Rocky Mountain High

Maybe this is North Vernon Indiana - not sure.

Springfield, IL

Mississippi River and most likely St. Louis

Denver

My mother's great chop salad step 1

My mother's great chop salad step 2

Nephew Carson and Julia and cat. Christmas Eve

Another panoramic picture of Christmas

Snowy day from 35 N. Private RD 375 W., North Vernon, Indiana, USA

Road Construction North Vernon Bypass- Paul's truck at the bottom of the hill

Road Construction North Vernon Bypass

On the way to the Cincinnati airport

Christmas

Louisville Chess Tournaments at Meijer Grocery

Utah October Weather

Oh Crap Weather

Weather before the chess tournament...

Re: games from 2012-11-03

Terry,

I wish that I could say that my chess improvement was due studying
tactics. Although I do that, I haven't done nearly as much as I want.
Instead of studying 30 minutes per day it has been more like 30
minutes per week. This occasionally hurts me as I am not as
consistent on tactics as I should be, but overall I think that I make
fewer tactical mistakes than I used to which is the main reason my
quick rating has gone up as high as it has.

The first thing that has helped me is that everybody around here has
gotten tougher. The players in tournaments seem much tougher and long
gone are the days when I would go to my chess club and win all my
games. Against certain players in my chess club I am lucky to break
even, and the other players there have upped their game as well.

The other thing that has helped me somewhat is that I have spent some
time studying master (and other) games that I have posted to my
blog/chess lesson website. I make some effort to study my own games.

Best wishes,
John Coffey

Chess tournament start of more events - The Park Record

http://www.parkrecord.com/summit_county-education/ci_21629348/chess-tournament-start-more-events

View From Ecker Middle School, Park City Utah

The hot weather is over.

Grand Prix

Flying the unfriendly skies

Sent from my iPhone

Sitting on a plane waiting for taxiing. Delayed 10 minutes.

Sent from my iPhone

Huge Doctor Who fan

Fwd: Your Wonderful webpage

Every once in awhile I get an email like this.  My response is at the bottom.

On Sun, Aug 26, 2012 at 3:58 PM, David Korn <davidkorn.specialprojects@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear John, I am impressed.  You really get it.  I didn't find things I didn't know, or hadn't found somewhere else, but all you did was so well presented, and in all aspects agree with your take on things, your approach.  You got so much, if not all, right.  Talk about evaluating a position, try accessing an endeavor!  Your work is of the best standard, in my book.  Thank you.

http://dk-transformation.blogspot.com/

I plan to write about and/or mention clear and center what I found.  Not huge, not small, I have about seventy readers a day, non-commercial basis of course.

Just to ask you, are you there, and are you still active?  As in, is this email still active and do you ever change the website or is it more or less fixed, and remains from years ago?

David Korn

PS, FYI:  Yasser is one of my best friends (I saw him two weeks ago, as promised, he stood behind me watching me at the US Open Blitz, a real total disaster for me).  Ouch.  I am not good at chess, but rather love to study chess, my focus.  

--
http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidkorn

+206 284-2722 Mobile

"Special Projects: Focus upon continuous
improvement for end users and project needs"

.

---------- message ----------
From: John Coffey <john2001plus@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Aug 26, 2012 at 4:37 PM
Subject: Re: Your Wonderful webpage
To: David Korn <davidkorn.specialprojects@gmail.com>

David,

Is this you?    http://main.uschess.org/msa/MbrDtlMain.php?14564164 

I have mostly been focused my my chess:  Trying to stay above 2000.

I feel that my chess lesson web page could be somewhat better in presentation and content.    The issue is finding the right content.  For someone like me who wants to be a master, it is hard to know what to study.  If there are clear guidelines out there, I am missing it.  Instead there is an overwhelming amount of information and most of it not useful.  

Given that I have limited time, I am searching for the "magic bullet" that will allow me to rise to the next level.   

Lately I have going through certain chess games repeatedly.  My approach to chess has always been somewhat memorization intensive, because I feel that repetition is necessary for learning.  At least it is for me.   Although I don't memorize very many games from beginning to end, I do go through a large number of games enough times that I partially remember them.

The chess games that I have been studying are a combination of master games from various sources, a select number of my online games chosen from thousands of examples, and some opening analysis that I generated with the Houdini chess engine.  

Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Monday

Courtyard. Franklin Covey Center (New building I work in.)

Looked at 3 houses today

Not sure if I will buy a new house or not.

Message to Neato customer service

I purchased the Neato XV-12 robot vacuum cleaner about a month ago on a WOOT special.  I didn 't open  the BOX until July 4th.  I have been using it for 4 days.  I have run it about 10 times.  I have two main complaints:

1.  The airway to the dust bin tends to clog with dust and debris.  Sometimes it just clogs with dust only, which can get thick in the airway.    My best bet is to clean it after every use.   At first my floors were pretty dirty, which is why I purchased the vacuum.  Now my floors are pretty clean, except on the edges, so I am hoping that the airway will clog less often.

2.  Most importantly, for the money that I spent I wish that it was a better vacuum.   It does a terrific job of navigating, but there are some noticeable problems:

A.  It does not pick up dirt around the baseboards or next chair legs or next to furniture.    I have a very noticeable 1 to 2 inches of dirt along my baseboards.  I  will have to manually sweep with a vacuum cleaner or a broom to take care of this.

B.  It doesn't always get all the dirt.  The brushes tend to scatter some of it.  On occasion,  I see debris flying from the front of the Neato vacuum.   Consequently, with repeat cleanings, the areas near baseboards, corners, chair legs,  and furniture accumulate more dirt.  As I walk around my house, I see small debris everywhere around my baseboards.  I would be happy to send you photos of the dirt that it doesn't get.

As part of the dirt scattering, some dirt has been pushed onto my stairs, which the Neato vacuum doesn't fall down, but it does manage to deposit some dirt there.

I want to know if I can trade the Neato XV-12 vacuum in for a better model, assuming there is a better model?

I once owned a Roomba.  It broke after 6 months or less, but the Roomba had a small rotating brush on the right edge that seemed to sweep dirt away from the baseboards.  I think that your vacuums need something like this.

P.S.  It is not clear to me what kind of warranty I get with this?

My lunch today at the work cafeteria

Super Beef Nachos...Super nachos, layered with home fried tortillas, shredded beef , olives, shredded cheese, jalapeno peppers, green onions, olives, an enchilada sauce, salsa and sour cream.

Had a new dishwasher installed today. After having problems with the last two, I went with a top of the line model.

Team group lunch

TV

This is the 32” TV I got for free off of Craig’s list.  I haven’t tested it yet.  I hope that it works.  It is a monster.

http://www.mediacollege.com/equipment/sony/tv/kv/kv32s65.html

It is 140.8 pounds.  You would think that two adult males could carry it but it was all we could do just to lift it 3 feet.

My Lunch

Fare Extraordinaire

Beef Cashew Sautee...Tender beef, broccoli, matchstick carrots, bell peppers, onions and squash stir fried in olive oil, fresh ginger, sesame oil, oyster sauce and Chinese five spice, served on a bed of fresh steamed rice, topped with cashews and green onions.

 

My lunch today. Sandwich.

The Ultimate Grill

Asian Salmon Sub with Chili Lime Dressing ...Shredded carrots and julienned cucumbers on a ciabatta topped with seared salmon, crushed peanuts and mint, drizzled with a chile lime dressing made with shallots, lime juice, sugar, chili sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil and soy sauce, choice of side.

 

My attempt to shop for a whole month.

Lunch I am planning on having ...

Fare Extraordinaire

Chicken Pot Pie with Puff Pastry...Chicken, carrots, celery, onion, peas and potatoes simmered in a rich cream sauce, topped with a puff pastry and served with a tossed green salad.

 

I ordered a refurbished iPad 2 from Apple for $349.

Apple waited till a couple of hours after the iPad 3 announcement to drop the price on the iPad 2.

Tornado's in Indiana/Henryville

http://www.indystar.com/article/20120305/NEWS/120305028/-b-Henryville-b-Resident-ponder-their-future

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_20087552?source=rss

Yesterday's radio news brought the news of devastating tornado destruction in Henryville, Indiana and many other areas in Indiana and Kentucky.

For those who don't know, Henryville is a tiny town probably less than a thousand people located in Indiana 19 miles north of Louisville, Kentucky.  Like many areas in southern Indiana, Henryville is surrounded by forest and farms.  It is very green there.  It is at the intersection of two state roads and next to a state forest park, but it also adjacent to Interstate 65.  I have literally passed by Henryville hundreds of times on my way to the greater Louisville area.  Many times I would take the "scenic route" through Henryville instead.   I sometimes stopped for food or gas in Henryville.

I am told that the high school in Henryville is no longer usable.  All access to Henryville was temporarily shut down and the interstate was closed.

I lived about 6 years in Scottsburg, Indiana where my mother is from, which is 10 miles north of Henryville.  According to my mother, the tornadoes have temporarily deprived even Scottsburg of services like phone and internet.

I grew up in Columbus which is 50 miles north of Henryville, but I have managed to live in several small towns within 20 miles of Henryville.

Henryville is the birthplace of Colonel Sanders.  He often visited his church there.  Around 40 years ago we saw him on Interstate 65 presumably on his way to Henryville.  He was with his wife and he was driving.  He looked very old.  He died in 1980 at the age of 90.

John Coffey

Leaving work

My eyes

Went to the eye doctor.  I thought that I would need a change in prescription, but apparently not.  I am having new reading glasses made so that I can have two pairs of reading glasses.

 

My stage 1 cataract is progressing so slowly that it might be years before I need surgery.  (We can hope.)   However, for most people the cataracts progress more quickly.  I have had mine for years and it has not really changed at all.