Shabbir's Diary

Finally, poker in California

So after living here (kind of) since mid-February, I sat down at Bay 101 and played some cards.  Believe it or not I haven't yet played cards out here.  Between my family and work obligations it just wasn't possible. 

And it turns out I'm rusty.  I knew this since I've had a several hundred dollar slide at the no limit tables in DC and I started reviewing my play to great disappointment.  So I decided to sit down and play some $3/$6 limit hold'em.  Ugh, talk about losing your card sense.  I was continuing in the hand when I hit bottom pair with a crappy kicker.  It took me two hours to get my card sense back, but I finally started to get some solid reads that allowed me to value bet on the river and other obnoxious things that let me relieve many players of some money when they thought they had the best hand.

In a month or so, after I've turned 40 once on each coast, we'll move into our new home in San Francisco and I can setup a regular poker game.  I'm looking forward to assembling a set of really smart players for a low-stakes high-cerebral game.  My poker buddy Chris Hannigan pointed this out to me when I asked him why he kept playing the $1/$2 game every Friday. 

"Every friday I get to play against nine players, five of which are consistent winners in casinos in higher stakes games.  From my point of view, that's a bargain quantity of competitive play at a low price."

Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.  I'm looking forward to getting a really nice poker table and a set of chips for this.

Random bits

[I updated my web page about our new house to include the real estate agent and broker we used.  If you're going to buy a home in San Francisco, please consider hiring them.]

Moishe has a fever so he can't go to day care.  Sarah called me last night while I was playing cards and I lost the coin flip and am staying home with him today.  It wasn't really a coin flip, I just volunteered.  This is the second time in recent weeks that he's had an unexpected reason to stay home from day care.  It's not unusual for kids in day care, they get sick constantly but survive with better immune systems as a result.  That's the theory at least, and I'm sticking to it.

But it makes me wonder how professionals get anything done.  The other day Moishe's day care called, "He's got a rash all over his body!  Come take him home!"  I was thrilled to be able to rush over and swoop in and get him.  Leaving work at a moment's notice under that scenario is the kind of life choice that defines what kind of parent I am.  However I said to a coworker, "I don't see how parents can hold down a full time job if they periodically have to disappear without warning like that."  It helps to have flexible jobs like Sarah and I do (or more appropriately flexible work situations) but it's still hard.

This occurred to me as I was reading a Wall Street Journal blog called "The Juggle" about juggling work and family.  In a comment about an unrelated story about decline of sex drive after the arrival of young children, a random commenter said something very true:

However, as I’ve blogged before, the best answer for the juggle is having the commitment to your family to step back on your career expectations while your children are young. [...] We can have it all-just not all at the same time. You can’t give 100% to your job, your children, and your spouse all at the same time.

Too true, too true.

I've never asked you for anything before....

...but I'm asking you now.  My ass turns 40 in a few weeks, and my wife is throwing me an enormous bash to celebrate.  (In case you received a previous e-mail from her, due to operation security problems, this is no longer a surprise party.  Heh heh)

The party will be the evening of Saturday, May 12, 2007, in our new home in San Francisco, CA.  The theme will be Casino Royale.  We're going to run a small play-money casino at the party.  There will be serious quantities of gambling, food, and drink available.  Start studying your craps, blackjack, and roulette.   It's considered dressy, but if you've spent any time at Burning Man, think more playa formal. 

If you're coming from out of town:

1. go priceline yourself a ticket,
2. Let me know immediately, so I can find you a place to stay, if you need it.

If I haven't seen you in a while, give me the gift of re-acquainting with you at my birthday.  I don't want more stuff, just bring me your smiling face.  I want to see you having a raucously good time.

What's WIFI in a music player for?

I've seen a number of people pontificate on the concept of Wifi in an MP3 player.  About how it's all about people sharing music with people.  Honestly, I think that's bunk.  Such behavior would only work if everyone involved had the same device, and the only person with the market penetration to assume that is Apple.

More interesting, I think, is the use of Wifi on devices that also have access to the limitless catalog music services of Yahoo, Rhapsody, Urge, and others.  How much more music would you discover if you could simply download it straight to your player the minute you hear about it?  I would think a lot.

Oh, did someone just tell you that you might like Dashboard Confessional?  Download it to your player, no computer required.

The Sansa Connect is the first of these players to come out and it only works with Yahoo! Music.  Instead of Yahoo I use Rhapsody, but I'm going to wait and read a few reviews and if they haven't made a mess of the implementation I'm going to pick it up.

Financial education for kids

I'm so very envious of kids financial education programs like these.  I worked from the age of 15 through high school and basically blew my money on girls, video games, and beer.  I wonder how much money I would have had if I had saved it or invested it?

And so it does not go....

In Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut used the phase "So it goes..." to casually talk about death.  While every obituary writer in the world is now penning this as the title of Vonnegut's obituary, I think his death is anything but a casual event for me.

Vonnegut's writing was first introduced to me in junior high school by a fellow classmate Bruce, who was a perpetual troublemaker.  Assigned to read and then verbally talk about a new book every few weeks, Bruce impressed the class with his ability to aggravate our English teacher with his oral book report on "Cat's Cradle" that focused on the plot.  If you've read the plot, you know that a detailed plot summary could go on for an hour. 

And that's exactly what Bruce did.  Without breaking character once, he carefully told the entire plot of Cat's Cradle to the class.  Our teacher repeatedly interrupted him, saying "That's enough", and Bruce asserted his love for literature (not a believable point) and asked to continue.  I think our teacher was so shocked that the class clown should express an interest in anything literary that he felt hypocritical cutting him off, but about every five minutes he realized he had lost control of the class and attempted to end the book report.

From that moment, I was hooked on Vonnegut.

Even before I came to love Abbie Hoffman, Vonnegut was my first anti-war role model.   He spoke to entire generations of young people, showing how you could be provocative while still smiling and make people laugh.  His brilliant ability to meld light science fiction with serious characters living in absurd circumstances was my literary love for years, and allowed him entree with audiences that wouldn't have ever read an anti-war screed.

Millions will miss him, and it will not be with the casual line "So it goes..."

We have lost something far more dear.

Grinderman, a Nick Cave side project

I picked up a copy of the Nick Cave side project album, "Grinderman" on Rhapsody.  (Speaking of which, I've already downloaded so many albums this year on my Rhapsody subscription that I've far surpassed the recovery cost of the $225 player and the $15 / month all you can eat subscription price.  If I'd been buying this much music on iTunes or on CDs, I'd be broke.)

Grinderman reminds me of Iggy Pop's musical journey for the last ten years.  Iggy Pop, not quite sure of where he is, is still making music.  His vocals and lyrics are front and center, as is the guitar, with a minimal amount of production.  He spits out lyrics which occasionally come out bitter and angry, but quite often sardonic and wry.  He's entered a phase where you can only like him if you're an Iggy Pop fan, and I think Nick Cave is in the same place.

My limited exposure to Nick Cave has been positive thus far, and the new album is more of the same, done better.  If you already like him, you'll enjoy Grinderman. 

Handsome Boy Modeling School

I'm traveling and delayed in some random airport in the Southwest.  A lot of weird stuff gets said in airport bars.  Snottiest thing said today,

"All of SF could use some lipstick, a pushup bra, and a pair of heels"

And most silly,

[16:46] shabbirjsafdar: Greetings from the Phoenix airport!

[16:47] ksacksteder: greetings from houston!

[16:47] ksacksteder: we are closer than normal!

My best poker buddy and I haven't seen each other since I became bi-coastal, and it's both our faults.  She travels like a fiend, and I'm learning to love the airplane seat.

So I've been burning through random music with my AWESOME all-you-can-eat $15/month Rhapsody subscription.   I've both found some and picked up some that friends have recommended, including the Besnard Lakes, Mercury Rev, some old Abbey Lincoln, The Soul Children, and Handsome Boy Modeling School.  A side project now all but defunct, Handsome Boy Modeling School is a bright find for me.  It's old school because it's one of the producers from De La Soul so in a way it's....actually old.

In San Jose I cursed the gate agent who gave me an aisle seat in a row that didn't recline (in front of the exit row) only to praise her when I discovered my row was entirely empty.  By the time I got to Arizona (Heh, Chuck D!) my Business Traveler Zen was in full effect.  Detachment is a funny thing.  You are removed from the good and the bad.

I walked up to my new gate amidst frowns.  Ah, our plane is hours delayed.  "Can you bump me?  Perhaps force me to stay the night in this desert rathole?"  Oh I don't care that we're delayed. 

I sit down in the bar, ordering tequila that I never drink (to keep the waitresses happy) and sipping Cokes that go better with my antibiotics.  I play $5 sit-n-go poker tournaments on Poker Stars while I wait for US Airways to fix my plane.  I surf the web.  I research new markets for my company.

I could care less if I ever go to DC, ever go home.  I am just here.

Hey that row of benches might make a couch bed...

Mobile Marketing

So I hit the CTIA (wireless show) last week and did an interview with Target Marketing magazine about mobile marketing trends.  It's a good publication you've probably never heard of, so I suggest you add their RSS feeds to your list.

And, another win for April.

Apparently our agent went to present our offer on the house we want yesterday amidst eight other competing offers.  He made his best pitch and we got the house.  So we're pretty excited  Here's a flickr photoset of the new house.  Note that real estate photographers tend to use wide angle lenses to make rooms look larger, though it's pretty sizable compared to where we've come from.

So we have three reasons to be thankful for our fortunate experience of getting the very first house we bid on in San Francisco. 

1. The first is our mortgage broker, Linda Hays, our mortgage broker at First Security Loan Corp. (408.998.7831)  Her job was to find us a great mortgage and get us to closing without hitches.  She not only gave us some credit report advice, but went above and beyond the call of duty to deal with the seller and their agent.  With 8 offers in front of the seller, and 2 others competitive with us, she got on the phone with the seller and the selling agent and had a long talk about our finances and what wonderful owners she thought we'd make.
2. The second is our real agent, Peter Fong from Coldwell Banker (415-452-7800).  Peter very patiently worked with us while we vacillated around which San Francisco neighborhood we wanted to live in, what our budget was going to be, and how many bedrooms we needed.  When we found the house we wanted he brought in a competent contractor to find all the problems so we could comfortably estimate the work required and make an "as-is" offer.  He made an in-person presentation to the seller which was certainly a clincher in the deal.  Given the fact that he wrote an offer with a dollar value that had two competitors, he managed to win the deal on things that didn't cost us any money, such as a generous "move out" date. 
   
3. The third, obviously, is luck. With all the stories about prices going up so quickly due to multiple offers, we would have been the typical couple bidding on houses for a year before we finally got one.  We got lucky, and we know it.

If you decide to buy a house in San Francisco, I hope you'll consider using Peter and Linda.