Tuesday, September 25, 2007

How to pick up girls

I could say... why didn't I ever think of that? But instead I think I'll just throw up. Now, for your enjoyment, here's an excerpt:

We kept walking toward the car. "Dad," he said, did you know that Alex put a BOOGER between his TOES to attract the girls?"There was a dramatic pause."And it WORKED!" he shouted.

Thank you to Bill Harris at dubiousquality. You've made my day!

Ed.

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Perfect Stranger

I watched Perfect Stranger with Halle Berry and Bruce Willis last night. Overall I didn't like it very much. But I got bored staring at my computer playing WOW. All I was doing was standing in the middle of Stormwind City. That's it. Just standing. Finally I decided that it wasn't so much fun. Turns out it would have been more fun than watching that movie.

Enjoy your Thursday - final update on the tournament still coming...

Ed.

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Blades of Glory

More to come soon on the tournament, but I just wanted to say that I watches Blades of Glory the other day. If you haven't seen it, you'll probably either love it or hate it. I thought it was funny in a completely stupid sort of way. Which is probably why I liked it.

Time to get to work...

Ed.

Saturday - Rounds 1 and 2

The first day is quickly coming to a close, and I’m starting to get a headache. Because of the games I find it difficult to eat at normal times. Eric and I went out to the Macaroni Grill this afternoon after our first game. I had a Chicken Caesar Salad and some water. It was actually quite good, though it did have a bit of an aftertaste. What doesn’t? Hmm… Unfortunately the tables had a paper tablecloth on them. While eating I proceeded to give myself 3 paper cuts on my hands. I am not so pleased about that.

Eric was going to drive back and forth from Vermont if he couldn’t find anyone to room with. So, guess what? He’s playing in the Under 1600 section and doing very well. So far he has 2 wins after 2 rounds. As for me, well, I wish I could say I was doing so well.

I’ve been having a few problems. The biggest problem is that I’m moving a little too fast. The other is that I feel very stressed. I can’t get work out of my head. There’s just too much to do. I brought some work with me but I haven’t started any of it yet. So I also feel a bit guilty about that. The final issue, or at least the final issue that I’ll talk about, is that I feel I’m playing a bit too passively. I did a little better in the second game, but overall I’m holding back a bit too much.

Ok, on to my games!

[Event "2007 New York State Championship"]
[Site "Albany, NY (Mariott)"]
[Date "2007.09.01"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Kordsmeier, Nolan"]
[Black "Borowski, Edwin"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D13"]
[WhiteElo "1802"]
[BlackElo "1953"]
[Annotator ""]
[Source ""]
[Remark ""]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.Bf4 Qb6 7.Rc1
Bg4 8.Ne5 Nxe5 9.dxe5 Ne4 10.Nxe4 dxe4 11.Qa4+ Bd7 12.Qxe4 Bc6
13.Qc2 Qa5+ 14.Qc3 Qxa2 15.e4 Qa4 16.f3 e6 17.Bd2 Rd8 18.Qc4
Qxc4 19.Bxc4 Be7 20.Ke2 Rxd2+ 21.Kxd2 Bg5+ 22.Kc3 Bxc1 23.Rxc1
Ke7 24.Rd1 Rd8 25.Rxd8 Kxd8 26.Kd4 Kc7 27.g3 Kb6 28.f4 Bd7 29.f5
g5 30.h3 Kc6 31.h4 gxh4 32.gxh4 b6 33.f6 b5 34.Be2 a5 35.Bh5
Be8 36.Be2 a4 37.Bd1 Kb6 38.b4 axb3 39.Bxb3 Bd7 40.Bd1 Be8 41.Bb3
Kc6 42.Bd1 Kb6 43.Bb3 Bd7 {Draw Agreed.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "2007 New York State Championship"]
[Site "Albany, NY (Mariott)"]
[Date "2007.09.01"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Borowski, Edwin"]
[Black "Marcus, Neil"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A47"]
[WhiteElo "1953"]
[BlackElo "1845"]
[Annotator ""]
[Source ""]
[Remark ""]

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bf4 b6 4.e3 Bb7 5.Bd3 g6 6.Nbd2 Bg7 7.c3
d6 8.Qc2 Nbd7 9.e4 Nh5 10.Bg3 Nxg3 11.hxg3 Qe7 12.Nb3 O-O-O 13.Qe2
Nb8 14.a4 a6 15.Nbd2 Rde8 16.b4 f5 17.e5 d5 18.Nb3 Qd7 19.a5
b5 20.Nc5 Qc6 21.Nd2 h6 22.O-O-O Nd7 23.Ndb3 Nxc5 24.dxc5 Qd7
25.Nd4 c6 26.f4 h5 27.Rh2 Kb8 28.Rdh1 Bh6 29.Kb2 Ref8 30.Qf2
Rh7 31.Qc2 Rfh8 32.Qf2 Kc7 33.Rh3 Qf7 34.Be2 Bc8 35.Bd1 {Draw Agreed.}
1/2-1/2

After the game Neil and I went into the skittles room to take a look at it. Nothing definitive came out of that, but it was fun to look at other possible variations. After looking over it for a few with the computer I’ll hold to my initial assessments – I’m still playing a bit too passively.

Saturday, September 01, 2007

2007 New York State Championship: The Beginning

The first round starts in about 20 minutes! I'm hoping things slow down a bit for me soon, but it doesn't seem like that's going to happen. My mind is racing. I'm hoping once I start playing I'm able to detach at least for the game. Since Larry had to back out at the last minute, this adventure is mine and mine alone!

The ride took a little over 2 hours, and I got here around 9:30pm last night. The stupid GPS kept falling off my windshield, so I was starting to flip out a little bit as I'd get close to the exits I needed. I didn't take directions because I had it with me. Luckily, it worked out ok - and the GPS is very cool. I just have to learn to do a better job attaching it. From there I checked in, signed up for the tournament, bought a new clock and board, then finally headed back to the room and ordered room service. It was 10:30 by then. I've been wanting a new "roll-up" board and digital clock for a long time now, so it was good to finally buy it. Unfortunately I really had no choice. I somehow lost my chess clock over the last few weeks. I also lost my nice wooden set. I still have my wooden board, but the set disappeared. I must have forgotten it somewhere.

My Internet access runs out at noon. It's basically $10 for every 24 hours. Noon to Noon. I'll get it at least once more, but that may be it depending on how busy it gets. So I'll at least have another update out here with some status. I feel OK with how I've been playing the last week or so, so it'll be good to see how that translates to the tournament. It's definitely a different atmosphere, and everyone always seems to be at their best. Well, almost everyone!

I have a picture of my new board/clock that I'm hoping to put up later. Other than that, we'll see how it goes.

Hope you're all having a great start to the weekend!

Ed.