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Bet the House

Fillipi Pamplona (Flickr)

I read Richard Roeper’s book Bet the House last week and found it to be very interesting. I can’t say I’m much of a gambler considering I play a $.02/$.05 table of online poker maybe once every 2-3 weeks, but I do find the gambler lifestyle fascinating. I’m not talking about the famous poker players on ESPN. I’m curious about the person who is guessing numbers on the roulette wheel for several hundred dollars a spin. Are they playing with a scant percentage of their day’s income or did they just lose their mortgage payment?

Roeper is already a casual gambler but steps it up for this book in which he participates in all kinds of games and wagers, betting at least $1,000 per day. He explains the games well and weaves great narratives in amongst the “action” to make for a fun read.

If you head to the casinos, you might want to stick with high stakes video poker or slots, Pai Gow poker, and multi-deck blackjack as they have the smallest house advantage.

Vogels are Bike Touring 18,000 Miles with Kids

Vogels in Montana
A Wayword Journey

Read a story by Lynn Schnurnberger in Parade Magazine about the Vogels. They are a family that is over two years into a long bike tour from northern Alaska to southern Argentina. They’re traveling between 30-50 miles per day and riding about 15 days per month and are currently in Bolivia.

Check out their website, A Wayword Journey, to catch up on their progress and enjoy some photos and videos. Sounds like a fantastic journey and a great way to spend time with the kids.

Key Ring App Doesn’t Work

Key Ring App

I had such high hopes for the Key Ring app for my iPod Touch. It allows you to add frequent customer cards with bar codes to your device so you can go without the actual card.

I tried mine out with my Safeway card and my library card. Neither was able to scan and I had to resort to my backups. The program is very easy to use and I’m confident there is nothing wrong with the app specifically. The problem is likely with the very reflective iPod screen and bar code scanners have trouble focusing. I’ll continue to test the app, but the library card and grocery store card are my most frequently used.

Looks like I won’t be lightening my wallet yet.