Kicking off a year in Afghanistan

Greetings All! Here's the first of my Afghanistan blog posts. Survived the FT Lewis-Bangor Maine-Leipzig Germany-Bishkek Kyrgystan-Kabul Afghanistan odyssey and now live in a pretty decent barracks at Kabul International Airport.

Most importantly, my fiddle and mandolin arrived intact. Well, sorta--my fiddle suffered a broken e string but is otherwise as fit as a ... bassoon. :) I intend to post some tunes here, just as I did back in '04-'05 from Mosul, Iraq. If there is one thing this country needs more of, it's music.

Also brought my small wooden travel chess set. Great for taking your mind off your circumstances and focusing it on crushing the ego of the hapless chap sitting on the other side of the board. Or getting your own ego crushed. Either way, there is no such thing as a "friendly" game of chess. I play for pints of blood. B Pos, please.... :P

The chow is pretty good, although the discriminating palates among us bemoan the British emphasis on beans. It keeps body and soul together, so I have no complaints. The free wireless connection at the Morale, Welfare and Recreation tent is a boon to the spirits. A daily check of Facebook, mail and news does wonders for the spirits.

I wasn't on the ground 24 hours before I made my first foray into Kabul to visit the Independent Directorate of Local Governance (a neat meeting with a bit of spleen venting from ministry representatives and humanitarian do-gooders) as well as the US Embassy in Kabul. The Embassy occupies some pretty nice buildings within walking distance from ISAF (although you are accosted by ragamuffins trying to sell you scarves if you're on foot). Their gift shop has enough spirits to float a rowboat. No wonder those State Dept folks are so relaxed.

More to follow! --GT

Lunch with International Fellows of the War College

I had the opportunity to sit down with a group of 25 international students of the War College for lunch at the American Lake Club. My table included colonels from the Lebanese, Kenyan, and Japanese Armies. This was a rare occasion in which I had personal stories related to all three nationalities (Lebanese instructors in Arabic at FT Bragg in '98; a six week mission to Nairobi, Kenya in '99 and repeated trips to Japan to work with the Japanese Self Defense Forces). Enjoyable!

The opening volly of 2011 Blitz Chess!

Yama Sakura 59 Mid Planning Conference

Spending a week in Hawai'i with I Corps and fellow Japanese soldiers in preparation for our big annual exercise in Camp Kengun, Japan in February. I enjoy working with the Japanese. Hard workers and a great sense of humor!

Facebook interface with Hipcast

In addition to scouring the house for old photos and videos, I'm looking into ways to post all my Hipcast audioblog work to Facebook. FB is a great repository for family media and is the most active of all the media sharing utilities on the Internet.

Visiting with Sarah and Paul Koerner

Finally, after 3.5 years of Naval Postgraduate School and Korea, I'm back home! Two granddaughters were born during my absence: Brynna and Amara. We're enjoying a short visit with them in Mitchell, SD before settling down to nice, predictable life in Olympia, Washington.

Wrapping up the Marathon

The Army sent me to Naval Postgraduate School in January, 2006. I kept the family back in Olympia, Washington in order to help my sister overcome the harsh aftermath of our father's suicide back in Jamestown, Ohio--the third death in our immediate family and the second by suicide.

This is perhaps the best assignment in the Army--earning a Master's Degree on the Army's dime in Monterey, California. Those 18 months were very rewarding personally and professionally. I earned a Master of Science in Low Intensity Conflict while playing acoustic music downtown, sharpening my chess game at the NPS Chess Club (thanks Professor Arquilla!) and my public speaking skills with the NPS Toastmasters Club (Thanks Carl and Arnie!).

That 18 month "geographical bachelor" stint was followed by a two-year assignment with the 2nd Infantry Division in Uijeongbu, South Korea. Again, with the family remaining home to look after my sister. Another professionally rewarding assignment with the US Army in a great organization. Time to return to Olympia, Washington to resume duties with the Army's I Corps at Fort Lewis. Finally, I can come home from work and sleep in my own bed!

Tolle's GeoBio using Google Earth

Woohoo! Figured out how to add a Google Map with geotagged photos to my blog. Scroll to the bottom and check it out. I used www.trippermap.com to add this functionality to Google Earth. I geotag existing photos at www.flickr.com with precise locations where I took the picture, then post them to the map. My goal is to do this for all my photos. Imagine spinning the Google Earth globe and having a story that takes you from event to event in your life. Ties all those shoeboxes of photos together into an autobiography of sorts. Nice to share with friends and family.

Martin Kirwan's and Temperance Reel in Korea

Attempted this for the first time in Uday and Qusay's old palace in northern Mosul, Northern Iraq. It's a few days short of St. Patrick's Day here in South Korea so I thought I'd re-try it. It was a fav at the London Bridge Pub in Monterey, CA April '06 to June '07. :)

A Blackbelt in Taekwondo!

Just last month I tested and earned my blackbelt (chodan) in Korean Taekwondo at Camp Casey, Republic of Korea. That was on my "bucket list" :) I encourage young Soldiers to take advantages of all the opportunities available to them in a typical military tour in South Korea. This place is the cat's meow.

Uijeongbu, South Korea

Life is good in the Republic of Korea. I've been serving as the G9 (Civil Affairs Officer) for the 2nd Infantry Division since July 10, 2007. I'm rapidly approaching my 2-year mark and a happy return to Olympia, Washington and Fort Lewis. The two "extracurricular" things I'm taking away from the Land of the Morning Calm is (1) Taekwondo (earned my black belt last month) and (2) golf!

Blackbird Endgame

I played black today against f4. I don't see that too often as black, so the battle ensued to a King-Rook v. King-Rook-Pawn endgame. On such dastardly spare pawns hang the fate of the board:




An aggressive King across the Mason-Dixon Line (due to some disadvantageous exchanges by my opponent from India) figured prominently in the pawn push. "Git there the fustest with the mostest."

White's exchange at 70 proved fatal and ensured a safe corridor for my knight's pawn.

Endgame study is interesting and time well-spent!

ICC Blitz 17 Move Mate

This Sicilian came as a shock to both me and my 1660-rated opponent on the Internet Chess Club (ICC). Notice black's unhinging at 13...Nd4 (disregard the "#" as chesspublisher incorrectly thinks it's a checking move) and mate four moves later with the shifting of a single pawn:




What made this all the more interesting was the time constraint: 3 minute blitz. Thinking under pressure devolves into pattern recognition, and may the player with the most internalized patterns win!

ARGH!

Brian Anderson, United States Marine Corps, vs. Glenn Tolle, United States Army:




A nifty checkmate that served me right for permitting two consecutive forks. I will spend this week flagellating myself in preparation for the next match!

Competent Communicator

This Friday I gave my 10th and final speech out of the Toastmasters Basic Communication manual, earningn me the "CC" award. I've been working toward that goal since joining the Naval Postgraduate School Toastmasters Club in July '06.

The entire Toastmasters program is perhaps equal to earning a Masters degree in Public Speaking. The amount of work required to reach "Distinguished Toastmaster" is considerable and should not be taken on half-heartedly. In fact, nothing worth doing in life should be done half-heartedly, right?

My 10th speech was entitled "Roads." I talked about key roads in my life, including US 35 South, leading away from Point Pleasant, WV. My '73 Pontiac Ventura caught fire on that road in the summer of '79. I made the front page of the Point Pleasant Register! Feels good to survive such things and look back years later from a comfortable vantage point.

Pirc Punishment

Alas, the Pirc (pronounced "peerts") Defence is worth studying. The final game today against David Book at the NPS Chess Club is a study in Goodwill donations of spare bishops:




Duh. Utterly blunderlicious. I'm convinced that the path to high ratings is littered with occasional wreckage such as this!

Back to the drawing board (here's a good place to start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirc_Defence

Cheers!
GT

Tolle vs. Arquilla, Round 3

My third crack at the NPS Chess Club Godfather, Prof. Arquilla, resulted in "Death by Caro-Kann (ECO B12--Caro-Kann, Advance Variation). Result=Tolle sleeps wit da fishes.




7. h3 gave my opponent a free pawn. Such freebies tend to haunt you in the end game, usually in the form of a renegade pawn racing to the back rank on the King side supported by a couple of rook goons. Also, 20. ...Ne3 proved to be an lasting thorn in my flesh until an ignomious concession before move 40. (The game actually lasted a few more moves than what is posted, but you don't have to drink the whole gallon to know that the milk is sour. Bleechh...)

I'll be better prepared for the next Caro-Kann!

--GT

Sneaky Little Checkmate

Here is a second interesting game played on the Internet Chess Club "Dos Hermanos VIII" blitz tournament. Some checkmates are easy to overlook---this one I pulled off while so low on materiel that I was resorting to the King for help:




A whole-board scan that answers the question, "is my King in immediate danger?" should be the mantra of every move. :)

"Get a Little Better Every Day!"

--GT

ICC Tournament "Dos Hermanos VIII"

The "Dos Hermanos VIII" tournament on ICC has drawn such luminaries as Magnus Carlsen, the boy wonder from Norway, and Alex Lenderman, of "Kings of New York" fame. I'm just a humble 1100 rated blitz player, but that doesn't mean I'm immune to passing flashes of semi-brilliance...

Here is a hard-fought game that earned the bitter ire of my 1700+ opponent after he stuck his knight in the wrong spot:




The surprise checkmate at the end earned me a stream of accusations of cheating that I found irritating yet amusing and complimentary. I was rated 600 points below him, so that might have precipitated the vitriol. Too bad some people don't "Win with grace and lose with dignity" as Susan Polgar so aptly puts it.

Chess Publisher: Tolle v. Kirpekar 1 Mar 07

This game is the NPS Chess Club debut of my new DGT Tourmanent Set. Fellow NPS student Ulhas Kirpekar sat down at my computerized setup and gave me a run for my money through move 25. Fritz 10 (dynamically rating the game as we played on the DGT board) registered an advantage for me at that point, namely, the opportunity to pin his rook to his king.

Being a restless blogger, I searched the net for a convenient way to display the game here on Blogspot (I will post significant wins AND losses here, lest this degenerate into unwarranted chest-thumping), and found a nifty blog-friendly Portable Game Notation (PGN) publisher called "Chess Publisher." The two best things about it are (1) it works and (2) it's free! Here is the game, complete with diagram:




Many thanks to my friend Ulhas for the game, and to the author of Chess Publisher!

DGT Tournament Set!

OOOoooooo baby! I just received my DGT Tournament Set (Rosewood USB board, Ebonized Professional Chessmen, DGT XL clock, black case) from the House of Staunton. The software loaded seamlessly with Windows XP, and I promptly lost a game to Fritz 10, who announced his moves in English from my dual core Dell Inspiron e1705 laptop. The pieces are feather light--almost like balsam wood, but the computer picks up the moves as soon as you can make them. If you make a mistake or overlook a check, Fritz will tell you emotionlessly to put your piece back to its original spot. I'll take the set to the Naval Postgraduate School Chess Club today to hook it up to a smart board and let the laptop record the moves. Ah, the wonders of digital electronics.

Blindfold Chess

How does one train for blindfold chess without a second party moving the pieces? Perhaps voice recognition software would be a step in the right direction, but so far, "Move Bravo 3, Capture Charlie Four" doesn't sound very appealing, unless you have lost the use of your limbs and that was your only means of playing computer chess.

The ability to visualize and track multiple positions without the benefit of the chessboard and pieces must be the product of tens of thousands of games and incredible mental discipline. I think the ability can be developed---one just isn't born with it. As with any skill, it's 10% talent and 90% hard work.

More on this later...

Sergeant@Arms Phone Blogging!

At today's NPS Toastmasters' Meeting, I tried phoneblogging from the lecturn, and it worked! Check it out.

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