award stays.
Hilton recently implemented a "rolling" qualification method for their elite levels. It boils down to a requirement of posting 60 or more nights in 13 months. A key here is the word "posting." If you stay on the last day of a month, your stay won't post until the following month. But because Hilton gives you 13 months instead of 12, you can't really complain to them.
I ended up posting 60 nights between February 2005 and this month. I added it up, and that comes from 19 nights in the UK, 14 nights in San Diego, 10 nights in Minnesota, 6 nights in Paris, 6 nights in San Juan, 2 nights in South Carolina, and one night each in Louisiana, New York, and Maryland.
Maryland? Yes, Maryland. I knew I needed one last night to qualify for Diamond, so last weekend, Ben, Martin and I braved the snowstorm for an evening of gaming at the Embassy Suites BWI. A week later, the stay posted, and voila, I was diamond.
I don't expect to see much difference in upcoming stays -- the 50% point bonus will be nice, but right now I've got Hilton points coming out of my ears. The lack of blackout dates will be very handy when Christina and I plan our next vacation -- I will just need to secure free plane tickets, and then away we go. And I'm looking forward to seeing if the new status scores me some upgrades when I go to Europe in April.
Hilton recently implemented a "rolling" qualification method for their elite levels. It boils down to a requirement of posting 60 or more nights in 13 months. A key here is the word "posting." If you stay on the last day of a month, your stay won't post until the following month. But because Hilton gives you 13 months instead of 12, you can't really complain to them.
I ended up posting 60 nights between February 2005 and this month. I added it up, and that comes from 19 nights in the UK, 14 nights in San Diego, 10 nights in Minnesota, 6 nights in Paris, 6 nights in San Juan, 2 nights in South Carolina, and one night each in Louisiana, New York, and Maryland.
Maryland? Yes, Maryland. I knew I needed one last night to qualify for Diamond, so last weekend, Ben, Martin and I braved the snowstorm for an evening of gaming at the Embassy Suites BWI. A week later, the stay posted, and voila, I was diamond.
I don't expect to see much difference in upcoming stays -- the 50% point bonus will be nice, but right now I've got Hilton points coming out of my ears. The lack of blackout dates will be very handy when Christina and I plan our next vacation -- I will just need to secure free plane tickets, and then away we go. And I'm looking forward to seeing if the new status scores me some upgrades when I go to Europe in April.
Friday, February 03, 2006
Go: January in Review
To pace myself on my Go updates, and because the rating graphs naturally break into month, I'm switching to monthly updates of my Go ranking. I started January in the low 22 kyu range, briefly dropped to 25 kyu, before bouncing back to low 23 kyu. Actually, that bounceback happened on Feb. 1, so I'm not sure how this graph is drawn. Not counting that last win, I was 8-12 in rated games in January, which accounted for the rating drop. My best two wins were a very close win on an even game versus a French 21-kyu player, and a 9-handicap game versus an American 13-kyu player. The 13-kyu player actually resigned the game after making a mistake, but suggested I was playing much better than my rank. Of course, that would not explain my worst loss, an even game versus a Belgian 25-kyu.
I'm 0-3 in the Dragon Tourney, which is unfortunate. I hope not to get completely shut out, which I think would be good, given that I am the lowest ranked player in my pool.
All in all, the drop of a kyu or so in January wasn't too bad. I had climbed fairly rapidly at the end of last year, and I'm happy to see I'm still hanging out in the low twenties. My goal is to maintain this and make a push for the teens (aka DDK). Once that happens, I get to change my description for "beginner" to "advanced beginner".
I have a bunch of Go books to read right now that look really helpful. I've discovered, however, that when I'm casting about for something to read, it's easier to pick up a science fiction book than one of the Go books, which are almost like textbooks. So I'll probably slow down on the science fiction and turn more to the Go books.
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Comment
Well, a couple of weeks after I turned off comments on new posts, I received my first comment in quite some time. This has inspired me to return comments, at least for now. I have the comments set up as moderated, so I shouldn't have the problems I had before with spam or obscenities.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Sunday, January 29, 2006
The F-Car
Greetings from San Diego, where we're driving around in a surprisingly nice Ford Fusion. The Ford Fusion runs really quietly, has leather seats, and even comes with a V-6. But that's not the car that inspired this post.
The car in question was some sort of Pontiac. When Avis dropped us off at our car (no going to the counter for me!), I went to the driver's side to locate the trunk release. I noticed a rather significant scratch running along most of the length of the car. My first thought was to make sure the damage was noted on the rental agreement. My second thought was, "Hey, that's a word..." The F-word, in fact.
We scooted to the counter and indicated that I wasn't looking to make quite so bold of a statement when I showed up for the meetings tomorrow. The counter guy was very shocked and expressed his opinion that people who damage cars should be treated like horse thieves. OK. Anyway, I have no complaints with the car we ended up with. In past years, I've gotten a convertible, but it's a little cold for it this time of year. The sun roof does just as well.
The car in question was some sort of Pontiac. When Avis dropped us off at our car (no going to the counter for me!), I went to the driver's side to locate the trunk release. I noticed a rather significant scratch running along most of the length of the car. My first thought was to make sure the damage was noted on the rental agreement. My second thought was, "Hey, that's a word..." The F-word, in fact.
We scooted to the counter and indicated that I wasn't looking to make quite so bold of a statement when I showed up for the meetings tomorrow. The counter guy was very shocked and expressed his opinion that people who damage cars should be treated like horse thieves. OK. Anyway, I have no complaints with the car we ended up with. In past years, I've gotten a convertible, but it's a little cold for it this time of year. The sun roof does just as well.
Saturday, January 28, 2006
NTN update
It's been almost two years since I gave an NTN update. Last time I checked, I was at #18 on the Santa Fe Cafe's National Trivia Network rankings.
Now I'm up to #17, but it's not through playing a lot. More likely, someone ahead of me switched to another location. I played for the first time in a while last Sunday at Joe Senser's in Bloomington. I did pretty well, even making it into that site's top 10 for the month.
Now I'm up to #17, but it's not through playing a lot. More likely, someone ahead of me switched to another location. I played for the first time in a while last Sunday at Joe Senser's in Bloomington. I did pretty well, even making it into that site's top 10 for the month.
Saturday, January 21, 2006
No Comment
I've turned off comments on this blog. I set them up a year and a half ago and only received a handful -- mostly spam or anonymous obnoxious comments. I set the comments as moderated to discourage the latter, but recently I have received no comments. It clutters up the look of the blog a little bit, so bye-bye comments.
In general, if you have anything to say to me, feel free to e-mail me. I'm happy to post feedback, but it appears to be an unusual enough event to merit perhaps its own post.
In general, if you have anything to say to me, feel free to e-mail me. I'm happy to post feedback, but it appears to be an unusual enough event to merit perhaps its own post.
Friday, January 20, 2006
Mahabalipuram
I promised last month to share my pictures from Mahabalipuram in India. Here ya go.
The first picture is from a set of monuments known as "Five Rathas". It was worth the price of admission ($5 for foreigners) to get away from the very agressive vendors trying to sell stone carvings, postcards and copies of the Kama Sutra ("very wicky-wicky", one assured me).
The second set of monuments we saw was the "Shore Temple". I especially liked this one for its setting on the Indian Ocean.
The final set included the "Descent of the Ganges", which is apparently the world's largest bas-relief. Like all of these stone carvings, it dates from approximately the seventh century AD.
Near the Descent of the Ganges is a rock known as "Butterball." It was placed there by Krishna as a prank.
The first picture is from a set of monuments known as "Five Rathas". It was worth the price of admission ($5 for foreigners) to get away from the very agressive vendors trying to sell stone carvings, postcards and copies of the Kama Sutra ("very wicky-wicky", one assured me).
The second set of monuments we saw was the "Shore Temple". I especially liked this one for its setting on the Indian Ocean.
The final set included the "Descent of the Ganges", which is apparently the world's largest bas-relief. Like all of these stone carvings, it dates from approximately the seventh century AD.
Near the Descent of the Ganges is a rock known as "Butterball." It was placed there by Krishna as a prank.
Friday, January 13, 2006
Nebula update
When I last checked in with my Nebula-reading project, I had read 22 out of 41 novels. On our recent trip to Arizona, I read 2 more.
This first book in the Heechee series is one of the best that I've read recently. The structure of the book alternates between chapters in which the protagonist, older, looks back on his adventures in conversations with a robot psychiatrist and chapters in which he recounts the adventures themselves. Hmm, which chapters do you think work better?
Where Pohl shines in this novel is the unique world he has created. In the next century or two, humankind has discovered the remains of an ancient civilization -- the Heechee. Furthermore, we have discovered their interstellar, faster-than-light spaceships -- but we don't really know how to steer them. So "prospectors" go out on missions to unknown, and likely deadly, destinations in search of Heechee technology.
Good stuff!
Reading Robert J. Sawyer's other work helped convince me of problems with the Hugo process. Since I was happier with the Nebulas I was surprised to see one of his novels on this list.
I will give the Nebulas this -- they gave the award to a 2-star book rather than a 1-star one. But, man, this guy can't write as well as he thinks he can.
Not so good stuff.
1977: Gateway
This first book in the Heechee series is one of the best that I've read recently. The structure of the book alternates between chapters in which the protagonist, older, looks back on his adventures in conversations with a robot psychiatrist and chapters in which he recounts the adventures themselves. Hmm, which chapters do you think work better?Where Pohl shines in this novel is the unique world he has created. In the next century or two, humankind has discovered the remains of an ancient civilization -- the Heechee. Furthermore, we have discovered their interstellar, faster-than-light spaceships -- but we don't really know how to steer them. So "prospectors" go out on missions to unknown, and likely deadly, destinations in search of Heechee technology.
Good stuff!
1995: The Terminal Experiment
Reading Robert J. Sawyer's other work helped convince me of problems with the Hugo process. Since I was happier with the Nebulas I was surprised to see one of his novels on this list.
I will give the Nebulas this -- they gave the award to a 2-star book rather than a 1-star one. But, man, this guy can't write as well as he thinks he can.
"Pseudo was about fifty, and as slim as the Leafs' chances in the Stanley Cup."
Not so good stuff.
Sunday, January 08, 2006
Go Up, Go Down
After a shaky start, my December go experience turned out rather well. I finished 18 more games in the rest of December -- I'll skip the game-by-game recap. I was 14-4, although two of the wins were in unrated games and two were in games that didn't count because the opponent never showed back up after the first 4 stones were placed.
So 10-4 in rated games was enough to send me briefly to the heights of 22 kyu.
I am, however, 2-4 in 2006, with all the games rated. These losses included three that should have been close to even for a 25kyu player. As a result, I'm now hanging on the upper edges of 25 kyu myself.
The new year also brought the start of Dragon Tourney 2006, an on-line tournament that I had forgotten I signed up for. I'm the lowest rated player in my bracket. It's a reduced-handicap tournament, so I find myself at a little bit of a disadvantage in most of the games. (Conversely, losses will affect my rating less and wins more.)
I brought some go books out here to Arizona to read on vacation, but I've mostly been sticking with science fiction so far. I guess if I want to get back to 22 kyu, I should probably crack the books open.
Saturday, January 07, 2006
Wiki Wiki Spoils the Tzatziki
I want to say a few words about the Wikipedia phenomenon, but first a few words about the difficulty of coming up with an good, original blog post title. (Here, clearly, I went for original over good.)
My first thought when writing about Wikipedia and the whole wiki phenomenon was to make a reference to the Will Smith version of the song "Wild Wild West", in which he repeats something which sounds a lot like "Wiki Wiki Wild." However, googling "Wiki Wiki Wild" shows me quite a number of people have thought of that reference before.
Instead, I went for the obscure. Learning that wiki comes from the Hawaiian word for "quick", I thought of a sign I had seen on my ride from the Chennai airport to my hotel.
Hurry, quick, same thing -- right? I only needed a food word to rhyme with wiki. After a while, I came up with tzatziki. See -- this blogging thing isn't as easy as you might think.
Anyway, I've recently become interested in the 'wiki' phenomenon. For those of you not familiar with it, the basic idea is a web site that anybody can edit. The most well-known one is Wikipedia, which is an on-line encyclopedia. There are other, similar, sites, such as Wikinews. The one that intrigues me the most is Wikitravel. I love travel guidebooks, but I think there's a lot to be said for the energy of web surfers in keeping things up-to-date and in detailing obscure locations.
The main beef I have with the wiki sites is that anybody can edit it. You don't generally even need an account. So if you visited the site between 6:17 and 6:19 PM on January 3rd, you saw this version of the page, which proclaimed, "He is a complete asshat."
The fact that a quick-reacting wikipedian reverted to a previous version in 2 minutes is good evidence for why Wikipedia works better than I thought it would. On the other hand, contributing to Wikipedia seems to involve a lot of patrolling for vandalism.
Because I want to learn about this new "technology", I've been playing around with Wikipedia and Wikitravel. I think the latter will hold my interest more in the long term. I have had some fun updating Wikipedia's Redskins pages, but I am not too interested in disputes about whether or not "Coach Janky Spanky" is "encycolopedic".
I'm going to try adding my 2006 travel experiences to Wikitravel. For example, last night we went to Nonna Maria's Pizza for dinner to celebrate my mother's birthday, and I added that restaurant to the skeletal Arizona page. Eventually, there may be a more specific page to move that to.
I'll probably have more to say about the wiki phenomenon in coming weeks.
My first thought when writing about Wikipedia and the whole wiki phenomenon was to make a reference to the Will Smith version of the song "Wild Wild West", in which he repeats something which sounds a lot like "Wiki Wiki Wild." However, googling "Wiki Wiki Wild" shows me quite a number of people have thought of that reference before.
Instead, I went for the obscure. Learning that wiki comes from the Hawaiian word for "quick", I thought of a sign I had seen on my ride from the Chennai airport to my hotel.
Hurry, quick, same thing -- right? I only needed a food word to rhyme with wiki. After a while, I came up with tzatziki. See -- this blogging thing isn't as easy as you might think.
Anyway, I've recently become interested in the 'wiki' phenomenon. For those of you not familiar with it, the basic idea is a web site that anybody can edit. The most well-known one is Wikipedia, which is an on-line encyclopedia. There are other, similar, sites, such as Wikinews. The one that intrigues me the most is Wikitravel. I love travel guidebooks, but I think there's a lot to be said for the energy of web surfers in keeping things up-to-date and in detailing obscure locations.
The main beef I have with the wiki sites is that anybody can edit it. You don't generally even need an account. So if you visited the site between 6:17 and 6:19 PM on January 3rd, you saw this version of the page, which proclaimed, "He is a complete asshat."
The fact that a quick-reacting wikipedian reverted to a previous version in 2 minutes is good evidence for why Wikipedia works better than I thought it would. On the other hand, contributing to Wikipedia seems to involve a lot of patrolling for vandalism.
Because I want to learn about this new "technology", I've been playing around with Wikipedia and Wikitravel. I think the latter will hold my interest more in the long term. I have had some fun updating Wikipedia's Redskins pages, but I am not too interested in disputes about whether or not "Coach Janky Spanky" is "encycolopedic".
I'm going to try adding my 2006 travel experiences to Wikitravel. For example, last night we went to Nonna Maria's Pizza for dinner to celebrate my mother's birthday, and I added that restaurant to the skeletal Arizona page. Eventually, there may be a more specific page to move that to.
I'll probably have more to say about the wiki phenomenon in coming weeks.
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
World of Wonders
An organization called "The New 7 Wonders Foundation" has produced a "short list" of 21 candidates for a new list of seven wonders of the world. They're taking votes this year, and will announce the winners on January 1, 1997. From that list, here are my seven choices. I'm not wedded to these, but I gave it a little bit of thought.
I tried to stay away from ruins that are mostly interesting just because they're "ruins." Still, four of these sites are ruins. Stonehenge looks back to some of the earliest civilization. The Pyramids are a classic...I figure if you can survive from the original list, you deserve to stay on. The Colosseum and the Great Wall serve as representatives of two of the great civilizations of ancient times. In more modern times, the Taj Mahal is a stunning piece of architecture that combines Muslim and Hindu influences. Finally, the Statue of Liberty and Christ Redeemer capture what we do these days: build really big things to represent ideas -- in this case, freedom and religion, two ideas that have been at the center of human thought the past few decades.
What are your top 7? Feel free to comment below.
And I feel compelled to mention I've only seen 4 of the 21 candidates, which probably does not leave me 100% qualified to judge.
- Christ Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro
- Colosseum, Rome
- Great Wall, China
- Pyramids, Giza
- Statue of Liberty, New York
- Stonehenge, England
- Taj Mahal, India
I tried to stay away from ruins that are mostly interesting just because they're "ruins." Still, four of these sites are ruins. Stonehenge looks back to some of the earliest civilization. The Pyramids are a classic...I figure if you can survive from the original list, you deserve to stay on. The Colosseum and the Great Wall serve as representatives of two of the great civilizations of ancient times. In more modern times, the Taj Mahal is a stunning piece of architecture that combines Muslim and Hindu influences. Finally, the Statue of Liberty and Christ Redeemer capture what we do these days: build really big things to represent ideas -- in this case, freedom and religion, two ideas that have been at the center of human thought the past few decades.
What are your top 7? Feel free to comment below.
And I feel compelled to mention I've only seen 4 of the 21 candidates, which probably does not leave me 100% qualified to judge.
Monday, January 02, 2006
Tips for successful blogging
My friend Martin has started up his own blog recently, and in his honor, I offer the following tip:
More tips as events warrant.
- If you don't have anything to blog about, link to somebody else's blog.
More tips as events warrant.
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