First for me with or without family. This one was with. The Race involved horses. It was at a local course in the bay area on a wonderful late summer Sunday. The setting is idyllic..you sit in the grand stand and watch this beautiful green oval with the Berkeley hills in the background set against an azure morning sky. Every 20 minutes or so well groomed and stately beasts appear and show off and get lined up to race.
Cheap beer was available cheap - it was a buck cup Sunday. I passed (without consuming) and settled to just enjoy the moments with family. It is quite a spectacle to see how people are betting on not just the live event but on a horse race in Argentina at the same time. The latter is being beamed live via satellite to the indoor TV screens where you can perch if you are not into the outdoors and serious about making a few (or a lot) quid. It does get quite excited once the race begins and people starting hitting their thighs in gusto ... our daughter was having the greatest fun doing her pretend bets with binoculars to track her pick.
On one side of the pavillion there was some other revelries hosted by the local Filipino crowd (wonder why Phillipine themed events are Filipino and not Phillipino?) with a singer of some acclaim crooning to a bunch of people with balloons and betting slips.
Not sure if one or the other was influencing the other or one in any way. Main attraction of course was to watch the horse races.
Each race is only a mile or little over a mile and is over in under 2 minutes. The largest collection of horses that raced that day was 11 and our only bet won. Having no clue in the matter we decided to experiment with a little skin in the game (from the pinkie) by doing a $2 bet on the most heavily favored animal to win.
In horse racing the term WIN actually means to come in First place. The other bets you can place are for it to come in either first or second (Place) or any of the first three (Show) places. Can be confusing but it works out since the results get displayed at the end of the race and you can collect by showing up back at the same apathetic agents behind the computer to print your win and pay up.
We made $3.80 on a $2 bet with a profit of 90%. We also quit while the going was good!
Cool cat the Japanese are Tokyo at dusk My second visit to this land of the rising sun after almost a decade. Back then clearly I was wet behind the ears product manager and likely didn’t pay attention to all (efficient) things Japanese. But today I did and of course continue to be impressed. It is as much the obvious stuff like on time travel that is both clean and comfortable and all that which makes it possible. The impressive landmark and landscapes that these humans have put together despite their cramped (or because of it) surroundings and precarious geological conditions could amaze a novice architect among us. But it’s also the little things that someone had to think about which have a phenomenal impact on day to day lives that make the Japanese stand apart. Below are few random examples- 1. Providing a very fine machined wooden toothpick in every packet of wooden chopsticks. The said chapsticks are simply set on the To Go counter of any food vendor/ convenience store wher...
nice way to get away from the rat race, it would appear..
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