Happy Boxing Day and Good bye BuddyL

Yes, the days of BuddyL idiotically yelling out "Strong W" when W is 9d are over.

He has said that he would disappear if he didn't reach KGS 1d by Christmas 2006.

Here's a screenshot taken 12/26/2006 1:05pm EST (meaning Christmas has ended everywhere):


Have fun shopping and stay safe kids.


*Edit* and just about an hour after I post this, he logs in and updates his profile:

Oh well. Good luck to ya BuddyL.

*Follow-up* He failed to do it and hasn't logged on since Dec. 28.

Quotes that I quickly gathered so I can post something...

SE Love:

Move 246
idazuwaika [2d]: white L19 now please
Move 253
idazuwaika [2d]: good.. now SE works
Move 254
Aracsk [4d]: lol
Move 257
Malingo [4d]: lazy 2d
Move 259
Aracsk [4d]: hey I use SE too

My secret revealed:

FrostWind [11k]: play tenuki often to make ur opponent think u are mucch stronger

Scary:

uurtamo [9k]: cut is for weenies.

Game 8: 1k vs 1k

Interesting game I played. Nigiri blessed me with black.

Time settings = 30:00 + 1:00*5; komi = 6.5

Moves 1 - 50 (23 at 14)

I thought the ko was larger than responding to 20. It gave me something to attack very early in the game. White fell for it. The sequence to 39 gives Black a very nice moyo on the right side and no weak groups.

I regret the approach at 41, it should be a move to prevent a white moyo at 42. However, at the time, I felt that my group on the bottom was safe even if White spent a move to seal it, giving me an opportunity to break into the moyo through a different route.

After 50 moves, Black has 2 fair corners while White has one. One corner is still wide open. Black is trying to get something on the left to prevent White from sealing a large chunk on the left. Black has a very nice moyo going on the right.

Moves 51 - 100

Although I failed to get a living group on the left, I felt that connecting 43 around that corner along with the very large moyo was worth trading the large chunk White got in the end. In fact, I still think it's a favourable trade for me.

White's 80 is an overplay because Black is pretty strong on the right and the ladder does not work for White. Black quickly cuts through with 81 and 83. Although White does survive, Black's got the better of it because it helps secure the outside.

After 100, it looks like White can make something happen. However...

Moves 101 - 150 (113 at point left of 101; 142 at 103)

It only helps Black get very thick on the outside. All those White stones will soon be captured.

I played 121, thinking it would be sente and protect my corner. It isn't, but White defended anyway. This gave me the chance to play the devastating 123, which would help turn the moyo into solid territory.

After 150, I should capture the stone to live with my bottom group... In fact, I should do it right after move 42 way back when. I didn't, and...

Moves 151 - 200

I died here. Completely misread the response of 156 to the peep at 155. I had to count at this point, and realized I can still play on. Count for yourself and see if I made the right decision. (Remember Black now has sente).

163 was probably a mistake in yose. It probably should be gote. I thought I read out a nice sequence, but I don't think it works on second glance. 166 however is very cautious and returns sente.

I thought 168 was a free point for me. When I played 169, my opponent said, "very bad". I'm not too sure if he was saying my move was bad or his move was bad. He plays out everything here probably thinking he'll get something, so I assume he meant the former. It does look dangerous for Black but I did read this out (hopefully correctly) and I saw no danger. In the game, he failed to get anything.

The time settings were getting to me at this point. As you know, I don't have that much free time (even though I'm writing this haha) and my opponent was using all the time he could get. This game probably took over an hour.

Even more frustrating is his wild plays like the top and 194, 196 and 198 combo. These moves shouldn't be played by a 1k. The latter combo gave me two free points and 168 gave me a free point. He could have easily made points in sente by using these flaws against me.

Moves 201 - 213

White missed the fact that 202 is gote. White must defend.

205 is I guess a tesuji haha. Best response to it is one point left of 210. It would be about 15 free points for Black. White however, didn't read ahead and just played it through thinking it was a desperation move. However, unlike him, I don't play desperation moves without reading them out.

White resigns after 213 moves.

Note that I'd win by about 4 or 5 points without ever playing 205.

Not the best game I've played by far, but I just wanted to show how weak some of these 1ks are. I know I didn't play a top-notch game myself, but if I could lose a group like the one in the bottom, and still win, mostly gaining in yose (just by accepting free points), well... not much more needs to be said.

I'm still a 1k though. I don't deserve the 1d quite yet. I'm just too inconsistent.

Why 8%

I have no idea why this assignment I'm working on right now is worth 8% of my final mark. Every question seems to require a very very short answer, and it's not challenging at all. In fact, for a computer science major, the answers seem to be common sense.

It is worth 8% so maybe I'm totally wrong and it requires more than a few sentences per question. Oh well, I'll know when I get this assignment back in two weeks.

I've got another assignment to do today (and another one that's due tomorrow), so I guess it's a blessing. I just wish it didn't leave me with this really unsettling feeling.

I hate Leafs TV

Especially because I don't have it and I don't feel like paying a few bucks a month for it.

Upgrade Blogger

There's an update to Blogger in beta that they've let me upgrade to. The obvious change that you'll see are the labels attached to the posts. I've been waiting for this for a while now, because I go off on tangents talking about various different subjects that you probably don't want to read about. You can just read specific topics by clicking on a label to the right.

I'm still messing around with it, so you can probably expect to see more.

Game 7: 1k promotion

Started a new account for the new KGS3... Played a lot of games the past couple days, most recent one being against a 1k.

My account was at the time 2k, so I took black.

Time settings = 10:00 + 0:30*5; komi = 0.5

Moves 1 - 50

Moves 51 - 100

After move 77, White has a defect at the point below 60. Black should take it as soon as possible (i.e. for move 79). I felt there were larger moves however, so it was left until later (if White takes time to fix it, it would still be enough for Black to win).

After 100 moves, Black has 36 points of territory and White has 36 points of territory plus komi of 0.5. Black has sente, so Black is ahead. Also, Black has a lot more influence towards the center (and that devastating cut) so White must do something drastic to win.

Moves 101 - 150

I felt I was winning at this point, so I played calmly with move 101. If I made even a small patch of area in the center, I would win. After 106 (which I assume is the drastic measure White needed to take), I decided I should expose the flaw. After exchanging 107 for 108, Black plays the massive 109. This changes the entire game. White struggles a bit, but concedes the lower right. The game is pretty much decided here, but White continues.

White has 46 + 0.5 komi. Black has 78 points. There is no way for White to win.

Moves 151 - 199

White resigns when he shamefully loses his top left group.

I was promoted to 1k. The account's record is 14-1 (1 loss to a 5k due to a 1 move mistake that connected out his near-dead dragon and killed one of my groups) so I'll probably drift up to 1d even if I don't play. I can probably beat a 1d anyway though. I'll play some more and post when I have time.


P.S. I know I'm missing Game 6 or other games. Those are games I thought I'd post but decided not to. I still might eventually.

Hmm schedule these days:

Tuesday, Thursday:
Wake up around 10pm (the night before), wash up and stuff.
Do some surfing maybe some playing for an hour or more...
Go to school (yes: at around 11pm-3am), work on stuff...
Go to class at 8:30am. Eat, sleep in the caf or do more work.
Go to class at 11:30am. Eat, sleep in the caf or do more work.
Go to class at 1:30pm. { if Tuesday: Eat, sleep in the caf or do more work.
Go to class at 7:00pm. }
Do more work or go home and sleep.

Monday, Wednesday, Friday:
Sleep or do more work; class at 11:30am.


Yeah it's pretty rough... haha

If you want to log in multiple times on KGS

The new CGoban 3 is a java web start application. java web start doesn't seem to allow you to start multiple copies of the same application (for cgoban at least). Anyway, for those that have multiple accounts that want to log in multiple times simultaneously, you might have thought all is lost and that you'll have to settle with the applet on the web... however, there is a way!

Yes folks and it's got to do with the fact that if you click close (with the little x at the top right) of the main window (the window with the 6 large buttons), it doesn't close the entire application. java web start doesn't seem to recognize that the application is still running (or perhaps this is a backdoor that wms coded in for us), and when you start a new cgoban, you'll have that main window again, this time with the log in button enabled! Yay!

Note: If you click on quit with the main window, it will close everything, all current children and orphan windows.

Note to wms: Even if this was unintented, please keep it as it is! It sucks having to log in through the applet.


Now if only there was a way to easily copy buddy lists and fan lists between accounts...

Things work!

Don't you love it when things just work? Well, I admit I had to spend a good hour debugging some stupid thing, but pretty much everything I've done works.

Going to optimize a few things then I just have to answer a few questions and I'll be done the first assignment! Giving me 2 full days of rest to work on other assignments... yay

I saw a few hello world's still, so maybe I'm not so far behind everyone. I doubt they'll stay enrolled much longer though. They probably won't finish it by Tuesday. That is of course unless they simply named their finished assignments as hello world, in an attempt to trick others into thinking they're making good time compared to them...

I might drop by a Go club meeting next week. I don't know though... last time was pretty bad and this time it's not even going to be an official club meeting.

Real-Time Programming

In the computer science faculty at the university of Waterloo, CS452 is commonly known as "the train course" because we move around trains and stuff.

I'm now just doing the first 'introductory' assignment... Boy is it hard. Having to time everything so everything runs smoothly is a real pain, and I am really grateful of operating systems that manage this kind of stuff.

Yesterday the substitute prof who taught this a couple years back said that one of the later assignments, having to deal with tracking the trains (with the limited number of sensors we have) is the most difficult assignment in all of our university career. (nondeterministic and all that..)

This course is probably by far the toughest undergrad CS course that you can take at UW. I have no idea why I'm taking 2 other CS project courses this term as well...

Anyway, been working on this for the whole night and the couple nights before that and I think one more night before that... so yeah my mind needed a little break and I thought I'd write an entry. Seems like everyone else is way ahead though, which begs the question, "How many hours do they have in a day? 40?"

So far, I've concentrated on UI mostly. Input and output stuff, efficiently displaying stuff on the WYSE terminal and everything. I probably focused a little too much on this area, because it's not really an area with a big constraint in terms of meeting the service times. I haven't tested anything in a while, written like 2000 lines of code since the last testing... Just crossing my fingers and hoping it will work when I get to the lab in a couple hours.

p.s. kgs3 is pretty nice. it's too bad wms is starting his full-time job. would have liked to see a few more major features added, since he claims it should be easier to add new features. i won't go as far as to wishing for him to get fired, but i hope he gets some free time to work on it soon :)

Couple funnies

Been a long time again. No long story, just a quickie.

A couple more quotes from KGS:

Starless [1d]: Donnie: too much territory eh?
Donnie [4d]: I am territorist.
touchmenot [13k]: the captain is an active participant in the war on territory

snowynight: chuyangele??
snowynight: is that your name?
chuyangele [10k]: it's my name with extention
snowynight: my name's chuayng lol
snowynight: *chuyang
chuyangele [10k]: lol
chuyangele [10k]: same
snowynight: what's ur last name?
chuyangele [10k]: Chu
snowynight: o nvm lol
chuyangele [10k]: lol
snowynight: Chu Yang, first name
Mramahi1 [8k?]: what? making sure your not the same person?

Profs are nice people

I don't interact with them much, so I never knew. They actually do deserve all that money.

I realized it just this week when one of my profs returned my assignment. Usually TAs do all the marking so I always thought profs are lazy bums who do nothing for their students.

He marked this assignment personally and went beyond my expectations. The course is User Interfaces and the assignment was to make a playable side scrolling game. One of the requirements was to fill out a self evaluation and some kind of readme.txt detailing some extra features you did for the game. I had designed this game in my mind for the longest time, trying to come up with a bunch of ways to make it more fun and interesting for the player, but I never got around to implementing it fully. I got the base of most of the code but never got around to enabling all those little things that was left untested before it was due.

In the end, I didn't even mention them in the readme text file. I thought all that effort would go to waste, but I didn't feel I deserved to get any marks for things that were half finished. I thought the marker would just simply play out the compiled game and read the readme and look for the mentioned features.

It turns out that the prof actually took a look into my code and saw all the little things that weren't even enabled. He liked my design and gave me full credit for them. It's unreal because I didn't even document them and those parts of the code were messy. He just saw it and realized what it was supposed to do. I imagine he and his TA did that for all the 120+ assignments which is simply just incredible. I never expected that. In the end I got 92/90, which is pretty good I think.

Maybe this prof is just special. Unlike most other profs, his lectures (most of which I don't have time to attend) are very enjoyable and he's got a great sense of humour. In any case, I have a whole new respect for all the profs out there.

6th day of the 6th month of the 6th year

Even if we're shown the end and a clear path to get there, as humans we will clumsily trip again and again and never reach it.

It's not a special day and nothing will happen you freaks.

p.s. posting time is purely coincidental.

Oro kyu players are weak

Very weak compared to their KGS counterparts. I hear their dan players are stronger though. I wonder where the cutoff is.

A 5k didn't know how to defend his 4-4 against 6-3, 8-3, 3-3... twice.

Maybe I'll post a game or two... if I ever feel like replaying the games to save to sgf.

Too long

Just a week shy of a couple months since my last post. Obviously I've been busy if you've been keeping up..

Haven't played much go but for some reason I think I'll be stronger once I return.

In other news, the seasons of Boston Legal and House and The Office have ended, and The Apprentice will air its season finale next week. So maybe I'll have more time for real work.

Speaking/Mentioning of The Apprentice, it's down to the final two: Sean and Lee. Sean seems to have picked the better team and seems to be rolling right along while Lee's team doesn't seem to be as strong. However, as always on The Apprentice, there are major setbacks for both candidates, Sean hit a little harder losing Andrea to some weird bloody cough inducing illness. My guess would be a parasite; she probably ate too much exotic crap to get over her firing.

Meanwhile, Lee has to convince a major player that the little work he's done is enough to wow people into donating a ton of money.

These things always seem to happen last minute on The Apprentice, eh? I actually expected a couple disasters like these to happen in the last 5 minutes of the episode. While I don't doubt the genuineness of Andrea's bloody cough, I wonder what disaster would have struck Sean if he had picked someone else. It is possible she's feigning it or even worse was poisoned by the execs who runs the show, but that's really reaching for it.

Oh, and Pepi, I feel bad for that guy. The show always has foreshadowing and Donald and Carolyn laughing at the choice of Pepi is a sign of things to come. Either he'll truly shine or be a complete disaster meeting the expectations of the bad-hair twosome. Hopefully for him, it'll be the former, but it would probably be more entertaining otherwise.

I predict Lee will be able to smooth-talk himself out of his situation and Sean will manage a nice but less than expected event with Andrea only returning for the live show where she'll be perfectly fine.

My prediction for the winner? Is Rebecca still in the picture? If not, then I think Sean. Carolyn thinks Lee's too laid back and not PM material and she seems to be a very big influence to Trump's decision.

So far, Sean is way ahead in his planning of the event, although I think Andrea will hold many many answers to the many many questions to come in the next episode.

Ah, it's been too long so maybe I'll write some more entries in the next few days.

Busy

Really busy...

Next week is really busy... It will likely be the worst week I'll be spending here in Waterloo. 2 finals on Monday, 2 finals on Wednesday.

Anyway, I decided I'll post some funny stuff from KGS chat here.

Here's one from a while back:

fro: drim, i've been here years longer than you, drim
Drimgere: then login to your real account and don't troll me fro
adb: yeah fro
adb: take that
adb: ohhh....snap
adb: how that make you feel
adb: dont troll me, punk fool

and here's one from today:

PegasusKnt: Well, Hanul, your 16k, I'm 16k, we're on a Go server...
PegasusKnt: *Hint hint nudge nudge*
Shian: pegasus. that reminds me of a guy who doesnt get enough attention from his own wife
Shian: or.. the way around
bochip: spare us the autobiography, shian

Ah I'm having a blast

Yep. I'm having a lot of fun programming here at Waterloo. Running into problems, fixing bugs, implementing new and exciting things... ah! So much fun. I enjoy programming; I even had fun writing the dumb little programs they assigned the first two years. OS is really fun. Well, I guess that's just my take on it. Most students seem to think this course is death. Even the TA makes it out to look bad. Some of the things he said the first day:

"Last term there were a whole bunch of people who didn't finish the assignments even though they started early."
"Oh, and for those requirements, unless you've got EVERYTHING else done, don't bother. Even if you think for hours straight there's a good chance you won't get anywhere. It's only worth 20%."
"Last term I taught this course and all these students tried to kill me."

Well maybe not the last one, but I'm sure it happened. A lot of the people who have taken this course tell others to not take it if it's not a requirement... and they're pale.

I dunno. I just really love programming. I haven't run into any huge problems so far. I plan out everything in my head then execute and I end up with only a few occasional bugs here and there. I guess there are people who just blindly go through it (maybe last minute) hacking away everywhere without a direction. I used to do that often and still do it, but I know it can lead to big troubles. I get away with it most of the time though. Just this week, I wrote a 250 line program in a couple hours just before it was due.

Oh yeah, the mark for the OS midterm was bumped up 10% for everyone. Yay.

I've played go with my dad a lot this past week. I think 4 or 5 games. I remember the days when I used to take 4 handicaps... Really feels good to take White against him.

Maybe I'll post a game later this week. For now, back to programming!

Relaxed

Ahh feels like I've slept the weekend away...

Almost true.

I spent the weekend at home doing nothing but watching movies and sleeping. I think I averaged about 16 hours of sleep per day. I've still got red rings around my eyes from all that sleeping.

Last night, I decided to wake up at 7 and study for my midterm before going to class. What actually happened was, I woke up at 7, turned on my computer, logged onto kgs, then watched a ton of games. Also I watched a ton of Boston Legal episodes I downloaded. Around 11am, I was reminded to send in my group evaluations by 2pm. I totally forgot about this and had I not skipped class this morning, I would have lost marks for not sending one in. I watched some more Boston Legal then suddenly it was 6pm and I had to go get a coffee before I wrote my midterm. I went into the midterm thinking, 'how hard could it be?' Besides one question which just stumped me (later to find out that I missed the related lecture), the rest was pretty easy. I'm expecting at least 90%. (I should really set these expectations lower since they're never met)

Speaking of unmet expectations, I just got my OS midterm mark of 67%. I really thought I did well on that because I solved most of the tougher problems. I usually never bother with the short answers, because they're not really worth studying for but I still did expect around the high 70s to 80s region. The average for the course was 55%. I still beat out a lot of people I guess.

I haven't gotten my mark yet, but for another CS course, the average for the midterm was 59%. The post on the newsgroup described what most people missed, and I think I got them. Again, I didn't bother with the short answer questions for that midterm but I'm still expecting high 70s to 80s. I'll probably get it back tomorrow.

The averages seem low. Maybe they're just weeding out the weak... but I really hate to think that they'd do that in the third and fourth year courses. First and second years were a breeze; to do this now is being sadistic.

Whatever... All done! (except for the 4 assignments due this week... ugh)

Oh yeah, the new season of The Apprentice started today. I've missed it due to the midterm, but I'll be downloading it and watching it shortly! For now, I'll be watching some more Boston Legal.

Update (11pm): Just got my physics midterm mark: 72.5%. I really didn't expect such a high mark for this test to be honest. It was a pretty tough one even though it's a first year course. The average was 56%; looks like at least a third of the students failed the exam. The physics department has the right idea: weed them out early.

Update (the day after): On that CS midterm, I got 81.5%. Highest mark was 82%.

Still awake

Oh my goodness... Just finished off the project. I can't even sleep now because I'll be heading home in a couple hours (after a game of tennis).

*Yawn* x10

Incredibly tired right now.

Woke up at 4am, wrote two midterms and I've still got work to do before I head to bed.

Actually, right now I've got no work to do, but I'm forced to stay up. That's because my group hasn't sent me their parts yet so I could start working on it.

I've already told them I'd finish it up so I'm kind of obligated to do it.

It's very difficult to stay awake when you're waiting... not in anticipation of fun and joy but of work and agony.

So yeah, I'm really tired. Tired to the point of feeling a yawn caught in the back of my throat; tired to the point where trying to force that yawn makes me nearly vomit... I'm not kidding. Usually when you know a yawn's coming, you open your mouth to give it a little push. When I do it right now, I choke a little and feel like vomiting. I can only recall two moments in my life past infancy that I've vomited. I don't vomit much; only if I get drunk beyond belief. So you can really understand how tired I am.

I guess writing this entry is kind of busy work to keep myself awake.

Oh well, my break starts tomorrow at 2pm, so I'll hang on until then.

By the way, don't ever go into a midterm (without studying) thinking, "How hard could it be?" I got burnt 4 times so far this term... Come next Monday, I'll be sure to make it a perfect 5/5.

Game 5: Nice game

I've been playing as a guest a lot lately. It's not that hard to find games. I'm sometimes amazed though at how some people just decline requests by guests no matter what. They have free games open with different board sizes or have crazy ultra blitz settings yet they reject guests. Do they think they'll somehow not have any fun playing guests with those weird settings? Seriously crazy. Sometimes, I'll even be rejected by guests. That's the biggest shocker. Some people just don't get it.

Anyway, I played this game as a guest against another guest. I thought the level was quite high. Higher than the games I play with my 4k accounts. Care to guess which colour I played and the strengths of each player?
Time settings = 10:00 + 0:50*5; komi = 6.5

Moves 1 - 50

White 16 is an interesting answer to the pincer at 15. Normally White would play 18. 16 shows that White is afraid of Black's wall facing towards 13. Black answered 16 with 17 and it reduced to the normal pincer 3-3 joseki facing the other way. Black trades 25 for 26 and approaches at 27. 41 and 45 seem like mistakes and Black decides to go for the last hoshi at 47. Then White invades the last unsettled corner. Black chooses to block with 49 instead of 50 because White 26 is closer than White 10. After 50 moves, White has 4 fairly large corners while Black doesn't seem to have much. After finishing the 3-3 joseki, Black has roughly 60 points. White has roughly 60 points + komi. But I'm overestimating Black a little at the top and underestimating White at the right. So I'd say White has a lead of about 15 points.

Moves 51 - 100

Black chooses to go for the top with 73. White makes out with the top left corner and Black is forced to live on the left. White reduces the top with 94. After 100 moves, Black has roughly 76 points while White hasn't gained much (only reduced) and has roughly 62 points + komi. I'm still underestimating White on the right probably.

Moves 101 - 150

Here's where White really slips I think. White didn't bother playing the ko in the center and connected with 112. When Black takes the ko with 113, White should make a safe connection move. While 114 is a threat to connect to the right, it's not very safe, so Black cuts with 115. Black prevents the connection on the right and now White has to live in the center. However, Black makes a couple critical errors. 135 should be played at 39 first. White should immediately live with 139, but White gives Black a chance. Black's second mistake is the trade of 143 for 144. This reduces Black's liberty and forces him to play at 149 instead of one right of 148. This mistake allows White to live starting with the sequence from 150. White captures the block containing 117, 119 and 121 to live. Compared to the last figure, there's a swing of roughly 24 points in favour of White. So White is up roughly 10 points + komi.

Moves 151 - 185

Black has to catch up 16.5 points in the endgame. This is where Black should resign, but Black decides to play on. To Black's delight, White makes a mistake in judgment. 172 is certainly large. However, I think it is better placed at 175. If not, 174 should be at 177, allowing Black one more push at 174. After White connects, Black's push at 175 would still be sente. I think this is as big if not bigger than 172. It became even bigger because White played the way he did. 175 should be responded to with a move like 183 or 177. Black captures a large chunk of White's corner with the sequence to 183. White made another mistake by taking another large point at 184, but not living with 185. However, the game was already decided. White resigned here.


Like I said, I thought this game was of high level while I was playing it. This is probably because I didn't know the rank of the opponent. When I know the opponent's rank, I kind of know what kind of moves I can try and what kind of moves they know how to punish. While I try not to play with that knowledge, I just can't help it. It's a really bad habit. It's probably why I'm not improving much lately.

Playing a guest or someone with a ? is really fun. I think you play some of your best games when you find someone decently strong (i.e. not a total beginner) yet are uncertain of their rank. I find it a great way to break through that habit.

Before, I used to advise against playing against guests, but now I think everyone should try playing guests. There's no harm since it's a free game, and you can leave the game (just resign) at any time if you find that your opponent is much too weak to have fun.

Game 4: Unbelievable

I played this game against a 6k on KGS. I am White and this is a 2 handicap game.

Moves 1 - 50

Moves 51 - 89

Black resigned here. Are 6ks on KGS really this weak? I'd think the 7k from my other posted game could give this guy at least 3 stones if they played. How can this guy maintain a 6k rank? It's just unbelievable. Time settings were 10:00+0:30*5, so it couldn't have been time pressure.

Guess

Deep meaning behind this one...

What a week

My hellish week is finally over.

Wrote a couple midterms Tuesday and Wednesday, then stayed up all Wednesday night, only to find out in the morning that the two midterms on Thursday were cancelled due to bad weather.

Other than that, I had meetings with my project groups and even got a haircut! Yep, dinos need haircuts too.

Next week there's a reading break starting Thursday. Reading week is supposed to be all week, but since I'm in the Math faculty, it's only two days long. Next week won't be so easy going though. One of the midterms from Thursday was rescheduled to Tuesday, and I already had one scheduled for that day. Also, a large project is due Wednesday.

Right now, I'll just be working on OS and watching the rest of Boston Legal that I've missed.

Boy, do I envy my friends not in the Math faculty going to Florida tomorrow...

Blogger

It's a great service and it's free so I can't complain... but I really hate this system right now. It gives me a "republish again in 10 minutes" every other time and occasionally doesn't allow a republish for hours. What's really frustrating about the "republish again" screen is that it doesn't even give you a button to republish. I either have to hit back and click republish or edit my template then save the template to get to the page with the republish button.

I don't know if it's just me or a subset of blogger users but I'm pretty sure it's not affecting everyone. I wish they'd give some information like posting something on blogger status. It doesn't indicate anything that would cause these errors to persist.

I'd get my own webspace, design my own site and host a blog on there, but I don't have time until summer.

Oh well. Long live Blogger. Long live Google.

Trekkie goes bankrupt

This attention whore transformed his own home into the starship while accumulating £100,000 in debt. I've got nothing against Trekkies (well I probably do), I just never understood their fascination with Star Trek. I was never able to sit through an entire episode. Never seen it, but I think I'd enjoy the older ones with Shatner... maybe (watch him on Boston Legal!).

The only time I got through an entire plot was when I watched Nemesis with friends at the theatres. I probably would have walked out had I not paid for the popcorn.

Anyway, even with my view against Star Trek and Trekkies, I gotta say the apartment doesn't look too bad... but I doubt it was worth going bankrupt for.

One thing that caught my eye was the microwave in the kitchen. It instantly got me thinking, 'Do they even eat on Star Trek?' I don't recall ever seeing anyone eat in the movie or the few minutes I've spent watching some episodes. Probably wouldn't heat it up in the microwave though, right?

I read that he was planning to get other Trekkies to pay him to transform their living quarters in this fashion. Make a career out of it. He tried to sell his apartment for $2 million on eBay. It's unfortunate that he thought other people might want to live in a place they couldn't bring their girlfriends to at night.

By the way, tomorrow is Valentine's. The fake holiday when you buy your better half lots of gifts, yet are forced to go to work or attend class, or in my case write a midterm.

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AD is over

Yes that's right fans, Fox aired the last four episodes of Arrested Development Season 3 last night. I add that "Season 3" bit because it is possible for AD to be picked up by another network to continue the series.

I really didn't like how they ended Season 3 though. It doesn't seem like there's much of a story to continue. I'm not going to spoil the ending here. Granted, most of the deeper plots never got wrapped up and the writers of the show are geniuses that can come up with brilliant ways to start new ones, but I just don't see a nice transition from Season 3 to a possible Season 4.

I was never a creative genius though. I'd love to see a Season 4. Arrested Development was one of those shows that got my life going. Something to look forward to every week (meaning that the last few weeks have been hell for me). For now though, AD is over and I'm not going to keep my hopes up that there will be a fourth season.

Now there are three shows I'll be watching each week: House M.D., The Office, and Boston Legal.

I haven't mentioned Boston Legal, but I'll be fair to ABC right now. Boston Legal is a brilliant show about a firm. It's a spin off from The Practice. I've only watched a few minutes of The Practice (when it was just starting out) and I can't even connect the two shows together. The Practice seemed like a really serious Law and Order type of lawyer show. Boston Legal is more of a light comedy. William Shatner is fantastic in it. It's just a really great show. Currently in Season 2.

P.S. Please support AD by buying Season 3 when it becomes available on DVD! Buy the other seasons if you haven't already! (Buy them even if you already have them)

Game 2: *Yawn*

So tired these days. It'll be even worse come next week. I've got 4 midterms in a span of 3 days.

I should be studying right now, but I'm playing go. I've been playing really well lately. Got most of my accounts to 4k or higher on kgs. I really ought to try and get them higher but oh well (I'll just let them drift up a bit). Here's a game that got one of my accounts to 4k:

My opponent is 7k and this was a 2 handicap game.

Moves 1 - 50

After 50 moves, the board is clearly in Black's favour. Two very solid corners and a large right side. I estimate about 60 points for Black if his positions are simply reduced and not invaded. White has roughly 55 points counting the same way but Black's positions are much more solid. Also note that the life of White's group on the left hangs on a ladder. White can choose to play lightly against that stone should it run, but White would be left with a group with no eyes and Black is already one up against it on both sides.

Moves 51 - 100

I played 51 in preparation of a corner invasion or to cut off the stone and chase it around while securing my left group. Black didn't take the bait though and didn't start running with it. Instead, he landed in at 54, a reduction. I think it would be better placed one lower as an invasion and take away all that white territory. White never had any prospects for the outside anyway with that black thickness on the right. After the double hane at 59, 61 was almost too perfect for white to miss. White then cut off the group from the right and started his own in the middle. Black played 82 in gote so white invaded deeper into the right with 83, hoping to attack Black's lower right or upper right. Black played 88 to defend the bottom right and a huge attack ensued on the upper right group.

Moves 101 - 150

Black made out with his group while leaving White without two eyes in the middle. Black probably could have gotten out better and attacked the attacker. White captured 2 stones with 139 and Black played a safe connection move with 140. White then began a large ko with the sequence from 141 to 145 (to the right of 134). Black made a huge mistake with his ko threat, not realizing the worth of this ko fight. White filled the ko at 147 (at 132) and killed Black's middle group while Black had to kill White's left group with one more move. Black has roughly 62 points while White has roughly 90 points. White was already in the lead and once again had sente.

Moves 151 - 185

After 161, Black must secure his corner. Black got careless and played the gote sequence 164-166. White killed the corner with 167 and was now over 60 points ahead. After 185, Black lost by time and I was promoted to 4k.

I thought Black played well at first, but played too many slack moves and gave away sente too much. Of course, this is expected in handicap games, but I didn't expect so much in a 2 handicap game. Black missed his chance to attack white's middle group and that was his biggest mistake. It wasn't a great game for me either but this game was 3:00/25 which is about 7 seconds per move and I really suck at blitz.

P.S. I won't tell you what my accounts are.

Objective view

The tough thing about go when you're starting out (mid kyus and even up to dans) is that it is hard to judge a position objectively. Most of the time, you'll think you're way behind or the position is better for your opponent. It'll look like your opponent's territory is bigger and more solid even when the situation is equal for both sides. It's that thing about the grass being always greener on the other side.

This is especially confusing when you're starting to learn josekis. After you play it, it seems like you're in a far worse position than you really are. Why? Josekis are supposed to lead to equal results. It should be good for both players. The fact is, the result is equal for both. The situation is bad for both players.

The phenomenon is pretty simple to explain. The flaws in your positions are always on your mind. This is because most players have a defensive view of things. Even attackers need to keep in mind the weaknesses of their groups. You always want to make sure that your opponent can't attack your groups strongly. What you don't notice are the flaws in your opponent's positions. Sure, you'll be figuring them out as you play, but you will prioritize your groups first, your opponent's second.

If you're struggling to get stronger because of this simple phenomenon, do what Apple says. Think Different. Prioritize the weaknesses of your opponent's groups first, your groups second. Always be on the offensive. You'll start seeing all the weaknesses in your opponent's position and when you switch back to your original style, you'll know from experience that your positions are both not as great as you thought.

Another way to get over this hurdle is to play a lot of games. Don't play the same joseki over and over again unless you play it from the other side from time to time. Play like your previous opponent. Find out what they were thinking when playing against you. Eventually you'll be able to know what they're thinking while they're playing against you.

Always take a look at things objectively. Don't let your colour cloud your judgment.

Funny thing is, this applies in real life too. This isn't so surprising since I've already used that grass is greener line already. Always think things through in an objective view. A lot of mistakes can be avoided. Do things right, think different.

P.S. I hate Apple.

House M.D.

I must seem like a real loser, blogging two Friday nights in a row... but you know, even pimps work Friday nights. Anyway...

While the Leafs won a game against Florida to end their losing streak, another one is beginning. They're playing Washington today, and while I expect them to win, I've got a strong feeling they'll lose. Pat Quinn was on Leafs Lunch today and was talking about a bunch of things like Stajan getting less ice time, how he's had to make a lot of changes due to injuries and pairing up Sundin with Lindros. Because of the way he answers hot topic questions, it was interesting and not interesting at the same time.

Enough about the Leafs...

I haven't gotten much sleep this week. Been pretty busy with school and watching House M.D. season 1.

House is a great show. If I had a medical degree I'd confidently say as a doctor, "This show is da bomb!" with emphasis on being a doctor. You should watch it. It probably helps to know what they're saying, but some people (not me I swear) just like to hear people say medical terms like "stat!" and "CT scan".

It was funny when House said something about afternoon delight which instantly reminded me that this show is on the same network as the other show I've recommended to others in the past, Arrested Development.

What makes this show great (at least in Season 1) is Dr. Cuddy. A brilliant woman, who's the head of the entire hospital. House just loves to make trouble for her and she loves to make him miserable. They have duels of wits in every episode and it's really enjoyable to watch. However, they both respect each other and the great chemistry between them really makes this a wonderful show... and I haven't even mentioned the main plot of the show or the comedic displays of the protagonist.

Other cast members include doctors Cameron (an emotional trainwreck), Chase (who loves his job but hates the work) and Foreman (a juvenile gone clean). Also making frequent (more than once per episode) appearances is his best and only friend Dr. James Wilson.

It's been on a long break, but Fox will start airing new episodes next Tuesday.

Another show to watch out for is The Office. It seems to be a very low budget show, but it's definately better than 99% of other shows. It's on NBC on thursdays. (Now you can't say I'm a FOX fan [which is funny because I have a beanie from FOX the racing gear company])

I'd recommend more shows to watch, but I don't watch that much TV.

C'mon Leafs!

It's only been an hour, but I feel I need to post this rant.

The Leafs are on a 7 game losing streak. Lost every game since McCabe's been out, which kind of tells you how much the team needs him. What should be done? Well, a few players out with injuries should not lead to a whole team malfunction. Even if they are key players. The coach's job is to fill in the gaps with capable players and keep the team from breaking down.

Pat Quinn has this 'stick with experienced players' mentality and I think he's relying too much on them. Sure, experience is important and they are your better players most of the time. However, when you don't give ice time to the relatively inexperienced players, they'll never get on your list of "experienced players". When your key players get injured (which happens more when you give them more ice time) and your inexperienced players are the only ones you can depend on, how do you think they'll handle a surge in ice time?

Here's how he should be thinking: Only let players play if you'd normally let them play. Now before you start thinking about the issues with injuries and not enough men, read deeper. The key to solving the issues is to change your definition of normal. This means that he should plan on people being injured and regardless of the injury combinations, he should be able to go on as if nothing happened. Of course, you can't plan for all injury combinations.. but he should be able to at least get by when 3 key players are injured.

Another thing Pat Quinn likes to do is match up the opponent's best with his best. Unless you've got favourable match-ups in other lines, this is a bad approach. Sure, it sounds cowardly, but you should be getting more ice time than your opponent where your 5 men are better than theirs.

Right now, the Leafs are just lucky the No.8 team in the conference is doing as badly as them. The Thrashers have yet to pull away with it, staying just a point ahead, while the Leafs are in their biggest slump in a while.

The Raptor's GM recently got fired (probably undeserved [or deserved, but very late]). If you look at the records of the Raptors and the Leafs the past 8 weeks, you'll see that the Raptors have been doing a lot better. Will we see something done to this team by the MLSE? As a Leaf fan, I sure hope so.

Happy new year!

Yeah! I know it's late. I've been busy. Yes, it's been a long time since I've posted... not that anyone reads this.

The Conservative party won the election a few nights back... Feels odd since the Liberals have been in power since I came to Canada.

Did I vote? No. I'm with Hiko Seijuro when he says that a user of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu shouldn't take sides in any political affair. It would cause a tragedy... (Yes, I am a master of the sword)

So what have I been doing if I wasn't voting? Well, first of all, voting takes less than a day so that wouldn't even begin to be a reason for not posting. I've been holding back on posting here and have been writing in a little book every now and then. I won't share what I write in there though.

I recently quit playing Team Fortress Classic. I used to play in the range of 40-60 hours a week. It was just a useless addiction that probably won't take me anywhere in life.

I just started a new school term and have been going to most of my classes. Here are stats for the period of Jan. 3 to Jan. 27:

• Gone to scheduled class: 55/57 (96.5%!)
• Total number of hours in class: 69.5
  
• Average number of hours in class per (5-day) week: 18.3 (look at the calendar before e-mailing me)
  
• Submitted assignments: 8/8 (100%!)
  

This is not so bad for someone who used to go to less than 10% of all classes and submitted less than 40% of all assignments in previous terms.

Add in the fact that I actually have to spend time working on the assignments and going to client and group meetings and you'd think I could wrap it and hurl it at your face as an excuse for not posting... but you're forgetting about December! Well I've been busy then with exams and not having an internet connection. So there.

Anyway, like I said, we have a new prime minister. Mr. Harper has been very public and just three days in as the big man, he's already standing up for Canada about the waters in the north.

An article predicts that Canada will be a bigger producer than Saudi Arabia one day. Look around you right now. You might be in the presence of an undercover American pretending to be Canadian, just ready to strike some major cities in the US once Canada finds those fields in an attempt to make Canada out to be a terrorist nation! Yes, you read that crazy long sentence correctly. Your mother or father or even little Billy could be a terrorist of tomorrow!