Made me want to buy a house in Spain or some other mediterranean country that we could escape to during winters. Downside to that is that we both have jobs and, specifically, Lori is a teacher - and teaching is not a good career for telecommuting. Maybe when we retire.
I hope we retire when we're 50.
--
In the meantime, Taylor published the video he and I did together for StoxPoker. The original intention was to just do a regular sweat session but when we got on to record the audio for it, we looked through some hands that I had marked for review and decided on a whim to include those as an intro to the video. Ended up recording 48 minutes of commentary for those hands, so the sweat session was canned altogether.
The downside to doing what we did is two-fold, though:
1. It doesn't provide a real theme to the video. It was just a couple of hands (4 or 5, I think) that I for one reason or another thought presented tricky or difficult decisions, and
2. We didn't really have the hands "solved." We talked through them briefly but didn't really work much with PokerStove in order to make sure some of our assumptions were correct. For that reason, there's a risk that we're wrong, even if we agree.
Still, I think there's value in the material. Not necessarily for learning what to do with the second nut flush on a monotone board, but more of a "these are things that should be discussed with a poker buddy." If that makes sense.
--
Book order is going through tonight or tomorrow. The list I posted earlier is mostly adhered to, with some last-minute revisions and some additions thrown in for good measure. Caught some book recommendations from Skeptic Magazine (an awesome, awesome publication) and I can't wait to get my hands on a new big pile of books.
Yay, books!
--
Quite awhile back, I decided to stop posting results or monthly tallies or anything like that. I still feel that this is the right call; I don't think my results are anyone's business but my own. I do, on the other hand, have to admit that I like seeing how other people are doing at the tables. Does that make me a hypocrit?
For now, let's just say that I'm doing alright this year and I'm in fact on target for the goal I set out for myself late December. And that was a pretty high-reaching goal, so while anything can happen between now and 2011, I'm cautiously optimistic that I'll at least get a respectable portion of the yearly total I'm shooting for.
--
Books ordered! Final list (including some children's books and some stuff Lori wanted) here; the numbers to the right is just the price in Swedish Kronor because I couldn't be bothered cropping it - exchange rate is about 7.20:1 to dollars, if you're curious:
| 1 | Collapse (9780140279511) | 108.00 | 108.00 |
| 1 | Eric (9789132435027) | 31.00 | 31.00 |
| 1 | Moving Pictures (9780552134637) | 84.00 | 84.00 |
| 1 | Sourcery (9780552131070) | 84.00 | 84.00 |
| 1 | The Greatest Show on Earth (9780593061749) | 141.00 | 141.00 |
| 1 | What the Dog Saw (9781846142949) | 131.00 | 131.00 |
| 1 | Wyrd Sisters (9780061020667) | 74.00 | 74.00 |
| 1 | Year Of The Flood (9780747585169) | 133.00 | 133.00 |
| 1 | Bear About Town (9781841483733) | 69.00 | 69.00 |
| 1 | Bear at Home (9781841489254) | 69.00 | 69.00 |
| 1 | Contact (9780671004101) | 77.00 | 77.00 |
| 1 | Fear Of Physics (9780465002184) | 133.00 | 133.00 |
| 1 | Food Rules: An Eater's Manual (9780143116387) | 96.00 | 96.00 |
| 1 | Guards! Guards! (9780061020643) | 77.00 | 77.00 |
| 1 | Physics Of 'star Trek' (9780465002047) | 126.00 | 126.00 |
| 1 | Pyramids (9780061020650) | 77.00 | 77.00 |
| 1 | The Story of English (9780142002315) | 140.00 | 140.00 |
| 1 | The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal (9780060845506) | 126.00 | 126.00 |
| 1 | Farewell To Alms (9780691141282) | 159.00 | 159.00 |
| 1 | Geneva Deception (9780007230433) | 95.00 | 95.00 |
| 1 | Going To Bed Book (9780689861147) | 83.00 | 83.00 |
| 1 | In Defence Of Food (9780141034720) | 127.00 | 127.00 |
| 1 | Little Stranger (9781844086061) | 108.00 | 108.00 |
| 1 | Omnivore's Dilemma (9780747586838) | 112.00 | 112.00 |
| 1 | Sneetches And Other Stories Mini Edition (9780007175932) | 62.00 | 62.00 |
| 1 | Supersense (9781849010306) | 122.00 | 122.00 |
The one thing every parent who's been on parental leave tells me is that "don't make any grand plans for when you'll be home; you won't have time to do anything but take care of the kid."