A Miscellaneous Post

After six months or so of silence I finally feel overwhelmingly compelled to post. It's on nothing in particular. Just updating you really. And there's no valid reason why I couldn't have done this 5 months and 3 weeks ago. Still, better late than never.

Orange Post
I did make a noise a few weeks back about doing a post on a bad experience we (myself, wife & son) had in an orange shop when my son bought his iPhone with his first ever wage packet. I didn't make the post in the end. To be fair to Orange, they did sort it out. The villain of the piece was a nasty little chap who was the manager of the orange shop. The post would have been about this odious little toe-rag, rather than anything particularly useful. So I really didn't want to use my blog as a means to vent my spleen.

Poker
Yeah. I've been playing a lot of poker. I enjoy it. Its a fascinating game. And there are some huge - and I mean HUGE - prizes for those who manage to win. I reckon I'm about a year into my obsession with the game, and I can see it lasting a while longer. Sorry if tweets like this  - 'last hand. i had K4h in SB. only BB to play. i call. he checks. flop comes xAx. i represent the A with an all in. he calls. with A2 (7th May)' - make no sense at all. Basically though they all say the same thing - 'I lost and its not fair'.

Money
No posts from me on this for a while either. My mind is working on it though, for sure. I've made a couple of attempts to write a piece that's been on my mind a while, but it wasn't working on paper. I didn't want to force it. Poker is giving me much to think about - in respect of money. I don't just mean in terms of my bank balance, but also my understanding of money & the dynamics of economic relations. And its only 5 months or so until the next burning. I'm looking forward to that. If anything, my thoughts on 'what money is' are becoming more radical (or crazy depending on you p.o.v.).

Work 
I'm just about to start a very busy period work-wise. For June, July, August & at least half of September . I'm really looking forward to the gigs - especially Glasto (main stage, Saturday afternoon).

Reading
I seem to have forgotten that I really enjoy reading. So far this year I've read 'The Pound - A Biography' by David Sinclair. I enjoyed it but found (as with Lords of Finance) economic theory was taken as natural law - which obviously its not. I've also read 'Holden on Hold 'em' by Anthony Holden. A nicely written poker book, which I enjoyed and found useful. I've dipped in and out of  'Economic Philosophy' by Joan Robinson. This is quite a famous economic text - one of those books you 'should' read. I like most things that at least try to get to grips with the 'essence' of money and the economy. This is one of those great books on (what most people consider) difficult subjects but written for the general reader - like Bertrand Russell's Western Philosophy or Hayek's Constitution of Liberty. Note to self - read more, you love it.

Internet
Its obvious that I've been particularly neglectful of my internet presence in recent months. I'm in the process of convincing myself to invest in an iPhone - I need a new tomtom and a new phone, so I'm thinking I might as well bite the bullet and get myself an iPhone with the tomtom app and gps base (I was waiting for an Android phone but after comparing my son's iPhone with HTC's offer, even I have to admit that iPhone is still a long way ahead). Anyway, I expect that having an iPhone is going to have a major impact on my relationship with the internet. It'll make everything more instantaneous for a start. Secretly, I'm quite excited about this.

So. That's about it for my first miscellaneous post. What passes for normal service will be resumed at some point.