Last Year It Was Irene...
...this year, it's Sandy!
A year has gone by so quickly and here I am, another Autumn season and I'm blogging on a chess site about another hurricane. *sigh* Some things never change. Although this year, they're saying it's quite a historic storm. More than 800 miles wide and jet streams and high pressure systems forcing it on a direct path to where I live in New Jersey. There could be snow in the higher elevations out west, perhaps 10 inches or so in local rain, perhaps 70-80 mph wins, and you wrap that up in the fact that there might not be no electricity for days and you have one hell of a package.
I know some people are going to comment and say what does this have to do with chess? *shrug* Nothing. Not all blogs here *HAVE* to be about chess. Most certainly my last one wasn't. And this one certainly isn't either. Blogs allow for creativity, not just static chess thinking, problems, puzzles or game reviews and highlights. It's opinion and outlook mixed in with some flair and charm if possible.
With the dire news reports and Weather Channel alerts, they have people scared stiff, especially those who live in my area and the states surrounding us. Transportation closures and flooding are abound on the local stations. Thankfully, I have my many chess books to keep me occupied, even if by candlelight. That's if the windows don't get blown out beforehand.
But now, let's talk chess.
Chess is slowly being re-introduced in my life and as I type this, I'm running the first round of a 12-player, G/60 SRR tournament on Chessmaster 10 that will likely take many weeks to simulate if I do a couple of games a day. And as I watch these games, I'm enamored all over again with the game, the pieces, the strategy, and the butterflies-in-the-stomach feeling that I get when I come to Chess.com. It hasn't been there in a long while but today it was most definitely there. I could take the opportunity if the power does go out to read and rekindle the knowledge that I have for the game that stormed into my life a few years ago after peeking it's head in and out during the course of my life.
I haven't accomplished much though in actual play, with only playing a few Online Chess games here, avoiding LIVE Chess at all costs and the utter humiliation that would definitely come with it. I stay geared towards Fritz 12 and Chessmaster 10 and downloading the weekly TWICs and watching LIVE games here. I've been stationary. Setting up shop sort-to-speak in this blog, either doing Live-Blogging on chess events or news reports, which I will restart again soon enough. 
So what's the point of this blog? More for myself I think. There's random things on my mind (hence the blog tagline "Neither Here nor There") and I just feel like I have to get them out, whether this entry gets 10 reads or a thousand or 50 views instead of 500. I'm a bundle of nervous energy with this storm coming so just bear with me on this. Keep the snide comments to yourself. 
I'll be around until the electricity goes out (if it does) and to those who live around my area and in the path of this thing, just be careful and stay safe. I'll see you all on the other side and over the chess board.
-Mark
