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Back from the brink
Jun. 23rd, 2005 01:21 pmWell, the ceiling in the office at home is fixed, although it still requires painting. And some of the wall now needs repapering. But that didn't stop me moving the computers (the still-functioning ones, that is) back into the office, along with some other stuff. The relief of having a tidy frontroom is indescribable.
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Every year I notice that the betting on the Sports Personality of the year is stupidly event-sensitive. Wayne Rooney was hot favourite for the title about this time last year, I think. So, this year, I've decided to take advantage. I zipped in this morning and laid Ellen Macarthur to win the award for everything available up to 2.24. I also backed Andrew Murray at 170. I should be able to lay that off at 80 or so if he wins just one more match. If he gets backed down to evens favourite, then I'll take all that money, until the next big thing for the title appears in October, or whenever.
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Did anyone read the story this morning about the Swiss railway network breaking down? What must this have done to the collective Swiss psyche?
What is happening, Elsa? Where is the train? It has been on time every morning for the past 38 years. Have the Germans invaded?
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An ex-hobby member, Richard Gryko, with whom I played poker at the MSO and in a few private games is in the money for the Omaha 8orB in the WSOP (restart at 2pm local time). Not only that, but if he wins, he will be the youngest winner of a bracelet, since he has only just turned 21. More tomorrow on that one.
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My poker in the collapsed ceiling period was, perhaps understandably, less than stellar. And, since the computer with the spreadsheets on it was the one that broke, I have had to try to reconstruct the sheets from when I last backed them up (May 15). And there is one new sheet (the old system was really designed for a single site, a single game, but different levels, rather than a multi-currency multi-site multi-game book) which I will have to recreate from scratch.
Anyway, I think that I gave back somewhere between $300 and $500 over the last six days, although I did sneak back $50 last night before realizing (six hands in) that I was utterly knackered. I looked at the stats for the two games I was playing and I got a 14% voluntarily putting money in the pot (VPI) at one table and a 19% VPI at the other table. Yep, the games are tough at lunchtime US time on Party. So I watched CSI and then I went to bed.
The Neteller account is till effectively frozen, although progress has been made. After telling the company that I would be contacting the CEO, I finally received an e-mail from Justin Leo, the head honcho of customer care, who explained that it was all to do with FSA compliance, and that Neteller was really trying hard to sort out a solution for long-standing customers like myself who had been with Neteller since the days when dollar accounts and transfers to US accounts were the only things possible. Now, if only they had sent out that communication in the first place, I would have been happy.
Apparently I am distinctly not alone here, so there might, just might, be a chance that the FSA will specifically permit Neteller to allow the transfers. The difficulty, however, is getting the FSA to commit to anything, which results in paralysis and excess caution in the financial services industry.
If it turns out that I can't do it, I could set up a UK account in dollars (apparently this works fine, or so Jon Shoreman has told me) or use Party and its wire transfer service (charge, $35 a time) to put the money into my US account. Obviously that would only be worthwhile for large transfers, while the UK account in dollars usually incurs a monthly charge fee.
But it's all a bit of a mess. Maybe I should just take the cheques in sterling from Neteller while the dollar is relatively strong. I'm not sure how the US account is on funding with sterling cheques, as I've never had to do so!
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A sterling performance (in another sense of the word) on the rowing machine today. 3374 metres in 15 minutes, a good 70 metres personal best in the last six months. very pleased with myself.
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----
Every year I notice that the betting on the Sports Personality of the year is stupidly event-sensitive. Wayne Rooney was hot favourite for the title about this time last year, I think. So, this year, I've decided to take advantage. I zipped in this morning and laid Ellen Macarthur to win the award for everything available up to 2.24. I also backed Andrew Murray at 170. I should be able to lay that off at 80 or so if he wins just one more match. If he gets backed down to evens favourite, then I'll take all that money, until the next big thing for the title appears in October, or whenever.
------
Did anyone read the story this morning about the Swiss railway network breaking down? What must this have done to the collective Swiss psyche?
What is happening, Elsa? Where is the train? It has been on time every morning for the past 38 years. Have the Germans invaded?
-----
An ex-hobby member, Richard Gryko, with whom I played poker at the MSO and in a few private games is in the money for the Omaha 8orB in the WSOP (restart at 2pm local time). Not only that, but if he wins, he will be the youngest winner of a bracelet, since he has only just turned 21. More tomorrow on that one.
------
My poker in the collapsed ceiling period was, perhaps understandably, less than stellar. And, since the computer with the spreadsheets on it was the one that broke, I have had to try to reconstruct the sheets from when I last backed them up (May 15). And there is one new sheet (the old system was really designed for a single site, a single game, but different levels, rather than a multi-currency multi-site multi-game book) which I will have to recreate from scratch.
Anyway, I think that I gave back somewhere between $300 and $500 over the last six days, although I did sneak back $50 last night before realizing (six hands in) that I was utterly knackered. I looked at the stats for the two games I was playing and I got a 14% voluntarily putting money in the pot (VPI) at one table and a 19% VPI at the other table. Yep, the games are tough at lunchtime US time on Party. So I watched CSI and then I went to bed.
The Neteller account is till effectively frozen, although progress has been made. After telling the company that I would be contacting the CEO, I finally received an e-mail from Justin Leo, the head honcho of customer care, who explained that it was all to do with FSA compliance, and that Neteller was really trying hard to sort out a solution for long-standing customers like myself who had been with Neteller since the days when dollar accounts and transfers to US accounts were the only things possible. Now, if only they had sent out that communication in the first place, I would have been happy.
Apparently I am distinctly not alone here, so there might, just might, be a chance that the FSA will specifically permit Neteller to allow the transfers. The difficulty, however, is getting the FSA to commit to anything, which results in paralysis and excess caution in the financial services industry.
If it turns out that I can't do it, I could set up a UK account in dollars (apparently this works fine, or so Jon Shoreman has told me) or use Party and its wire transfer service (charge, $35 a time) to put the money into my US account. Obviously that would only be worthwhile for large transfers, while the UK account in dollars usually incurs a monthly charge fee.
But it's all a bit of a mess. Maybe I should just take the cheques in sterling from Neteller while the dollar is relatively strong. I'm not sure how the US account is on funding with sterling cheques, as I've never had to do so!
----
A sterling performance (in another sense of the word) on the rowing machine today. 3374 metres in 15 minutes, a good 70 metres personal best in the last six months. very pleased with myself.
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