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Today I slept in until 9:15ish. It was bright, well bright for rainy Oregon.

I had stayed up late last night playing chess against Lasker, my chess computer, Millennium’s Lasker Special The King Edition. I was having an issue with the chess computer seemly changing my chess piece positions. The board was lighted-up with warnings, and the AI seemed a bit lost. I finally grasped that the new code I installed with all the new features had made the board more sensitive, and I need to pick-up and place pieces.

No more sliding pieces. I like to slide the chess pieces when playing against human players who usually think you did not see something they missed and then slide into it. That is not allowed in competitive chess, and I just need to comply with the rules.

When I finally worked out that it was me causing the issue, it was late, and I ended up playing a long game against Lasker. I set Lasker to a higher level, but I still managed to exchange out most of the pieces (I admit I was taking hints for Lasker) and then had the long game of rooks and three more pawns than the computer player had left. I used the computer’s hint to avoid a misplaced piece as this was just an exercise of repeating the same moves over and over while reducing the enemy king’s freedom of movement. The computer finally conceded. I just wanted to see that it would still concede at the higher settings. It does.

I played another chess game this morning and lost. Lasker crushed my mangled opening, and I gave in before it got worse. I had peanut butter toast and coffee for breakfast while being crushed.

I started working on my chess program today. Last year I wrote a short computer Python program, 450+ lines, to use the newish Python-Chess library to play chess. The library supplied the chess framework. I just had to write a loop to play and accept moves to have a working chess program. I did not write a pawn promotion handling routine yet, but the chess programming was working well enough that you can play a game.

I spent the morning getting the program working again. First, I had to get PyCharm updated. This is my fav IDE for Python development. I had to get my license accepted again. I pay for an annual license, but the vendor requires a check every month to have a license. I then updated PyCharm to the newest release. Yes, these tools are not free and require constant attention.

Next, the program is running on older Python and a legacy version of the Python-Chess library.

As a break, I served the remains of the quiche I made to Susie and me for lunch. It was better reheated.

Anaconda is the program I use to load Python, and it needs a major update. I read the warnings on the Stack Overflow Website, started the update, and took a shower. It gets all updated for a long time while I get dressed. I load Python 3.8 as a separate environment. I have 3.7 Python as default. I then load the new version of the Python-Chess library for both 3.7 and 3.8.

I have to reset the version of Python that PyCharm needs. This takes an hour to work out. It still does not work. Each project has an environment too. It is the wrong version too. I finally get this all changed to Python 3.8.

Why Python 3.8? It is newish and getting good support.

After another hour of frustration and running the update everywhere, I finally call up a terminal inside of PyCharm and order an update of the Python-Chess library, and that finally works using Python 3.8!

This open code is always fighting version changes of tools and libraries. My Apple also does not love Python 3.6 as it is running Big Sur OS. This version stuff can be difficult to solve. Worse, often there are security issues in earlier versions that force the change to the fixed versions. Staying on an older version will likely let you get hacked.

I then run the checks on the code and fix two classic bugs using the global variable in a subroutine while also passing the same reference–that can cause a really nasty bug. I also fix a few more glitches called out by the standard checking in PyCharm. That is why I like PyCharm. I love standards–the code usually runs better and safer when all cleaned-up. I love it when it points out what is likely a typo on my part.

I take a break from chess and Python and buy groceries from the local Safeway. I get the basics (except I thought we had milk! What only three eggs!) and lots of holiday nuts and chocolate-covered stuff—Susie like that for the holidays. I also put up Susie’s Peanuts Holliday dancing and musical collection. So we are trying to get “Christmas-ee.”

I cook sweet Italian Sauage in a tomato cream sauce over pasta for dinner. It was just OK.

Susie is reading. I am coding more Python. Even when it is so stupid, the chess program noticed that I misplaced a knight and took it. That made me smile. I also revised the pawn setting matrix to like the center and the end of the board more. I set the values higher for just pawns, making the program detect that moving a pawn to the center is more valuable than sending a knight there. The program was bouncing knights all over the board before–it was bizarre looking moves. The pawns are now moving out better.

I am having a problem with exchanges in the chess program. The program runs away from nearly equal exchanges! It was odd to drive the king out with a check that should have been a pawn taking my bishop. Again, the pawn matrix change is now getting back at me, and the piece values are set too low. I have more fun chess coding coming up when I get some free time again.

It has been fun to get back into chess again.

Last year this weekend, we, Susie Corwin and me, flew to Amsterdam. We are missing the traveling and the holidays in Europe we so enjoyed last year. We look forward to returning to Amsterdam in 2021 or 2022. Rome is the penciled-in plan for October 2021.

1,414 people are reported to have died today in the USA from the virus.

Maybe it is early for this one, but I thought it was time for this: Joy to the World.

 

I am starting today with a short reflection on 279 blogs.

This is the 280th day of writing this, and, except for the night that Susie had the stroke, I have written a blog every day. That is 279 blogs. I try to write about what I want to remember about the day. Often it is the food we ate and some of the things we did to make it through another day of lockdown. Unlike some of the USA, we here in Oregon locked down early and with harsh restrictions. We did an unlock, and for a short time, I change the count to restart. I went back to the original counting after we all discovered that we were going back to lockdown.

Also, I remember when the death count was low, when the measures we were taking seemed to work. I published an image of the low numbers chart within that day’s blog, thinking we could keep the pandemic under control with masks and people’s goodwill. I am deeply troubled that the second wave and an intensification happened.

From the first day of writing back in early 2020, I finish the daily blog with the death counts, and a hymn or other music that I think can fit the day and lockdown mood. I wanted the counts to witness the losses people are taking. The music selection seemed a good way to end that day’s story.

Sometimes I write the story of the day from the morning or start at the end and retell the story backward—anything to keep it interesting to the reader, and quite frankly, interesting to the writer.

I am using Grammarly to remove the more damaging mistakes. I usually miss a word or switch a word for another. One of the worst mistakes was using the word reefs for wreaths. Grammarly will find those kinds of mistakes now. It is much improved over this year.

WordPress is the tool I use to write the blog. It moved to a Java-based editor and save process that has failed multiple times for me. The production support team at WordPress has me instead using the classic editor.

Often I find it is 9PM and I must write now. It seems like a challenge to write a single sentence some nights. I keep going as I want a record of what happened and how we lived through this together. On weekends I can start when I want as there is no 6ish start in the morning. It ain’t easy to do this every day.

Turning to today…

Today is the weekend before Christmas. I am already exchanging some gifts. I have had some homemade boozy fruitcake from Dondrea, picked up a board game for a family, and sent it off with them. In a pandemic, board games cannot be played together. Someday!

Susie was on a movie kick today and watched three Christmas movies back to back. I made quiche for lunch, we had a tranquil day. I played chess against the chess computer, and it won. It is The Millennium Lasker 150th Birthday Edition, and I call it “Lasker,” it drove my King into the center of the board and swarmed it with pawns and checkmate hit before I saw it. Crushed.

It is even stranger when I remembered that I wrote a chess-playing python program, and one of the main designs of my code is to keep the King out of the center. A German guy wrote the chess handling routines; I just included them in my code–cool! I wrote my own Artificial Intelligence part, a very weak one, to play. It is terribly stupid, but it does play proper chess and often avoids some basic pitfalls. I plan to get back to and improve it. But, it would have not have moved the King to the center even now!

Evan stopped by, and we played a few games while Susie watched movies. Evan and I started with the board game Vindication and played a basic game. I am always surprised by how much I like the game and how it can still be challenged. I managed to win just by one card value in points. I started with a strength focus and so went for the monster-slaying scoring. One monster score gave me the win.

Evan and I decided to play a new game. Wingspan board game is one of the best new games. We played a few rounds, Evan had never played Wingspan before, and we restarted again after Evan understood the game better.  The game theme is setting up a bird sanctuary, attracting birds, and managing the sanctuary. You play mostly against yourself, and whoever is the most efficient and maybe a bit lucky on the birds they get to attract wins. I have played it a lot before the lockdown and have a handle on the rules and some of the winning efficiencies. Evan managed a good score for a first-time player. You also learn a lot about birds!

We made tacos for dinner.

We ended with Evan and I watching the definitely not Christmas movie, The Ninth Gate. A slow-moving adventure and occult movie. It a fav of mine. Evan headed-out after the movie.

It was reported that today 2,559 people in the USA died from the virus.

I picked a sing-along version as here is your chance, dear reader, to join in: Angels We Have Heard on High.

I started on Friday, wondering why there was music playing so early. Susie was up about 3:20ish, I went back to sleep once she was back in bed, and I thought it was only moments ago, and then I thought it can’t still be a workday. As you can guess, it was my alarm at 6ish to start Friday, it was the last working Friday of 2020, and I had a 7AM status meeting. I sat for a full minute on the edge of the bed wondering how this had happened.

Once I started, I got all the laptops running, read some emails, and tried not to be completely lost. I was on paid-time-off two days this week, and it is always hard to follow what is happening when there are hundreds and hundreds of emails to read. I managed to take my meds, get the coffee started, and then into the shower to be ready for 7.

I managed to be on time for the 7, completely dressed with a coffee, banana, and a bagel with cream cheese. Susie had Clare for physical Therapy at 10AM. I was balancing status meetings and reading and relying on various emails. I also got Susie going with coffee and the last of the cornbread muffins I made a few days ago.

Knowledge transfer sessions were my finish for the morning. Helping production support be ready for our new systems. Clare came, I closed the Nike laptop, and we switched to masks and working on Susie’s physical therapy instead of Nike stuff. Clare gave Susie new exercises to strengthen her abdomen muscles. This may help Susie stand straighter and also improve her balance. Susie was less tired this morning.

I had one more meeting before the next medical adventure, which ended my working part of Friday, eye check for Susie. Susie had some bleeding a few months ago into an eye. The problem resolved itself, but Susie is now checked by the optometrist every six-months.

We traveled to St. Vincent Hospital doctor wing. I was happy to see the vaccination clinic running there. The Covid-19 vaccine is here and being used!

But that does not mean I can be in the waiting room. I sat in the hall while Susie had her appointment.

When we were done, no change and that is good news, we drove back. I stopped by McDonald’s and got Susie her fav, McNuggets, and for me two cheeseburgers. I ate mine in the parking lot. I then drove, Susie was still eating her’s, to get gas for Air Volvo. We also bought a car wash. Air Volvo had been the target of crows for days. It was disgusting—all clean-up now (Crows will likely enjoy the refreshed target).

As it was still a bit early, we watched the animated movie Frozen on Disney+ for the first time. Yes, we are likely the last Disney fans to see Frozen. We really liked it. We will be catching up with the other Frozen films during the holidays.

Returning to projects, I put away the paints, brushes, and other tools for figure painting. I plan to move on to other projects for the rest of the year. I have some writing to finished editing, and I want to play some chess. I put my chess computer back on my table. Time to play again.

Also, I received an email from the manufacture of my chess computer that they have an update. I loaded the update software into the chess computer using a Windows computer (it does not work on the Big Sur version of Mac OS). After the update, after learning the new interface (!?), I then played a game using the new “Normal” setting. I managed to crush the opening and then, using hints here and there, managed to get the computer to resign. This is a new feature and a welcome one–the computer should give up instead of making you play a hopeless game. I have many new expert modes and setting to try. I suspect I will be the one resigning soon!

I plan on writing and coding some chess code soon.

Today 2,794 deaths were reported for Covid-19 in the USA.

I found this version a week ago and it seems to fit tonight: O come, O come, Emmanuel.

Just a short blog today. I have dishes and laundry to do yet.

I finished the night watching the NFL game. The Chargers beat the Raiders in overtime. The Raiders kept getting flags for interfering with the receiver. Both quarterbacks were from Oregon.

Before this, Mariah came over, we wear masks, and we had Wild Buffalo Wings delivered. So we were munching on wings and veggies watching football. I also opened a bottle from Purple Cow Vinyard to go with it.

Mariah is working on publishing a zine and comics. I gave her the vintage comic books I found in Portland this week. The comics cover fifty years and both DC and Marvel heroes. Mariah can use them for inspiration.

Running backward in time, Susie was not feeling well. She is tired and uncomfortable. I had to take off the pressure bandages today and also help her get a shower. It was a crazy morning, and the afternoon was messy too. Susie went to bed early.

Work was busy as I try to find my way again. Nothing really to share. It is hard to stay focused on the shoe company when your wife is ill and having some troubles. I tried to make it work.

I ordered a Banzai Burger from Red Robin for Susie and fish and chips for me. Susie managed to eat half of her burger. She finished it later during the game. She likes it cold.

An aside, I received replacement cards in the mail for my copy of Twilight Imperium 4; the rules for the game were changed and you need to replace some of the cards referred to now as Omega Technology–the game maker does not supply replacements. You print out a copy. I found an article on the Board Game Geek website on how to design and order high-quality new cards that resembled the originals in color and size to incorporate nicely in your own copy of the game. My sample came today and they look great. I ordered the full set with a few spare copies for friends. It is really interesting and fun to create your own cards!

I do not have much more as most of the day was laundry and cleaning, and caregiving. I managed to attend some meetings at Nike and help a bit.

The count of deaths today in the USA is 3,277 from the virus.

Today I went with Great is Thy Faithfulness as I found this great recording.

Susie had Mohs surgery yesterday, so today was a recovery day. Last night I was up with her until 1ish to help with her pain. Susie, as you can imagine, slept poorly.

I slept in until Susie was up a bit, and then she went to bed again. I started about 9ish. I was tired too. I went slow and watched the next episode of The Expanse. I am now caught up on this mix of SciFi and Horror that provides excellent storytelling and never holds back. The show will kill-off anyone and has. Unlike some of the older SciFi where you know that the character will return, you are unsure on this show. Again, I recommend it.

Today, I finished painting the dwarf faction of the board game Heroes of Land, Earth, and Sea. I did the oil painting this morning to just shade and made a few corrections on one figure. I have to let the oil paints dry all day. I put the final coat of Mr. Super Clean UV Protection Flat spray paint to lock in the oil paints (oil paint can rub off) this evening. I use a dark, Spaceship Filth named oil paint to fill in the dark cuts into the figure to bring back the 3-D look.

I try to keep the figure bright with just the shadows now filled in. Hair gets a bit darker, whites turn gray if you are not careful, but reds and light creams get brighter by the contrast, and browns become more complex.

I then put all the figures back in the original tray. I will try to find time to play the solo version of the game this weekend; I can get some pictures of the figures painted on the colorful boards.

Susie got going about noon. She is still exhausted. I got her coffee, water, and breakfast. I had a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. Clare, the physical therapist, was at 2:30ish and ran Susie through some exercises. Susie was having trouble standing straight and moving as well as before. Clare saw how tired both of us are. It was still good to run through everything. Clare will be back on Friday morning for our second day this week.

Susie then watched “Scrooge” on DVD and sang along a bit. Actually, we all sang along a bit as we all know the words, even Corwin. I made dinner a bit early tonight as Susie had a lightish lunch. Spaghetti (angel hair) and meatballs. The meatballs from the meat counter at Safeway. The sauce was from a can from the restaurant supply store, and I believe I have tasted it often at many local pizza places (“Would you like some marinara sauce with that?”). It is quite good, and it is effortless to prepare (open can, heat).

Then “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas” was next. The classic one with Boris Karloff as narrator. These shows make Susie feel more like Christmas and put a smile on her face. I like them too.

Returning to my painting, I always am happy to finish one of my projects. Having the painting done allows me to move to other projects. But, those are for another day. I return to working from home tomorrow for my manic Thursdays.

Today is the highest reported death rate for Covid-19 for the USA: 3,486. This excludes the 48 people who are reported to have died in Oregon from the virus.

I picked a fav that I have sung in Israel. Every day that I was on tour back in 1994, we sang this song to get going for our next day of seeing sights and sites on the bus: This Is The Day.