Saturday, April 24, 2021
Dorian's mother's funeral service was today. He sent me a picture of the casket spray the racquetball guys got the service. Beautiful.
Still cold in SF, too cold to bicycle.
Day - 978
Thursday, April 22, 2021
No email sent yet from work on the Michelle Silverthorn presentation we're re-watching, then discussing next week. Hmm. Second Covid shot on Tuesday. Had another fun Zoom meeting tonight. I'm enjoying them.
Enjoyed watching this:
Day - 979
Wednesday, April 21, 2021
Bridge with Kevin tonight for an hour or so. Need to study my bidding more.
Day - 980
Tuesday, April 20, 2021
The verdict was a relief. We all saw what we saw, and the prosecution presented its case in a way that reflected the truth. The jurors responded appropriately to that truth. Truth, justice and the American way. Words to live by. I would add one more word to this catch-phrase. Truth, justice, empathy and the American way. If we carry on with these principles, we'll be all right.
Day - 981
Monday, April 19, 2021
Game theory is pretty cool. If I play a three-card game with another person in which we're dealt an Ace, King or Queen, I will always bet with the Ace, check with the King, and bet with the Queen 1/4 of the time to create an equilibrium that my opponent cannot exploit. If my opponent folds too much, I can bet more with my Queen. If he never folds, I can always fold my Queen. When betting with the polarized range (the Ace or Queen, the nuts or nothing), I increase my expected value because I can bet with the Queen 1/4 the time. With the condensed range, the King, I lose EV. Fascinating.
Day - 982
Sunday, April 18, 2021
A day of hanging out in the back yard and reading. We split our first strawberry of the season from the garden!
Day - 983
Saturday, April 17, 2021
We went to Half Moon Bay and checked out the fish and crab boats.
Afterward, we had a delicious seafood basket along the pier at Ketch Joanne Harbor Bar. We ate outside on a cloudy, breezy day, sharing a beer. The basket of goodies was so yum!
Day - 984
Friday, April 16, 2021
Still following the markets and wondering when the shoe drops. Tomorrow? Next year? Next decade? I enjoy watching these videos that feature experts who sense something ugly looming on the horizon.
Day - 985
Thursday, April 15, 2021
Another extremely busy day, but I was able to finish most of what I needed to do.
Day - 986
Wednesday, April 14, 2021
Today was so busy. I had two large jobs that came in, so I pretty much worked on them all day long.
Day - 987
Tuesday, April 13, 2021
Reading about inflation, how it works and what's in store for us down the road. The markest continue to climb, but with valuations off the charts, it's hard to know what to do. Who wants to buy anything that's overpriced by an order of magnitude? Lots of bubbles everywhere.
Steve Schmidt returned to the Lincoln Project tonight and was on a role. Love this guy and the on-point messaging that we'll need from the Lincoln Project to hold off the authoritarians who'll stop at nothing to keep their power.
Day - 988
Monday, April 12, 2021
Kind of cold today, too gray to hang outside at lunch. Work was steady. Glenn, Jamil, Lee, Adam and I met at 5 to talk about a possible name change of our Wed morning group. I like Monster Elders of Oakland. Alice painted a second coat on half the fench and was very sore in the evening. She went right to bed after dinner.
I completely agree with the comments here. These videos won't stop. With 12 generations of slavery, 5 generations of Jim Crow, and 3 generations of Civil Rights Laws mixed in with mass incarceration and the stained presidency of Trump, I really don't see America getting its act together anytime soon. Removing the Caste System in America is too tied to who America is. Sad but true. The tone of voice of the police officer speaking to the lietenant is the voice of contempt and power in America.
Day - 989
Sunday, April 11, 2021
My favorite brain activities are bridge and poker. I play/practice each game an hour or so every day to keep my mind going. It's like exercise. Bridge is great for problem-solving, language, and figuring out puzzles. Poker is good for calculating numbers, estimating percentages, and maintaining emotional balance. I have my gym for physical exercise and cards for mental exercise. I subscribed to Jonathan Little's PokerCoaching website, which is full of webinars, tests, tools, etc. He's put together such a fabulous product with top pros that I can learn much from. It's extensive and fantastic! It's wonderful to see the game evolve so nicely.
Day - 990
Saturday, April 10, 2021
Went to Hobby Lobby and Home Depot, Alice's favorite stores, for gardening ideas. Panda Express for lunch, then home to do our thing. We had yellowtail sashimi and Korean short ribs for dinner. Delish!
Hung out in the back yard for an hour. So nice. Read the Wall Street Journal and the Atlantic.
Day - 991
Friday, April 9, 2021
Thoughts are on the new normal when more of Oakland and San Fran open up. How many days will I go into the office once the office opens? Will I ever go back to the office? Will dining out be something we do once or twice a month, or more often? When will I go to the Grand Lake Theater? When will the theater open? It's coming, the new normal, but when it arrives, it will be quite different from life pre-Covid.
Watched another excellent financial discussion on Peak Prosperity with Bethany McLean of Enron fame (The Smartest Guys in the Room). She's right...whatever triggers the inevitable market bust will be something we won't anticipate. The Buffet indicator is at 200% of GDP, the highest ever. Wow.
Day - 992
Thursday, April 8, 2021
Reading more chapters of Play Optimal Poker. All fascinating stuff. There's some real power behind the strategies of this game. More bluffing is what I will need to work on. If I'm not bluffing enough, I'm not getting called enough on my strong nut hands. If my opps don't know if my strong bets mean strong hands or bluffs, that will play in my favor. Game theory is cool. I bet these strategies work in other areas of life. I'm curious to find out. I see connects between poker and race in America. Both deal with creating an edge, exploitative behaviors, exploiting situations, and navigating uncertain variables. The use distinct language that capture similar ideas and concepts. There's a moral framework governing race in America, whereas poker's framework is strategic, mathematical, situational. There's no morally whatsoever governing poker. And yet both engage in leverage to seek out what is wanted (more chips, winning the pot, increasing our overal expected value). I don't think anyone has combined these two subjects together before, and yet both have a long history in America. Poker is America's card game, but it's currently illegal to play in many states. This makes no sense and came about indirectly in an underhanded and illogical manner. As poker has evolved, the skill factor has increased exponentially. And these strategies are so powerful they can apply to other areas in life with great success. Poker has a somewhat negative connotation as a game of chance that can potentially lead to ruin. This is actually true for some people who enjoy the emotional thrill that poker creates. The rush of winning a big pot is intoxicating. But for students of the game who put in time to understand the inner workings of poker's math and game theory strategies, poker represents an opportunity for better thinking, better decision-making, and a bigger, beefier bank roll. All the concepts woven into poker (logical thinking, calculations, odds, insights, paying attention, bankroll management, managing emotions, being observant) are skills that translate nicely in the real world. I haven't looked into the language used in support of legalizing online poker, but I will. The langauge may need to be updated, just as poker itself has updated itself into a game worthy of great respect, challenge, difficulty and skill.
Enjoyed our regular evening Petty Zoom session tonight. Lots of fun chatting with uncles and cousins. We had a good post-script convo that I missed last week about religion. Always fun
Day - 993
Wednesday, April 7, 2021
Work was quiet, so I took it easy most of the day. My arm was sore, but aside from lacking energy, I felt fine. Went to the gym at 6. Read a few articles,
Listened to, of all things, Michael Cohen's podcast with guest Anand Giridharadas. Anand is so sharp and articulate. Really good stuff.
Also watched a great old Legends program of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
Day - 994
Tuesday, April 6, 2021
One shot down, one to go. Got my first Covid shot through Kaiser Martinez this afternoon. Easy, organized, in and out. Second shot April 27, then it's domestic travel visiting family and friends for the rest of the summer! Love it!
Day - 995
Monday, April 5, 2021
Ouch! After an amazing, incredible semi-final Gonzaga game, the Zags got spanked hard by an all-around better team. It wasn't even close, ever. Gonzaga was out of their element, making mistakes, not focused, and perhaps a little dazed and flat-footed by the Baylor Bears, who played lights out from start to finish. I watched up until the final five minutes of second half play, then moved on to other things. Hard to see an undefeated season end on such a sour note, but that's the way it goes in the sports world. It's so tough coming back into focus after such an emotional win. But that's what championship teams do. Baylor, though, was ready to pounce. And pounce they did.
Day - 996
Sunday, April 4, 2021
Still cloudy and cold, so we stayed home on this quiet, peaceful Easter Sunday. I read Play Optimal Poker chapter 2 and it's pretty mindblowing how powerful these Game Theory Optimal plays are. It makes a lot of sense after figuring out what all the terms mean (equilibrium, polarlized range, condensed range, mixed strategies). I want to try these out on the felt! What a layered, complex, amazing game!
Also, listened to another great podcast on Peak Prosperity with Adam Taggert. This week's guest is Wolf Richter, who has an excellent blog and web page. The bubble will pop at some point, but when?
Day - 997
Saturday, April 3, 2021
Well, it was a game for the ages, one of the best college basketball games I've ever watched, Gonzaga v. UCLA in the Final Four semi-final match. Gonzaga with its perfect record against an 11 seed. Truly amazing with one of the most exciting finishes ever. Epic! Uncle Leo was so happy!
Day - 998
Friday, April 2, 2021
I think we've all known for a while now that there's something really wrong with this guy. He's like an immature sociopath who really misses the social nuances of high school. He thinks he's all that in every way, utterly blinded by the odious residue he leaves behind. The writing is not right behind his eyes. You can just tell with this character.
Well, no surprise here, his number is about to get called. He's in hot water and we'll see if Daddy Gaetz can rescue sonny boy from another fine mess he's gotten himself into. What I'm appreciating are all the GOP teammates doing what they can to throw this marsupial under the bus. Very satisfying for such an uncious creep.
Day - 999
Thursday, April 1, 2021
Oh my, this is an excellent PBS documentary: The Blinding of Isaac Woodard.
I learned so much from it. I didn't know this incident, and Harry Truman's involvement in the case, really launched the Civil Rights movement in America. Fascinating and another riveting example of the long legacy of Jim Crow and oppression in America.
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