Tuesday, January 7, 2014

A message from Delilah

In October 2012, we were invited to Delilah's annual Halloween party near Seattle and it turned into a wedding - her wedding! She didn't tell the guests in advance, not even her own children. She is pictured here with my wife, Natasha Niro. Like everyone else, Tash remained in costume throughout the ceremony and reception.

I've been looking for an opportunity to post this photo. 2012 was a busy year and I didn't do a great job of maintaining my blog at the time. In any case, here's a message from Delilah to her listeners posted on her Facebook page today...

"If you're missing my show at night, know that radio stations come and go (unfortunately, I get "dumped" by stations and it STILL breaks my heart...!) BUT my program of requests, dedications and sappy love songs will always stay....

If you tune in one night and discover I have disappeared from your station you can ALWAYS find my program on my website, www.delilah.com. We also have a list of every station that carries the show. If your local station is not listed, CALL THEM AND WHINE LOUDLY!!! (Have all your fb friends call them as well...)

Or you can always find my radio program on the APP called iHeartRadio. Look for Live Radio and then Personalites, and my program is at the top of the list.

You can listen to the program anytime, free, on iHeartRadio."


- Delilah, Love Someone

Follow the bouncing ball -
My previous blog posts about Delilah:
Seattle Trip Report Part #1, 4/5/06
Delilah's words about me to her listeners, 8/15/06
What rain?, 11/16/06
Safe Return, 12/3/06
Reflections, 1/1/07
Some 2006 Photos, 1/22/07
Delilah's New Book, 9/16/08
Delilah on Nightline tonight, 11/12/08

Also related, from Chess Daily News & Information:
Meeting the incredible Delilah, 11/12/06
A New Major Addition to the Susan Polgar Foundation, 11/14/06
Delilah, a very special woman, 11/9/06
Happy Times!, 4/30/07
A truly special individual, 1/8/08
Delilah on the TODAY show tomorrow!, 9/30/08
The Queen of Radio, 2/18/2013



Saturday, January 4, 2014

Latest McKay Tartan book series update

No. 21, Listen for the Lonesome Drum, another of the non-chess books in the David McKay Tartan series

I have now acquired and/or identified 71 of the 73-book Tartan Series. My goal in 2014 is to locate the remaining two books. I am missing numbers 16 and 45.

1. Ideas Behind the Chess Openings – Reuben Fine
2. The Middle Game in Chess – Reuben Fine
3. Basic Chess Endings – Reuben Fine
4. Learn Chess Fast – Sammy Reshevsky & Fred Reinfeld
5. My System – Aron Nimzovich
6. Common Sense in Chess - Emanuel Lasker
7. Winning Chess Traps - Irving Chernev
8. Chess Strategy & Tactics - Fred Reinfeld & Irving Chernev
9. Modern Chess Strategy - Edward Lasker
10. Let’s Play Checkers - Grover & Wiswell
11. Learn Checkers Fast - Tom Wiswell
12. Pawn Power in Chess - Hans Kmoch


13. Prodigal Genius: the life of Nikola Tesla - John J. O'Neill
14. Freud: A Critical Reevaluation of his Theories - Reuben Fine
15. The Canterbury Tales - Geoffrey Chaucer; Frank Ernest Hill
16. ?
17. The Commonsense Book of Wine - Leon Adams
18. My Best Games of Chess 1908-1923 - Alexander Alekhine
19. My Best Games of Chess 1924-1937 - Alexander Alekhine
20. Dark Trees to the Wind - Carl Carmer

No. 20, Dark Trees to the Wind, tales about life in NY

21. Listen for a Lonesome Drum - Carl Carmer
22. The Playmaker of Avon - Charles Norman
23. English Thought in the Nineteenth Century - D.C. Somervell

24. English Social History - George Trevelyan
25. 200 Miniature Games of Chess - J. du Mont
26. A Passion for Chess - Reuben Fine
27. Chess Fundamentals - J. R. Cabaplanca
28. The Art of Sacrifice in Chess - Rudolf Spielmann
29. Profile of a Prodigy - Dr. Frank Brady
30. Storming of the Gateway - Fairfax Downey
31. Point Count Chess - I.A. Horowitz & Geoffrey Mott-Smith
32. Paul Morphy and the Golden Age of Chess - William Napier
33. Epic Battles of the Chessboard - R.N. Coles
34. Alekhines' Best Games of Chess 1938-1945 - C.H.O'D. Alexander
35. Dominoes - Dominic Armanino
36. How to Win in the Chess Endings - I.A. Horowitz
37. Practical Chess Openings - Reuben Fine
38. Strategy and Tactics in Chess - Max Euwe
39. Beginning Backgammon - Tim Holland
40. Official Rules of Chess - U.S. Chess Federation
41. Chess Master vs. Chess Amateur - Max Euwe & Walter Meiden
42. Monopoly Book - Maxine Brady
43. Guide to Tournament Chess - Siegbert Tarrasch
44. The Game of Chess - Siegbert Tarrasch
45. ?

46. Official Rules of Chess (2nd edition) - Martin Morrison, editor
47. The Development of Chess Style - Max Euwe
48. Capablanca's 100 Best Games of Chess - Harry Golembek
49. Modern Chess Opening Traps - William Lombardy
50. The Road to Chess Mastery - Max Euwe & Walter Meiden
51. Pawn Structure Chess - Andrew Soltis
52. The World Chess Championship 1978 - Bent Larsen
53. Backgammon for People Who Hate to Lose - Tim Holland


54. Better Backgammon - Tim Holland
55. Attack and Defence in Modern Chess Tactics - Ludek Pachman
56. Judgment and Planning in Chess - Max Euwe
57. Modern Chess Tactics - Ludek Pachman
58. The Art of Positional Play - Samuel Reshevsky
59. The Chess Struggle in Practice - David Bronstein
60. Winning Casino Craps - Edwin Silberstang
61. Maxims of Chess - John Collins
62. Catalog of Chess Mistakes - Andrew Soltis
63. A Short History of Chess - Dr. Henry Davidson
64. Learn to play Mah Jongg - Marcia Hammer
65. Winning Poker Strategy - Edwin Silberstang
66. Practical Endgame Lessons - Edmar Mednis
67. The Modern Chess Sacrifice - Leonid Shamkovich
68. America's Chess Heritage - Walter Korn
69. Modern Chess Openings - Walter Korn
70. King Power in Chess - Edmar Mednis
71. The Art of Defense in Chess - Andrew Soltis
72. How to play good Opening Moves - Edmar Mednis
73. U.S. Chess Federation's Official Rules of Chess - Tim Redman, ed.

Thanks to those who have assisted me with this list including Patsy A. D'Eramo, David Shane, Robert Chenault, Robert Hampton, Dale Wentz and especially my wife, Natasha Niro.

Previous posts about this series:
Books 1-3, April 17, 2008
Book No. 4, May 22, 2008
Book #5 + list, September 19, 2011
2012 Update, November 8, 2012
Tartan Book Series, August 15, 2013


Friday, January 3, 2014

What do Cashew Chicken and Pink Floyd have in common?


I posed this question on ask.com and, surprisingly, got some answers. Boiled down, it's: "How can you hate either one?"

The combination "cashew chicken + pink floyd" on Google.com returned Leong's Asian Diner in Springfield, MO, and Tiffany's profile on airbnb.com and about 813,000 other results (no kidding!). Makes little difference if you enter it as "pink floyd + cashew chicken" (except that there are a few thousand more hits).

Anyway, the answer is chess. Come back this weekend to find out why...


And for those who are looking for something reasonably priced and a little different to do later this month, consider this as an option:


Please go here for my 2013 blog index sorted by topic.

Thursday, January 2, 2014

2013 Blog Index


With links to all my blog posts in 2013 sorted by topic: (chess; distance running; family & friends; food & beverage; health care; music, movies & the arts; sports; travel).

Blog entries may be listed in more than one category to make them easier to find. Links to the index for 2012, as well as 2011 and prior, are also included below.


We started the year in Meridian, Idaho, by celebrating Tash's birthday with brunch and a movie, accompanied by my in-laws Gene & Celeste Fox. A few weeks later I took the Status (pictured) above on a journey through Wyoming, Montana and South Dakota where I acquired a celebrity passenger, former U.S. and World Open chess champion Grandmaster Alex Yermolinsky. From there, we headed to the Cardinal Open in Columbus, Ohio (with a side trip to Webster University in Webster Groves, Missouri, to have dinner with the national champion collegiate chess team) and on to Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.

Alex met with the chess team and flew home from Syracuse while Tash flew into the same airport the next day. It was time to teach our Strategic and Business Planning course at Cornell University. Continued at the bottom of the page...

BLOG INDEX FOR 2013 BY TOPIC

CHESS
South Dakota to Ohio... via Missouri January 24
Yermo comes to Cornell to meet with Chess Team January 30

With Susan Polgar and Alex Yermolinsky in January

2013 Cardinal Open held in memory of Mike Anders January 31
Games from the 2013 Cardinal Open February 7
Northwest Chess releases online color versions of magazine (with 3-month delay) February 14
September Northwest Chess online color edition released Feb. 28
October NWC online color edition March 14
2013 Roland vs. Niro Match April 4
2013 National Chess Day Announced April 11
November 2012 NWC online color edition April 18
December 2012 NWC Online Color Edition May 2
January 2013 NWC online color edition May 16
My tenure at NWC is complete! May 23
Chess Journalists appoint new President and VP May 30
An afternoon chat with Yasser - Part I June 6
An afternoon chat with Yasser - Part II June 13
An afternoon chat with Yasser - Part III - June 20 (pending final edit)
2013 North American Youth Chess Championships in Toronto July 4
Schedule of Events for Susan Polgar Foundation Girls Invitational July 18
Big 10th anniversary surprise for Girls chess! $5,000 cash prizes added! July 19
2013 SPFGI is under way July 22


Updated Coverage - 2013 SPGI July 23
Northwest Girls +3 at halfway mark of Girls' Invitational July 24
Colombian girl wins 2013 Susan Polgar Invitational August 8
Tartan Book Series August 15
NWC Features Luke-Harmon Vellotti September 26
E-town Christmas Open is tomorrow; PanAm starts at TTU in Lubbock December 27
Top teams face off in rd. 4 of PanAm Intercollegiate December 28
Webster takes big match with Texas Tech; UT-Dallas also at 4-0 December 29
PanAm update: Five teams fighting for 3 remaining spots... Dec. 30
Webster sweeps; UMBC, Illinois and Texas Tech advance Dec. 31

DISTANCE RUNNING
John Gray passes away at 88 March 28

FAMILY AND FRIENDS
Gethsemani Abbey - Happy 165th Anniversary! December 21
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year December 24

FOOD & BEVERAGE
Best Wine I've Had in a Long Time July 11

HEALTH CARE
Strategic and Business Planning for Healthcare Professionals starts today February 1

MUSIC, MOVIES & THE ARTS
Produce, the movie November 13
You Never Know Where Hope Grows November 21
Supporting the Arts in Portland, ME & Portland, OR December 15

In November, I was an extra in three different scenes for the upcoming movie, Produce. I am pictured above chatting with cast member, McKaley Miller, after the scene at Mt. Tabor Cemetery in Crestwood, KY.

SPORTS
Grapefruit League 2013 March 7

TRAVEL
Heading East January 20


Day 2; Little Big Horn January 21
Lots of snowmobiles January 22
What, no Harleys?? January 23
South Dakota to Ohio... via Missouri January 24
Sloan Case Competition team returns to UAB February 21
Lexington, KY or bust May 9
We're headed to Kentucky June 27

Index for 2012
Index for 2011 and prior

Our Year in review... (continued from the top of the page)

In between classes, Tash and I stayed at an extended stay hotel in Lexington, KY. We returned to Birmingham, AL, in Febuary with the Cornell Case Competition team and went on to Florida for a professional conference and a couple of Spring Training games. We found a place to live in March and our new landlord agreed to hold it for us until May in exchange for payment of the utility bills during the interim period.


Tash flew home from Syracuse after our last class in March and I left the Stratus in a friend's driveway in Missouri and flew home from St. Louis. In May we returned to New York for the Cornell Wagner Weekend, for the Susan Polgar Foundation fundraiser in NYC and a friend's birthday party in New Hartford, NY.

On June 26, I left Idaho in a Penske truck with Tash following in her Toyota. 2,000 miles later we arrived in Lexington, KY, where she started working towards her Ph.D. in Gerontology at the University of Kentucky.

Since school started at the end of August, we have stayed pretty close to home save a few round trips to Indiana and Ohio. I directed the Susan Polgar Girls' Invitational in St. Louis and attended the U.S. Open Chess Championship in Wisconsin while Tash attended her student orientation. Of course, we were able to watch the Red Sox during the playoffs and World Series on TV, so it didn't really matter where we were located in October. Tash spends most of her time reading and studying and I have been writing, dieting and exercising as much as possible.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog. I hope you have found a few worthwhile items. In 2014, I hope to expand my writing about health care reform and the Affordable Care Act from an unbiased (as much as possible for a former patient and hospital administrator) and non-partisan perspective.

Something new in 2013 for Tash who grew up on the Oregon coast: she got to stick her feet in the warm Atlantic ocean for the first time near Jacksonville, FL, in March (she didn't get more than a toe in at York Beach, ME, in 2012. brrr.)

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

...may 2014 be your best year yet

...and may you find the "mate" of your dreams!!

Sincere thanks to Susan Polgar Daily News and Information and Chess.com for uploading segments of my Pan Am coverage.


Pictured above, l. to r., members of the Webster University A-team: Le Quang Liem, Wesley So, Susan Polgar (coach), Georg Meier and Ray Robson