This is not a man with a blog.

Atlantic City revisited

By Shabbir | May 6, 2007 | Comments Off on Atlantic City revisited

I just came back from my first of two birthday weekend celebrations in Atlantic City.  Apart from the poker, I met someone from the local Maryland poker community, ehonda.  The guy actually plays poker as much as I wish I could!  Go check out his blog, I’ve been reading it for a while and when…

Bay Area Poker Information

By Shabbir | May 2, 2007 |

Now that I’m starting to settle in California a bit I’m starting to aggregate information about poker rooms out here.  I’ve built two useful resources for people interested in Texas Holdem poker in the Bay area. The first is a Bay area map of casinos that I know have poker rooms.  I’m using “Bay Area”…

Keeping an eye on your credit

By Shabbir | May 2, 2007 | Comments Off on Keeping an eye on your credit

If you have a Capitol One credit card of any sort, you’ve probably been pitched to use the Credit Inform service.  It’s cheap, $4.99 a month or a quarter or something, and they send you this credit report. Except it’s not really a credit report, it’s a report on what Equifax thinks is on your…

Finally, poker in California

By Shabbir | April 30, 2007 |

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…

Random bits

By Shabbir | April 24, 2007 | Comments Off on 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’ve never asked you for anything before….

By Shabbir | April 21, 2007 | Comments Off on 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,…

What’s WIFI in a music player for?

By Shabbir | April 16, 2007 |

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…

Financial education for kids

By Shabbir | April 14, 2007 |

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….

By Shabbir | April 12, 2007 | Comments Off on 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…

Grinderman, a Nick Cave side project

By Shabbir | April 12, 2007 | Comments Off on 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…