Work and Updating My Blog...

 Yes, I know that it has been several days since the last entry on my blog.

I have not forgotten my blog.

My job at working at the Tier 1 IT help desk for the Social Security Administration has been keeping me really busy.

When I wake up in the morning, after working from 12:30 PM to 9:00 PM, I am REALLY tired.

It's not a physical tiredness, such as running 5 miles, for example, as much as it is MENTAL fatigue. While working, I can receive phone calls about IT problems that span from the very easy, such as resetting mainframe passwords, to the very complex, such as why is a network printer is offline. In addition, after 3:00 PM, I am in charge of hardware tickets, such as a request for a replacement laptop to ordering a replacement maintenance kit for an office printer, that are submitted via SSA's Tier 1 IT help desk webpage.

Depending on how many phone calls that I answer and how many hardware tickets that I have to deal with, I am mentally exhausted from about 9:00 PM, the time that I sign-out, to 10:00 PM, 11:00 PM, or 12:00 AM. I don't want to do anything except vegetate in front of my TV when I could be playing games of Go, studying for CCNA, reading the books that I have yet to complete, or writing an update on my blog.

I get that tired.

When October 2nd arrives, I will have worked at the Tier 1 IT help desk for SSA for five long years.

It's definitely time for a new IT job.

Last week, I applied for a Tier 2 IT position with Leidos. Let's see what happens next.

Possible topics for my blog include:

• Last weekend, I made another trip to Leakin Park-Gwynns Falls. My third visit in four weeks.
• Yesterday, I went to Das Best Oktoberfest down at the parking lot at M and T Bank stadium for the second year in a row.
• Plus, I have a very long list of posts that I would like to add for my blog. I really need to write down a list, so I don't forget anything.

One thing I have is that I like to write, so it is time to put that skill to use.

One major benefit of writing to my blog is that I am getting re-acquainted with using HTML. A couple of years ago, when I was taking some classes at the Northern Viriginia Community College in Sterling, VA, I had to create my own website as a project for a beginning computing class. I'm sure that website is still out on the internet somewhere. If I remember correctly, NVCC is hosting that website. Anyway, as I currently write posts to my blog, I am using the HTML view. I am also using the HTML commands listed over at W3 Schools. That way, I am forced to compose posts using HTML directly instead of Blogger taking care of adding the correct HTML tags.

As a result, I will be adding HTML to my resume.

My Journey With Playing Go/Baduk/Weiqi...

 

One of the many things that I am doing is learning how to play Go/Baduk/Weiqi.

My interest in learning how to play Go goes back to when I lived in Seoul, South Korea, from February 2002 to July 2006.

Prior to my move from Fort Hood, TX, to Seoul, South Korea, I kind of knew what Go was. I didn't know anything other than what the game originated from ancient China and that it was a boardgame that was popular in China, South Korea, and Japan. Moreover, I didn't even know anyone who played Go.

After my first year living in Korea, I moved from living on Yongsan Garrison to an apartment that I shared with a roommate in Hannam-dong. In my new apartment, I had access to South Korean cable TV channels. Since I was starting to get very curious about what was on South Korean TV channels, I would endlessly channel surf. One of the channels that I found interesting to watch was a TV channel dedicated to the game of Go. Since I couldn't speak more than the basic "tourist Korean", I had a difficult time trying to understand what the game was about. After talking to some KATUSA friends at work, I quickly learned that Go is known as Baduk in South Korea. I also learned that, like China and Japan, Go, or Baduk, if you prefer, had a very long history in Korea. I also learned that Korea also produced it's own famous players.

One day, while I was at either Bandi and Lundi's Bookstore in COEX Mall or the Kyobo Bookstore in the Gangnam area of Seoul, I tried looking for books on Baduk in English. I don't think I found any. It could just have been that I didn't look hard enough. Anyway, when I was at my apartment, I went over to Amazon's webpage and searched for books that taught you how to play Go. After looking at many books published in English, I bought a book titled "Learn to Play Go: A Master's Guide to the Ultimate Game" by Korean-American writer Janice Kim. [Note: From what I understand, Janice Kim lives in New Mexico. That's interesting because I'm originally from Albuquerque, NM.] The book was highly recommended as one of the best books to buy for learning how to play Go. Plus, the book even came with a free Go board and stones. Granted, the Go board and stones were nothing more than thin cardboard. After reading the book, I learned quite a lot about the basics of how to play Go. At the end of Janice Kim's book, there was an appendix on how to play Go using your computer. I quickly downloaded a copy of the computer game "The Many Faces of Go" onto my computer. The first time I played, the computer ruthlessly destroyed me. After that, I tried solving the basic Go problems that came with "The Many Faces of Go". After spending some time with solving the basic Go problems, I still couldn't beat the computer. At the time, I didn't know that beginners should learn the basics with a 9x9 board before trying to play a game with the 19x19 Go board. Despite, I still didn't know anyone that played Go. As a result, seriously learning how to play Go was low on my To Do List when living in Seoul. That said, I did discover the manga "Hikaru no Go" at a bookstore in Hawaii. I read the first couple of volumes on a flight from Hawaii back to Seoul.

For several years, I completely forgot about my interest in the game of Go. When I switched over to using an Apple MacBook Pro laptop from my faithful Toshiba Satellite Pro laptop (that I took with me to Iraq), I found out that "The Many Faces of Go" was not available for the Apple OS.

My interest in Go returned several months ago this year when I watched the amazing film "Alpha Go" on YouTube. After watching "Alpha Go" several times, I went ahead ahd downloaded another copy of "The Many Faces of Go". Over the past several months, I have been playing "The Many Faces of Go". After setting the board size to 9x9 and using a handicap for a 30 kyu ranked player (the lowest level), I found the game a whole lot more enjoyable to play. As a result, I can now beat the computer once or twice every couple of games that I played. According to the computer, I improved my ranking to 25 kyu, the highest level I have ever been.

Recently, after getting repeatedly crushed by my computer, I downloaded a copy of the first book in the series "So You Want to Play Go" by Jonathan Hop. Now, the game is much more enjoyable. Once I finish reading the first volume, I am going to buy the second volume.