Last day of summer

Despite my most fervent efforts to forestall it, the last day of summer has arrived. It's not that I don't like fall--it boasts the baseball playoffs, football season and the U.S. Chess League--but I like summer better. Above and beyond the aforementioned autumnal advantages, though, this fall brings considerable reason for excitement. Not the least of which is ELLEN'S BIRTHDAY TOMORROW!!

As hard as it is to believe, I'm 10% of the way through my paramedic class. It has exceeded my expectations thus far, for classroom, lab and clinical components alike. I have a number of clinicals coming up; in addition to my return to the operating room and rescheduled trip to the morgue (last week's trip got canceled because there were no autopsies scheduled), we begin Emergency Department rotations in a few weeks. We're concluding pathophysiology and immunology with tomorrow's exam, and Patient Assessment starts on Thursday. After that will be pharmacology, respiratory and cardiology, which will take us most of the way to Christmas.

Chess also continues to go well. I won the Daniel R. Acker Grand Prix tournament on Saturday with a score of 3.5 / 4. It was a small but strong tournament, with no titled players but five people rated Class A or higher. The tournament organizer even graciously posted two announcements on the Buffalo chess blog welcoming me to the area. Here's my Round 2 win over Class A player Glenn Westcott:

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Bf4 Qb6 7. Na4 Qa5+ 8. Bd2 Qc7 9. Rc1 Bf5 10. Ne5 e6 11. e3 Bd6 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. Bb5
















13. ... cxb5 14. Rxc7 Bxc7 15. Nc5 0-0 16. 0-0 Bd6 17. Qe2 a6 18. Rc1 Rfc8 19. f3 h6 20. Qe1 Bc7 21. Ba5 Bxa5 22. Qxa5 Nd7 23. g4 Bg6 24. Rc3 Nb8 25. Qb6 b4 26. Qxb4 Nc6 27. Qa4 Kh7 28. Nxa6 Ne7 29. Rxc8 Rxc8 30. Nc5 Nc6 31. Qa6 Rc7 Black resigns.

















I'm also beginning to settle into "WNY" life in other ways, most notably an apparent resolution to my search for a church home. More on this soon.