Summer Camp
Heading back from NOTL...
Hello from the Buffalo Niagara International Airport. We’re on our way back to Los Angeles after spending a few weeks in Niagara-On-The-Lake in Canada.
Niagara-On-The-Lake, or NOTL1 (pronounced “nottle” like bottle) has become “Summer Camp” for me and Kathryn. It’s a perfect escape from the heat of Los Angeles and we get to ride bikes, watch tennis, and hang out with Kathryn’s parents.
Some of you might be enjoying the re-appearance of Kathryn’s father on 3 Minute Review. If you’re not a regular listener it’s worth tuning in to these special episodes.
Here is a story from Kathryn’s father from he went to jail for six months (he was falsely accused of participating in one of the biggest heroin smuggling syndicates ever2):
The Schedule
Our “Summer Camp” follows a pretty set schedule:
9am Wake up and have breakfast, read quietly.
10:30am Record Kathryn’s father telling us some wild story.
11:30am Head off on a bike ride around the Niagara wine country, or the canal, or bike down to see Niagara Falls.
2pm Lunch, usually at home but sometimes stopping along our ride.3
3pm Settle into our respective quiet spaces for some computer work (sometimes I take a nap). Kathryn is working hard on a new project and I’m catching up on reading, editing the podcast, working on if/come, and drafting on an upcoming vote proposal. Kathryn is being more productive than I am, but that is to be expected.
6:30pm Time for a glass of Dubonnet (served on ice with a lemon peel), which is from Europe and not the garbage version they sell in America (they changed the recipe, but it’s still trash).
7:30pm Dinner time! It’s been nice enough to eat outside most nights. Kathryn’s mother has an absolutely amazing garden in the backyard. It’s just so nice to visit a place that is lush and green and there is no guilt in watering a lawn.
9pm The day wraps up with a movie or watching some tennis. When we first arrived it was the end of the Cincinnati Open and now we’re entering the beginning of the US Open, so tennis is going to be on essentially all day.
11:30pm I definitely stay up later here, but I also sleep harder. I think it’s probably the biking? I’ve been getting 8+ hours almost every day.
Gambling Speculative Investments
Now that the Shareholder Poker Tournament is only once a month I’ve found I need a little more “speculative investing” in my life. Initially I tried picking up some scratch-it tickets but that’s a pretty cheap thrill.
Trying to be more responsible I used my expertise from Hamburger Business Review and bought $100 of McDonald’s stock during a dip. But I’m not a day trader
But then we started watching tennis. Kathryn’s parents are really big tennis fans. They’ve have been watching the major tournaments since before I was born and attended the 1978 US Open, which was the first year it was at Flushing Meadows. So with all the extra information surrounding me (a lot of opinions are stated very loudly) I decided to try to utilize this for financial gain.
🎾 Tennis Bets
I’ve made about three bets a day so far as I relearn all the terminology around sports betting and the particulars of tennis. Tuesday I went for a few underdogs that won and then Wednesday I bet on the favorites, but I had to risk a lot to win a little. Thursday I experimented with some of the odder bets, like who would win the first set, or if a favorite could win and also win the first two sets. Today we’re flying back to LA so I just set up a few straightforward bets4.
Almost as much fun as winning has been tracking the bets! Here is my current chart that I set up in Google Sheets.
Risk is the most I can lose and Reward is the most I can gain. The Actual is where I ended up on each day, and the Total is a dotted line of how much I’ve made (or lost).
We had a bit of a Tufte-inspired chat on Slack about the presentation of this chart and I have some ideas for a better design but I’m a bit limited by Google Sheets functionality.
As the betting bug has taken over I got talked into making a bet on the upcoming Italian Grand Prix this Sunday. I know nothing about F1 Racing but Kathryn’s father has become my gambling advisor (he asks for a 5% take on all winning recommendations) and his sports are tennis, F1, boxing, and hockey. Since I like to bet on WNBA and politics (shout out to Election Profit Makers) I’m hoping his advice helps round out my portfolio. 🤞
Biking
Back in Los Angeles I was concentrating on swimming and weights and hadn’t been doing much biking, especially as the weather was hitting 98°F / 36°C. But here the weather has been perfect…
The path along the Welland Canal is one of my favorite rides ever (and Kathryn loves riding along the Niagara River) so we’ve been doing 15 to 30 miles a day5.
Heading Back
Once we’re back in LA I’ll get back to the Board of Directors meeting which was inadvertently paused and be posting a big new shareholder proposal.
Oh, I’m also planning a new auction of shares so if you’re looking to buy in bulk at a discount get in touch!
Profitably Yours,
-K. Mike Merrill
There is an area called the Historic Old Town (HOT) so we call that “Hot Nottle”
You might know about this from the 1971 film The French Connection, which is based on a true story.
Stopped a few times at a great new food truck called Nacho Business.
I bet on C. Gauff, F. Tiafoe, and B. Nakashima.
Kathryn’s parents live up on the escarpment so there is always a big climb at the end when we get done. One side is a paved trail that isn’t too bad, but the other way up is a super steep 11% grade hill that KILLS me every time. I hate it.
Need more of that story! First time tuning in, wow. Will def check out any older posts