Major League Baseball Memorial Day Holiday

I kind of wonder why 1/3 of Major League Baseball has an off day this Memorial Day holiday. Whether or not it's in-line with the "true meaning" of the holiday, I would think that a holday at the start of the unofficial US summer would be a great day for fans to catch a game at the ballpark or on TV. I'm sure there's a business reason for it, but I can't figure it out.

Chess

Since Daichi has been here, we've been playing chess several times per week. He says that he learned how to play chess after he arrived, so if that's the case, he plays very well for someone who's only played chess for about a month.

I played chess some when I was in high school. I was on the high school chess club, but I hesitate to say that I played chess a lot since I was never very interested in studying the game much beyond just playing it. I always said that rather than plan ahead, I just always made what looked like a good move at the time. Some of my friends played chess in college, but I rarely played then. My casual attitude towards the game meant that they had improved more than I had, and whereas we would play evenly in high school, I would always lose in college. Since then I've occasionally played chess with my wife and others, but not a whole lot. I've also played some on Yahoo! Games, but in recent years, I've been more interested in improving my go, so I am not consistently crushed in that game when I play online. (But I'm still always crushed in go, unless I find someone who has never played before.)

Back to high school chess club: I was probably at least partially in it for its geeky social nature, although I don't think I was heavily involved in the chess piece battles (that is, actually throwing the chess pieces at each other) or anything like that. I do think I was involved in a game of Aerial Bughouse that resulted in Mr Luikart ending his advisorship (and thus the club for a while). I think he called it "Screw Off Club, not Chess Club" or something.

Anyway, back to the present: I think Daichi's chess is improving. But I also think that my chess is improving. Or at least my chess is a little different. I think I'm better at knight play now than when I was in high school, and "seeing" where my (or my opponent's) knights can be in a few moves just seems easier and more natural to me. Also, I seem to be able to better see, put pressure on, and attack critical spaces on the board, and not just my opponent's pieces.

I'm probably a worse chess player in other ways, so at least my chess is a little different.

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I recently heard an amusing anecdote from a sports radio announcer. I don't know who it was. He was describing a recent interview with former boxing champ Mike Tyson. The announcer mentioned to Tyson that he had just returned from Iceland:
Tyson: Iceland? What were you doing there?
Radio Dude: I was interviewing Bobby Fischer.
Tyson: Bobby Fischer?? That guy's crazy!

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One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster...

Part-Time Work, Back to Bite Me

Do you remember the part-time work I did last fall? Well, neither did I, at least not when I filed my tax return. I've remembered it now, and so I need to go back and file amended tax returns with the relatively small amount of additional money added. It's one thing to render therefore unto Washington the things which are Washington's, but the paperwork is the thing that bugs me!

Pregnant Action Figures

My wife informed me that there's a new pregnant Padmé Star Wars action figure for Episode 3. I'm sure that this isn't a "spoiler" for anyone. As Ashley pointed out in a comment here, the fact that she's pregnant doesn't come as a surprise to anyone marginally familiar with the Star Wars saga.

Anyway, my wife mentioned that she saw one of these in a store, and thought it was really funny. Personally, I think it's kind of neat. Why can't a pregnant woman with a blaster raise some dust every now and then? It may exist, but I've never heard of a pregnant Barbie^® doll. All-in-all, I think we need more pregnant roll models. So, it seems like a good idea to me.

Also, guess who's getting one of the below for her upcoming birthday. (Since she never reads my blog, it's OK to mention it here!)

Star Wars Prediction

I haven't seen it yet, but wouldn't it be a hoot if we discover that Darth Vader is really not Luke Skywalker's father?

Phone Considerations

We're considering getting a second mobile phone to share between my spouse and me. We've had one since 2000, along with the land-line at home. If we do get a second mobile phone, I don't think we'd need the land-line anymore, so I'd strongly consider dropping that -- I probably would. It doesn't seem like it's a good time to be a non-wireless service provider.

I don't use the telephone much anyway. I always say that if someone has something important to tell me, they'll send e-mail.

How To Make a 6-Mile Ride Seem Short

Today, I stopped at a store after work, and noticed that the car's radiator was leaking antifreeze. Since I recently had the cooling system fixed (for major money) I decided that now would be a good time for the shop to take a look at the car and fix it right this time. As I usually do when I need to take a car to the shop, I loaded the bike into it, drove to the mechanic, and bicycled back home. The ride home was about 9 or 10 km. I admit that I didn't set any speed records this evening, but the distance didn't seem long at all.

Maybe that's because yesterday I did the second half of the Tour of (One Half of) the Scioto River Valley (TOSRV). Yes, I'm lazy and I only do the half-tour, which ends up being a little less than 55 miles a day for two days. It was the best of TOSRVs; it was the worst of TOSRVs. This is the third consecutive year that I did the half tour, and I say that because of a few reasons:

• At mile 7, my son telephoned me and asked if he could play on the computer. Not that this was a bad thing, but as I sometimes say, I would have expected that he'd be able to use his own discretion in answering that question.
• At mile 11, my chain broke as I was switching into low gear while pedelling hard for an uphill climb. I got that fixed with the aid of my handy-dandy chain tool and two passing cyclists who offered moral support (and good advice). But, I was the only one who got his hands dirty.
• In Portsmouth, I got a flat tire right at the park at the end of the ride -- an amazingly fortunate place to get a flat. I switched to my spare tube, and used Chris' pump (of Chris' Cycle Works) to inflate my tire, since the most important supply I don't have is a pump. That lasted me until the pickup location for my luggage. As it was within sight (as I was rolling), I heard PSSST, PSSST, Pssst, Pssst, Pssst, pssst, pssst, pssst, and I knew I was in trouble.
• And, for the first 25 miles (or really, miles 10-25) I didn't feel all that good. I probably hadn't ridden enough this year in preparation, and I wasn't enjoying myself at all.

But it was also a good TOSRV:

• After the Lake White rest stop, I started to feel better. By the time I got to Portsmouth, I didn't feel bad at all.
• As always, I spent the night at the home of the parents of a former college roommate, and had a pleasant evening, a delicious dinner, and a nice bed.
• While there, I patched the tube and filled the tire, and it gave me no problems on Sunday.
• The Sunday ride was very nice. I was never in a hurry, and I didn't feel too tired or in any sort of hurry to get it over with. I just enjoyed the ride. It was probably the most pleasant day of my 6 TOSRV days, coming after the worst half-day (at least) of the riding of a TOSRV.

Here are a few photos. First, here I am as I am about to leave the Lake White rest stop on Saturday. I am starting to feel better -- when I arrived I didn't even bother to ask anyone to take my picture -- I only asked someone as I was leaving. I cropped all but a few pixels of my very non-professional biker-looking socks.

Here's my bike on the Portsmouth Flood Wall:


Here's the fog when leaving Portsmouth on Sunday morning. It soon lifted into a beautiful day.


And to prove I felt good when it was all done, I finally stopped in Circleville for a photo of the Pickaway County Courthouse. Someday, I'll have to redo my web page of county courthouse photos.

My First External Blog Entry

Due to being on vacation, the proprietor of the djl zone was unable to post the message he wanted to today, and asked me to do it. I was excited and honoured to be given authority to post to someone else's blog, instead of just my own. Actually, he just said that he wanted a photo posted, and gave me the freedom to add any words I felt appropriate. Actually, I had difficulties with the Greymatter interface. It seemed to only allow lines of a certain length, and then would add [BR] tags at the end of each line. All-in-all, it was a little annoying, but I hope the result treats the subject with the appropriate respect.

Here's the post: Remember May 4, 1970

I had wanted to add the following Wikipedia link, but wasn't able to get the HTML to work out: Kent State shootings.

Big-Time Big-Money College Football

I just passed up the opportunity to buy two tickets to see my favorite big-time college football team play a home game against a conference opponent. At a face value of $61 per ticket, they're finally "too rich for my blood". What else could I do with $122? I could:

• Feed some homeless people for a long time.
• Feed my family for a long time.
• Invest it in my retirement account and have lots of money when I retire.
• Probably a lot of other good stuff. If you have any ideas, leave a comment.
  

So, I'll just watch the game on TV.

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Big money goes around the world...