Solochess

2006-05-18T12:14:00.000-07:00

create your own visited countries map or vertaling Duits Nederlands

2006-03-08T11:47:00.000-08:00

Soul and FreedomI found a sentence by the writer Chitra Fernando, which I think applies very nicely to myself as well.“India gave me my soul, but the US gave me my freedom”, and added: “Without that freedom my soul would have shrivelled”. With apologies to Chitra Fernando.

2005-05-07T18:04:00.000-07:00

81. Freakonomics In Borders (or Barnes & Noble) I stumble upon a lot of good books, which I then try to read. Today, the title caught my eye within seconds of walking in. I picked it up, found it a compelling read and finished a whole chapter on a comfortable couch.Surprisingly, the authors seem to have an active blog going:http://www.freakonomics.com/I read a chapter titled "Why do drug dealers

2005-05-05T19:44:00.000-07:00

80. 05-05-05Three years, three months and three days ago, when I was younger and naiver, I thought that I would resign in 2002. But here I am, still pulling an 8-9 hour stint. Can't give up a supply that easily.On this Cinco de Mayo, I was reminded of that date. I didn't do anything, but it serves as a shameful reminder of what I didn't do. Sometimes it seems that the biggest disappointments are

2005-04-20T21:20:00.000-07:00

79. Honeymoon with my BrotherFinished reading this book. May not be a literary gem, but was very good. Found the sincerity of writer Franz moving. (They are making a movie of it soon.)Here are 2 essays that I really likedrunning with the pack you can count on itThe other essays (which are also very good) can be found in honeymoonwithmybrother.com

2004-11-03T21:02:00.000-08:00

78. Being a Tenant My current apartment lease has a new clause. My landlord can give us a 90-day notice and ask us to leave. The apartment office has been showing our apartment to prospective buyers, who may want to buy the unit. I really like the apartment, the rent and the proximity to work. Also, now that it's November, getting a notice would mean that we would have to pack and move in the

2004-10-24T18:14:00.000-07:00

77. Connecting with mother Two posts in one day, yes. I called my mother since it was my anniversary, and she wanted to wish us. Today, all these 1000s of miles apart, we just connected. It happens once in a while. It is not as if we normally fight about things. Usually, I quickly tell her a few things about my life and work, and she does the same. Today, she spent a good deal of time talking

2004-10-24T18:08:00.000-07:00

76. Cooking for Anniversary This really happened. Because our wedding anniversary fell on a Sunday, we slept in till 9 am. I was woken up by my wife, saying she wanted to prepare a great lunch for us. I mumbled okay and went back to sleep. A few minutes later, she woke me up again, asking if she could use the eggplant curry that I had made into a dish she was preparing. (Apparently, she needed

2004-07-09T16:44:00.000-07:00

75. The Namesake by Jhumpha Lahiri "They walked along the water to the left, heading toward the lighthouse, past rusted boat frames, fish spines as thick as pipes attached to yellow skulls, a dead gull whose feathery white breast was freshly stained with blood. ... Finally they stood by the lighthouse, exhausted, surrounded by water on three sides, pale green in the harbor, azure behind." Then

2004-07-09T15:45:00.000-07:00

74. Meaning of Life “If you love something it’s not a waste of time to do it. Doing what you love to do, whatever it is that makes time go by so fast that you don’t even realize that time is going by, THAT is the meaning of life.” -- Meg Cabot

2004-06-25T10:16:00.001-07:00

73. Marry brains! Marry brains I was reading this interview of Annie Dillard when I found this incredible piece of advice. I quote: "You learn like crazy when you’re married to someone," she said. "I keep telling my students ‘Marry brains! Marry brains!’" Quote from Annie's book The Writing Life ''One of the few things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it,

2004-05-25T21:38:00.000-07:00

72. Steve Almond My Life in Heavy Metal. It happens once a year. Maybe twice. I come across an author who is so original and inspiring and just right. Almond is one such author. How he writes about love and sex and relationships, but he transcends all that with seeming effortlessness. It is as if a newer plane of truth speaks to him, and he alone is able to divine so much more than the rest of

2004-04-18T23:13:00.000-07:00

71. Nostalgia I feel nostalgic for experiences I never had. I am feeling the pang of universal nostalgia.

2004-03-24T09:01:00.000-08:00

70. The Nature Show in Istanbul I am not much of a nature person, and thus I can't say that I witnessed too many unique and spectular displays of Nature. But there is one that is, to me, unforgettable. In the Istanbul airport, I had been getting bumped out of flights all day long. I was trying to get to Frankfurt with absolutely no luck. At one point, I had an hour and a half to kill before

2004-03-24T08:52:00.000-08:00

69. Winged Migration We watched the movie in our local library. The movie opens dramatically, with a few birds majestically floating and the camera right up there with them. Then there is a zoom out and we got the big picture. The audience was watching mesmerized. Then another close up, another zoom out. Then it happened a third time and eventually a fourth! That was when one gentleman turned

2004-03-23T07:13:00.000-08:00

Today, she said something very profound. Once there are problems in a relationship, they never go away, she said.

2004-03-16T06:34:00.000-08:00

[...] I understood that the universe couldn't care less, and that its blessings were bestowed at random. What was given could just as easily be taken away. And what was taken away could never be given back. -- Carol Lucci Wisner

2004-03-14T20:43:00.000-08:00

66. Church Signs Here's something that I might really use someday... http://www.churchsigngenerator.com/ Also the Label Maker and License plate generator are really cool.

2004-02-18T22:17:00.000-08:00

65. Baran Saw the movie today, after chasing it for nearly 2 years now. Majid the magician, though I did see his "hand" this time.

2003-12-25T16:41:00.000-08:00

64. When the wife is away In certain aspects, life is absolutely wonderful! I can spend 24 hours with myself, no problem. I eat all the things that I crave (pizza and chila and dosa and noodles and what not). I watch movies, surf, play chess to my heart's content. But when the wife is away, life is also strangely empty. There is this big void and that is something that I forget when she is

2003-12-12T22:04:00.000-08:00

63. Quote Saw this in an article called the 5 habits of Millionaires or some such... Winners focus... Loser's spray. Seemed like a good lesson for chess learning.

2003-12-05T21:57:00.000-08:00

62. More Movies It seems that I write this only after seeing movies. Which cannot be good. Today, we had Cable installed. $9.95 pm is just too good. We inaugurated this by watching one on Turner Classic Movies. The Cincinnati Kid. Starring Steve Mcqueen. Not at all bad, given that it was made in 1965.

2003-11-29T23:06:00.000-08:00

61. Movies galore A. St. Elmo's Fire B. Secrets of the Heart C. Lord of the Rings -- The Two Towers

2003-11-25T15:59:00.000-08:00

60. Prison Books like My Prison Diary (Jeffrey Archer) and True Notebooks (Mark Salzman) have created in me a mild fear which others will laugh about. I am worried that I might get accidentally incarcerated. I read the stories of inmates in both these books and in so many cases, it seems just a case of bad luck. A few minor mistakes and boom -- they are in jail.

2003-11-23T18:50:00.000-08:00

59. Yi Yi "Daddy, I can't see what you see and you can't see what I see. How can we know more than half the truth?" "I have nothing to say to Mother. I tell her the same things every day. I have so little. How can it be so little? I live a blank. If I ended up like her one day. . . ." Talking to someone in a coma, NJ observes, is like praying: You're not sure the other party can hear, and not

2003-11-22T11:58:00.000-08:00

58. Unfaithful The movie. Watched it Friday night. Gave it a rating of 7.8. A great theme, could've been handled a little better. I watched a lot of the special features in the DVD. The director Adrian Lyne was referred to as a master often. There was one piece of commentary by Diane Lane where she muses on the possible causes of the infidelity. She referred to her character not having done

2003-11-05T12:45:00.000-08:00

57. On my mind Chess and writing and chess writing for chessbase and reading Norman Mailer's The Spooky Art and then realizing that I am woefully unread in the classics no Mailer no Vonnegut no Melville no nothing and as if that is not enough there are so many Indian and South Asian novels of note waiting to be read and Jhumpa has written a new one called the Namesake and it is drizzling or

2003-10-20T16:32:00.000-07:00

56. Weekend Movies

2003-10-18T22:00:00.000-07:00

55. Saturday There is always a big trip that has to be taken on Saturdays. This time, we started off early and went to AMPL for their Medical checkup fair. RA got a massage and a lung check done. Next stop, Trader Joe's. From there, we decided to get the window winterizing done with by paying a visit to Home Depot. But there was a Whole Food Market stop before that. Tons of samples, most

2003-10-11T14:11:00.000-07:00

54. Moonlight Mile Gave this movie a 7.8 Moving, but something was missing and I don't quite know what. Maybe because I didn't hurt as much, the viewing pleasure doesn't seem earned. Memorable Quotes Joe Nast: She was strong and real and messed up and wickedly honest...just like her mother. Joe Nast: The truth is hard. Sometimes it looks so wrong, y'know. The color's off, the style's wrong,

2003-10-10T19:30:00.000-07:00

53. The Spooky Art That is the title of Norman Mailer's book. Here are some parts that I noted down. I'd never dream, however, of not reading review. It would be like not looking at a naked woman if she happens to be standing in front of her open window. Whether ugly or lovely, she is undeniably interesting under such circumstances. Tolstoy teaches us that compassion is of value and enriches

2003-10-09T21:31:00.000-07:00

52. Absent Mind We went to the mall today. It was easy to get a parking spot. I was eager to get done with our shopping. I don't care too much for clothing stores. When we came back, RA pointed to the car door. It was ajar. After I had gotten out, I had forgotten to close the door. This is a first, but I am afraid not the last.

2003-10-06T16:00:00.000-07:00

51. For Future Use This is the old OS/2 vs. Windows debate revisited. Back in the early to mid 90's, IBM went toe to toe with Microsoft during the so-called OS wars. IBM lost badly, not because their product was technically inferior. If anything, it greatly outstripped Windows in functionality, stability, and many wonderful features. The problem was the interface. (posted in the chessreviews

2003-10-05T19:49:00.000-07:00

50. Ramdom Usage I am tempted not to disagree with you

2003-10-03T22:42:00.000-07:00

49. Nadine Am reading a book about/by her called The Essential Gesture. Very astute observations. A sharp mind will always manifest itself, apparently.

2003-09-22T21:47:00.000-07:00

48. Djibouti Man, oh man. This digital camera has given me hours of fun. Practically obsessed with it.

2003-09-22T19:22:00.000-07:00

47. Plane Trains and Automobiles Saw it on Sunday. At first, I thought I had seen the movie. Later realized that I was confusing it with the movie Airplane. Steve Martin is good, a lot of things that are quite a bit overacted and over-the-top, and yet it had a certain appeal to me. I gave it a 7.2/10.

2003-09-19T21:27:00.000-07:00

46. Adaptation. A movie with multiple levels of self-reference. It also has this dizzying effect of taking about something that is just past, retelling what we just saw a few minutes earlier. I gave it 8.9/10 "You are what you love, not what loves you." -- Donald Kaufmann

2003-09-16T19:19:00.000-07:00

45. Thus Spake Po The hardest thing about doing the right thing for yourself is you usually have to do it alone. [...] but it is likely that we fall in love with people who bring out the part of ourselves we want to see more of. At some point, we have to give up the habit of measuring ourselves against our peers. And did you get what You wanted from this life even so? I did. -- Raymond

2003-09-16T08:58:00.000-07:00

2003-09-15T16:12:00.000-07:00

I sometimes take a non-Aspirins at work. These come in handy when I get my headaches. I was overjoyed at finding that they had cracked open a new box. This cannot be a good sign.

2003-09-14T21:31:00.000-07:00

43. Books Read

2003-09-11T22:19:00.000-07:00

42. Enough for a lifetime The memorial service for 9-11 was scheduled at 11am. They wanted everyone to gather by the flag pole starting at 10.45. I had a meeting in Bill's office at 10.30, and I hoped to be done before 11. I knew that Bill would want to attend as well. A part of me was hoping that I could attend with him, and get his perspective on things. Dave reminded him of the memorial. "Oh

2003-09-11T20:49:00.000-07:00

41. What are you reading?

2003-09-08T13:22:00.000-07:00

40. Reading List Rapid chess improvement : a stud DUE 09-07-03 RENEWED Now due 09-22-03 794.12/DE LA MAZA,M The world chess championship : B DUE 09-17-03 794.157/WADE,R How to beat Bobby Fischer / Edma DUE 09-17-03 794.159/MEDNIS,E Word of mouth : poems featured o DUE 09-17-03 NEW BOOK/811.5408/WORD Chess openings the easy way (MCO DUE 09-17-03 794.122/DE

2003-08-26T10:22:00.000-07:00

39. What are you reading? TITLE STATUS CALL NUMBER Rapid chess improvement : a stud DUE 09-07-03 794.12/DE LA MAZA,M The world chess championship : B DUE 09-17-03 794.157/WADE,R How to beat Bobby Fischer / Edma DUE 09-17-03 794.159/MEDNIS,E Word of mouth : poems featured o DUE 09-03-03 NEW BOOK/811.5408/WORD Chess openings the easy way (MCO DUE 09-17-03

2003-08-14T11:44:00.000-07:00

38. Insights from the ICC Ayo kibitzes: everbody is getting old

2003-08-08T09:35:00.000-07:00

37. THE FUNERAL A woman was leaving the 7-11 Store with her morning coffee when she noticed a most unusual funeral procession approaching the nearby cemetery. A long black hearse was followed by a second long black hearse about 50 feet behind. Behind the second hearse was a solitary woman walking a pit bull on a leash. Behind, were 200 women walking single file. The woman couldn't stand the

2003-08-08T09:30:00.000-07:00

36. Lit Link BTW, Toasted Cheese Review is a great website for writers. Check it out at: www.toasted-cheese.com. UNRELIABLE TRUTH by Maureen Murdock. Exploration of the role of memory in shaping narrative and identity in memoir writing. Murdock uses her own experiences dealing with her Alzheimer-afflicted mother to explore why members of a single family may remember radically different

2003-07-25T15:37:00.000-07:00

35. Quote I was reading a chess site (Ponomariov's) and the following quote took me by surprise. "Probably, an accomplishment of a dream is the most cunning way to destroy ourselves. " Here's the story: Back when Ruslan was just a little kid, this coach showed up and started working with the kid who showed promise. Then, in Jan 2002, Ruslan became the FIDE world champ. In August, the coach,

2003-07-24T13:53:00.000-07:00

34. Boundless Philanthropy I was on the CTA train to downtown, to get some Passport issues taken care of. In my train, there was one old lady asking for alms. Most of us turned away. Then this lady reached a black girl who must have been in her late teens or early twenties. This girl was reading something. She looked up and saw the lady with her outstrected arm. Without hesitation, the girl

2003-07-17T19:41:00.000-07:00

My first javascript Quiz type thing... Q:What is the collective noun for a group of photographers?