Tuesday, December 17, 2013

What to do if you get in an accident.

Today I interviewed with a police officer over an accident that happened in March where someone rear ended me and then took off.  The license plate number that I was able to recall at the time of the accident might not have been valid according to the police.     If you get in an accident, the first thing you should do is use your camera phone to take pictures.

Friday, November 29, 2013

Re: Capitalism at its finest. Black Thursday sale at Wal-Mart. 45 minutes in the checkout line.

>On Fri, Nov 29, 2013 at 8:17 AM, Mardawna Grover  wrote:
>Let me guess you went for the $98 42 in flat screen tv???

A friend was considering having me get one for him, but decided not to.  I didn't particularly want one since I use my computer as my TV.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Geek lunch

From: Trout, Larry

 

At 11:20 I planned on joining you at 11:30, but have been too busy at my and others cubes.

Sorry.

 

From: Coffey, John

 

Next week then.   We had a big discussion about the newly discovered distant galaxy, origin of the universe, and the possibility of parallel evolution.  My theory is that life on other worlds would evolve into familiar patterns.   We also talked about science fiction stories and the possibility of mechanical life prevailing.

Best wishes,

John Coffey

 

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Announcing a new chess club: Sugar House Chess Club

Club:   Sugar House Chess Club  (Replacement for the now defunct Coffee Club.)
Information:  All Skill Levels Welcome!
Location:  Chick-fil-A, 1206 East 2100 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84106

Time:  Meets Tuesday nights from 6:30 to 10 PM.

--
Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Monday, September 23, 2013

The Fall of Hyperion



Just read Hyperion and and its second part: Fall of Hyperion (audio books). This is one of the most deeply rich science fiction books I have ever read.


Monday, September 16, 2013

Quick note on studying chess tactics

Kevin,

 

Lately I have been studying tactics pretty heavy.  I am most likely averaging at least an hour a day, although much of that time has been on the weekend.

 

I have been mostly focused on the chess tactics trainer because Josh said that he made it to 2000.   On the iPhone, after much effort I made it up to the 2025.   I am still in the 1900’s on the iPad but working on it.

 

I find that my head is swimming with tactics, especially the kinds of positions where you would not suspect that a tactic existed.   I dream about tactics, which is a good thing.   My goal here is to get to 2100 at tactics within months, and maybe 2200 at tactics in a year or two.

 

I find that if I focus on one thing, that I can make big advances in that one thing before moving onto something else.  For example, I was way behind on my goals on the tactics on my website, but after days of repetition I was somewhat surprised to make my goals.

 

I have seen some improvement in my results and my rating.

Best wishes,

John Coffey

 

Sunday, July 28, 2013

re: Long Days of Summer chess tournament in American Fork Utah.

Shahram and I left my house 8:45 Saturday morning and thanks in part to traffic problems got back to Salt Lake City 10:30 that night.   We were both hungry since there was no dinner break, so we stopped for food and didn't get home until about 11:20 PM.  

Although it was fun tournament, this felt for me like too long of a day.  I remember in the last round I had a headache, probably from the tension in the tournament.  (Ibuprofen should be standard chess tournament equipment.)   Shahram commented that in the future he didn't want to drive this far to play such a long tournament.

On the other hand, I would probably do this again because I am such a masochist for chess.  However, I was pretty tired the next day.  Sometimes in the past when I would overexert myself I would get sick later.  I am hoping that this doesn't happen.

Friday, July 19, 2013

Fwd: Chess

John,

I wanted to thank you again for the chess instruction you gave me back
in June. Your insights were extremely useful, and pointed me in the
direction I needed to go to improve my chess skills and understanding
the game. I followed your advice and ordered the two books you
recommended, specifically Bobby Fischer teaches Chess has been of
great help. I've also been studying tactics off of your website, not
as often as I'd like, but as often as possible.

I wanted to verify that you'll be at the coffee shop tomorrow night as
I have a few things I plan to leave at the counter for you to thank
you for your time. It was great to meet you.

Thanks again,
Kate Pettipiece

Friday, July 12, 2013

RE: Amazon Prime?

I have Amazon Prime because they discounted it down to $59 late last year.

 

The video selection is so bad that I don’t use it. 

 

I just signed up for Netflix streaming.

 

The free 2 day shipping is nice.   It makes buy from Amazon more often.

 

 

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Re: Tournaments this Saturday

I went into this tournament to get Grand Prix points but failed completely.  I think that my problem was recent poor sleep. I was actually extremely pleased with the way I played my first three games until I hung my queen late in the third game.  Finally in the 4th round I thought that my opponent Abhinav played like a 2000 player and I appeared to run out of steam and play at best like an 1800.  The previous time that I faced him I thought that he was very tough to beat so maybe this B player is someone to watch out for. 

After winning some tournaments recently, including the speed tournament last week, it was inevitable that I would have one bad tournament. 

For those interested, my  games can be found at ...  http://chessplayeratlarge.blogspot.com

Best wishes,

John Coffey

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Re: Grand Prix Report – Game-in-Sixty

Allan,

So far this year I am the Utah state Senior champion, Game/60 champion, and Expert Class co-champion.  It seems not likely to me that I could win the actual State Championship in November, but it is a remote possibility. 

The best player in the state is a 15 year old boy, Kayden Troff, who is currently playing in the U.S. Championship because he got a special invitation as an up and coming player.   He is so far above everybody else in Utah that it is no contest.  He is an International Master and could turn pro. He mostly does not bother with Utah tournaments anymore. 

It doesn't take much to interfere with my concentration.  Cheerleaders would do it.   :-)

Best wishes,

John Coffey

On May 5, 2013, at 3:48 PM, Allan Branaman  wrote:

Way to go! Kick some ass! I'm cheering for you. Do they have cheerleaders there? I guess it'd be a big distraction.
 
Sent: Sunday, May 05, 2013 3:46 PM
 
FYI...


From: Steve Hoisington 
Date: May 5, 2013, 11:34:38 AM MDT

"A total of sixty-four (64) players have now earned GP Points in the six (6) GP events held so far...

The year-to-date race remains close between John Coffey and David Vasquez.  With his clear first-place finish on Saturday, John increased his lead in the Grand Prix standings from just one point to a somewhat more comfortable 8.5 points. "

The current leaders (top ten) are:

 

1                      John COFFEY                                 67.67                                                 

2                      David VASQUEZ                             59.17 

3                      Randy ZUMBRUNNEN                    31.5   

4                      Petro GRETCHANEI                        30.2                           

5                      Alex GUSTAFSSON                         27.87 

6                      Eric HON                                          26.67                                     

7                      José GARCIA                                   25

8                      Enriqué ARCE-LARRETA                21.5                           

9                      Kayden TROFF                                21

10                    Charles RASMUSSEN                     19.17 

 

Best regards,

Steve

Sunday, April 14, 2013

google chrome has started giving me advertising, which I had not seen before.

Fwd: How To: Replace a 27" iMac (Late 2009) Power Supply

FYI.  I am going to attempt this...  See the first 2.5 minutes of the video.  It is amazing what you can find on youtube. 

I am not very experienced with this kind of stuff. 

John Coffey

Begin forwarded message:

From: John Coffey
Date: April 14, 2013, 6:53:01 PM MDT
To: Dan
Subject: How To: Replace a 27" iMac (Late 2009) Power Supply

Dan,

I have ordered all the parts and tools and they are on the way.  I can
do this on my own, I think, but I wonder if you have any interest in
helping out?  I only ask because you are more experienced than me.

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://youtu.be/lMmZXb8plh0

Best wishes,

John Coffey

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

My House was burglarized.


I left work hastily just before 4 PM.  The person living in my basement, Shahram, discovered the break in.   I spent much time with the police.  
 
The thief made a pretty good score.   I lost an iPad.  I am surprised that I did not lose my iMac, but the cops say that thieves don't like to steal large items because it is too conspicuous. Seems like the cops have a lot of experience with this. 
 
I spent a lot of time checking the house for missing items.  
 
My back door is damaged beyond repair.  I have made plans to get this replaced tomorrow.  It takes time to get it replaced.  My good  neighbors are actually going to take it to a nearby door store for me.  (The door store can match the old one. )  I feel that I need to watch the house while they are gone.  
 
 
John Coffey 


Saturday, March 2, 2013

What happened to me today.

On the tail end of a cold.  Probably 80% better.  We were going to have the Utah Senior chess Championship last week, but we knew that a blizzard was coming so that we postponed it for a week.  Good thing for me because I think that I was too sick play last week.  Today I barely won the tournament.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Across the Sea of Suns. Furious Gulf.

These two books in the Gregory Benford Galactic Center series, especially Furious Gulf, feel to me like masterpieces in fiction.  Benford writes “hard” science fiction that is heavy in physics and science, some of which is a little fantastic and hard to believe, but it makes for great stories.  His idea that the galaxy would be dominated by mechanical life forms intolerant of biological life has a convincing feel to it.   These books are a wild ride that stretch the imagination as to what is possible.  I especially enjoyed listening to them on Audible, because the performance of the readers gives the stories extra flavor.

 

Monday, February 25, 2013

RE: flu vaccine was effective in only 56 percent of people who got the shot

Had a cold late last week and felt pretty bad, but it seems not as bad now.

Best wishes,

John Coffey

From: Trout, Larry R

 

This was unusually low, and was probably pulled down by a 27% average for those above 65.

In one strain, it was about 50% on the general population, but only 9% for the above 65 crowd.

Usually these are about 40% effective >65, and 60% in the general population.

 

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6207a2.htm?s_cid=mm6207a2_w

 

http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/55/7/951/T4.expansion.html

 

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Slow Caffeine withdrawal

According to what I saw on the internet, here are the caffeine amounts for certain teas …

 

English Breakfast: 50mg

Black Tea:  40mg

Green Tea:  20 Mg

 

I suspect that these numbers could be inaccurate, because I sometimes have seen numbers that were higher.

 

Regardless, I think that it is still valid to use these numbers as a guide.  It is easy to see how I could use this to slowly decrease my caffeine intake …

 

Day 1:  I ingested 120 mg caffeine.

Day 2:  I ingested 100 mg caffeine.

Day 3: I ingested 90 mg caffeine.

 

My plan is to continue going down in increments of 10 where possible.  When I get down to 40 I might stay there a few days before going down to 20.

 

Monday, January 14, 2013

SF book that I loved

Actually I listened to it on Audible…

 

Across the Sea of Suns

by Gregory Benford.

 

Fwd: It's Cold

'Historic Cold

By Andrew Adams

SALT LAKE CITY — It's not just extremely cold out there, it's bordering on historic. It's so cold you can pour water on the ground outside and it freezes in about 20 seconds.

 

Some of the temperatures in Utah overnight are similar to what you'd expect in Minnesota:

 

    -25 in Bryce Canyon

    -21 at Kimball Junction outside of Park City

 

Salt Lake City International Airport recorded temperatures below 0 overnight. The last time that happened was on Jan. 22, 2008 when it was -2 degrees.

 

Monday, Salt Lake's forecast high is 13 degrees. The last time the maximum temperature for the day was below 14 was more than 22 years ago -- Dec. 30, 1990.'

 

 

'Extreme cold hinders crews fighting house fires'

www.ksl.com/?sid=23728403&nid=148&title=extreme-cold-hinders-crews-fighting-house-fires&s_cid=featured-1