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.

week 17

Lions 1

49ers 16

Jets 2

Vikings 3

Pats 14

Saints 13

Eagles 12

Jaguars 4

Texans 11

Falcons 15

Steelers 10

Ravens 5

Broncos 9

Chargers 8

Cardinals 7

Giants 6

Back from :Lake Tahoe.

There was a little man made snow on Heavenly so wife and kid did go tubing. But temperature hit 62 day we left.

Rest of Picks

Dolphins 3

Bears 1

Titans 6

Bengals 7

Saints 14

Giants12

Texans 5

Pats 13

Lions 4

Jets 8

Cardinals 2

Ravens 11

Steelers 9

Ni Hao

Three of my picks for week:

Packers 16

Falcons 15

And in case I am drunk in Macau Saturday:

Cowboys 10

NFL Picks

Steelers 16

Ravens 15

Packers 14

Patriots 13

Seahawks 12 (lord help me)

Jets 11

49ers 10

Saints 9

Falcons 8

Chargers 7

Cowboys 6

Lions 5

Bengals 4

Dolphins 3

Broncos 2

Bucs 1

It's Sunday at 10:00 am and I have to wait 16 hours for football.

Not that I am going to get to watch

No Threepeat

Wedding Anniversary hits the 1st weekend of December, but even if WPBT was later in month I would be destined to miss as I will be in China most of month to make sure the manufacturing of latest design goes smoothly.

Company I work for is a big believer in Webex but being there is superior.

Have a good WPBT

My picks

There is degen sports bettor at work who has been asking me all season about what to pick.

I told him early this year to bet the over every Georgia Tech game until it loses so he has been asking my opinion regularly and asked me why I don't bet since obviously I have no objections to gambling.

Rather than face wife' wrath for anything out of hand I decided I could play a 5 team parlay for $10 bucks each week.

1st week I was 3 of 5, 2nd I went for 6th but was 4 of 6 (half the picks were top 5 College teams each week and got burned). 3rd week Stanford, Falcons. 49ers, GB/SD over were easy winners and Bengals came through a sweat to complete the win.

Monday morning brought me high fives as little did I know dude at work always bets $50 so had backed up my $10 with his own $40.

For competition with Waffles picks are

Chargers 8

Eagles 16

Ravens 15

Packers 14

Dallas 13

Texans 12

Cowboys 11

Jacksonville 10

KC 9

Steelers 7

49ers 6

Browns 5

Dolphins 4

Carolina 3

Saints 2

Jets1

World Series Thoughts

1.) If I am the Cardinals fan that already collected $125k on them winning NL and has $250 ticket on them winning the World Series I am betting $50k on the Rangers with the Money line and $75k on the Rangers getting 1 1/2 runs and hoping for a 1 run Cards victory.

2) That was quite a stomach punch game for Rangers last night, my expectation is Cardinals will carry the momentum into game tonight and pull off win especially in light of Hamilton being injured and Cruz limping in 11th.

3) Kudos to respect Cards fans showed to Pujols batting in what could have been his last at bat ever as a Cardinal (3 times) I could not help but think as they booed the intentional walk in his last at bat could there be a more fitting way for him to finish as a Cardinal?

Red Sox Implosion

Heard Nomar quote this morning:

"If we want to go down the list... now we're hearing about Terry Francona, before Terry ... it was Johnny Damon, before him you had Derek Lowe, you had Pedro Martinez, you had Manny Ramirez, you had myself, then you had Mo Vaughn, then you had Roger Clemens, then you had Jim Rice, Carl Yastrzemski, and oh, by the way, one Ted Williams. So the list is pretty good, pretty prestigious, but it seems to happen. So there's a pattern. Is it all these guys that are bad or is there something more here."

Not sure if it was Rome or Cowherd that said in response, ~"People in New England are short and angry when young, eventually some get taller".

I was 16 when I started rooting for Red Sox as I had not lived near a Major League team prior to moving to Westford. I am quite disgusted by the treatment Francona has received in press. Only a matter of time before Theo gets trashed in press as well. I thought both would drink free forever.

Gone Fishin

Best bit from TNT's around the NBA during the playoffs is Kenny Smith's 'Gone Fishin' pictures.

As a Red Sox fan I love when I watch A-Rod standing at the plate after a strikeout to end Yankee's season as the other team mobs the pitcher even if it has become a bit of a cliche. I am sure MiamiDon (now private and I am not invited WTF) and Steve are much happier than Hoy about the NLCS matchup but I did feel for Ryan Howard for the brutal way his season ended (maybe top 5 worst season end in baseball history).

I have also been waiting all weekend to see the Josie v. Waffles picks, certainly seems like Waffles has the better handle on the game weighting and suspect the wager is Josie will have to pick up waffle's laundry and return it all clean, pressed and neatly hing and folded.

Years ago a co-worker (Andrew) and I made a bet about project progress with our project manager about a milestone. I forgot what our punishment was if we lost but she made mistake of telling us what was at stake for us before we had figured out our side. We did not know what to ask for in stakes but Andrew's wife determined that if we won Bo had to dress up in 50s garb and serve us tea/coffee and get our lunch one day at work.

Hopefully waffles came up with something more evil and made sure there is no gag order.

Soon we will have a working kitchen

The one aspect about the house that I knew I would someday replace was the oven. I believe it was original equipment when house was built in 1984.

Two burners were problematic but would sometimes heat but 1st time we used oven it failed.

On the positive side the Realtor and mortgage broker (who were probably very pleased to collect fees on a speedy purchase/close) got us a warranty on the appliances. Repair guy came out and determined it could be fixed with a few parts that had not been generally available this century so recommended replacement.

I was assuming we would try to work a deal to get some cash amount for a replacement and then let wife pick out upgrade she wanted. For 3 weeks now I have gotten to deal with wife being bat shit pissed while she dealt with insurance company and planned meals around a grill, toaster, microwave and waffle iron as cooking options.

Big win for us when the repair guy rejected the oven they chose because original had downdraft venting and he has to install to code. Cost of creating venting outweighed cost of oven upgrade.

They have come in and removed the old oven:

It is a little weird when you realize how close to the microwave you have stepped when pulling stuff out. Unfortunately hauling away the old oven is not included but I will get a hand truck and haul away when Santa CLara has their dispose of electronics day.

.

The final fight was my wife wanted radiant elements (right side in below picture) rather than coils. Insurance company was pain in the ass about this as well even with my wife offering to pay the cost difference. Jenn-Air is already planning to discontinue the coils so appliance store that insurance was using convinced insurance company that radiant elements were in stock and coils would need to be shipped.

They finally agreed we get the radiant elements once they receive a cashiers check for the cost difference. They were insistent about money order or cashiers check

Wife was heading to the bank this morning for $8 cashiers check.

Finish Line Reached

With 2 days to spare we have removed last items from apartment and turned in keys. Saturday when I was over grabbing a few boxes (and making use of dumpster) there were 6 moving trucks in parking lot of ~200 unit complex. I think many of my former neighbors also believe "The Rent is too damn high"

It was a nice apartment and I would miss some of my neighbors but at this point there are only 3 neighbors left that we used to socialize with.

Unpacking is an adventure as this time we are going to open every box and make a decision to keep, donate, trash or shred then trash. I am also hanging pictures and a clock on wall as mindset is that we will be here a while (assuming I can remain employed)

Worst finds so far have been either a box that we moved from Petaluma 5 tears ago that only held documents that needed to be shredded, the ancient TIVO that does not understand digital TV or the HOV lane stickers for the Civic.

To be fair since the wife's main driving during HOV times was to deliver the demon child to school she was already car pool lane qualified without stickers or else I would have certainly looked a little harder for them. Now I think I want to find a massive SUV or Hummer to put them on since I don't see how it can be illegal to apply a sticker for a defunct program.

Worst non-finds are the power cable to XBox and phone.

If we get through remaining boxes and don't find phone this may be final tipping point to cancel land line to house. It is probably goner in 6 months anyway after we have made sure all the bills have change of address.

1st Night

Move yesterday went rather smoothly, 3 dudes and a truck for $90/hour for an insured company that was registered with state of California seemed better than $40/day for U-Hail plus mileage plus hiring a few people at Home Depot since I would not have to lift anything.

Had no idea that 2 of 3 dudes would be older and all would be light but I guess they were wiry strong. Wife did think they dragged job along loading but in their defense they did fill the 24' truck.

We will still have to go back and forth to apartment a few times to pick up quite a few items but it is not that far out of way for my work commute.

Furniture does fit in dining room and living room as long as I give up recliner but wife was kind enough to allow it in Master Bedroom. Kid has also surrendered her TV due to lack of cable outlet so I have my own man cave corner in bedroom.

Now just need the boxes to unpack themselves.

I did make some discoveries as part of moving process:

1) I have not looked at my High School yearbook in at least 15 years. I opened it up before packing it and quickly discovered I actually have my younger brothers yearbook from my senior year.

2) I had a small wedding (~25 peeps) but at no point did 3 of the people in attendance appear in the 100s of photos. My Uncle I can understand as he did not let other people use his cameras but Sean and Kelly never appearing disappointed me.

Sean and Kelly got married ~3 years before E and myself and their wedding was the first time I introduced E to my college friends. Kelly was also 1st person I told about expecting demon child as I wanted to wait until April 1 to tell my parents and any co-workers and when I called her to ask Sean about watching Final Four that weekend Kelly had told me that she was pregnant so perfectly natural response that March 31st was "Congrats, E is pregnant too". Kelly and Sean did congratulate me but Sean's last words to me that evening were "Congrats but if this is an April Fool's prank you're a dick". We spent a lot of time together the next 4 years as having daughters 2 weeks apart did nothing to complicate our friendship until I lost touch with them when my brood relocated from Maryland to California.

Unfortunately Kelly had a seizure due to an AVM 2 weeks ago while vacationing with her family, 2 days later she had angiogram to confirm treatment and prepare for Surgery on Saturday but AVM hemorrhaged and took her life.

I feel for Sean's daughters as the Demon Child's words from 3 years ago are still deeply embedded. As she hugged her Mom three years ago she said "you scared me, I thought you were going to leave me with just him".

RIP Kelly

The Time Line

July 3 - We receive letter from apartment manager informing us of terms for new lease we will face Sept 1.

July 4-7 - Many discussions with the wife. Lots of tension as I am simply unwilling to pay as much as they are asking to rent.

July 8 - Wife leaves town for a trip that was already planned but it gives us some cooling off time at a fortunate time. It is also 1st night that she is gone that it dawns on me that I could buy condo such as this, pay 3% down. Principle + Interest + PMI + HOA would be less than current rent. Additionally recovery point for down payment vs. 1012 rent was 19 months

July 9 - Wife is out of town so demon child and I go to look for new apartment. We look at The Domicilio which at the time was asking $250/month less than rent increase we were facing. Pluses were it was nice enough that wife would not whine. Negatives were that there were a lot of college students in place since it is adjacent to Santa Clara University. We also look at an apartment near demon's high school, wife will hate but kid could safely walk to high school.

I also present kid with idea of buying to get her buy in I take her here. Logistics are difficult but they had 1 home that was ready to move in so thought could time.

July 11 - Kid takes wife to see apartments we looked at as well as new homes. Wife is not offended by new home nor 1 apartment. But Domicilio is now asking $75 more/month.

July 12 - After explaining thinking about condo and how it makes more sense to buy than continue renting, wife gets enthused about looking for a house. Because she doesn't fucking listen she looks in Los Gatos.

July 16 - I meet with real estate agent (along with wife and demon who met him on 14th) , he is going to take us to see numerous houses in Los Gatos but we include one house in Santa Clara I am insistent upon and 2nd house in Santa Clara he finds. All houses in Los Gatos have multiple aspects demon hates, at least one aspect my wife hates, I am trying to be open minded but don't want to commute from Los Gatos. We see house in Santa Cara I wanted to see, wife likes. We see other Santa Clara house, it is comical how blatant it is that it is flip. Cheap paint, lowe's stickers still on windows, "loft added which is converted attic and stairs are as steep as pull down attic stairs. We decide to get reports on 1st Santa Clara house. Demon cheers. Wife may not listen to me but listens to Demon child downright giddy about not wanting to change schools.

July 19 - Offer made

July 22 - Counter accepted

Late July normal gathering of paperwork hassle to get loan approval, plus selling all stocks to make sure I have enough cash freed up for down payment.

Aug 5 - Papers signed, checks written, wire transfers completed.

Aug 8 - seller signs upon return from biz trip.

Aug 11 - keys.

Now really gambling

I am in process of buying house (A).

My thinking originally was we would buy a condo, put 3% down pay the PMI and get 5/1 ARM which would get me Mortgage payment ~$600 less than apartment wanted for rent if we moved to upgraded unit (which we have to do within a year or move out). Advantage was thought I could walk away saving a few dollars at expense of credit rating if housing market out here continued to plummet.

Problem with a condo is you never know what you are going to deal with as far as resident below or above you goes. My latest downstairs neighbor seems nice enough but he smokes about once an hour, his wife doesn't let him smoke inside and he has not adhered to my polite request to warn us when he is lighting up so we can close sliding glass door and windows for a few minutes.

I would rather have the brothel back downstairs than have apartment smell like cigarettes.

Townhouse has only 2 neighbors no one below so we have solved the smoke problem.

What I can't help but think is I own the downside risk of home price until down payment is exhausted and I also need price to rise 6% to break even.

Other risk is to choose 5/1 ARM at 3.375% or 30 year fixed at 4.625%.

3rd risk is that wife won't spend too much money once we are in a "home"

On positive side demon child gets to stay in same High School and would live closer to her BFF as well as my tax adjust cost of housing is fixed at ~ what I was looking at for rent in a year.