desperate for change

Today, I got something to prove – every single move was going to count.

It’s game 3 (of an undetermined series) I’m playing against my young opponent, the bright co-op student. He has demonstrated superior opening knowledge and flawless tactics. The record is 0-2 in his favour – it’s time for me to bring it on.

Perhaps he was going easy on me today, just to make things interesting. I, myself, was giving about 90% concentration level and actually trying to be intelligent with my moves, rather than my usual experimental ho-hum effort. I rocked him through superior board positions and moves that I would classify as “tight-aggressive.

The term “tight-aggressive” usually refers to a style of poker playing that is about being efficient: folding inferior hands and playing better hands harder. The downside of this style of play is that it can become predictable but it is effective against the mediocre strategy of unenlightened players. You get respect at the table for being tight-aggressive.

It is a simple idea really – and translates naturally to time management: invest in activity that has higher ROI (return-on-investment). For example, exercising and studying hard for your school work is certainly higher ROI, say, compared to watching TV and gambling at the casino.

Tight-aggressive is about discipline. Playing this style in hold’em poker requires you to fold a fair number of hands pre-flop. It takes a fair amount of resolve in order to stop yourself from playing unprofitable, “interesting” hands, just to get some action flowing. Perhaps this is where the analogy to time management falls apart, but the discipline needed to keep time is just as critical.

I certainly didn’t expect a game of chess to be so deep and educational… rather surprising since I don’t consider boardgaming to be a particularly high-ROI activity (even though I enjoy it immensely).

(Chess-playing grandmaster originally from http://flickr.com/photos/meganpru/57943941/)

Micropayments have had several kicks at the bucket for as long as we could remember. A more recent attempt at it is tipjoy. You can read their FAQ and information to get a sense at how they are doing things differently than the other micropayment schemes. On the whole, I am enthusiastic about their user interface and approach.

While tipjoy was intended to reward content providers (i.e. interesting articles or useful software), I am interested in turning the mechanism on its head. In what cases would I be interested in rewarding my readers and users, instead of the other way around? The classic would be of course a lottery-based scheme to reward their patronage.

Of course, a higher-value reason why I would want to reward my readers is of course for market research. I still remember getting $100 for participating in something quite a few years ago.

So, in what case or scenario would you want to reward your users in a monetary way for their participation? Do you want more than just play-money karma? Penny for your thoughts…

For those of you in the know, I’ve been single again since the beginning of February. At the time, I wondered how I should go about adjusting my “In a Relationship” status on my Facebook profile. It didn’t seem right to keep it that way so I did a careful quiet removal of that field from my profile (plus removing the generated news feed item). The last thing I wanted was 20 people posting on my wall asking why I am single again.

The fact is – any breakup is awkward. Your friends ask you “how is so-and-so doing” or “how come so-and-so isn’t here today” and my nervous eyes pretty much gives myself away even as I am giving a dodgy reply. After a couple of weeks, the awkwardness wears off and it’s much easier to fess up.

In my recent soul-searchings, I came across this:

One who has loved truly, can never lose entirely. Love is whimsical and temperamental. It comes when it pleases, and goes away without warning. Accept and enjoy it while it remains, but spend no time worrying about its departure.

Of all the places to read about love, it’s from a book about making money (Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich). I am amused immensely by the irony of it and most certainly I am uplifted at having read this.

So how am I holding up? I’m doing well, keeping busy. Who knows, I just might put up my “Relationship Status” again on my profile; but it’s gotta be just “Looking for: Friendship” for the next while.

Moving out on my own was one of the things on my things-to-do-before-turning-30-list. I finally got around to it, only a couple years after my self-imposed deadline. I suppose that for those of you who’ve moved to another town to go to university, it might not seem like a big deal. For me (and those of you who know me), it is a massive deal.

You probably have some questions about how I’m holding up etc. I’ll just do point form for your reading pleasure:

• I’m located a 17 minute walk away from work. I can trim that easily by speedwalking and strategic jaywalking.
• I’m in an underground bunker of a basement suite; but it’s a nice suite. A bit on the small side, but it will discourage clutter.
• I have in-suite washer and dryer.
• My coworkers are impressed with my bringing my own lunch and cooking for myself.
• I have made trifle twice – and with excellent reviews.
• I have no TV and only recently gotten internet (hence getting around to doing this post).
• I need more chairs to go around the kitchen table. I basically have one stool for sitting at the moment.
• Yes, it was hard on Mom – but I have a scheduled shopping session with her every week.
• For those of you doing the math… yes, this move happened the day after scoring three trophies at the Club Closed Gala Ball night.

So in short, I’m doing just fine