South Africa Part 5 – Addo Elephant Park

The started at 3:15am when my alarm went off. We had a quick bite of food and some tea, and jumped in our Uber at 4am. Got to the airport before 4:30, checked into our flights, went through security, found our gate, and had some breakfast. Other than setting off the metal detector and getting […]

South Africa Part 4 – Penguins!

What a day this was. We started by taking an Uber out to a place called Simon’s Town. We visited an amazing beach there called Boulders Beach with a breeding colony of African Penguins. It was an unforgettable experience! We had done our homework, and got there shortly after opening at 8am. It was an […]

Solar Eclipse 2024

On Monday April 8, Sarah and I drove to our neighbouring province of New Brunswick to see a solar eclipse. And what a sight it was! We drove about 4 hours to Shediac, New Brunswick to stay in an Airbnb. We drove up on Sunday evening, but I played in the church band that morning, […]

South Africa Part 3 – Kirstenbosch and Table Mountain

Today we started early, and went to a beautiful botanical garden area called Kirstenbosch. It was a very large green area near the side of the Table Mountain Range which pushes into Cape Town. The views of the various mountain peaks were stunning, the plants were really cool, and as usual, we found lots of […]

South Africa Part 2 – Intaka Island and Undersea Cables

On day 2, our plan was to go to Intaka Island. And then if we had time and energy afterward we would do something else (turns out we didn’t 🙂). Here we go! Intaka Island Intaka Island is in a part of Cape Town called Century City. It’s an inland, human-made island with a canal […]

South Africa Part 1 – Flights and the First Travel Glitches

This year, Sarah and I went to South Africa! Sarah’s cousin was getting married close to Cape Town, and we decided to go to the wedding and also take a couple weeks of vacation to see some of the country. It was a great trip, and in this series of posts I’ll be sharing what […]

Sao Paulo, Brazil

Last week my team at work met up in Sao Paulo, Brazil! I had never been to Brazil, or anywhere in South America before, so I was excited for the opportunity. I left Sunday afternoon, and arrived home the following Sunday morning afternoon (more on that later). I arrived in Brazil on Monday morning, met […]

My Chess Studying System

I started playing chess when I was pretty young. My dad taught me, and I used to play with him a lot, along with my friend Patrick. I stopped playing so much around high school age, but about a year and a half ago I picked it back up. I’ve been really enjoying studying and […]

Round 1 Game Analysis – Remembrance Day Open 2022

This year I played the Remembrance Day Open in Halifax, NS. It was a fun tournament, albeit humbling. My round 1 opponent was rated just under 1400 CFC. My rating is currently 1473, but it’s provisional and, I suspect, a bit too high (and will likely decrease after this tournament). So I was ready for […]

TIL – My Tunnel Vision in Chess

Today I played the second day of a chess tournament, and I spent a little bit of time analyzing my games. I lost both of my games today, unfortunately, and I’ll write up a more full analysis of them when I get to it. But something I learned quite poignantly, is that I seem to […]