Texas Calculatem and Poker Office Blog

I don't think I've played any Poker this month. I'm still uninspired. So I guess I'll have to blog about other random stuff...

This morning I decided to take a punt on this Second Life malarky and upgraded to a premium account. That's set me back $22.50 for a 3 month subscription. Unfortunately, the whole point in owning a premium account is the ability to own land, but there's no "First Land" available for new users. How annoying. Anyway, based on the assumption that this land will eventually become available, I've started designing a flat to flog, but have realised that my design skills are less than good. The picture to the left is what I've done so far. The fee structure for Second Life is based on how much land a user owns. I therefore plan on making a simple pre-fab block, and then stacking this all the way to the stars...

Last week we had our work office Party. We went to Shanghai Blues for some tasty food. Yes, it was Chinese, and no we didn't have turkey. Seeing as everyone will probably be maxed out on turkey over the Christmas period, we decided to get something different. The first few courses were damn tasty. We had assorted dim sums, Alaskan Snow Crab, Scallops etc... However, these one bite courses were served 30 minutes apart, and it wasn't until midnight till we got the main course. SMT SMT. Also, one of our colleagues got soaked TWICE by their clumsy staff. Anyway, this place would probably be worth a second go with a smaller group and at an earlier time.

Yesterday, I went for dim sum with Juice, El and Tortoise. We were initially going to meet he Rotster, but unfortunately she was ill. SMT SMT...

To those who don't already know, Juice has just got a new job as a trainee solititor, where he'll be helping people with debt issues. The poor lad has been out of work for a long time and I hope he enjoys his knew role. My only concern, though, is that his activities could have a negative impact on my stock portfolio. About a year ago, I bought shares in a couple of debt managements firms. They've more than doubled in value, and make their profits from the unethical practise of preying on weak and vulnerable people with debt problems. However, Juice will be competing directly with these firms, by providing debt advice for free. Oh dear.

Speaking of jobs, I was reading a debate on the jobless culture in the UK. I'm not too sure how I feel about the whole thing, as I'm hoping to join the jobless by 30 and certainly don't want to be forced into litter picking, the army, MacDonalds or menial admin work. One particularly intellectual comment is:

"As the obscene bonuses paid to City ' workers' show, avarice is everywhere. The something for nothing mentality is not restricted to the poor.

Let's not forget that fact.

Michael Winston "

I whole heartedly agree! Those greedy folks are wasting over 12 hours a day in the office, when they could be doing something more constructive such as litter picking. Why should they get 7 figures a year when they could take minimum wage instead, and give a pay rise to the cleaners?