Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[booder]

Surely you need to buy yourself this Tikay?

https://www.facebook.com/yookartik/videos/478683055616042

That is pretty damned good.

[Doobs]

MH370 wreckage found - maybe?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/malaysia/11771229/MH370-wreckage-found-on-Reunion-matches-Malaysia-Airlines-flight.html

Reunion is one of those place on the list.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[celtic]

Surely you need to buy yourself this Tikay?

https://www.facebook.com/yookartik/videos/478683055616042

That is pretty damned good.

+1

[Ironside]

tony have you seen this i think it might be right up your street
and a perfect way to relax

http://store.steampowered.com/app/24010/

[tikay]

STAKERS UPDATE

I believe almost everyone has been paid now, thank you for your patience. Most were paid a week or so ago, the rest, for whom I awaited Bank Details were paid yesterday.

I still await details from Nakor, I believe, unless I've missed something.

One or two - such as Evil Pie - are being dealt with separately, as I conduct other stuff with them which is ongoing.

The charitable donations to Reece were paid via Tom, & Maureen has acknowledged them, here.....


http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=29927.msg2068791#new


redsimon - 1%   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
NAKOR - 1%   43.35 PM SENT REQUESTING BANK DETAILS
Sharplea - 1%   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Mohican - 1%   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Knottikay - 1%   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
booder   43.35 £21.68 paid to Tighty by Bank TX 24/7, £21.68 going to Reece via Red
Forth Thistle – 0.5%   21.68 PAID BY BANK TX 31/7
MANTIS01 - 5%   216.75 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
sonour   86.70 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
engy   86.70 PAID BY BANK TX 31/7
Longines 1%   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Omm      43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Redbull 1%   86.70 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
EvilPie   43.35 GRMMED
rfqqqabc   44.12 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Sue & Dave 1%   51.00 PAID TO Reece via Red
Greekstein   43.35 POSTED QUESTION ON CONKY’s STAKING THREAD
MMD (Anon) 5%   216.75 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Arbboy   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Eso Kral   43.35 PAID TO REECE via RED 24/7
BobAlike 1%   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Sicilian   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Doobs 1%   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Aaron Gale 5%   216.75 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Animal Poker   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Shipitgood 1%   43.35 PID BY BANK TX 24/7
MereNovice   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
RedFox   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
scotty77   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
chompy   Already settled PAID
Lucky   86.70 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Fraser   108.38 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Mr Dickie   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7

[Mohican]

Tx Tikay, monies received. Stick me down for 1% next year please.

[tikay]

I will try & reply to some of the regular diary questions next.

I felt a bit off posting on the Diary until all the Vegas refunds were paid, it seemed bad form. I've been very lethargic since Vegas, but it's now passing I'm pleased to say. Work has been quite a challenge since Vegas, too, but that's now a lot better too.

I need to finish uploading the Pacific Adventure photos, & story, too. It just got so hectic in Vegas, & I ran out of hors in the day.

As to Vegas Staking, well its easy to blame variance, or run bad, but it feels that way. It always does when we lose, I think. I hit some really monster draws, where it'd be mad not to shovel the chips in, but it just felt like I missed almost every time.

Went deep, & close to the money loads of times, but never converted often enough. No excuses really, it just never happened. I think I played OK - we always do, don't we? - but in the end it was not enough. Luckily, we hit form towards the end, & cashed 3 times in the last week. Glory be for those.

Some more Vegas thoughts before we close that chapter will follow.

I had PM exchanges will every one of my stakers, & was overwhelmed with the kind remarks, especially as to Gill. Thank you. 

[tikay]

Tx Tikay, monies received. Stick me down for 1% next year please.

Thanks Carl.

Not sure there'll be a next time, but if there is, 1% is booked, thank you. 

[tikay]

Completely unrelated, & if the thrills & spills of Lil Dave's epic degeneracy excites you, (what a read that diary is) this wont register on your interest radar, but it's all about types of people.

Gill is down this weekend, & she told me a bizarre story last night.

She was driving through Sunbury & Shepperton on the way here last night, just a few miles from here, & swears blind she saw two trees, a mile apart, "smoking". Not on fire, just gently emanating wifts of smoke, as if nature intended.

A clearly ridiculous suggestion, of course.

I did not know how to reply. And I should add, she is teetotal, does not do drugs, & is generally sensible in all matters. But she swears these two trees were smoking. 

So we spent an hour on Mr Google. No joy, obviously. We did discover things called "smoke trees" (not in the UK, & they don't emit smoke) & another tree which emits a bloom which looks like smoke. Nothing fitted the bill though. Obviously.

I looked at her gone out, she looked at me as if to say "I'm not mad".

So that's tonight's outing sorted. We are going to jump in the car & go witness these smoking trees.

Can't make this stuff up, can you?

[tikay]

On Thursday, I had to attend a "Speed Awareness Course", which was - albeit marginally - the lesser of 2 evils, as I did not want points on my licence. I lost it once, & it was horrible, so I don't want to lose it again.  My ban - 12 years ago now, I think - deffo taught me to slow down, simply because I did not want to be banned again, ever. I poodle & tootle these days, obsessively.

I've no idea or even memory of how I got caught this time. I just got a letter from Bedfordshire Police to say I had been clocked at 66 in a 60 MPH "Variable Speed Limit" zone on the M1 near J10 one morning. I simply have no memory of it.

So, I paid £95 & faced sitting in a classroom being condescendingly lectured for 4 hours. Lovely. I can't sit still for 10 minutes to save my life, let alone 4 hours. Yikes.

I took a book, a newspaper, a crossword book, my I-pad & my phone to occupy me .

It was at Holiday Inn, Shepperton, which was achingly retro & 1950 style.

Wifi was £10 quid - £10 bloody quid - but I signed up, it would be worth it to avoid 4 hours of tedium.

Then, at 8am sharp, the course began.

"NO PHONES TABLET DEVICES OR BOOKS" said Mr Course Lecturer, "if you do, you'll be deemed not to have attended & then you 'll have to go to court". Lovely job.

There should not have been a clock in the room, I swear I glanced at it every 2 minutes for 4 hours.

The average age of the attendees must have been 50+. No youngsters there at all.

We broke into "working groups" to answer questions & do team-based stuff. One chap in my team was 87. Incred, caught speeding at 87.

Eventually, after what seemed a lifetime, it was over, as the clock inched, oh so slowly, towards noon.

As we all started to gather our bits & bobs together, & Mr Course Lecturer said "any questions before we go", & we all silently cheered, that man, that daft 'aporth who attends EVERY bloody meeting lecture & conference I have ever attended in my whole damn life, raised his arm & asked a lengthy, rambling question. Then another. And another.

Honestly, don't you just love that bloke?

To be fair, the Course was not too bad I suppose. They did a "braking distance" quiz, which we all failed dismally. At 30 mph, we need x feet to stop. At just 32mph, we are still doing 11 mph at the point where we could stop at 30. Enough to kill a kid, as it happens. Quite scary, actually.

Not a great way to spend a morning, but I guess it reminded me that variable speed limits are not variable at all. They'll not catch me again. 


 

[RED-DOG]

Even if you know the braking distance for various speeds you would never use that knowledge in that way. You would look at the car you are following and you would just know from experience whether you could stop or not.

[RED-DOG]

The real troublemakers are those people who drive a 90mph 5 feet in front of you.

[celtic]

Even if you know the braking distance for various speeds you would never use that knowledge in that way. You would look at the car you are following and you would just know from experience whether you could stop or not.

Good point.

[celtic]

The real troublemakers are those people who drive a 90mph 5 feet in front of you.

I lolled a lot.

[DaveShoelace]

On Thursday, I had to attend a "Speed Awareness Course", which was - albeit marginally - the lesser of 2 evils, as I did not want points on my licence. I lost it once, & it was horrible, so I don't want to lose it again.  My ban - 12 years ago now, I think - deffo taught me to slow down, simply because I did not want to be banned again, ever. I poodle & tootle these days, obsessively.

I've no idea or even memory of how I got caught this time. I just got a letter from Bedfordshire Police to say I had been clocked at 66 in a 60 MPH "Variable Speed Limit" zone on the M1 near J10 one morning. I simply have no memory of it.

So, I paid £95 & faced sitting in a classroom being condescendingly lectured for 4 hours. Lovely. I can't sit still for 10 minutes to save my life, let alone 4 hours. Yikes.

I took a book, a newspaper, a crossword book, my I-pad & my phone to occupy me .

It was at Holiday Inn, Shepperton, which was achingly retro & 1950 style.

Wifi was £10 quid - £10 bloody quid - but I signed up, it would be worth it to avoid 4 hours of tedium.

Then, at 8am sharp, the course began.

"NO PHONES TABLET DEVICES OR BOOKS" said Mr Course Lecturer, "if you do, you'll be deemed not to have attended & then you 'll have to go to court". Lovely job.

There should not have been a clock in the room, I swear I glanced at it every 2 minutes for 4 hours.

The average age of the attendees must have been 50+. No youngsters there at all.

We broke into "working groups" to answer questions & do team-based stuff. One chap in my team was 87. Incred, caught speeding at 87.

Eventually, after what seemed a lifetime, it was over, as the clock inched, oh so slowly, towards noon.

As we all started to gather our bits & bobs together, & Mr Course Lecturer said "any questions before we go", & we all silently cheered, that man, that daft 'aporth who attends EVERY bloody meeting lecture & conference I have ever attended in my whole damn life, raised his arm & asked a lengthy, rambling question. Then another. And another.

Honestly, don't you just love that bloke?

To be fair, the Course was not too bad I suppose. They did a "braking distance" quiz, which we all failed dismally. At 30 mph, we need x feet to stop. At just 32mph, we are still doing 11 mph at the point where we could stop at 30. Enough to kill a kid, as it happens. Quite scary, actually.

Not a great way to spend a morning, but I guess it reminded me that variable speed limits are not variable at all. They'll not catch me again. 


 

I went to one of them (quite proud at the time I managed to go over the speed limit in a Yaris. It was actually because I was trying to get back for a rare day 2 in the SPT Main Event in 2011 as it happens).

Actually found it bareable, mostly because I had it in my head we would see gruesome images of road accidents.

The fella started his schtick by saying the drive to work is the most dangerous thing we do every day and asked if anyone else felt otherwise. Turns out the course that day had a fireman, someone who worked on an oil rig and two bomb disposal experts in that day.

Technically speaking as someone who works home all day the most dangerous part for me is usually running down the stairs when the postie arrives, but I let him have it.