We (All of us) went over to another home to have a birthday party. Since it was an Argentine home, (Well, the majority of home members are Argentine) what else could it be than a Latin Party.
While 4 or 5 years ago I might have told you that I disliked Latin music, today I can tell you that I do like Latin music. At parties that is. All I can say in my defense is, Dancing is fun. *Grin
During the party, a friend of mine asked, "Can I borrow your camera?" So I obligingly handed it to him and showed him the on/off switch, bla bla bla.
Handing it back to me a couple of minutes later I look to see what type of photos he took and am astounded by the sheer genius of his photography. He certainly has an eye for... Well, just see for yourself.
That photo was 100% intentional. And no the focal point wasn't the high-heels.
Daylight Saving Time is over here in Brazil, so that means a whole extra hour of sleep. Yay!!
While 4 or 5 years ago I might have told you that I disliked Latin music, today I can tell you that I do like Latin music. At parties that is. All I can say in my defense is, Dancing is fun. *Grin
During the party, a friend of mine asked, "Can I borrow your camera?" So I obligingly handed it to him and showed him the on/off switch, bla bla bla.
Handing it back to me a couple of minutes later I look to see what type of photos he took and am astounded by the sheer genius of his photography. He certainly has an eye for... Well, just see for yourself.
That photo was 100% intentional. And no the focal point wasn't the high-heels.
* * *
Daylight Saving Time is over here in Brazil, so that means a whole extra hour of sleep. Yay!!
Disclaimer: I found this article in the newspaper, and had to post it. It was originally in Portuguese so forgive the funky translation.
Check-Mate
Invite a friend over, sit down in front of a chess table and close your eyes. You opponent must narrate every move. The catch? You have to play by memory; develop your strategy simply by memorizing each piece’s position on the board. Is that hard?
Well that is how Roberto became Brazilian chess champion. The first of many titles.
The story begins at a taxi stand, at the church ‘Largo da Matriz’, in Itapecirica da Serra, a small town 33 km outside of São Paulo.
It was 9 o’clock at night, on a winter night. A couple arrived and asked for a ride to the nearest expressway, Regis Bittencourt.
Ernesto, the cab driver, thought that the run would take awhile, so he dropped by his house, which was on the same block, to pick up his son Roberto to keep him company.
It was a regular drive, no extra traffic. Once at the drop-off point, the man and the woman alighted. The lady, pregnant, fishes in her back looking for something, her husband’s wallet or… She pulls out a gun. Mr. Ernesto floors the cab.
At 28 years old, that is the last image Roberto sees. The shot hit him in the head.
It was June 28, 1994.
“Eight out of ten people shot in the head die, and two lose become completely disabled. At the beginning, that was the outlook.”
But months later, supported on a cane, Roberto Carlos Hengels was already walking, talking, and had regained full movement in all of his limbs.
He had however, lost his eyesight.
Chess, a childhood passion which had become a profession, was reduced to memory.
Six years later, without being able to teach chess, Roberto entered law school. It was an expensive course. His only chance in making it, was an internal championship, each semester, which would free the top scorers from paying two monthly fees a year.
The game? Chess.
“I had never played again, since the accident. But I had to try.” He recalls.
He tried, and playing solely by memory, he won. Each one of his opponents had perfect eyesight.
That same year, 2000, he was the Brazilian chess runner-up among the visually impaired; the next year, Champion. A title he won again in 2003, 2005, and recently in December of 2006.
He participated in the World Championship of Amateur Chess in Spain, and Poland, and was awarded the bronze medal in the Pan-American Games for the visually impaired last year.
Now he doesn’t play solely by memory. He bought an adapted chess board, and timer. On the adapted board, the pieces fit into the board, and there are markings on the pieces to indicate their set, and rank. The timer tells him how much time he has left for a check mate.
“My performance increased 50%,” says Roberto. “Before, people would cheat with the old timer.”
His self sufficiency, however, had another side-effect. “Before, everyone thought it was nice of me to play. Trying to include me, they would say, ‘Yeah sure, come over. You can play, lose and it will be fine.’ These days there are people who avoid playing with me, so they won’t lose to a blind man.”
For more on Roberto Carlos Hengles, here is another interview with him. Warning! Link is in Portugese.
* * *
Check-Mate
Invite a friend over, sit down in front of a chess table and close your eyes. You opponent must narrate every move. The catch? You have to play by memory; develop your strategy simply by memorizing each piece’s position on the board. Is that hard?
Well that is how Roberto became Brazilian chess champion. The first of many titles.
The story begins at a taxi stand, at the church ‘Largo da Matriz’, in Itapecirica da Serra, a small town 33 km outside of São Paulo.
It was 9 o’clock at night, on a winter night. A couple arrived and asked for a ride to the nearest expressway, Regis Bittencourt.
Ernesto, the cab driver, thought that the run would take awhile, so he dropped by his house, which was on the same block, to pick up his son Roberto to keep him company.
It was a regular drive, no extra traffic. Once at the drop-off point, the man and the woman alighted. The lady, pregnant, fishes in her back looking for something, her husband’s wallet or… She pulls out a gun. Mr. Ernesto floors the cab.
At 28 years old, that is the last image Roberto sees. The shot hit him in the head.
It was June 28, 1994.
“Eight out of ten people shot in the head die, and two lose become completely disabled. At the beginning, that was the outlook.”
But months later, supported on a cane, Roberto Carlos Hengels was already walking, talking, and had regained full movement in all of his limbs.
He had however, lost his eyesight.
Chess, a childhood passion which had become a profession, was reduced to memory.
Six years later, without being able to teach chess, Roberto entered law school. It was an expensive course. His only chance in making it, was an internal championship, each semester, which would free the top scorers from paying two monthly fees a year.
The game? Chess.
“I had never played again, since the accident. But I had to try.” He recalls.
He tried, and playing solely by memory, he won. Each one of his opponents had perfect eyesight.
That same year, 2000, he was the Brazilian chess runner-up among the visually impaired; the next year, Champion. A title he won again in 2003, 2005, and recently in December of 2006.
He participated in the World Championship of Amateur Chess in Spain, and Poland, and was awarded the bronze medal in the Pan-American Games for the visually impaired last year.
Now he doesn’t play solely by memory. He bought an adapted chess board, and timer. On the adapted board, the pieces fit into the board, and there are markings on the pieces to indicate their set, and rank. The timer tells him how much time he has left for a check mate.
“My performance increased 50%,” says Roberto. “Before, people would cheat with the old timer.”
His self sufficiency, however, had another side-effect. “Before, everyone thought it was nice of me to play. Trying to include me, they would say, ‘Yeah sure, come over. You can play, lose and it will be fine.’ These days there are people who avoid playing with me, so they won’t lose to a blind man.”
* * *
For more on Roberto Carlos Hengles, here is another interview with him. Warning! Link is in Portugese.
Brain cells are a wonderful things, and I usually like to keep them safe from any harm. But today was the exception.
Spending a full day painting windows is in no way contributing towards my brain cell count. At then end of the day I was nearly stoned out of my head.
Who needs to buy drugs when you can simply be a painter! That simply shows how drug addicts lost all of their brain cells already. Painters are simply the smarter druggies. (Now everyone knows why I dabble into painting every once in awhile.)
A small disclaimer for those who are interested, I am not using Vista anymore. Too many font glitches for me.
If anyone knows of a modern decent font manager that works on Vista please let me know. (Or even a font manager for XP for that matter)
For now I am going to have to stick with XP, until PGP comes out for Mac or Vista. I am not in the mood for switching to an open source virtual encrypted disk. (Besides some people seems to have an aversion to Vista. *cough*MOSite*cough*)
But all is good. It was running too slow for my tastes on my funky GeForce FX 5200 anyways.
I am itching for upgrades, but must not complain. Compared to what many people have to work with, I am doing great!
I need to go... Count my remaining brain cells.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7...
Spending a full day painting windows is in no way contributing towards my brain cell count. At then end of the day I was nearly stoned out of my head.
Who needs to buy drugs when you can simply be a painter! That simply shows how drug addicts lost all of their brain cells already. Painters are simply the smarter druggies. (Now everyone knows why I dabble into painting every once in awhile.)
A small disclaimer for those who are interested, I am not using Vista anymore. Too many font glitches for me.
If anyone knows of a modern decent font manager that works on Vista please let me know. (Or even a font manager for XP for that matter)
For now I am going to have to stick with XP, until PGP comes out for Mac or Vista. I am not in the mood for switching to an open source virtual encrypted disk. (Besides some people seems to have an aversion to Vista. *cough*MOSite*cough*)
But all is good. It was running too slow for my tastes on my funky GeForce FX 5200 anyways.
I am itching for upgrades, but must not complain. Compared to what many people have to work with, I am doing great!
I need to go... Count my remaining brain cells.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7...
Labels: Brain Cells, Paint, Technology, Vista, Windows, Work, XP
Oh for the simpler days where all you had to do was turn the pages...
YouTube Video removed!
I feel like this sometimes. No offense to all you tech-impaired people out there.
Big news!!!
Claire just gave birth to a baby boy!!
Congratulations to both you and Luca!
YouTube Video removed!
I feel like this sometimes. No offense to all you tech-impaired people out there.
* * *
Big news!!!
Claire just gave birth to a baby boy!!
Congratulations to both you and Luca!
Labels: Baby, Claire, Tech Support, Technology, YouTube
The AM Seminar 2007 (Brazil only) is almost upon us.
And everyone knows what that means. Yes stress-out time.
But wait....
We just got a GN that says that we have to 'Rest in the Lord'. When confronted with that fact, several of the members who have been frequently staying up early every day, (And by early I mean EARLY. 4 AM, 5 AM, etc...) had this to say about it:
"Ever since the GN came out about resting in the Lord we don't have to sleep at night anymore. We simply rest in the Lord!'
The midnight talk was already in full swing.
After making out with my pillow from 3 till 7:45, my presence was noted missing in the 'trip-where-all-the-men-go-out-and-carry-fiberglass-and-a-fridge'. All this came crashing down on my head as I sipped my delightful cup of cold coffee.
Yes, yes. The day started off terrifically. But I am not here to talk about my day. (Was that just a 'Whew!'??)
An interesting blog I just ran across a couple of days ago was Ike.com. And no it isn't our dog.
Quite the amusing writer, and blogger as well. Check it out if you have a couple of minutes to spare.
And everyone knows what that means. Yes stress-out time.
But wait....
We just got a GN that says that we have to 'Rest in the Lord'. When confronted with that fact, several of the members who have been frequently staying up early every day, (And by early I mean EARLY. 4 AM, 5 AM, etc...) had this to say about it:
"Ever since the GN came out about resting in the Lord we don't have to sleep at night anymore. We simply rest in the Lord!'
The midnight talk was already in full swing.
After making out with my pillow from 3 till 7:45, my presence was noted missing in the 'trip-where-all-the-men-go-out-and-carry-fiberglass-and-a-fridge'. All this came crashing down on my head as I sipped my delightful cup of cold coffee.
Yes, yes. The day started off terrifically. But I am not here to talk about my day. (Was that just a 'Whew!'??)
An interesting blog I just ran across a couple of days ago was Ike.com. And no it isn't our dog.
Quite the amusing writer, and blogger as well. Check it out if you have a couple of minutes to spare.
Labels: AM Seminar, Blog, Resting, Work
Commenters of the Blog.... Awake!!
2 Comments Published by JM on Monday, February 12, 2007 at 8:15 PM.
I just wanted to thank all of you dedicated commenters, and your dedication to never leave a posts without a comment.
Due to your unswerving diligence, and good natured trolling, each post has been chock full of delightful information.
Back to reality now...
For some reason no one seems to comment on anything I post.
First I attributed it to a low readership, but I know almost everyone who checks this, even if ever so rarely.
(The only one who still baffles me is the occasional visitor from China! Is anyone using Torpark out there?)
Oh and there are the users from the US, the UK, Germany, Taiwan, Japan...
Ok, ok! I don't know everyone who is reading my blog. If you are, please introduce yourself!
I, (and I am sure the others who occasionally peek here) would love to hear from you.
Due to your unswerving diligence, and good natured trolling, each post has been chock full of delightful information.
Back to reality now...
For some reason no one seems to comment on anything I post.
First I attributed it to a low readership, but I know almost everyone who checks this, even if ever so rarely.
(The only one who still baffles me is the occasional visitor from China! Is anyone using Torpark out there?)
Oh and there are the users from the US, the UK, Germany, Taiwan, Japan...
Ok, ok! I don't know everyone who is reading my blog. If you are, please introduce yourself!
I, (and I am sure the others who occasionally peek here) would love to hear from you.
Labels: Commenters, Comments
I have told myself, as I am sure you has said the same to yourself or even to someone else, that this blog has become boring.
Yes, that is right. Boring!
OK. Well shaved heads might hit the spot for some, but for the most part it doesn't seem to be appealing.
This blog seemed to morph from something attempting to be witty, to something not really trying and not even remotely resembling anything witty. It started to remind me of all those hundreds of blogs made by pimply teenagers or some high school priss rambling to the world about how Kevin from 12th grade is the hottest guy in school just because he plays (American) Football, and can do more than 5 push-ups without passing out! (AND OH MY GOD!!!!! HE EVEN LOOKED AT ME TODAY!!!)
So since this was beginning to remotely sounds like one of the blogs I just named above, I decided to do something drastic!
I can't remember what it was though. *cheesy grin*
If I remember what it was I'll let you all know. But for now, I'll just give you all a link to look at.
photo.net
I showed it to Lei around 3 weeks ago and she fell in love with it. It is a good site for looking at quality photography.
If you have found yourself all too often browsing DeviantArt looking for a decent photo, waste your time no more!
photo.net brings quality photographs straight to your monitor.
The only catch is that updates aren't as frequent as DeviantArt, and the photos aren't very high resolution.
But it has a large database of some really good photos!
Check out this one!
I must get back into taking pictures!
Yes, that is right. Boring!
OK. Well shaved heads might hit the spot for some, but for the most part it doesn't seem to be appealing.
This blog seemed to morph from something attempting to be witty, to something not really trying and not even remotely resembling anything witty. It started to remind me of all those hundreds of blogs made by pimply teenagers or some high school priss rambling to the world about how Kevin from 12th grade is the hottest guy in school just because he plays (American) Football, and can do more than 5 push-ups without passing out! (AND OH MY GOD!!!!! HE EVEN LOOKED AT ME TODAY!!!)
So since this was beginning to remotely sounds like one of the blogs I just named above, I decided to do something drastic!
I can't remember what it was though. *cheesy grin*
If I remember what it was I'll let you all know. But for now, I'll just give you all a link to look at.
photo.net
I showed it to Lei around 3 weeks ago and she fell in love with it. It is a good site for looking at quality photography.
If you have found yourself all too often browsing DeviantArt looking for a decent photo, waste your time no more!
photo.net brings quality photographs straight to your monitor.
The only catch is that updates aren't as frequent as DeviantArt, and the photos aren't very high resolution.
But it has a large database of some really good photos!
Check out this one!
I must get back into taking pictures!
Labels: Blog, Photography
Well the Feast 2007 is over for us. It was great while it lasted. I was able to get some quality rest time.
Here are the promised bald pictures.
Sorry to dip again into the Tech world but bear with me for a little longer. I just got Windows Vista (aka. the new version of Windows) running on my computer.
Taking out the low end video card (GeForce FX 5200 gets a 2.0 performance rating in Vista) it runs reasonably well.
There are some minor glitches but I think that is an install problem. I am on my 2nd install and the 1rst one didn't have those glitches.
But this is only a temporary install anyways, so I am not seriously worried.
Here are the promised bald pictures.
Sorry to dip again into the Tech world but bear with me for a little longer. I just got Windows Vista (aka. the new version of Windows) running on my computer.
Taking out the low end video card (GeForce FX 5200 gets a 2.0 performance rating in Vista) it runs reasonably well.
There are some minor glitches but I think that is an install problem. I am on my 2nd install and the 1rst one didn't have those glitches.
But this is only a temporary install anyways, so I am not seriously worried.
Labels: Bald, Feast, Photos, Technology, Vista
