The Battleship Texas
I visited Battleship Texas. It is an interesting site featuring a ship that served in both World War I & World War II. The different areas aboard the ship showcased different ideas from an area that resembled a pop culture store, where you can buy listerine, magazines, dentyne, & other pop culture products. It's interesting to see famous name brands today have such different looks back then.
Near the Mail Room, they had a list of censorship regulations. Such a list would extend to social media in this day & age.
NASA Space Center
I visited the NASA Space Center. I found the item on computer memory fascinating, as it was one of the first advances of computer size during their time. Also, LOL stood for little old lady who assembled the memory by hand.
They usually packaged their food in such a way that they can add water to it, & they did have a waste management system.
There was a Space vs. Earth Chess Game, & this is the set used in Space.
There were also a trainer used for the Skylab, the first US Space station, and a replica of the Shuttle Independence.
Fogo de Chao Steakhouse
I ate at Fogo de Chao on Westheimer Road. It was an interesting buffet Brazilian steakhouse with a double-sided green & red coaster. If the green side was up, servers would come with different cuts of meat to your table. Anything you liked, they would put on your plate. If the red side was up, that means your play (or your stomach) was full & they would pass. Nice place, no dress code. A little bit expensive, but definitely worth it.
Traffic
Traffic in Houston is generally nuts. I-610 & I-45 was full of cars going less than 25 mph more than half the time. I would consider using Uber if I ever get a chance to make a return visit. There was a Rodeo somewhere on the western loop of I-610, which caused some unexpected additional problems, even at 11:30 at night!! Also, their warning signs for work zone areas are more sudden & less conforming than they are back here in NJ.
CrossFit Vertigo & Scaled WOD 18.4
Vertigo seemed like an appropriate place because loss of balance could easily be achieved with handstand pushups & handstand walks for the RX athletes. I did this workout scaled, so the handstand pushups were hand release pushups & the handstand walks were bear crawls, which were actually fun. I got 122 scaled reps with an 8:12 tiebreak time. I was very surprised about where I finished the first part (4:24 vs. an expected 6:00 or worse), but that jump from 135# to 185# felt more like 235#.
Coach Kurt was very good & the other athletes were pretty supportive of each other & of me. I would definitely return.
Dancesport USA
I started to take lessons in ballroom dancing nearly two years ago via a friend from 5th grade who posted a facebook status update looking for guest dancers. I have loved it ever since, & I still go regularly. I wanted to try on this trip to find a ballroom or latin dance place, & I struck gold when I hit another facebook search. This location was hosting Friday night ballroom dancing from 8:00pm - 10:30pm. You pay $10 as a guest & the owner gives you a list of the expected songs & dances, as shown below.
There were some interesting tidbits, such as meeting a Scrabble Tournament Player (min 5,000 new words per year), a couple from Garwood, NJ who moved South because they hated snow, & a visiting couple from Laredo, TX who knew about this place & also dropped in. Since I was the only unpartnered male, I had to walk around to random ladies & ask if they would like to dance to certain songs. A few were not, but most were amenable to it. Apparently the previous week had numerous unpartnered ladies, but I still got some dancing in.
And yes, their dance room is at least 2x - 3x the length & 2x-2.5x the width as the studio I dance out of here at home (The Westfield Ballroom). If I did purely Foxtrot Sway tempo on the long side, I would not have to turn the corner at all!
Whataburger
I was hungry after dancing, so I decided to drop in at a fast food place I don't see at home. I tried the Honey BBQ Chicken Strip Sandwich, which was interesting. Fair warning: If you eat in, be prepared to listen to country music nonstop. This chain is extremely popular in Texas.
Other Places
Other places I ate of note are Fat Cat Creamery yelp review & Shipley Donuts. It should be noted that Shipley Donuts locations were everywhere, but this may have been the first time that I saw exactly 0 Dunkin Donuts locations while driving around Houston.
Chess - Lone Star Open
This was an interesting tournament run by Chief TD Korey & the other staff from Cajun Chess with the following link to the Cajun Chess Website. The tournament was run pretty smoothly, & spectators were not allowed in the room. I liked the execution of having the players wear badges so that they are known & allowed to enter playing room. The rounds tended to start a few minutes late, but after suffering through many late starts to rounds in Cream Cheese City, including 20 minutes or longer at the World Open, Philadelphia Open, & National Chess Congress, an average late start of 5 minutes or so at the Lone Star Open is not really going to bother me that much.
The U2000 section was full of wild games. One of the contenders was down two Rooks in his game, & came back to win. I'm hoping to look at a copy of that score.
The first game is from Round 1. I don't recall playing against the Schliemann before (3. ...f5 in response to the Ruy Lopez), & I remember my good friend Pete telling me that he used it to wipe opponents off the board fairly easily. I made an early opening mistake by castling right away, but once my opponent made his mistake on the 6th move, I pounced on the e-file liked I wanted to & ended up with an extra pawn. The rest of the game is a fairly typical plan of action with Knight vs. Bishop being the main characters.
Please note that I am using a new chess game viewer, so please bear with me as I try to get used to it.
Game 1
Play chess online
The second game is from the last round. This was actually the third round with which I was surprised by something in the opening (this time, the hyperaccelerated dragon in the Sicilian with the insertion of ...Nc6) in this tournament. My space advantage dissipated, & eventually, my opponent had the roving central pawns. While his exchange sacrifice wasn't fully necessary, it did give the seed for a promising attack on my King. Luckily, his incorrect 26th move allowed me to reposition the heavy artillery & launch my own counterattack.
Game 2
Play online chess
I ended up finishing with 3.5 out of 5 points. Not a bad showing, but I still have more work to do before the Great Lakes Open (April 27-29, 2018).
And that concludes State No. 20. #fiftystatesofchess
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