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I had lunch yesterday with someone I had not seen for 34 years, which was, as Andy (presumably now Andrew, what with him being a finance director, and all) said, was all a bit strange. Almost a bit like going out with someone on a first date. Although without the sexual undertone, obviously. But you know what I mean.
Anyway, as is often the case with this kind of thing, Andrew hadn't changed as much as one might expect. Despite him having lived in Scotland for the past 25 years (he's currently commuting to London for during the week), his accent remains solidly Estuary English (which, in the 1970s, hadn't even become fashionable).
We had lunch in Vauxhall on the South Bank, which has changed a lot since I was a kid. So it was all quite fun.
+++++++++++
Hesitant though I am to write about work, I have to report a hilarious conversation with a PR company about a well-known insurer this morning.
I had written that the insurer planned to close three regional offices of a broker that it had bought a couple of years ago. Cue miffed email that the insurer did not "plan" such closures; it had merely put forward a "proposal" and that consultations with staff would take place. As such, at the moment there was no plan, only a proposal for a plan. To which the obvious reply is, "so, if you don't have a plan, what are you proposing?"
This was a real case of the corporate lawyer wankers having a field day. On re-reading the company missive, I noted that the word "proposal" appeared about seven times, while the word "plan" didn't appear once. I can just imagine the meetings with the legal team saying "no, you can't call it a plan! That would imply that we intend to do it no matter what the employees say during the consultation period! We have to call it "a proposal".
Unfortunately, the land of English as she is spoke is different from that of legal documents, and by my reckoning a proposal for a plan is as near as dammit synonymous with a plan. And, fuck it, in reality, it IS the plan. But, until the 60-day consultation period is over, the lawyers insist on calling it a proposal, because they think that the word "plan" has a firmer meaning than, in sensible English, it actually has.
++++++++++++++
I played a lot of hands tonight, and had that pleasant situation of getting back from three buy-ins down to level, all in the last hour. Midweek games these days are a bit like midweek games were in vegas in years gone by -- mainly slightly negative EV because of the rake, with the occasional fish appearing to push you slightly into the black. The real money is made at weekends, while the midweek stuff is all, to be blunt, about accumulating VPPs and FPPs on Stars, and keeping up your medal accumulation on Full Tilt. Actually, Full Tilt is probably slightly plus EV during the week - the games are definitely softer than on Stars.
So why not play Full Tilt all of the time? Well, it's the old story of too much play on a single site leads to ennui. You really have to play at least two sites (well, ok, I do), to stop going mad with boredom. I should really be playing three sites (throwing in some 6-max on Party), but cascading tables doesn't seem to work properly on Party, and I'm not sure that I can shift from cascading tables to tiled tables and back again in a single evening.
Added to that is the pressure on at Stars, where I'm really putting in the hours and the hands (2300 hands this evening). This has been doing me some good -- I made a couple of big pre-flop call decisions this evening that were right (not withstanding the fact that in results terms one of them turned out wrong), whereas previously I would have probably folded or played it rather more tentatively pre-flop (both involved me having QQ in the Hi-Jack, and the Big Blind having AK).
I've also adopted a dual playing style -- one style against players against whom I haven't played much, and another against players whom I've played against a lot. This mostly consists of a different action pre-flop in response to a raise -- flatting with AK vs reraising, for example. There's a few other subtle differences with other starting hands (the way I defend blinds, for example) that I hope will stop the other regs from getting too much of a handle on the way I play. I've noticed that I'm beginning to spot 'styles' in the other regs, so I have to assume that they are doing the same with me. Therefore, time for some variation, just to keep them on their toes.
+++++++++++
It's the big water clean-up tomorrow, with a "super-crew" appearing (their words, not mine). I dread to think what they will turn up with. A nuclear bomb, perhaps.
_________________________
Anyway, as is often the case with this kind of thing, Andrew hadn't changed as much as one might expect. Despite him having lived in Scotland for the past 25 years (he's currently commuting to London for during the week), his accent remains solidly Estuary English (which, in the 1970s, hadn't even become fashionable).
We had lunch in Vauxhall on the South Bank, which has changed a lot since I was a kid. So it was all quite fun.
+++++++++++
Hesitant though I am to write about work, I have to report a hilarious conversation with a PR company about a well-known insurer this morning.
I had written that the insurer planned to close three regional offices of a broker that it had bought a couple of years ago. Cue miffed email that the insurer did not "plan" such closures; it had merely put forward a "proposal" and that consultations with staff would take place. As such, at the moment there was no plan, only a proposal for a plan. To which the obvious reply is, "so, if you don't have a plan, what are you proposing?"
This was a real case of the corporate lawyer wankers having a field day. On re-reading the company missive, I noted that the word "proposal" appeared about seven times, while the word "plan" didn't appear once. I can just imagine the meetings with the legal team saying "no, you can't call it a plan! That would imply that we intend to do it no matter what the employees say during the consultation period! We have to call it "a proposal".
Unfortunately, the land of English as she is spoke is different from that of legal documents, and by my reckoning a proposal for a plan is as near as dammit synonymous with a plan. And, fuck it, in reality, it IS the plan. But, until the 60-day consultation period is over, the lawyers insist on calling it a proposal, because they think that the word "plan" has a firmer meaning than, in sensible English, it actually has.
++++++++++++++
I played a lot of hands tonight, and had that pleasant situation of getting back from three buy-ins down to level, all in the last hour. Midweek games these days are a bit like midweek games were in vegas in years gone by -- mainly slightly negative EV because of the rake, with the occasional fish appearing to push you slightly into the black. The real money is made at weekends, while the midweek stuff is all, to be blunt, about accumulating VPPs and FPPs on Stars, and keeping up your medal accumulation on Full Tilt. Actually, Full Tilt is probably slightly plus EV during the week - the games are definitely softer than on Stars.
So why not play Full Tilt all of the time? Well, it's the old story of too much play on a single site leads to ennui. You really have to play at least two sites (well, ok, I do), to stop going mad with boredom. I should really be playing three sites (throwing in some 6-max on Party), but cascading tables doesn't seem to work properly on Party, and I'm not sure that I can shift from cascading tables to tiled tables and back again in a single evening.
Added to that is the pressure on at Stars, where I'm really putting in the hours and the hands (2300 hands this evening). This has been doing me some good -- I made a couple of big pre-flop call decisions this evening that were right (not withstanding the fact that in results terms one of them turned out wrong), whereas previously I would have probably folded or played it rather more tentatively pre-flop (both involved me having QQ in the Hi-Jack, and the Big Blind having AK).
I've also adopted a dual playing style -- one style against players against whom I haven't played much, and another against players whom I've played against a lot. This mostly consists of a different action pre-flop in response to a raise -- flatting with AK vs reraising, for example. There's a few other subtle differences with other starting hands (the way I defend blinds, for example) that I hope will stop the other regs from getting too much of a handle on the way I play. I've noticed that I'm beginning to spot 'styles' in the other regs, so I have to assume that they are doing the same with me. Therefore, time for some variation, just to keep them on their toes.
+++++++++++
It's the big water clean-up tomorrow, with a "super-crew" appearing (their words, not mine). I dread to think what they will turn up with. A nuclear bomb, perhaps.
_________________________
