Turning 24

I turned twenty four years old on Sunday. To celebrate, Ellen and I went down to Manchester for the New Hampshire Open chess tournament. Manchester plays host to several of New Hampshire's biggest chess tournaments throughout the year, and perhaps none is bigger than this. The tournament is open to any member of the U.S. Chess Federation, but the top-scoring New Hampshire resident in the Open section is crowned State Champion. In the final round I was paired with Black against five-time state champion FM Brad Bournival. Unfortunately, after a game filled with ups and downs, neither side could break through in the end. Our draw gave IM Joseph Fang his fifteenth (!) state title. All in all I was pleased with the way I played, and I had a great time! And it was especially nice having Ellen there with me. Maybe next time I can convince her to play!

Other than the birthday festivities, it has been pretty much business as usual around here. I am in the process of joining Enfield FAST (First Aid Stabilization Team); they are a paid-on-call transporting ambulance company serving, you guessed it, Enfield. The call volume is not high--last year they responded to 132 calls and this year is on pace to be even slower--but the equipment is fairly nice and most importantly it's a way for me to help out and give back to the community. Their biggest personnel need is daytime hours during the week, and that just happens to be when I'm home with nothing to do. I've been granted "ride-along" status currently and I'm looking forward to finishing the rest of the paperwork so I can become a full-fledged (or at least probationary) member.

Ellen is doing well; she has begun what will probably be the final year of her Ph.D. and is otherwise keeping busy training for her first marathon. I am proud of her and extremely impressed (but not in the least surprised) by all she has accomplished.

In other news, the space shuttle program officially came to an end today. I've been to Cape Canaveral, and it was an impressive site to visit. I wonder how this latest development will affect the area, tourism and all.