Wednesday, May 4, 2011 Lethbridge

5:00 am

The temperature is +1 C, with a high predicted of +16 C.

From the Environment Canada website:

Today Clearing early this morning. Wind west 30 km/h gusting to 50. High 16. UV index 6 or high. Tonight Clear. Wind west 30 km/h gusting to 50 becoming light near midnight. Low plus 4. Normals Max: 17°C Min: 3°C

I have a few thoughts (not musings) about today. Early this morning I am going to make a second attempt at finding a local cache in Lethbridge. Then I will return home and put a large pot of bean soup on the stove. Once that is underway I will drive out to Taber to check on some maintenance for another of my geocaches. While there I will do a little birding and then drive up to Vauxhall to look for a cache on the edge of town.

7:00 am Geocaching

A perfect beginning to the day. I am back from my second attempt at finding a cache near Henderson Lake. This time I found it.

GC2QXX2 Every Kid's Paradise

Here is my posted log for this find: "There is a special satisfaction when one finds a cache after first logging a DNF. Thanks Joci, for keeping me on my toes."

10:00 am Puzzles

After a week of playing Go on a 9x9 board and not making much progress, I have decided to pick up my favorite book on the subject and begin again at the beginning.

A glance at the book indicates yellow highlighting for the first hundred pages (there are about 250 pages in the book).

One of the reasons I like this book is that I see many close parallels with other subjects where I want to learn and understand the material. Thus I will not just be learning to play Go at a higher level, but I will also be learning to learn.

"The wish to become stronger ... is shared by all lovers of go. ... It is one manifestation of human spirit and ambition, which continue until death." [p. 10]

"After you have learned the rules, your first step should be just to play for a while." [p. 11]

I like this. Play comes first.

"You cannot expect to do all your studying and gain all your knowledge from books. ... play according to your own ideas, with an open mind. ... open-mindedness is the most important thing." [p. 11]

There are 2 ideas here: trust your own ideas and keep an open-mind to alternatives. This is good advice when learning mathematics, or physics, or geocaching, or ...

"Of course one cannot make progress in any discipline without effort." [p. 12]

"One must, without fail, learn the correct way to study." [p. 12]

Easy to say. What is the correct way to study?

Kageyama is saying "Play. Use your own ideas. Keep an open-mind. Effort."