Random thoughts:
* Well, that was a real PITA, working through a software glitch for the 1st half hour of my day. At least I seem to have fixed it. Hope the fix holds. We'll see.
Prayers, etc.:
* 06:00 – Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel
* 12:30 – Mk 6:34-44
* 17:30 – Fr. Chad Rippberger's Prayer of Command to protect my family, my sons, my daughter and her family, my granddaughters and their families, my great grandchildren, and everyone for whom I have responsibility from any demonic activity; and Archbishop Vigano's Prayer for The United States of America; and The Monday Prayers of the Association of the Auxilium Christianorum.
* 19:15 – The Hour of Vespers according to the Traditional Catholic Breviary: Bible readings, prayers, and meditations for 05 January:
* Tonight's Rosary before bedtime, whenever bedtime comes, will be the Sorrowful Mysteries
Diet:
* 07:45 – bowl of oatmeal w. brown sugar, fresh apple chunks
* 11:45 – vegetable salad with chicken
* 12:00 – pork roast
* 13:45 – small bowl of ice cream
* 16:45 – bowl of beef and vegetable soup
Chores, etc.:
* 12:00 – watching game shows with Sylvia (and napping) after spending the morning working with my chess game
* 15:30 – watching ST:TNG on BBC America
* 17:45 – reading selected articles from The Epoch Times
* 19:30 – light reading while listening to light jazz
Chess:
* 11:10 – moved in all pending CC games, updated the game scorebook
Random thoughts:
* It's about darned time I reintroduce daily exercise into my regular regimen. Don't know why I ever stopped working out – at least lightly. I feel so much better when I do that!
Prayers, etc.:
* 05:50 – Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel
* 10:25 – Mt 4:12-17,23-25
* 18:45 – Fr. Chad Rippberger's Prayer of Command to protect my family, my sons, my daughter and her family, my granddaughters and their families, my great grandchildren, and everyone for whom I have responsibility from any demonic activity; and Archbishop Vigano's Prayer for The United States of America; and The Monday Prayers of the Association of the Auxilium Christianorum.
* 20:00 – The Hour of Vespers according to the Traditional Catholic Breviary: Bible readings, prayers, and meditations for 04 January:
* Tonight's Rosary before bedtime, whenever bedtime comes, will be the Joyful Mysteries
Diet:
* 08:00 – bowl of oatmeal w. brown sugar, fresh apple chunks
* 10:45 – chicken salad sandwich
* 13:00 – Big Mac
* 17:30 – 2 McDonald's Quarter Pounder w. Cheese sandwiches
* 20:15 – munching on cheese
Chores, etc.:
* 10:15 – started the weekly laundry
* 10:30 – update budget book, paper planner, note cards
* 14:00 – watch game show with Sylvia
* 15:00 – yard work
* 17:45 – Warplan: 2021 with Bill Whittle
* 18:30 – Wheel of Fortune
* 19:00 – Star Trek: Discovery
* 20:10 – tuning in to the radio call of tonight's West Virginia vs. Oklahoma St. men's basketball game
Random thoughts:
* Thanks to Sylvia for giving me a good haircut today. That, together with my freshly trimmed beard, has my head feeling much more comfortable. Perhaps this will help me have a better sleep tonight than last night.
Prayers, etc.:
* 08:00 – Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel
* 11:20 – Mt 2:1-12
* 18:00 – Fr. Chad Rippberger's Prayer of Command to protect my family, my sons, my daughter and her family, my granddaughters and their families, my great grandchildren, and everyone for whom I have responsibility from any demonic activity; and Archbishop Vigano's Prayer for The United States of America.
* 18:15 – Sunday Prayers of the Association of the Auxilium Christianorum.
* 18:30 – The Hour of Vespers according to the Traditional Catholic Breviary: Bible readings, prayers, and meditations for 03 January: The Holy Name of Jesus.
* 19:00 – Tonight's Rosary will be the Glorious Mysteries.
... I'm finally all caught up on my chess work, and I have two College Bowl Games to watch today.
My schedule was thrown off enough during Christmas week that my chess work was cut back quite a bit. Oh sure, I moved in some games almost every day, but today was the first day in almost a week that I've been able to work on every single game for which I have moves pending.
Now I've got plenty of time-cushion built up in all my games, so I'm not under time-pressure anywhere. And of my twenty or so ongoing games there are only about ten that require serious study and analysis. Still, it's good to be back to where I can give all my games the attention they deserve.
And today's chess work is out of the way giving me plenty of time to enjoy Oklahoma State in the Cheez-It Bowl later this afternoon and Texas in the Alamo Bowl tonight.
...thanks to my daughter, I got to watch a great-grandson and two great-granddaughters laugh and play with Christmas toys. And I got to wish them all (and they,me) Merry Christmas!
My daughter and son-in-law drove an hour this morning through the Midwestern Winter to pick up the great-granddaughters so she could watch them for the weekend. And she took them to visit her other daughter and son-in-law and her grandson (my great-grandson.) As the kids were playing she called me via video chat and we had the most delightful visit!
From a thousand miles away Sylvia and I were watching and laughing and visiting with the great-grandbabies. And THIS was such a wonderful Christmas present! Thanks so much, Heather!
And the adventure continues.
Published on 26 December 2020, ~ 15:10 Central Time.
... shall be the 2020 New Mexico Bowl. And the kick-off time is scheduled for just a shade over an hour from now as I sit here at the keyboard.
This comes after one of Sylvia's big breakfasts: stuffed omelet, bacon, stack of pancakes. And it finds me enjoying a quiet, happy day: a most pleasant Christmas Eve.
Today I learned that I won another Correspondence Chess with Black. Yesterday my opponent playing the White pieces resigned after my 28... Qd4d3 fork put his King in check while attacking his undefended Bishop at the same time.
After his next move to protect his King I'd take his Bishop, of course, and my material advantage then would be even stronger. Checkmating the White King would happen quickly once I activated my other major pieces. He was right to resign the game when he did.
The position of pieces at game's end is posted above, and our complete move record is below.
We're constantly thinking about how to make our little Christmas corner better. How to make it more accurately reflect the way we think about this holiday.
As originally set up, the two trees with their colorful lights left the Nativity set in shadows, barely seen. And we didn't like that at all. Our focus is on Jesus and we wanted the Baby Jesus and the Nativity set to draw more attention than the two lit trees.
At the moment we have the lights on the big tree turned off, the little tree is lit, and we have a bright light shining directly down on the Holy Family and other traditional characters of the set. Most likely this is how it will stay for the rest of Advent and through the traditional Christmas season.
Of course we do reserve the right to change our minds and make more changes if we want to.
And the adventure continues.
Published on 18 December 2020 ~ 17:00 Central Time.
Hopefully I'll be able to wrap up the day's work within the next few hours and enjoy this evening from the big recliner in the front room with Kindle in hand and the radio bringing me live coverage of some good college basketball.
