Trials of a woodpusher: Adventures in chess, backyard gardening, and maybe whisker chopping

[woodpusher]

Meanwhile, in the exciting world of correspondence chess .....

Another tournament has started for me. This one is a Cat-8 classification, which basically means that I am ranked in the bottom 1/3 of the participants ... if that helps any. It's one of two (both have the same average strength) to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Correspondence Chess Association (CCCA) and adds another 12 games to my computer's workload.




And speaking of the CCCA, I have now stepped up from being just a player and joined the national executive as the Domestic Tournament Coordinator. Canada is a small nation chess-wise, so we basically only run our National Championship every year. Even though I will be the organizer, I will still be able to participate in it as the actual Tournament Director (i.e. rules enforcer) will be auto-assigned from the worldwide pool of TDs. My role will mainly be to get folks to enter and then register the event on the ICCF's server.

 

[BarberDave]

Sam’s chess anthem….dates of chess matches completed

 

[NurseDave]

Dude, looks like a lot of people are waiting for you to go.

 

[woodpusher]

Let 'em wait. Most of them are probably cart or electric shavers anyways.

 

[NurseDave]

Sam has made poor Lester wait 11 days to see which pawn he's going to move. That's strategy right there.

 

[woodpusher]

I don't see what the big deal is, I still have 102 days on my clock and will get 50 more in 2 moves (50 days every 10 moves in that tnmt). He can wait some more.

 

[JWS VII]

Sam, you might’ve said this before, but what kind of computing hardware do you use to run all of these calculations? I’d imagine it’s CPU intensive, but would be interested to know

 

[woodpusher]

AMD Ryzen 7 3700x, 8 core (16 logical)
64 GB RAM
500GB SSD (with almost 400GB of it taken up with chess endgame tablebases)
Water cooled

I run it basically 7/24. Here it is now....


I got that machine about 2 years ago after my old WIN XP 4GB machine finally gave up the ghost. What used to take about 20+ hours to analyze now takes 2-3 hours in most cases. Using my old machine, I was close to getting my IM title already so it's not all about hardware, but also about how you use it.

 

[JWS VII]

Awesome, thanks for sharing. Maxing that CPU and RAM!

 

[woodpusher]

I should have went with a Ryzen 9 (and would still hit 100% busy!) but the $$$ uplift was too much.

 

[JWS VII]

Aye, definitely a novice in the PC space, but it seems very easy to spend a boatload on stuff you’re not sure you’ll use (but awesome to have the best stuff!). I recently built a PC for the first time (for gaming). Super fun, trying to learn more. Probably should start a thread, as I imagine there are a few enthusiasts in our ranks.

 

[woodpusher]

PCs are not a hobby for me. They are simply a tool for my to play chess, play games and play on the forum! After 30+ years in the IT field, I could become a luddite without too much problem... as long as I have electricity, indoor plumbing and internet access.

Nov.20: Injector I2 w/Personna(6) ... Semogue 1460 ...... Mama Bears Bay Rhum............. Captain's Choice Lime balm

Hmmm, dissipating lather once again for my second pass. It was strange that this recurred, as I made sure the brush has a nice and heavy load of paste before lathering up. This time, though, I reloaded for pass-2! After all, I am trying to 3017 my way through my stash.

Today's workout was:
- upcoming ~1 hr trail walk

 

[woodpusher]

Nov.21: Injector I2 w/Personna(7) ... Paladin Sumo ......... Mama Bears Bay Rhum............. Captain's Choice Lime balm

Back to the Paladin and no issues with not loading enough soap for my 2-pass shave. Gotta work on the boar a little longer, I guess.

Today's workout was:
- nothing yet.... does "laundry" count?

Yesterday, our trail walk ended up being 1 hr 15 mins. Woohoo!

 

[HMan]

Once you go Paladin....

 

[GearNoir]

does "laundry" count

Depends on where your machines are…gotta get those steps in!

 

[woodpusher]

Post-laundry, we did get out for a 55 min trail walk, returning just before a light rain began.

 

[woodpusher]

Nov.22: Injector I2 w/Personna(8) ... Paladin Sumo ......... Mama Bears Bay Rhum............. Captain's Choice Lime balm

Of note today, I finished my Captain's Choice Lime shave balm today after just over 9 month's of daily use; 257 days, to be exact, but who's counting.
Now I have to figure out what to use tomorrow.



Today's workout was:
- 30 mins elliptical

 

[NurseDave]

Of note today, I finished my Captain's Choice Lime shave balm today after just over 9 month's of daily use;

As of tomorrow Sam's wife is going to wonder who got into bed with her

 

[woodpusher]

As of tomorrow Sam's wife is going to wonder who got into bed with her

She's gonna be HAPPY!!!!

I'll be using a 2/3 full bottle on Nivea Protect & Care balm (No, not all in one go! ) from Ed's stash starting tomorrow.
It way too heavy and cheap affordable to even consider shipping it anywhere.



Except for my achy knees (a few months now) and shoulders, Life is good. Heck, even so .... Life IS good!

 

[Graybeard57]

I'm a nurse, doesn't bother me one bit.

This is the stuff of nurses' lunch conversations. As in a "can you top this?" challenge. I've heard some great stories over the years.