Learned the moves for chess when I was a kid. Played here and there throughout my life. But, last year, started up a game with a friend at work, and since then, it's safe to say, fascination levels are immeasurable. At this stage, don't really care about rankings. Am enjoying play and study. And I still get an adrenaline rush with the first move. Really dig the civility of the game as well.

"I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it." - Thomas Jefferson

"Principle 56: The threat you do not see is the one that will defeat you." - page 79, chapter 12, "The Tao of Chess" by Chess Master Peter Kurzdorfer

"I drank what?" - Socrates

Favorite authors/topics of study:Sam Harris, Spinoza, Schopenhauer, Twain, Stephen King, Dalai Lama, Richard Dawkins, Stephen Hawking, Madyamika-Prasangika philosophy of ancient India, books on theories of physics, Tom Robbins, Christopher Moore, Thomas Jefferson, Joseph Campbell, Bertrand Russell, Stieg Larsson.

Favorite films/tv shows: Star Trek (2009), Matrix Trilogy, all six Star Wars (yes...all six, cut Lucas some slack...the originals couldn't act either!) Batman Begins, Dark Knight, Superman flicks, Battlestar Galactica, Band of Brothers mini-series, The Big Lebowski, Big Bang Theory, Fight Club, The Thin Red Line, Hitman, Daredevil, Crazy Heart, Office Space, Remains of the Day, The Fountain, Sunshine.

TheDude108