I think in this game, I would improve 2 things. There was obviously a lot of tactics in the middle game, and a lot of calculation. But once I felt comfortable with my middle game position, I stopped thinking about what the opponent was planning to do. I just kept pushing my passed a-pawn, hoping for a Queen promotion. Some of his attacks came as a surprise to me.

Secondly, I did play very positionally, which was good. But I don’t think I used my advantage very well. I need to think up more strategic advantages, instead of going for the tactical win every time. This game was by far very tactical with lots of opportunities and many different possible lines. But it made for a pretty exciting game.

I’ve updated my website with this latest game, along with my commentary. Link is below:

http://azroykandan.com/2012_KCC_Championship.html

I’d like to give a shout out to the KingsCrusher channel on YouTube. I have to say, I’ve learned a lot about positional play, and a bit about theory, through his commentary. I used to be a very tactical player with little to no regard for playing the position. I now have more tools at my disposal when playing chess.

Anyway, I thought I’d post my own commentary for the games I play this year. I’ve put together a web page for this. We play one game a week. I just finished Round 2 last Monday against Harry Jordan, and this coming Monday, I’ll be playing black against top-seeded Peter Sibbald. Our players are rated internally via CXRChess, so strength is relative to the other chess club members, which aren’t many.

Here’s the link again to my chess commentary and PGN:

http://azroykandan.com/2012_KCC_Championship.html

Wish me luck! And let me know what you think…

Anyway, to start off the year, I’ve compiled my goals for 2012, and put them up on a new dashboard for 2012. Check them out at http://www.azroykandan.com. If you’re too lazy to click on the link, here are the goals for 2012:

• Memorize 12 surah
• Read translation of Al-Baqarah
• Run 1000 km
• Run a marathon (or 2 half-marathons)
• Lose 25 lbs (currently at 201 lbs)
• Post 12 articles to gokun2.blogspot.com
• Post 12 articles to gokun2.wordpress.com
• Post 12 videos to youtube.com/melur02
• Win all 4 KCC chess tournaments (I won 3 in 2011)
• Get Arman’s CMA rating to 1300 (currently at 1027)

Wish me luck!

Hi everyone,

My last post to this blog is exactly a year ago, when I celebrated my 10th Wedding Anniversary. Yesterday marked the end of my 11th year of married bliss

I just got back from terawikh prayer, and thought I’d put in a blog entry. Which reminds me, to all my muslim friends, Ramadhan Mubarak. Tomorrow, we start our first day of fasting, and I pray that Allah accepts our doa on this blessed month of Ramadhan.

Today, my 8-year-old daughter surprised me with her determination and perseverance. She really wanted to learn to play “Love Story” (by Taylor Swift) on the piano. Up to that point, I used to think that playing by ear either came naturally or didn’t. But apparently, it can be taught. Last week, her piano teacher started Melur on her path, with some basic notes and concepts. Today, she spent an entire hour with me, practicing the song, without any notes, only a lyric sheet. And slowly, but surely, she was able to play the notes based on the melody of the song. I was impressed – I still am.

Anyway, that’s my 2-bits for the day, after a year of silence. Tomorrow is a fasting day, and I’m looking forward to making a few more entries this time around. I really want to talk about my trip to Montreal with the kids last weekend. It was a BLAST!

Have a good night!

In the past 10 years, I’ve moved 3 times from the US, to Malaysia and then to Canada; I’ve had 3 jobs (currently on my fourth); had two kids; purchased and sold a home; and endured one helluva roller coaster ride, financially and emotionally. It’s quite a colorful life, if you ask me. It has its ups and downs. But when it comes to life, all you can really do is plan. In the end, getting there (or anywhere for that matter) takes a little luck and a little faith / perseverance.

So to my wife of 10 years, thank you for being with me. I know things aren’t, and haven’t been, perfect, but I like the way things have turned out. And I look forward to many more happy/unhappy years together. And by the way, thanks for the anniversary gift. I love it!

Here we are on our 10-year anniversary aboard a dinner cruise along the 1000 Islands.

Happy Anniversary, Ayu!

For the longest time, I felt that live chat was something extra, that customers should pay extra for. Although many companies use live chat in their sales initiatives, for most SaaS companies, live chat is only offered as an add-on support tool. It usually goes like this: The basic plan has no support at all; the medium plan has email support (response within X number of hours/days); and only the highest plan has live chat or phone support. QuickSchools offers live chat on all its plans, even the free Iris plan (although it’s not yet offered 24×7).

I think this sets us apart from our competition. Don’t get me wrong. It certainly costs money to provide this level of support. But there is an added benefit (other than not needing to put together documentation that constantly requires updating). And that is, to get to know our customers better and what they truly need. Anyone can get a bunch of engineers together and build something for schools, but unless you’re in the school environment, how would you really know what they need, especially smaller schools, because their needs are quite different from larger schools with big budgets and complex requirements.

The live chat feature is a window into the lives of our customers, not their personal lives (though many of our customers are very personable), but their day-to-day lives on the job. What works? What doesn’t work? How can it be improved? What flows aren’t we thinking about? And after listening to many schools, we can get a feel for what small schools need and want. And with a pulse on this need, we’re able to prioritize and develop features that really make a difference.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on live chat. It’s been working well for us so far, especially in the area of product marketing. And hopefully, it’ll continue to benefit us. So if you’re a small school and thinking of using a system to manage your students, sign up for a QuickSchools account, and chat with one of our live chat agents. They/we are always happy to hear from you.

2010 Lake Placid Half Marathon

Hard to believe, it’s been a little over 2 weeks since I was in Lake Placid running a half marathon. I had an excellent time there with the family. My wife blogged about it, and my children have an episode about it on the Melur and Arman Show. All-in-all, it was an excellent family vacation. But at the request of my wife, I’ll take this opportunity to blog about my actual running experience at Lake Placid.

Unlike my last run only 7 weeks prior, I did spend a little more time training for this run. I didn’t train as much as my previous half marathon last year in Vancouver where I finished in under 2:10. But I was expecting to finish way better than my dismal 2:30 last place finish at the KRRA Half Marathon. I was confident, and excited. I was spending money to come here after all, and I need to make the trip worth while.

We had a really nice dinner (carbo loading) the night before at Lisa G’s restaurant, which was just down the street from the Spruce Lodge where we were staying. Lisa G’s came recommended by one of the locals whom we met earlier. I woke up bright and early the next morning, and headed for the race (also within walking distance). I left Ayu and kids still sleeping, though I knew they’d be cheering for me when I pass by the lodge an hour after the race starts (yup, the lodge is on the race route).

The starting area was quite festive. It wasn’t a really big race like the one in Vancouver, or the one in Ottawa (they’re bigger cities after all), but it was a decent size. I remember waiting at the back (way back) of the starting line, and the announcer introduced an Olympian who was officiating the race. His words of wisdom: “Be strong. It’s a tough course”. And those words rang so true halfway through the course.

The first 3 miles were easy – a good warm up. We circled Mirror Lake. The terrain was flat, and the pace was good. I took it easy: not too fast, not too slow. After looping Mirror Lake, the road sloped downward, and that’s when the hilliness began. This was around the time I passed by my family who was cheering me on from Spruce Lodge (there’s some video footage of me taken by Arman).

There were many hills. But I was able to maintain my pace. I was very much encouraged to be able to speed up and slow down at will. I would select a random runner whom I thought was running at a good pace (relative to myself), and I would run closely behind him or her. At times, my selected pacer would be too fast or too slow, and I would change my speed to catch up to another pacer. I guess you could say I was surprised with my performance.

Also, because the terrain was hilly, I found myself using my quads more than my calves. My calves have always been a problem for me (they cramp up easily). My quads however have always been strong, since I love to bike, and have been biking for a long time. So maybe the hilly terrain worked to my advantage.

Another interesting feature about this race is the things they push you at the water/food stations. At first, it was normal: power bars/gels, bananas, granola bars. But as the run progressed, they were serving cookies, muffins, and all kinds of crazy things. Little did I know that, this was actually the first time I was running with full marathoners. My previous half marathons were just that – half marathons, without a marathon component. This run included both marathon and half marathon. And both groups started at the same time (marathons would run 2 loops instead of 1). Is this what they eat when they run? I guess so…

Anyway, I made it most of the way, despite the hilly terrain, without stopping, up until the last kilometre or so. The last stretch was a continuously steep slope, and I mean steep, and long. I just couldn’t keep the pace, and had to walk. But I wanted to finish strong, so after a few minutes of walking, I started running again. And as I ran around a corner, there was my family again cheering me on (they had moved from the lodge closer to the finish line). There’s video footage of this as well. And so I finished the race, in about 2:23. Better than my KRRA. And no leg cramp, though I did start to feel some slight cramping on my calves on my walk home, but that didn’t bother me too much.

The after race party was great. Too bad my family didn’t join me. They headed back to the lodge after I passed them. At the Ottawa run, only runners were allowed in the “party” area, so it was no wonder they headed back. They could’ve joined me. I ended up eating on my own. The food was good. And they changed it up to. When I first went, they were serving egg wrap (really good). On my second round, cheese pizza (also good, especially after a run). And this is just the main course. There’s of course lots of pastry and sweets, fruits, and drinks. This was pretty much my lunch.

Anyway, I can’t imagine doing a full marathon at Lake Placid. I can see how this is a tough course. And given that I was cramping up just on my walk home, I definitely wouldn’t have made it if I tried. But I do want to run a full marathon soon. If you think about it, this is my fourth half marathon. It’s time to go for the full.

So I’m hoping I can do a full marathon this year. But given the schedule (with ramadhan around the corner), I’ll probably end up doing a triathlon instead. We’ll see. I have another 10km run this Sunday at Wolfe Island – Another short getaway with the family, a day trip. It should be fun.

Anyway, here’s Episode 9 (part 2) of the Melur and Arman Show, which contains some footage of my run as I passed by my family who were cheering me on (Thanks guys!).

Me in front of City Hall where the race is about to start

You heard it right! I was DEAD LAST in Sunday’s Kingston Road Runner’s Association (KRRA) Half Marathon. Don’t believe me? You can CLICK HERE. I finished in 224th place, in 2:35:50. Right after I passed the finish line, I overheard the words “Okay, we can pack up now”! So here’s how it went down:

First off, I have to say I was not prepared for this race. And even though I’d run 2 half marathons before, experience is no substitute for preparedness (or is it “preparation”?). I didn’t even have proper running shoes, so I got new ones just the day before. And if you’ve read any literature on running long distance, you need at least 2 weeks to break-in your new shoes before using them in a race. But my old ones were really in no shape for a race (but in retrospect, they might have been better).Anyway… so I got the new shoes the day before the race, and decided to use them, instead of my 2-year old running shoes with no bounce left in them. That was mistake number one. And of course, the months leading up to the race, I’d only been running short 5-km distances. And though I felt pretty fit, what’s 5 km compared to 21?

Getting ready for the race

So I arrived in the morning at the starting line (I biked about 3 km from home), and got in line for the race. This was my first race since moving to Kingston. And I was surprised to see pacers! How cool is that? I was trying to decide: Shall I follow the 2:00, 2:15 or 2:30 pacer? 2:30 was the slowest available pacer (I guess everyone’s expected to finish within that time), but he was really funny and inviting. He joked that we’d get the most for our money by running with him (more time on the road = more value?). He also said he’d run in intervals, running for 9 minutes and then walking for 1 (apparently, this is a sure-fire way of completing a race with little strain on your body). I ran 2:30 in my first race, and a little over 2:00 in my last race. So I thought I’d take the middle road and stick with 2:15.

The 2:15 pacer I intended to follow (but didn't)

As the race began, I found myself wanting to run a little faster than the 2:15 pacer. So I quickly decided to follow the 2:00 pacer instead (another mistake). I didn’t realize that this was my 5-km pace, and is really not a pace for longer distances. I was able to keep up with the 2:00 pacer for the first 5 km, but I slowly found myself falling behind the 2:00 pack. I thought to myself – “No matter… I should be able to keep my own pace, and stay ahead of the 2:15 crowd, right?” Well, we’ll see…

By km 8, I was starting to feel tired. And my shoes started to feel weird, like my shoe laces were too tight (started to feel a little numb), and the arch was too high. Basically, my feet started to hurt, but I pressed on. I passed by Pembroke Street, and was greeted by my wife and kids, who took a video of me as I passed the 8 km mark.

By km 10, I was really getting tired. My legs were compensating for the weirdness/pain in my feet, and I was not running as efficiently as I had hoped. I resolved to following the 9+1 rule (like the pacer was suggesting), running 9 minutes and then walking for 1. Maybe that’ll work for me. Unlike my first race though, I didn’t feel a strong motivation to finish. Instead of focusing on the race, my mind kept wondering on ways to make it easier on myself.

My pace slowed, quite significantly. The 2:15 pacer passed me at km 15. Soon after, I started feeling small spasms in my calves, like I was about to cramp. So I had to slow it down even more. The spasms started to get more and more pronounced as I approached km 17. I started walking more and running less.

At km 18, I passed Pembroke Street again, and was greeted by my wife and kids… again. What a sight for sore eyes! I really needed to support. I decided to stop for a little bit and stretch my problematic calves. The muscle spasms were coming on strong. But I pressed on.

By km 19, I couldn’t run anymore without feeling my muscles contract involuntarily. So I had to walk. Even that was a chore. I had to focus on finishing. I didn’t want a DNF (Did-Not-Finish) on my record. Shortly after, the 2:30 pacer came up behind me. He cheered me on, and of course, passed right on by.

I'm walking now. Legs cramped

By km 20, I looked back, and the last runner was behind me – a lady, followed by 2 cyclists who were bringing up the rear. The lady runner eventually passed me, and so it was just me and the 2 cyclists cheering me on. Only 1 kilometre to go – How embarrassing!

I still couldn’t run. Try as I may, the minute I tried to push off, I felt that spasm. Even as I walked, I could still feel slight cramping in my calves. My legs were on the verge of giving up on me. I tried using alternative muscles, by walking backward, or marching with my quads. That seemed to keep me in the game, until these muscles too started feeling cramped (my groin muscles in particular were especially painful – ouch!).

Anyway, being last has its advantages. Everyone was cheering me on. I got high-fives from random people. I finally made it pass the finish line. I noticed a time of 2:35++ which wasn’t that bad, in my opinion. Sure I was last, but it was memorable.

Complementary Massages

I stuck around for some soup and some bagels. They also had complementary massages, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I would’ve paid for it, given my condition. But hey! It’s free! It was a good, fun atmosphere; and a fantastic day for running (except for the May flies). I’d definitely do it again next year. But next time, I’ll train for it, break in my shoes first definitely, and maybe bring my own water bottle (water was a little scarce at the KRRA).

More pictures are located on Facebook.

Next Half Marathon: Lake Placid NY. I want to beat 2:00. Wish me luck!

Some drawbacks though, when I tested the ZohoMeeting Remote Support, it was quite slow. Remote Support software is generally quite slow, so I’ve kind of accepted it as it is. It could also have been caused by my flakey internet connection. So you’ll have to decide this part on your own. Also, ZohoMeeting currently only supports the Windows OS. Many of these free ones are on the same boat.

But overall, I’m quite impressed.

For some reason on WordPress, I can only embed videos and not playlists, though youtube provides HTML for embedding playlists. Anyway… So here’s a link to the play list: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=4F915FD50915B186