Douglas L Stewart

This past summer I played in a regular rated chess tournament (a team event) for the first time in 8 years. Last time I took a long break (although not this long), it took me about 9 months to put my game back together. I'm about 5 months in this time and while my results aren't showing it yet, I can tell I'm starting to figure some things out. My confidence is definitely improving, but I don't have any swagger yet. Might take good results to bring that back. After such a long layoff, just remembering to make your moves properly, write down your moves, and hit your clock is a challenge. Some things have definitely changed that I'm adjusting to. The fashions in openings are quite different. A lot of white systems seem to feature a queenside fianchetto (b3), which didn't seem to make many appearances in the past. In my last tournament someone even did that in an open Sicilian. Also games are now played more often with an increment instead of a delay. Going from a...

A year or so ago I thought I got a good deal on a fridge.  Home Depot had a black Samsung fridge similar to the one my parents have.  The board had blown on it and had been replaced - it was otherwise new.  I think I got it for about $700 or so, which was hundreds of dollars below the retail price. Well I don't know if there was anything wrong with my fridge or not, but I seem to be running into some typical Samsung problems. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20111015192110AAzZvbS http://www.consumeraffairs.com/homeowners/samsung_refrigerator.html The fan started making noise because it's hitting ice.  Right now we've put everything in a cooler and the outside fridge and we're waiting for it to cool down.  I have a feeling this is going to become an annual event.

Now that I have a Macbook Air, I have a passing fancy in WINE again.  I had tried out WINE recently possibly for the first time since the 90's. I find it interesting that in some ways, application support is as shaky as it was in the old days.  It makes some sense though when you think about it.  Windows is always changing!  These days everything is through an installer and you have 64-bit support to deal with, etc. I wonder how virtualization of Windows affects interest in WINE.  Why try to mimic it when you can just run it?  Currently I have VMWare Fusion with the Windows 8 Consumer Preview.  Eventually I'll have to bit the bullet and just buy a full expensive Windows 8 license, but I'm getting by for now. Chess Openings Wizard is the application I've had the most success with.  I would say it as a Silver according to the AppDB standards.  Not quite good enough to stop running it through virtualization.

My brother is back in town to visit for Thanksgiving. Connor got to hang out with him all day and play. Tonight we're continuing our George Lucas movie tour. Connor's already seen all the Star Wars movies and is now working his way through Indiana Jones.

My new iMac has renewed my interest in doing a little programming in my free time. It's not hard to understand - a slick new computer with a 24" screen and UN IX underneath - what's not to love? I downloaded Eclipse and it seems to work very well. I thought I would try a little application programming in Java. I've dabbled with Java over the years and I figured it was time to re-visit it. I found a library called Chesspresso that is LPGL . I've got a little to show for it so far - although obviously I don't have it picking up piece images very well just yet and the pieces aren't moveable. I'm working on downloading the iPhone SDK so I can play with that. Meanwhile I'm listening to "The Stage Names" and "The Stand Ins" from Okkervil River .

Coke drinking in te Obama administration - http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1882167,00.html I would say Facebook is winning the battle over Twitter to get people to use it to post their status updates.  if there was a tool that pushed Facebook updates to Twitter I would use it. I figured out how to push pictures taken on my iPhone to Facebook.  the Facebook app is awesome.  Flickr better get something similar set up.

I am now the proud owner of an iPhone.  The SIM in my Motorola RAZR 3 died a few weeks back.  Rather than replace my SIM for $6, I decided to buy a $300 iPhone that has 16g of memory and supports 3G.  I've really been enjoying it - listening to a lot of podcasts and watching video podcasts. Connor has totally given up on Thomas and Friends and now is a huge Transformers fan.  I remember liking Transformers and owning all of the Constructicons .  I really I bought them slowly over a long period of time, probably when I was around 12.  I might have owned one other Transformers - that's about all I could afford.  On the other hand Connor is 5 and has 4 models of just Optimus Prime and a host of other Transformers.  Times have changed ... Yesterday we had our first soccer game of the new season.  The previous weekend we had a washout.  Our coach was gone, so as assistant coach I had to get the game managed.  We play on two different fields  at this age group as 3 on 3, but one of t...

I was going through some old pictures I'd taken on my camera phone and ran across a couple I'd taken when visting the former site of the  Summers Hotel and Subway Lounge .  I noticed there was no Wikipedia page for it, so the link is to the page I created.  First time I tried creating a Wikipedia page, although I made an edit to the U-Verse page once that has since been removed after seeing an article in the Clarion Ledger  that the service was coming to Jackson. I actually only went to the Subway Lounge once.  Jeff showed me the place back probably sometime in the 1998-2000 timeframe. I remember back when they were wanting to tear it down there was an effort to save it, ultimately unsuccessful that made the papers. I found a blog entry of someone from back in 2005 that said Subway Lounge would be re-opening as part of the Farish Street Entertainment District, which was the first time I'd heard that.  I've also heard that a B.B. King Blues Bar would be there, and I dou...

I've played David Kernell in several chess tournaments over the years. According to my database of games we've played 6 times with an even record of 2 wins, 2 losses, and 2 draws. [Event "Oxford Open"] [Site "Oxford, MS"] [Date "2004.11.20"] [Round "3"] [White "Stewart, Douglas L"] [Black "Kernell, David"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B12"] [WhiteElo "1854"] [BlackElo "1781"] [Annotator "Stewart, Douglas"] [PlyCount "42"] [EventDate "2004.11.20"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "4"] [EventCountry "USA"] {B12: Caro-Kann: Advance Variation} 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. dxc5 Nc6 5. Nf3 ({in our meeting the following month in the Mid-South Open I tried} 5. Bb5 e6 6. Be3 Nge7 7. c3 Bd7 8. Bxc6 Nxc6 {instead}) 5... Bg4 6. Bf4 e6 7. Bb5 Bxc5 8. O-O Nge7 9. h3 Bxf3 10. Qxf3 O-O $6 11. Bxc6 (11. Qg3) 11... Nxc6 1...

I saw a movie called Sunshine yesterday that I had rented from NetFlix. It's a Sci-Fi movie from the director of Trainspotting and 28 Days Later, both of which are movies I am a fan of. I'd rented it after seeing a trailer of it on another DVD - I think it was Stormbreaker . I don't remember hearing about it when it came out, but it only did about $5.3 million in the US and didn't seem to have gone in wide release. I really enjoyed the film, although it did move a little too much in a slasher direction for the last 1/3 of the movie. It's an ensemble cast, and I recognized virtually everyone from some piece of previous work. I'm rarely disappointed with UK films or TV.

I was in a Doctor Who mood this morning, and I saw a couple of awesome videos on YouTube. Here is a spoof: Here is a trailer from Season 4 Doctor Who taken in a movie theatre:

Sarah went down to New Orleans Saturday for some kind of Mom's Club event. Connor and I dropped her off at the new Union Station in downtown Jackson. The station was very nice, although the surrounding area still looks pretty run down. I can't seem to find a website for the station, and the signs to help you navigate it were lacking. After dropping her off Connor and I hung around downtown for a while. We visited a free gallery at the Mississippi Museum of Art . That was okay for me, but not so enjoyable for a 4 year old. We tried to go to the Russell C Davis Planetarium, but they seem to have some work to do. I couldn't find an independent web site, just one of the City web site. There were no hours posted outside the building. When I went to the City web site and called they number they had to get show times, it referred me to another number which just rung forever. Connor and I went to Kiefer's downtown and had an enjoyable lunch, although it would have been n...

Yesterday I woke up after 7 AM, a little later than the day before. On the scale I was 235, a pound less than the day before. I tend to eat more sensible when I'm home rather than during the work week, because I usually just eat out at lunch during the week, or on the way home after work. I had Eggo Special K Waffles for breakfast with Smuckers Sugar Free Syrup . Sarah has some non-healthy butter coming up for expiration in November, so I splurged and used some of that. My first chore of the day was to work in the garage. I sorted through materials I have from Gordon Scott , a chess player who passed away in 2004. Gordon had copies of Chess Life magazine going back to the 70's. I contacted the US Chess Federation via email to find out if a collection that old is considered rare or not. I'd like to find a good home for the magazines - something better than my garage. Gordon has a variety of older chess books, all in descriptive notation . I could eBay them and pu...

I've got all next week off, but next weekend is the chess state championship. So I really have Saturday through Friday free. I'm going to try to be productive during that time, at least part of the time. There is definitely plenty to watch on the DVR. Yesterday I woke up before 7. On the scale I was 236, which is tied for a recent low. I made homemade french toast with some eggs that Sarah had bought and had met the 'Sell By' date. I threw away the yolk on all but one egg, which makes them considerably healthier. About the time I finished Connor woke up and I made him Eggo Eggo French Toaster Sticks . After breakfast Connor wanted to go for a walk around the neightborhood and I happened to be in the mood for that, too. It was still pre-8 AM. It was around 52 degrees at the time, so I had to find Connor some warm clothes. We broke out a new jacket (had to remove the tags). I got out some jeans that were too small (will go to Goodwill), and then I found a pair ...

If you haven't heard yet, Gary Kasparov is running to be the next President of Russia. That made me remember the one time I met him in person. In 1992 I played in the National High School Chess Championship in Lexington, Kentucky. I finished tied for 3rd through 10th, but I finished 5th on tie break. The crosstable is based on rating, not tie break order. For finishing 5th I got to have my picture taken with then World Chess Champion Kasparov. He had been invited as a special guest. This was definitely an unique opportunity to meet Kasparov, as the USSR had just collapsed the previous year. Here's an article about his entry into the Russian presidential race: ESPN.com - "Former chess world champ Kasparov enters Russian presidential race"

On September 29 the International Checker Hall of Fame was devastated by a fire. Most people may not be aware, including myself until a year or so ago, but the International Checker Hall of Fame is actually located in Petal, Mississippi. That's in the Hattiesburg area. We actually were planning on having a chess tournament there in November, but obviously those plans were canceled. Here is an article: "Former Checker Hall of Fame destroyed by fire" - Hattiesburg American

I had kind of an interesting position come up in an endgame yesterday, so I decided to make a YouTube video about it. I used my ancient Logitech QuickCam to record myself, and I used some free software called CamStudio to make screen capture from Fritz 10.

Today I started uploading videos to YouTube . I decided to upload some videos from Hurricane Katrina. Here's one that is a composite of some video footage I took at Heath's house the day Katrina rolled into town:

Last night I saw what today feels like the best episode ever of Doctor Who. The episode was Blink . It actually doesn't feature a lot of the regular cast, as they were filming two episodes at the same time. I saw a poll the other day that said that the villains from this episode, the Weeping Angels, were voted to be the best Doctor Who villain ever, surpassing the Master and the Daleks. I was confused at the time because I'd never heard of the Weeping Angels, but now I understand. Here is a YouTube video. (Sorry - they had embedding turned off.)

Is it any surprise we can't find Osama bin Laden when we can't find Steve Fossett? After all Steve Fossett is presumably near an airplane wreck, in the western United States, and isn't hiding. Over 50,000 thousand (!) volunteers have been examining high resolution satellite imagery online trying to find him. While researching this I found out from his Wikipedia entry that Steve Fossett is from the nearby state of Tennessee. He also was an Eagle Scout, which I guess shouldn't be surprising.