Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Thoughts on Your Job

I've reflected a lot these last few weeks about what exactly I should spend the rest of my life (or at least the next few years) doing.  And here are some dimensions I feel you should explicitly consider for your current job (or any position you plan to take)

1.  Does it scale?  Meaning "is there a way to make more money other than simply working more hours"?  For most jobs the answer here is no.  For poker the answer is definitely no.  Real estate development might be something that scaled.  Or opening a small business.  Developing iPhone apps could scale.  Anything that can generate passive income can scale.

2.  Can you make more money per hour as your skills progress?  If so, what is the ceiling?  The answer for poker here is yes, but everyone has a ceiling.

3.  Is your industry safe?  Will there be demand for what you're doing 10 years from now?  For poker, the answer is definitely "who knows?"  I believe that the games will continue to get worse, year after year, and that eventually it will be very difficult to make even $40/hour grinding out the 40/80 games.

4.  Does performing the job inherently make you more desirable in the work force?  Obviously the answer for poker is not only no, but that you actually become less desirable for almost every other position imaginable the longer you stay in the game.

I thought this post was going to be more interesting, but it turns out I'm super hungry and pretty tired, so I'm going to wrap up here with something that should just barely make you think.  In closing, it is September 11th, and you should take a minute to be thankful today for what you have, and for those who have fought bravely to give you the opportunity to have it.  Again, our country isn't perfect, but it's pretty damn good.

Saturday, September 7, 2013

From My Father

Subject:  Yogurt.  The Magic Food

I ate some of by bucket last night.  It did not all blend together.
Stayed in separate flavors.  And it was still soft.  It was quite
good.  I really took you.  It was all planned.

PS - I have eaten down through the chocolate and cheesecake but still have
all the strawberry.  And frozen gummy bears are not that bad.  Oh
Grasshopper.  You still have so much to learn.

Subject:  Big win for PSU

PSU 45 Michigan 7.  Now that is the Eastern Michigan Eagles not the
Big House Michigan Wolverines.

The PSU QB.  Christian Hackenberg.  Pure freshmen.  23-33.  311 yds.
1 TD 1 int.  Bill Obrien.  What a coach.

Now if I was USC and I had enough of Kiffen, I would say. " Mr Obrien.
 We will give you $5 mil a year plus Disneyland.  Not fuckin tickets
to Disneyland.  We mean Disneyland.

Subject:  watching

Could not watch baseball anymore.  Watching SC Gamecocks vs Georgia.
I have got to say I have a bromance with Spuriier.  Go Cocks.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

What, You Thought I'd Stop?

The posts will be few and far between from now on, but I predict their average quality will sky rocket.  On me?  I am doing my best to leave no stone un-turned in the search for the next true me.  I think I already know what I want to do, but I'm not letting myself focus on it yet in case I can find something that really grabs me.

So I was home visiting the folks last week (and to go to an old college buddy's weddings) and you know what?  My mom and dad and I actually had some really good times for the three days I was there.  The highlight, however, was going out for frozen yogurt.  My dad hosted a bbq, which was quite delicious except for him over doing the steaks a tad (I'll forgive that, honestly he needed a bigger grill), and then I suggested we all go out for froyo, my treat.  So I google that shit up and you know what?  Not that many of them out there (which consequently seems to have kept the prices a little higher, as you're about to find out).  Anyway, I'm talking about the serve yourself places, the ones with maybe 10 flavors and 10 million toppings where you pay by the ounce.  So just as we're walking into (and I can't make this up) Swirlie Whirlie (literally I am holding the door open for mom and dad) my girl calls.  Shes on her way to girl scout camp for the weekend and is just about to lose cell phone reception and well there are a couple of things we need to talk about.  I can't even remember what they are, but they were mildly important and I couldn't talk to her for the next 48 hours, so I excused myself but handed Dad my wallet.  Big mistake.

After a 6 minute phone call (I checked) I walked into the establishment and hilarity had in fact ensued.  First of all upon being asked "have you been here before" my Dad responded "she has" and pointed at Mom.  Mom just kind of shrugged, and then proceeded to give Dad zero instructions whatsoever, probably because he asked zero questions.  I had promised them it was super cheap;  the last time I got it with Babar we spent $4.37 between us.  But...Dad apparently didn't know it was pay by the ounce.  In the post mortem he admitted "when I saw other people just getting a little, only filling their cups halfway up, I thought "I Know what's going on here" but by then...well, Jess, it was just too late".  My parents managed to spend something like $11.50 on Froyo, with my dad's cup quite literally filled to the brim.  "Why would you get that much Froyo," I asked him, "even if it was free?  You clearly do not want that much!"  The reply was simply "I just couldn't help myself".  Over half of his helping came home with him, after melting of course.  The next morning it was just a practically homogeneous glob of chocolate, coconut, and some weirdo Hawaiian delight flavor.  Oh and whatever toppings he put in there;  a word to the wise, gummi bears just don't taste that good frozen.  I learned that when me Dave Coleman and Maiki decided to eat an entire Vermonster the night before a swim meet in college.  Anyway....

But that's not the best part. Remember I gave my dad my wallet?  Well apparently it had exactly 6 bills in it, and wouldn't you know the first one he pulled out was a benny?  "Oh...um...hold on" and he extracts...the other benny!  $213 dollars in my wallet and he pulls out two hundos, obviously.  He told me he couldn't remember the last time he even saw one, and fumbled through an explanation to the guy that "it's not my wallet...well, er....my son said it was his treat!"  The response?

"Must be nice"