If My Wife's Hormones Were to Mimic My Ratings....

...I would have had one of the worst months as a husband!! Fortunately my wife is not nearly as moody as my ELO ratings have been. The last two weeks are good testaments to that. After nearly falling to the bottom of the scale in both Chessbase and ICC (at one time having an ELO of 950 on Chessbase and 754 on ICC) I clawed back to not only beat my January goal of 975 but, for at least one game, average a wild 1006. My regime? I did five things:

1. Study some tactics from the "303 Tricky Chess Tactics" book as often as I could
2. Worked with the "Chess Genius" program on my PDA...utilizing the blunder check and studying my errors as I played
3. Avoiding play when I was tired (and trying my luck on Yahoo as "recess_bully")
4. Limit games with players whose ratings are 400 points above mine...at least avoid playing 3 or more games in a row.
5. Attempted to limit my game playing to 3 or 4 per session. No blitz games under 5/10.

This morning I woke up early to play. I brewed some coffee (I believe coffee in moderation has added at least 50 points to my ratings...is this akin to doping?) and, while brewing, played a few games against the computer (Dasher). As expected I was horrid and blundered quite often. After my first cup I beat the computer kids (Rated 1000 and 1100) twice and went on to play on Chessbase.

Chessbase is a great place to play on Saturday and Sunday mornings...there were over 7,700 players on today alone (my guess is that those in Europe and the Middle East are playing during their night). I played very well...I swear I anticipated moves and could see at least three or more moves ahead at times. I did not keep count but I believe most of the combinations I planned actually panned out! I also managed to play and win a game on ICC as well (it doesn't seem as busy at these times). Nonetheless...my status as of today (as "Edukator" of course):

ICC Rating: 883
Chessbase: 1088
Average: 985.5
Dissertation Progress: I've given it a lot of thought..perhaps I should hire help?
My January goal was 975...February will be 1000 (for at least 2 different games).

My plan for the next two weeks:

Stay the course! Although I do have a new book "Best lessons of a Chess Coach" by Weeramantry and Eusebi. I may take it more seriously as I get through the chess tactics book.

ALSO...as stated earlier...if my average goes above 1000 I will join the local club and the USCF. I would possibly like to have some fun at a tourney similar to Blue Devil Knight has done. It would almost seem silly not to do so.

As always...are there any suggestions for a guy whose ratings fluctuate so terribly?