Betty the Decorator
Welcome to the 6th floor.
Today’s contributors are: Frank and Scott.
Subject: Betty the Decorator
“Large mocha for me Scott. And don’t skimp on the espresso.”
“You gotta pay for this one though.”
“That’s fine. Hey, why is that woman sitting in that chair in the middle of the store? And facing away from the table that was next to it?”
“That’s our interior decorator.”
“Starbucks has an interior decorator now? No wonder you guys are struggling.”
“Just us, and we don’t pay her. She comes in at precisely 2:42 every day, which usually ends up being within a moment of us having just brewed a fresh pot of coffee.”
“And then she has to sit just so?”
“I guess. She spends a couple of minutes adjusting the chair, moving it around. Something about having to have an equal view of both the door, and the cash register.”
“That’s a little weird. Hope she’s not scoping out the best way to rob you.”
“Sounds a little more OCD to me. We call her Betty.”
“Why Betty?”
“Because that’s her name. It’s on the credit card she uses. You owe me $4.82.”
“Seeya later.” Frank says, paying and exiting.
6th Floor Super Bowl
Welcome to the .
Today’s contributors are: Ann, Sara, Tabitha, Frank, Billy and Scott.
Subject: Super Bowl Sunday
Quick note before I get on with the post. I’ve connected with a domain, so now the official link of the blog is www.ceetar.com/6thfloorblog. Likely switching to wordpress, but working on getting the starts of an acceptable theme setup, so as of now, that link redirects. But it won’t. I’ve commissioned Sara to start tweaking some stuff, for instance, the width of the site. It was stupid and small prior, and I always felt like things were getting squished. I should’ve done this a while ago. I also need to fix the header graphic now, as it looks tiny.
“Vegas was a blast, but I’m glad I got the red-eye and am here for Super Bowl Sunday! Woo, go Steelers!”
“I think I’m going with the underdog story in the Cardinals.”
“I’m just hoping it ends. Some cool commercials, like last year, couldn’t hurt.”
“Good football, good snacks.. That’s all I need.”
“I’ve already resolved myself that football is over, and there is no way the game will be as good as last year.”
“Baseball season! Baseball! Pitchers and catchers report in like two weeks!”
“Rather giddy aren’t you? You’d think you’d have learned by now, yet every spring you get your hopes up, and every October you’re a miserable wreck of a person for two weeks.”
“Bah! This year IS the year. You just wait and see.”
———Football Game———-
“I dunno Scott. That game was pretty exciting.”
“Last year was better.”
“Two Super Bowls for Ben Roethlisberger now. Are we going to get Eli-Ben comparisons again about how the Giants should’ve taken him?”
“No, I think Eli’s fine. I’m sure some idiots will bring that up on WFAN, but Eli won last year, he didn’t have a great post season this year, but I don’t think anyone’s worried.”
“So, how lame was the 3D glasses thing?
“Hated it. The commercials weren’t bad, the the idea that they actually sent out millions of glasses around the country?”
“Would’ve been lamer if Tabitha hadn’t spotted the glasses and picked them up for us.”
“That’s true. Kudos Tab. Maybe I’ll even watch Chuck tonight to make the most use of them.”
“There were some funny commercials..but in general I think this year failed. Maybe the economy caused the ad agencies to let some of their people go?”
“You’d think they’d be smart enough to keep the funny guys though.”
“You know what the big-wigs thing is funny, and what’s actually funny are usually completely different things.”
“It’s the old adage: Most people end up doing the job that’s one level above what they’re good at.”
“That can’t be true. It implies that most people are doing things they’re not good at.”
“Explains the state of our country though.”
“Hard to argue that.”
Tags: baseball, commercials, domain, economy, new site, Snacks, Super Bowl, super bowl xliii, work
Bagel Statistics
Welcome to the 6th floor.
Today’s contributors are: Sara, Frank
Subject: Bagel Statistics
It’s early morning and Sara is up to have breakfast before going to work and Frank is still up from spending the night gambling and watching cartoons.
“What have we got to eat around here?”
“I picked up bagels yesterday. I think there is a French toast in there.”
“Yesterday? Bagels are only at 85% quality when they’re a day old.”
“You could always toast it.”
“Toasted bagels are always a flat 70% quality.”
“Unless it’s a frozen or non-New York bagel.”
“Well yeah, then toasting actually improves it, but it’s still around 60-70%.”
“Why would you eat a non-New York bagel anyway?”
“We didn’t have a whole lot of choice down in South Carolina. I barely remember what breakfast was like before I came up here and could have bagels everyday.”
“Probably healthier.”
“I wouldn’t go that far. Southern food is anything but healthy.”
“What do you figure, bagels degrade exponentially?”
“Yeah. You figure it’s around 85% after one day, but I’d say it drops to almost 60% by the day after, and becomes an almost inedible 25% by that third day.”
“That’s why we freeze them after the first day or so.”
“Yup, it’s just logical. Once the quality of the bagel drops closer to the toasted quality, you might as well freeze them to preserve them.”
“I really like frozen salt bagels after a day of sitting. The salt melts a little, and then you toast them and make them nice and warm, and salty without being overpoweringly salty.”
“And the toasting keeps them from being mushy from the melted salt, yeah.”
“Often a good topping, be it salt or everything or poppy can boost a bagel an extra 5% or so.”
“Yeah, that’s true. A bad bagel is made worse when it’s a plain bagel with no other flavor to hide behind. That’s why I wish I could find a place that makes good chocolate cream cheese.”
“Chocolate? I’ve only seen chocolate chip, but I’ve always assumed it’s way too sweet for a bagel.”
“They are. The chocolate taste is nice, but it’s too sweet, they need to use dark chocolate or cocoa powder or something. I gotta go now, enjoy your day, or night, or whatever you’re up to.”
“Don’t work too hard.”
“Oh, I won’t.”
Tags: bagels, breakfast, Chocolate, chocolate chip cream cheese, new york, new york bagels, southern cooking, toasted bagel, toasting, work
6th Floor blog Plans a Trip
Welcome to the 6th floor.
Today’s contributors are: Ann, Sara, Tabitha, Frank, Billy and Scott.
Subject: 6th Floor Blog plans a trip
Scott gets a plate and a fork out of the cabinets and walks over to the chocolate cake sitting on the counter to have a slice when Tabitha walks up behind him and snatches the fork from him.
“You can’t eat Sara’s cake before she gets home!”
“Did I hear cake?” Billy asks, strolling out of his room with his nose in the air. “Smells good.”
“Have you been home this entire time? We just assumed you were working when you didn’t show up when the apartment started smelling like chocolate cake.”
“Nope, working tonight. I just assumed I was having a chocolate cake craving, I didn’t really think you were baking on a Monday!”
“Is Monday a non-baking day?”
“Isn’t that why most bakeries are closed on Mondays? It must be a bad day for baking.”
“This cake smells good at least, so maybe Tabitha’s the exception to the rule.”
“Why is it Sara’s cake, and why can’t I have any?”
“We’re celebrating that she found a new job. She’s off getting her physical and drug screen right now.”
She’ll be back in time for dinner though right? We were going to watch the Mets game tonight since the Yankees are off.”
“Probably, it’s just a physical. She had to go to Jersey City for it though.”
Sara walks in just then.
“She’s early! Surprise Sara! Cake!”
“I thought something smelled good.”
“So you got a new job? Where? Doing what? Are you going to start paying for coffee again?”
“It’s in Jersey City, so I’ll have to play on the Path train everyday. It’s ..well I don’t really know what my job would be. Sorta tech support for some of their applications. Not a perfect job, but good enough for now. Well it’ll be at least three weeks before I get my first paycheck, so don’t expect me to pay for coffee before that!”
“Sara’s here now. Can we eat the cake?”
“Shouldn’t we have dinner first?”
“You made me dinner too?”
“No..I forgot all about making dinner. Pizza delivery anyone?”
“Cake!”
Scott and Billy start chanting “Cake! Cake! Cake!” and pretty soon Frank and Sara join in too.
“I guess we’re having the cake for dinner. We could order pizza for dessert?”
“Good idea. And some garlic knots. Gotta love the knots.”
“So when do you start Sara?”
“Two weeks.”
“Wanna pre-spend your first paycheck and go to Cooperstown?”
“Cooperstown huh? I’ve never been..sure!”
“Anyone else want to come?”
“I’ll come. Can we go to Howe’s Caverns too?”
“Sure, that’s one of the quintessential upstate New York tourist destinations I hear…have you been?”
“Years ago with my family.”
“This sounds like fun! When do you want to go?”
“You’ve got the physical and everything you need for work out of the way right? How about tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow? Not like I have anything to do..Can you get off work Ann? Anyone else?”
“I can, yes.”
“Nope.”
Scott and Tabitha shake their heads.
“Just us then. Good, we can all fit in my car.”
“Shotgun!”
“Doh!”
Tags: baseball, cooperstown, doctor, driving, howes cavern, Manhattan, physical, upstate, work
Drinking Away Today
Welcome to the 6th floor.
Today’s contributors are: Ann, Sara, Frank
Subject: Let’s grab a Beer…or three
The door slams shut and Ann tosses her bag on the counter and flops onto the couch. “Ugh!”
“Tough day?”
“The worst. They had me bartending this afternoon, and of course there were two completely trashed businessmen. I guess they’d had a rough day too, and they decided tequila shots on their lunch hour would be a good idea.”
“Drunk businessmen. Doesn’t really sound that bad.”
“It wasn’t at first, but then they started getting demanding and arguing loudly with each other. Luckily it was only an hour, but there were other things too.”
“Want to grab a drink and unwind? We don’t have to go to Catalina’s for it, I promise.”
“A drink actually sounds great. You going to come too Frank?”
Frank puts his laptop down. “Let’s see, come drinking or play Snood all night. Whiskey wins in a landslide!”
“Great. Lets go before I remember how worn out I am.”
“Can we have three Guinness’ please?”
Sara stares at Frank. “Make that two Guinness’ and a Sam Adams Summer.”
“One Guinness, and I’ll have vanilla vodka and coke.”
The bartender winks at Frank. “Never presume to know what a woman wants to drink.”
“You would think you’d have learned we don’t like Guinness by now.”
“Nothing remedies a tough day like a Guinness.”
“Sounds like I’m not the only one who has had a bad day. Cards not being nice to you?”
“Yeah. That’s basically it. It’s been a rough time.”
“You could always subsidize your poker with a real job.”
“I’m having a little bad luck, I’m not desperate.”
“What’s desperate? Bud Light?” Ann asks, as the bartender brings over the drinks.
“Nah. Desperate is probably water.”
“Yeah. I guess that would be desperate. Cheers! To a better tomorrow!”
“You make it sound like we’re on a noble quest or something.”
“Aren’t we? I think drinking away today is a noble quest.”
“Yeah. It’s certainly not not-noble.”
“Not not-noble? You’re confusing me. Too many negatives.”
“Well, it’s a very negative day isn’t it?”
“True.”
“I’m sure we’re not the only people in here having a bad day. It’s early enough that I think most of these people are trying to forget the day.”
“That’s a good point. Most of the time the celebrating happens a little later.”
“And cheerier. Everyone here looks depressed.”
“Us included.”
“Well, booze is a depressant.”
“And misery loves company.”
“Which means, more beer! Keep them coming!” Frank says, putting his drained glass on the bar.
Milk Fight
Welcome to the 6th floor.
Today’s contributors are: Tabitha, Frank, and Scott.
Subject: Milk Fight!
“No! You go get it, I have to work today!”
“You don’t work until three! That is hours from now!”
“It’s a mental preparation thing! I don’t want to go to the store!”
“I don’t care! You took the last of the milk, you go replace it!”
“You’re the one that wants it, you replace it!”
“I bought the milk last time. You never buy anything!”
“What do you want milk for anyway? Water’s healthier!”
“Water with cereal is just disgusting!”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have cereal then!”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have finished all the milk!”
Tabitha stumbles out of her room in a daze.
“What the fuck are you guys arguing about milk at 7am for? Some of us are actually trying to sleep!”
“And did either of you even check the fridge? Look! Here’s another carton behind the birch beer. So you’re keeping me up for nothing!”
“But..this is 2%..”
“Oh? Do you have a problem with that?!”
“Uhhh, no. 2% is fine. Great. I love it. Go back to bed Tabitha.”
“Alright. If i wake up to find out one of you used up the last of the bread, I will hunt you down. Mark my words.”
Tabitha returns to her bedroom.
“2%? People drink that stuff?”
“I think I’ll just have a bagel.”
Inspired by Ann, brought to you by Scott
Welcome to the 6th floor.
Today’s contributors are: Scott, Ann
Subject: Inspired by Ann
Not only is this post topic inspired by Ann, the whole post is! She told me she’s hiding all of my beer until I post something. I think she was upset when she left the apartment for four hours and when she came back I was in the same position playing video games.
Starbucks was slow today. Maybe the caffeine addicts had finally gone cold turkey, or the slew of businesspeople that are usually here decided it wouldn’t be a horrible idea to actually do some work rather than sipping coffee and checking their blackberries. Bruce was in about mid-day, bored as he usually is. I mentioned to him about Ann’s hair, and after reassuring him that she was definitely still hot, we had an idea.
An older man with black hair walks in and orders a coffee.
“That’s an easy one. Definitely yes.”
Bruce: “For sure.”
A woman walks in with long blond hair and orders a frappachino.
Bruce: “I don’t feel this one.”
“Definitely yes. Her order clinches it.”
A college-aged woman walks in with blond hair with a blue streak in it and orders a soy white mocha with sugar-free vanilla and no whipped cream.
“That’s not even a challenge.”
Bruce: “Who’s next?”
A middle-aged man walks in, wearing a baseball cap and orders a double espresso.
Bruce: “That’s not fair!”
“It probably wasn’t an option for him, hence the cap.”
A pale skinned teenage girl with short red hair enters and orders a large double chocolate chip frappachino.
“I say definitely.”
Bruce: “Her? No way! You’re trippin’!”
An attractive early 20s woman walks in with red hair and orders a cappuccino.
“I’d bet my life on this one.”
Bruce: “I’d bet something alright.”
“What are you betting on?”
“We’re discussing whether or not the customers have dyed their hair or not.”
“I see. Don’t you have a job or something better to do Bruce?”
Bruce: “Job? Hell no! What would I want one of those for?”
“Umm..nevermind. I gotta get to work, thanks for the coffee.”
“Sure thing firecracker.”
Now time to crack open a cold one and watch the game.
Tags: Ann, Beer, Bruce, businesspeople, Coffee, firecracker, hair dye, posts, Starbucks, work
Poker and Me
Welcome to the 6th floor.
Today’s contributors are: Frank
Subject: How I Earn A Living
I’ve been asked a bit about my job so I figured I’d talk about what I do, and how I do it.
I’m generally a cash game player. Which means that I play in games where you exchange money for chips, and I can walk away whenever I want and change any of the chips I have for their value in money. The alternative is tournament play, which is what you see on television where you buy-in to the tournament, and you play until you either have all, or none, of the chips. I’ve played a tournament occasionally, but I generally stick to cash games. The big difference is with a tournament, you have to beat everyone to make money, in a cash game you only have to beat one person, and it can be the worst player at the table.
One of the biggest reasons my parents basically kicked me out of the house is because they didn’t believe I could make a living playing poker, they considered it gambling with my future. Now poker playing does contain a lot of gambling situations, but it’s not like rolling a dice for my dinner. What happens is when I get into situations where I need a certain card to win the hand, I calculate the odds of getting that card. If it’s only going to come 25% of the time, I make sure that if I win I’m winning more than 4 times what I would be betting in that situation. If I’m consistent and play that hand the same way every time the situation comes up, in the long run I’m going to win money, even though each individual situation may be a gamble.
The trick to that is being able to play for long enough that you get enough of those situations before you run out of money. You should never run out of money while playing poker or you’re playing at too high a level. Even if that means you’re playing with nickels for months.
I’m not going to say how much money I make or what level I play at, but it’s enough to get by. I’ve been banking money, and I have some loans to pay off, but I haven’t made the push yet to play at a higher level. I like to have some extra money to do things with, and often times I splurge and spend the money that I’d need to bankroll to move up to a higher level. I always make sure I have enough saved, and can pay the rent though, I’m not stupid.
I’ve never been to Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker, but I hear even the cash games during those weeks are great. I suppose a lot of amateur poker players come and want to play. I may go and check it out this year, I’ll have to look into it.
While it’s always great to not have to get up for work, or have set hours, it’s not all flowers and sunshine. I still spend a lot of time working, and I can get very stir crazy never leaving the apartment. Even if I did have a regular job, I don’t imagine I could have one where I work from home. It’s nice to get out and see the world sometimes, which is why I occasionally find a wireless hub and play from there.
Tags: bankroll, Cash games, gambling, Las Vegas, poker, tournament, work, working, World Series of Poker