Mike Munhall

[ZaBlanc, you know I had to write about this…]

If there is anything I am learning by playing chess with ZaBlanc, it’s simply how to survive a game getting completely destroyed. And a few other things of course.

ZaBlanc and I drew another game. This one not quite as interesting as the other, but it still had its interesting moments, nonetheless.

The battle really happened in the middle game where ZaBlanc was up a pawn, but had doubled up pawns on on the C file. We were both working hard to find an advantage, but it never happened for either of us. So, for the most part, the game was even right up to the end game, where I sacrificed a pawn in hopes of a better chance at a draw.

With this draw I earned 10 points in my RedHotPawn.com rating because ZaBlanc’s rating is so much higher than mine. I’m 10 points away from breaking 1300, although I’m not too worried about ratings at this point. I’m still learning (I’ll always be learning). I think I’m going to shoot for 1400 by the end of the year.

Here’s the PGN for this game:

[Event “Challenge”]
[Site “http://www.redhotpawn.com”]
[Date “2006.06.03″]
[Round “?”]
[White “BuckyKatt”]
[Black “ZaBlanc”]
[Result “1/2-1/2″]
[GameId “2137652″]

1. e4 d5 2. d4 dxe4 3. Nb1c3 Ng8f6 4. f3 exf3 5. Ng1xf3 Bc8g4 6. Bc1e3 e6
7. Bf1d3 Nb8c6 8. O-O Bg4xf3 9. Qd1xf3 Bf8e7 10. Nc3e4 O-O 11. c3 Nf6xe4 12. Bd3xe4 Ra8b8 13. Be4xc6 bxc6 14. b3 Qd8d5 15. Be3f4 Qd5xf3 16. Rf1xf3 Be7d6 17. Ra1e1 a5 18. Bf4e5 Rf8e8 19. Rf3g3 Bd6xe5 20. Re1xe5 Rb8b5 21. Rg3e3 Re8b8 22. c4 Rb5xe5 23. Re3xe5 a4 24. Re5c5 axb3 25. axb3 Rb8b6 26. Kg1f2 Kg8f8 27. d5 exd5 28. cxd5 cxd5 29. Rc5xc7 Rb6xb3 30. Rc7d7 Rb3b5 31. Kf2e3 Kf8e8 32. Rd7c7 Rb5b2 33. Ke3f3 d4 34. Rc7c1 Ke8d7 35. Rc1d1 Rb2b4 36. Kf3e4 Kd7e6 37. Rd1xd4 Rb4xd4 38. Ke4xd4 Ke6f5 39. Kd4e3 g5 40. h3 h5 41. Ke3f3 g4 42. hxg4 hxg4 43. Kf3g3 Kf5g5 44. Kg3f2 f5 45. g3 Kg5f6 46. Kf2e3 Kf6e5 47. Ke3d3 f4 48. Kd3e2 f3 49. Ke2e3 Ke5d5 50. Ke3f2 Kd5d4 51. Kf2f1 Kd4d3 52. Kf1f2 Kd3d2 53. Kf2f1 Kd2e3 54. Kf1e1 1/2-1/2

All that talk about how we hate Highlands Ranch and Shea Homes and the ‘burbs, and we decided on a house just a mile away… in Highlands Ranch. But it’s not a Shea home! But I suppose since we’re staying in Highlands Ranch, we’re still hypocrites and deserve to be flogged for making this decision, but the lure of the convenience and affordability of Highlands Ranch sucked us in and wouldn’t let go. Here are a few reasons why we’re deciding to stay here:

• Close to family
• Good schools within walking distance
• Close to open space, riding trails and state parks
• Quiet neighborhood
• Nice, large house with a fantastic layout, built by a builder we respect (although the yard will need some work)
• Nice loft
• A great kitchen
• Enough upgrades to give the home some character without making it pretentious or overly expensive

We’re making an offer this afternoon. I hope this goes well. We really want to get this selling, buying and over with so we can get on with our lives.

My sister-in-law loaned this book to me last week. With the hunt for a new home, the selling of our current home, school and work, I really didn't have time for another book (I'm currently reading Harry Potter: The Prisoner of Azkaban). But, she put it in my hand and gave it a good recommendation so I read the first page and just never stopped. Luckily it is only 225 pages, so I got through it quickly.

Orbiting the Giant Hairball describes the author's methods for dealing corporate bureaucracy (read: corporate bullshit). If, like me, you tend to feel stifled by the corporate workplace, this book might offer you a fresh perspective on how to make it through your day.

My employer subscribes to the "Fish" philosophy and firmly believes that our culture has improved because of it. I suppose the Fish philosophy has value, but it seems to have been developed more from the perspective of the employer rather than the employee. Orbiting the Giant Hairball provides a similar perspective on workplace culture, but from the perspective of the employee.

It's full of silly illustrations and a few anecdotes that promoted a few audible chuckles from me on train on my way to work. If you have a couple hours free on an afternoon and want some ideas on how to deal with the corporate B.S. in your job, give this book a shot. If nothing else, it's mildly entertaining.

Ha ha! Haaaa ha haa haaaa! Haaa ha ha! Didn’t think I’d do it, did ya! Well, I did!

OK. I need to find something more interesting to write about.

Man, it has been hot in Denver. Way hot. Too hot for June, for sure.

I haven't written in a while because I've been busy. Way busy. Too busy for my liking, for sure.

After all the work Dorrie and I did to get our condo on the market, we found a buyer after just four weeks. Condos in Highlands Ranch are on the market on average for 60 to 90 days. We really lucked out finding a buyer so quickly. However, now we have to move out and we have no properties lined up. We were just about to make an offer on our dream home in Denver before we backed off because we weren't sure about the neighborhood. Now we're back to hunting. It's just so much work.

I'm taking Calculus this summer at the community college. (Can you believe that my own college isn't offering Calculus I this summer? Isn't that weird? It's weird, isn't it?) Wow. Calculus is tough, but it's awesome. The concepts of calculus are really difficult to absorb, unlike algebra and trigonometry where, conceptually, the mathematics come easy and there are only mechanics to remember. My book bag must weigh 30 pounds with three calculus texts, the $150 calculator and my notebooks. To help my studies, I also bought Calculus for Dummies and some lectures on DVD from the Great Courses (which, by the way, I highly recommend).

I wish I had something more interesting to post. Maybe I'll drop in some of my old trig notes. Yeah… that would be cool… I'll derive some identities or post a table of common trigonometric functions.

I can't think of an appropriate title for this post that is both succinct and fewer than 50 words. Also, this post is mostly for the CRS developers, who may run into this considering the fact that many of us were (or are) using the built-in web server that can be used with CFMX 7 Developer edition.

The short version is this: If you were using the built-in web server that can be used with the Developer edition of ColdFusion MX 7, and later you installed IIS or another web server, delete all of your projects from the ColdFusion web root.

The longer version is this: I learned the hard way this weekend that even if you have projects in the IIS (or other web server) web root, ColdFusion first looks in the built-in web server root. This happened after installing and running the Mach-II framework version 1.1.0. It took me the entire weekend (and much of Matt Woodward's weekend) trying to figure out why the 1.1.0 framework wasn't working correctly with the tutorial applications.

I was once using the built-in web server with ColdFusion until I installed IIS in my environment. I had not even considered the fact that I had on older Mach-II framework in the old web root, much less that the old projects in the CF web server root were going to be seen first, before looking in the actual web server root.

Strangeness. OK.. Moving on.

Doooooooood. On a whim I checked to see if MikeMunhall.com was available (for the longest time it was taken, presumably by someone else by the name of Mike Munhall). And you know what? It is taken.

By ME! That's right. MikeMunhall.com was available and now I own it. So, for all you Mike Munhall's that are reading this blog… KISS MY ASS!

Pop Quiz (essay, 50 pts):

What's my name, bee-ahtch? (Hint: It isn't Buck, nor is it Bucking Kitty.)

The Garmin Edge 205 GPS-enabled cycling computer has been working out just fine. I’m using MotionBased.com to upload the data and view. Below are some screen shots from MotionBased of my commute from work to the Mineral light rail station.

MotionBased.com has a feature for users to email links to this data. This post is mostly for dad, though, and dad doesn’t have the ability to see this stuff with his ancient computer. (That’s about to change dad. Hang tight.)

One of the most important features of MotionBased is the Map Player. Because I’m on a Mac, I can’t use the feature. But, the export to Google Earth makes up for the lack of the Map Player. Those screen shots are at the end.

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