Curvature

I went to the local chiropractor today. The previous one was supurb, really superb. But the drive is about an hour, one way. So I had to try to go local. The remote chiropractor is the kind of woman that Robert Heinlein would have in his early, good novels, not his later, crappy ones. (Watershed: Stranger in a Strange Land). She is strong, fearless, super-athletic, martial-arts trained, gutsy. She's the kind of woman that can join a fire department. And has been asked. Here in the States, the men and women have to pass the exact same physical test to get hired by a fire department. And it's hard. And she could do it.

So the local chiropractor immediately noticed a small amount of curvature in my spine, towards the right. This would make sense since the muscles on the left side of my body are weaker. The remote chiropractor (the superwoman), had also mentioned this, in my most recent visit to her on July 15, she for the first time said she noticed a very slight curvature to the right, so minor that it could be within the normal range.

The local chiro today just mentioned it flat out, without going to lengths to describe it as tiny and barely noticeable. But she also didn't seem to think it was a huge deal. So maybe things are slipping out of alignment there. We Shall See.

But the good news is that I told her I thought that the person who took my blood pressure that time might have got it wrong. So the local chiro measured it carefully, and it was 110/70, within normal.

I paid for a rated account at the intenet chess club (www.chessclub.com). Now you can all laugh as my rating sinks lower and lower. It starts out at 1400 on ICC, which is wildly inflated when compared to true USCF ratings. However, fortune smiled, and for my first rated game sent me this opponent. I wish they were all as easy:

brainhell (1467) vs. zarih (1063) --- 2004.09.09 17:15:04
Rated Blitz match, initial time: 2 minutes, increment: 12 seconds
Move brainhell zarih
---- ---------------- ----------------
1. e4 (0:03) e5 (0:16)
2. Nf3 (0:02) Nc6 (0:03)
3. Bb5 (0:02) d6 (0:05)
4. d4 (0:12) a6 (0:09)
5. Bxc6+ (0:16) bxc6 (0:03)
6. dxe5 (0:01) d5 (0:19)
7. O-O (0:08) dxe4 (0:07)
8. Qxd8+ (0:02) Kxd8 (0:03)
9. Ng5 (0:03) Be6 (0:13)
10. Nxe6+ (0:02) fxe6 (0:03)
11. Nc3 (0:08) Ne7 (0:17)
12. Nxe4 (0:02) Ng6 (0:04)
13. f4 (0:19) Be7 (0:28)
14. Be3 (0:19) Rf8 (0:09)
15. g3 (0:05) Rb8 (0:05)
16. Nc5 (0:02) Bxc5 (0:20)
17. Bxc5 (0:02) Rf7 (0:06)
18. b3 (0:04) Rb5 (0:21)
19. Be3 (0:37) Rd5 (0:09)
20. Rfd1 (0:11) Rdd7 (0:11)
21. Rxd7+ (0:03) Rxd7 (0:07)
22. Kf2 (0:27) h5 (0:20)
23. h4 (0:09) Rf7 (0:07)
24. Bd4 (0:02) Kc8 (0:27)
25. Rd1 (0:07) Rd7 (0:18)
26. Ke2 (0:03) Kb7 (0:19)
27. a4 (0:07) Rd5 (0:09)
28. Bf2 (0:54) Ne7 (0:42)
29. c4 (0:04) Rxd1 (0:19)
30. Kxd1 (0:02) Nf5 (0:04)
31. Kd2 (0:09) a5 (0:16)
32. Kc3 (0:08) Ka6 (0:16)
33. b4 (0:03) g6 (0:37)
34. b5+ (0:07) cxb5 (0:09)
35. cxb5+ (0:01) Kb7 (0:09)
36. Kc4 (0:02) Ne7 (0:24)
37. Be1 (0:32) Kb6 (0:13)
38. Bf2+ (0:14) Kb7 (0:05)
39. Kc5 (0:05) Nd5 (0:09)
40. Be1 (0:47) Nb6 (0:22)
41. Bxa5 (0:03) Nxa4+ (0:02)
42. Kc4 (1:11) Nb6+ (0:35)
43. Bxb6 (0:11) Kxb6 (0:19)
44. Kb4 (0:02) Kb7 (0:23)
45. Kc5 (0:01) Kc8 (0:09)
46. Kc6 (0:21) Kd8 (0:09)
47. Kc5 (0:32) Kc8 (0:15)
48. b6 (0:08) cxb6+ (0:10)
49. Kxb6 (0:02) Kd7 (0:01)
50. Kc5 (0:02) Ke7 (0:03)
51. Kc6 (0:12) Ke8 (0:21)
52. Kd6 (0:02) Kf7 (0:02)
53. Kd7 (0:02)
{Black forfeits on time} 1-0