Tuesdays

[peterbirks]

Well, apart from a bad night's sleep, things don't seem so awful this morning. That's what emotional roller-coasters are like. Then again, an evening when the cards would do no wrong does, it must be admitted, help. Volatility might be the friend of the skilled player, but I'll admit that a 50 big bet win last night was welcome. Is there karma involved? The great balancing act of life? The month thus far has been a struggle (not a disaster, but hard work most of the time) and then all of a sudden things go perfectly.

Also, it was nice to see how many people and companies read my blog and felt some sympathy. Virgin Atlantic immediately e-mailed me and offered me triple airmiles if I joined its Flying Club. Clearly my post yesterday had touched its heart. Then Party Poker offered me $100 redeposit bonus and Ultimate Bet said that, because I was so sad, they would offer special deals on tournaments this week (well, okay, they didn't say that specifically, but clearly that was in their minds).

Who said that big corporations were heartless people full of mass marketers who knew nothing about their customers?

+++++

It would be interesting to write something about the privatization of Qinetiq, but I really haven't done enough research on the matter. The general consensus appears to be that this is a scandal, a cock-up of ginormous proportions, and a stitch-up of the taxpayer that stretches credibility, even given the record of hopeless privatizations. Some people are going to make a lot of money out of this, but it isn't going to be the taxpayer.

Personally, I'll be looking for the Vodafone figures this morning. I bought the shares a couple of months ago, expecting a sell-off in the US and Japan and a share buyback/ special dividend. Instead I got more of the "bigger is better" crap. It can't go on.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

You shouldn't overlook the Cranberries as a possible reason why you're feeling better either. Whatever the reason: fair play to ya - onwards and upwards - will we be brilliant or what? - etc..

It might also be interesting to write about the quite staggering number of responses to Paul Phillip's request for suggestions on the best place to live. What's that all about then? (asks the observational comedian.) Are we all dreaming we were somewhere else? Are we all saying 'please Paul live where I live and sprinkle some fairy dust there'? Are we hoping that he'll take our suggestion and give us the money he implies is up for grabs? I don't know and I quail before the prospect of wading through all the replies but I am interested that a simple request has prompted such an outpouring.

[geoffchall.livejournal.com]

Paul Phillips? Qui? Que?

[peterbirks.livejournal.com]

A dotcom millionaire kind of guy who got into poker, lives in Vegas, writes blog, gets lots of fawning viewers who hope that his millionairedom will rub off on them somehow. Phillips looks like he is getting bored with poker and getting into scrabble again (and he has some interesting things to say on Scrabble). He has occasionally written some interesting posts on other matters (for example on the hardware fun he had getting his Tivo to link up with his computer), but, to be blunt, it's the money that attracts most of the readers.

Anyway, Phillips put up a post saying that he wanted advice on where to live, which generated many many replies (including one from me), but mine was just to discourage him from taking up one of the choices high on his list — New Zealand. Most people, as might be guessed, said "live where I libe, it's great", not bothering to realize the self-selection process at work (most people live where they like living). Only people in London would be likely to post something like "Live anywhere but here".

Phillips has a tendency to take fawning adulation in silence and to ride roughshod over any poor soul who dares to question his correctness (a bit like Sharp used to be, actually, but without the similar level of writing ability). He mainly played tournaments and No Limit, so his poker stuff was not of much interest to me. Of course, for most Americans, the response is "ahh, but he's rich and you aren't, so there". Any negative response is seen as either sour grapes or a questioning of the power of money.

Unfortunately he has fallen into the trap suffered by most new fathers when it comes to babies. In this sense, the site is highly recommended to new fathers who enjoy Scrabble.

[geoffchall.livejournal.com]

So I browsed and I found him and his home-hunt. I can't say any of the places much appealed to me. I'm afraid I come in the box of people happy with the town I'm in thank you very much, but I guess we will have this bridge to cross at some stage. I think there is a definite prospect of our becoming ex-pats at some stage. The older I get, the more I crave heat and need serious 35+C. That probably means certain parts of the States where I would be unable to go live permanently and Julie would never take to that, OR possibly Corsica which we all love.

The only problem is that Corsicans are not exactly over the moon about foreigners who swan over and pinch all the decent houses. But that's mainly aimed at mainland French and Parisians in particular, so maybe they'd be a bit more indulgent towards Brits because we all hate the French too.

[peterbirks.livejournal.com]

Maybe we should all retire to Corsica at about the same time. Then we could have one long con.

All we have to do is make sure that Steve Jones doesn't find out where we are.

PJ