Civic Duty

For the 1st time in my life I had to go to courthouse for a jury duty summons.

During jury selection process I was alternate for ~24 hours.

I was on the jury for ~2 minutes

After listening to the  reading of charges (1 charge of rape and 14 charges of child molestation) I was thinking I don't even watch Law & Order:SVU which I know is fiction, Do I want to have to have to pay attention to testimony to determine it is fiction?

I got to listen to jurors drawn before me answer judge's questions about friends and family exposure to child molestation and hypothetical situations involved I did gain a respect for judge and lawyers having to deal with this dark side of humanity balanced while making sure defendants are treated fairly.

For one sleepless night I got to think about what does reasonable doubt mean?  I was willing to commit amounts of money during PLO hand on level of certainty below reasonable doubt, would I be able to stay rational after listening to testimony?  The whole presumption of innocence runs counter to other mindset that it would take a different level of disturbed/delusion to lie about being a victim.

Thankfully after the judge and lawyers agreed that a fair panel had been selected, the defense attorney issued a perfunctory challenge to promote me onto challenge and her next challenge gave me boot.

Sorta went Big

Harvey's gave me 3 $100 chips for the $300 voucher and 4 $25 chips and 1 $5 chip for the $105 voucher.

Only had a little over $200 in my pocket when we arrived Friday night and I am too cheap to use the ATM in casino when there is ATM for my bank across state line in California.

My instant strategy decision was $5 pass line bet (using non-negotiable chip),  Point was 5 so I used 3 $25 chips on 4,9,10, 1 $25 chip for odds and 2 $100 chips on 6 and 8. leaving me a single $100 chip and had to pull out $2 ea to make 6 and 8 proper bets, $1 ea for buy of 4 and 10 and $2 added to pass line so I could do $25 odds and another $1 to make odds an even number.

Shooter was kind enough to roll 4 8s, 2-3 6s and hit a few other numbers before crapping out.  I bumped the 8 bet to $120, $150, $180 and then $210 (using 2 promotional chips) leaving me with no promo chips but a little over $1100 in regular chips before 1st shooter finished.  I stuck around for a circuit of the table before going to bed with no significant change of money.

Saturday we took an afternoon cruise on Lake Tahoe to Emerald Bay,  the transition of the water color from deep blue to an emerald green upon entering Emerald cove was the most fascinating aspect to me.  If visiting Lake Tahoe I think it is worth taking a cruise once to hear about the history of the area but renting a boat and spending more time in the area around Emerald Cove appeals to me more.

Upon return to Harvey's wife saw a sign that Rick Springfield would be performing that night, I investigated whether I had built up enough comps for tickets (NO) but then agreed to go to to box office to buy them tickets as long as I did not have to go.

Demons review of show: "OMG there were a bunch of women mommy's age acting like they had Bieber fever"

I went to Mont Bleu to pick up my $50 in promotional chips there and learned the difference between promotional chips and non-negotiable chips.  Unfortunately I was only able to turn that $50 into $30 because win or lose the bet MontBleu picked up chips they had given me.  Since wife and daughter had rushed to primp for Rick I had late lunch at MontBleu using a $50 dining voucher that they had mailed only to discover when I checked on damage to bill after my entree and 3 Margarita's that I was dining during $1 Margaritas.  I quickly order another Margarita using top shelf Tequila and later got another in a to go glass and visited poker room.  There were no seats at $1/$2 so I chose to play $2/$5 but it was typical Lake Tahoe poker where 5 people are seeing a flop no matter what happens pre-flop.  My demise occurred when I made a raise to $15 UTG there were 3 callers ahead of the aggro button who re-raised to $50,  BB shoved for $200 and with a little over $500 left in front of me and looking at AA I chose to reshove.
The hands that saw the flop were 78hh, KK (button), AKo (BB) my AA, 89ss and 75cc which won main pot with 2 pair, I collected $250 from side pot and decided to return to craps.

I managed to win money at the crapless craps table and lose money at regular craps rest of weekend and the tequila induced confidence inhibited my adherence to stop losses but overall a good trip despite small losses.

Ending my New Blogger protest

Casino M8trix is supposed to be open in "Spring 2012"  Unfortunately the City of San Jose has delayed approval so I have had to wait as owners expected it to open 1 month ago.  My wife has a bad opinion of Bay 101 due to an old neighbor (prior to eviction) playing too much there so it is not worth the drama for me to go there.  Garden City was acceptable which is strange because realistically it was seedier which is why the owners built M8trix and transferred license. In the meantime my only choice for real local poker is banned.

I will journey to Lake Tahoe in a week because they have finally sent me an offer I can not refuse.  I have been granted 3 free nights + 3 $100 promotional chips.  As well as a non-conflicting $100 chip offer as well as free Mother's day bauble.

I was thinking if I get $400 from Harrah's to gamble with and I stick to playing craps at .5% house edge there is no way I should not be net positive even after paying $50 for gas.

I asked the wife if she wanted to go Mother's Day in manner that there was no way I sound serious and she decided she wanted to see Lake in non Winter situation for 1st time.

Today it dawned on me that my entourage costs will exceed the $400 in meals alone.

 I could get the $400 in slot credits and play Cashman as Grubby would or play Video Blackjack as Tony would.  But I think I will have to figure out a way to augment my craps play with chips.

I am not sure if it is allowed for me to bet $100 on pass $100 on don't and $4 out of my pocket on 12, to leave me a guaranteed cash of $96 on each of 1st 3 chips and left to play the remaining chip un-hedged.

The other extreme is to bet $100 on pass line and bet $300, $400 or $500 as odds where I think if there is no house edge it is a moral imperative to reach into own pocket for the $100-$200 to max odds.

The other approach I am considering is to bet my normal $10 Pass and max odds out of pocket.  Follow it up with $25 buys of 4 & 10 and $48-$51 inside and betting promotional $100 come to insure against the dreaded Recess.I could then take down the places and buys for the numbers rolled and et come again until turn ended or all the promotional chips were on numbers.

Still have 10 days to figure out strategy but most important thing is to make sure wife and kid are not bored.

Leap Day Musings

I use 2 gallons of gas/week driving my commute 5 days. The price of gas crossing $4/gallon convinced me to take the bus 3 times since my fill up lat week. Despite m company supplied bus pass I doubt I am saving money since I have to wake up earlier and find myself getting a $2.70 latte to wake me up upon arrival.

Since I will soon be AARP eligible like lightbulb, I had to figure out if I want to make 'catch-up' contributions to 401k. I decided to make them but do it by increasing my bonus contributions rather than regular payroll. It is a solid idea until you get awarded a bonus and are looking at:

6.2% FICA

75% 401k

10% ESPP

~1.5% California Withholding

~6% IRS withholding

~ .5% CASDI

< 1% Net cash

Watching the Voice tryout shows is a guilt pleasure. The Judges fighting to get 'their team' cracks me up.

If Tiger Woods really wanted to quit golf to be a SEAL mad props but doubt he could make it through training post age 30.

Bobby V should STFU until he gets a ring, it would be okay (but not his style) for Francona to tweak Yankees.

Spanish Inquisition

Grange is right no one expects the Spanish Inquisition!

Woops

Apologies to Madam Josie. This weekend I loaded Black Chip Poker and used Rakeback.com bonus code for 1st deposit.

Yesterday was my 1st day as a "single Dad" since wife is out of town.

I did feel the need to take the day off work as I had to take wife to airport, kid to school, find Western Union Office to send 1st deposit, get some groceries and pick kid up.

Did end up doing some work as it is trivial to VPN to company and work easily. If company would let me play poker online I could have probably created a address and bank account in Hong Kong and VPN to Pokerstars. I miss my old jobs :)

The Western Union location I chose is across the border in San Jose. On my way to the Payday loan/check cashing establishment I did pass Baby Land Furniture which is right next door to the Pink Poodle. If this is a plan to give Dad's a place to relax while the expectant Mom's shop for furniture it is brilliant, what I wonder about is how much furniture do they sell with the big signs advertising "All Dude Dancers" in sight. I did bring it up with colleagues at lunch today and learned in nearby Fremont there is a church and strip club that share a parking lot. They apparently feel that their crowded hours are mutually exclusive and land costs are high enough that providing adequate parking is challenge.

I have played a little on BCP to get a feel for the User Interface. I like the 1/2, 2/3, 3/4 and Pot selections available in PLO. Play is bad enough that it may prove profitable.

Will wait a while to see how smoothly withdrawals go.

Can't Win

Demon Daughter is a big fan of Nadal.

Although she is 17 and perfectly capable of operating DVR it is obviously my fault that I failed to record the Nadal-Federer semifinal.

I tried to make it up to her by recording the final and showing her I set it up for extra time.

Thank you Novak and Rafael for playing a match that I only managed to record until start of 5th set.