Monday, June 28, 2010
No Governator
We're about sixty minutes from playing for the wrap up event of the Western Governors Convention up in Whitefish, MT. There are apparently going to be 19 Governors, from 22 States, but Arnie and Maria are last minute no-shows. We figure we'll play anyway.
Halfway There
Crossed the 500k VPP mark earlier today, which means I'm officially halfway to SuperNova Elite. Can't say it's been a blast so far. Best thing I can say for it is it's much better than having a day job (even if I could find one that paid the same). I actually still enjoy the poker, at least in the main. What gets me down is just the sheer amount of time I have to put in to reach my volume goals. But I guess that's kind of how jobs work.
PACE: C+. I am only about three or four days ahead of SuperNova Elite pace, and I'm fairly certain I'll fall behind a bit over the next month or so as I'll be spending at least half my days on the road with the band. As I originally wanted to hit 1.25m vpp's (that's a virtual impossibility at this point), I guess my pace is somewhat disappointing. But I've had a few factors slow me down (most noticeably switching styles in a way that results in less VPP's/hr), and I've more or less stayed right on Elite pace the entire year. So I'm overall satisfied with this part.
GAME PLAY: C-. Tempted to give myself an F here, seeing as I'm into five figures for actual game play lossees. But given that my bonuses outstrip my losses by a big enough margin that my staker has still seen profit (even though he covers all the game play losses, and only gets a percentage of bonuses), I don't think an F would be fair. How can it be a failing grade when you're playing well enough to make a solidly middle class income? So I was going with a D, but I think I've played quite well the past month, probably on like a C+/B- level. So I upgraded myself all the way to C-.
The reason I am playing so much better (I think, anyway) is I decided to move up from 100 to 200 and drop down from 24 to more like 12-15 tables. In theory I should be getting around the same VPP's/hr (in reality, it definitely works out to less, but kinda close; on the road I actually get more per hour now as bad internet often limited me to that many tables anyway). I just realized I have never had an extended period of posting good results while 24 tabling. Even though I feel like I can handle the pace, the results say otherwise. Playing less tables now, I realize that I was not handling the higher volume well at all. I am now making way less mistakes, and finding spots to be creative. I'm not crushing, but I've had a few weeks of posting a small win rate, and my red line is showing signs of life for the first time in ages.
Often times when I switch up approaches, I seem to play better for a period and then the novelty wears off, so I'm always cautious about thinking I've had a 'breakthrough' or whatever. But I do feel very positive about the second half of the year.
PACE: C+. I am only about three or four days ahead of SuperNova Elite pace, and I'm fairly certain I'll fall behind a bit over the next month or so as I'll be spending at least half my days on the road with the band. As I originally wanted to hit 1.25m vpp's (that's a virtual impossibility at this point), I guess my pace is somewhat disappointing. But I've had a few factors slow me down (most noticeably switching styles in a way that results in less VPP's/hr), and I've more or less stayed right on Elite pace the entire year. So I'm overall satisfied with this part.
GAME PLAY: C-. Tempted to give myself an F here, seeing as I'm into five figures for actual game play lossees. But given that my bonuses outstrip my losses by a big enough margin that my staker has still seen profit (even though he covers all the game play losses, and only gets a percentage of bonuses), I don't think an F would be fair. How can it be a failing grade when you're playing well enough to make a solidly middle class income? So I was going with a D, but I think I've played quite well the past month, probably on like a C+/B- level. So I upgraded myself all the way to C-.
The reason I am playing so much better (I think, anyway) is I decided to move up from 100 to 200 and drop down from 24 to more like 12-15 tables. In theory I should be getting around the same VPP's/hr (in reality, it definitely works out to less, but kinda close; on the road I actually get more per hour now as bad internet often limited me to that many tables anyway). I just realized I have never had an extended period of posting good results while 24 tabling. Even though I feel like I can handle the pace, the results say otherwise. Playing less tables now, I realize that I was not handling the higher volume well at all. I am now making way less mistakes, and finding spots to be creative. I'm not crushing, but I've had a few weeks of posting a small win rate, and my red line is showing signs of life for the first time in ages.
Often times when I switch up approaches, I seem to play better for a period and then the novelty wears off, so I'm always cautious about thinking I've had a 'breakthrough' or whatever. But I do feel very positive about the second half of the year.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
ZipCar
Tried it yesterday, in advance of possibly getting rid of the car. Brief summary for you:
CONVENIENCE: Pretty much off the charts. There are dozens of cars within a few blocks of us (including some within a block). Once you've booked it, you just go to the car and it's programmed to accept your card to open the locks. While out with the car, you can use your iPhone to lock/unlock it (the keys for the ignition stay in the car at all times). When you're done, you just return the car same place. No paper work, nothing. Only marginally less convenient then taking the elevator down to your own car in the parkade.
COST: For the cheaper car, it's about $10/hr. (You can get a 10% discount with a small monthly commitment, which we would likely do if we sold our car). So let's call it $9/hr. That includes gas. I took it for 3 hours, probably used $10 in gas. So the net cost is around $17. We figure we'll net (conservatively) around $300/month by not owning a car (not counting whatever we get for selling it). So we could use the zipcar for 3 hours a day roughly 17-18 times a month and break even. Seeing that's probably four times as often as we actually would, I'm pretty sure we'll be considerably ahead. Even allowing for the occasional longer trip (the day rate is not that great, if we were going to have a car for a few days I think we'd go with a rental car company).
DOWNSIDES: Well, you have to commit to the amount of time you want the car ahead of time. If you go way under, you don't get a refund. If you go over, there's a hefty late fee. But if the car is not booked by someone else, you can extend it by text at the very last minute for the regular rate. I was late getting back yesterday, but it only cost me $5 to book an extra half hour. When you are booking online you can actually see what cars have bookings later in the day, so you could make sure to book one that is not otherwise claimed and be fairly confident you'll be able to extend if running late.
Also, the car I had was covered in birdshit. It was pretty gross. Otherwise the car was totally fine, if a wee bit non-descript (certainly not remotely baller, but whatever). You can book better cars for a bit more, like an Audi A3 for an extra $5/hr. I assume they keep those parked places with less birds. If I had more time, I would have taken the car I had for a wash. They'll reimburse you for that (and give you $15 for your trouble). There's a lot of stuff like that, trying to encourage the community to take ownership of the cars. Which makes sense and is kinda cool, even the cynical part of me feels like it's just a way for them to have less employees.
Overall I think it's a pretty amazing system. Super easy, reasonably priced. Looks like the family car is a goner.
CONVENIENCE: Pretty much off the charts. There are dozens of cars within a few blocks of us (including some within a block). Once you've booked it, you just go to the car and it's programmed to accept your card to open the locks. While out with the car, you can use your iPhone to lock/unlock it (the keys for the ignition stay in the car at all times). When you're done, you just return the car same place. No paper work, nothing. Only marginally less convenient then taking the elevator down to your own car in the parkade.
COST: For the cheaper car, it's about $10/hr. (You can get a 10% discount with a small monthly commitment, which we would likely do if we sold our car). So let's call it $9/hr. That includes gas. I took it for 3 hours, probably used $10 in gas. So the net cost is around $17. We figure we'll net (conservatively) around $300/month by not owning a car (not counting whatever we get for selling it). So we could use the zipcar for 3 hours a day roughly 17-18 times a month and break even. Seeing that's probably four times as often as we actually would, I'm pretty sure we'll be considerably ahead. Even allowing for the occasional longer trip (the day rate is not that great, if we were going to have a car for a few days I think we'd go with a rental car company).
DOWNSIDES: Well, you have to commit to the amount of time you want the car ahead of time. If you go way under, you don't get a refund. If you go over, there's a hefty late fee. But if the car is not booked by someone else, you can extend it by text at the very last minute for the regular rate. I was late getting back yesterday, but it only cost me $5 to book an extra half hour. When you are booking online you can actually see what cars have bookings later in the day, so you could make sure to book one that is not otherwise claimed and be fairly confident you'll be able to extend if running late.
Also, the car I had was covered in birdshit. It was pretty gross. Otherwise the car was totally fine, if a wee bit non-descript (certainly not remotely baller, but whatever). You can book better cars for a bit more, like an Audi A3 for an extra $5/hr. I assume they keep those parked places with less birds. If I had more time, I would have taken the car I had for a wash. They'll reimburse you for that (and give you $15 for your trouble). There's a lot of stuff like that, trying to encourage the community to take ownership of the cars. Which makes sense and is kinda cool, even the cynical part of me feels like it's just a way for them to have less employees.
Overall I think it's a pretty amazing system. Super easy, reasonably priced. Looks like the family car is a goner.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
A Dream Of My Mother's From My Youth
In her dream, we're at the beach and my mother looks out and sees that me and my sister and my dad are all drowning. And she has to decide who to save. And then she wakes up.
I think I was around six when she told us the dream, because my little brother didn't factor into the equation (it could have been that he was too little to be out swimming, so maybe I was about seven or eight). From memory she had (and related) the dream repeatedly, and would often tell us about it while we were at the beach.
She would always immediately follow it's telling with "of course, it's so silly. I would just rescue Dad and then we would each rescue one of you".
This was undoubtedly meant to be reassuring, but I promise you, it was not. Even at that young age, I was aware that I would likely be a goner by the time they got to me. And besides, if Dad was able to come rescue me, why would he need Mom's rescuing in the first place? No, I knew she could only rescue one, and I was dang sure that wasn't a lottery I was gonna win.
What's interesting to me about it (besides maybe serving as an explanation why I never wanted to see "Sophie's Choice") is that she would make such an apparently misguided decision to burden her six-year old son with her nightmare. Maybe it's possible she was trying to keep me from going out too far. In my most cynical teen years, I entertained the idea it was to make me behave, in a general sense, so as to improve my chances of surviving. But now I think it simply weighed too heavy on her to not speak it.
She obviously knew it was not a particularly great thing to tell her children, and the unrealistic rescue scenario she attached speaks to that. But I think the dream was going to be on her mind literally every moment until she spoke it. Basically, if she wanted to keep it to herself (which she probably did), she had no chance.
I feel like I see that more and more in life. Definitely still in my mother, but also in myself, and in most anyone who I know well at all. Some things people can keep secret. But some things just have to come out. Doesn't matter if they're hurtful, or harmful, or meant to be kept quiet. Or just boring, not funny, really of interest to absolutely no one. There's just no stopping it. If the six year-old gets scared shitless in the process, well, nobody's happy about that. But it couldn't be helped.
I think I was around six when she told us the dream, because my little brother didn't factor into the equation (it could have been that he was too little to be out swimming, so maybe I was about seven or eight). From memory she had (and related) the dream repeatedly, and would often tell us about it while we were at the beach.
She would always immediately follow it's telling with "of course, it's so silly. I would just rescue Dad and then we would each rescue one of you".
This was undoubtedly meant to be reassuring, but I promise you, it was not. Even at that young age, I was aware that I would likely be a goner by the time they got to me. And besides, if Dad was able to come rescue me, why would he need Mom's rescuing in the first place? No, I knew she could only rescue one, and I was dang sure that wasn't a lottery I was gonna win.
What's interesting to me about it (besides maybe serving as an explanation why I never wanted to see "Sophie's Choice") is that she would make such an apparently misguided decision to burden her six-year old son with her nightmare. Maybe it's possible she was trying to keep me from going out too far. In my most cynical teen years, I entertained the idea it was to make me behave, in a general sense, so as to improve my chances of surviving. But now I think it simply weighed too heavy on her to not speak it.
She obviously knew it was not a particularly great thing to tell her children, and the unrealistic rescue scenario she attached speaks to that. But I think the dream was going to be on her mind literally every moment until she spoke it. Basically, if she wanted to keep it to herself (which she probably did), she had no chance.
I feel like I see that more and more in life. Definitely still in my mother, but also in myself, and in most anyone who I know well at all. Some things people can keep secret. But some things just have to come out. Doesn't matter if they're hurtful, or harmful, or meant to be kept quiet. Or just boring, not funny, really of interest to absolutely no one. There's just no stopping it. If the six year-old gets scared shitless in the process, well, nobody's happy about that. But it couldn't be helped.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Goals
I'm an hour away from celebrating a milestone birthday. While I'm obviously cynical enough to feel these milestones are almost entirely arbitrary, that the true milestones in our lives don't occur at ten-year intervals, it still seems like a good occasion to set some goals. I'm hampered, happily, by the fact that things are going pretty darn good. And some things that I might find myself wishing for don't ultimately matter. I do have a couple, tho. On or around this time next year, I want to have:
!) run a marathon;
2) finished a novel-length work of fiction.
I have no expectations regarding how fast I run the marathon. And I certainly don't make guarantees as to the quality of the fiction. The goal is just to accomplish these things as best I can.
Oh, and start blogging more again. It's kinda fun, and it's a good break from my routines (day job-free as I am, I still have some pretty repetitive days).
!) run a marathon;
2) finished a novel-length work of fiction.
I have no expectations regarding how fast I run the marathon. And I certainly don't make guarantees as to the quality of the fiction. The goal is just to accomplish these things as best I can.
Oh, and start blogging more again. It's kinda fun, and it's a good break from my routines (day job-free as I am, I still have some pretty repetitive days).
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Bachelor Life
So the wife and kid have spent the last two nights with a handful of other moms and babies at a cabin on one of the nearby islands. A retreat, if you will.
Since the arrival of the little fella, I've been on a normal person's schedule. For the first time in many years, probably since high school (and I rebelled against it pretty hard even then). You know, in bed by around 11pm, with my alarm set for 6:30am. I do have quality interactions with the snooze button pretty much every morning, but even my latest rousing would have been earlier than early in the pre-Henry days.
So I was curious if the schedule would last in the absence of my family. And as I sit here at 11:30pm, wearing only my FullTilt Poker Bathrobe, and eating Kraft Dinner & wieners, I clearly have my answer. Hurry home, babe, before I am further undone!
Since the arrival of the little fella, I've been on a normal person's schedule. For the first time in many years, probably since high school (and I rebelled against it pretty hard even then). You know, in bed by around 11pm, with my alarm set for 6:30am. I do have quality interactions with the snooze button pretty much every morning, but even my latest rousing would have been earlier than early in the pre-Henry days.
So I was curious if the schedule would last in the absence of my family. And as I sit here at 11:30pm, wearing only my FullTilt Poker Bathrobe, and eating Kraft Dinner & wieners, I clearly have my answer. Hurry home, babe, before I am further undone!
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