A Valuation of Old Town We just had a quick visit from NYC friends Steven and Leslie. I know both from my Bankers Trust days of yore. Steven was a colleague who was a controller and then a CFO of several businesses I ran. Leslie was a central Human Resources professional. We have stayed in touch over the years and, indeed, Steven and I have worked together on other private company ventures. We go back…
Thunder and Lightning In 1972, Chi Coltrane, released her first, and probably her greatest hit called Thunder and Lightning. It is a simple song in terms of the lyrics and about the only thing it says is that “you’re in control”, and who knows what that means except perhaps that no one can control thunder and lightning and it is the ultimate uncontrollable state of nature. We all know that thunder comes from lightning, but…
Chillin’ With the Chillen’ Thomas and Jenna have been here for three days and have one day to go. From here they go to Colorado where they will do some hiking and getting to know Denver. Both Thomas and Jenna work hard and really wanted to use their time to relax. We offered them a whole array of things to do ranging from the famous San Diego Zoo to the San Juan Capistrano Mission, but…
The Movies I was once introduced to Ron Howard, Opie from The Andy Griffith Show of my youth and the filmmaker of greatest repute of my adult life. His directorial credits include Hillbillies Elegy, The DaVinci Code, Frost/Nixon (Nominated Best Director and Best Picture), Cinderella Man, A Beautiful Mind (Winner Best Director and Best Picture), Apollo 13, Backdraft, Parenthood and Cocoon. There are few people, other than perhaps Rob Reiner, Meathead from All in the…
In the Land of the Fairies Do you remember the movie The Full Monty? Even though its 24-years old, it is still a favorite. In it was Tom Wilkinson, one of the great supporting actors with 131 acting credits to his name on IMDB, including The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Valkyrie, Michael Clayton (Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor), Batman Begins, The Patriot, In The Bedroom (Oscar nomination for Best Actor), and the series John…
Chamber of Commerce Weather In December 2011, Kim, youngest son Thomas and I took a road trip. We flew into San Francisco, rented a car and began a West Coast odyssey to find a new home for the future. I had sold my Park City home in 2007 during the worst moments of the Bear Stearns hedge fund debacle. That was not a home that I felt particularly attached to. I had bought the monster…
Growing Up COVID When I was growing up I was influenced most by two wars. First there was WWII with it’s amazing sea-based battles. The visual images of dive bombers and Kamikazes buzzing like flies around battleships and aircraft carriers were vivid in my minds eye to the point of being the subject of many of my childhood drawing efforts. As for the ground battles in Europe, the landings at Anzio and Normandy were only…
EVolution It’s been a while since I’ve written about my Tesla and I think it’s about time for an update on my driving evolution in the land of the EV. I have now crossed the threshold of 10,000 miles on my Tesla X odometer after only about 60 months of ownership. That averages to about 170 miles/month, but since all but the last 18 months were spent in absentia, it would be more accurate to…
Native American Summer Last year I wrote about Indian Autumn in November. I realize that if the Cleveland baseball organization and the Washington DC football organization can change their names and the Kansas City Chiefs can get rid of their war-painted mascot (presumably as an inevitable first step towards changing their politically incorrect name), then I can change my reference for this time of year. Cleveland now has the Guardians and DC has the Washington…
A Gooey Mess I really want to do more things around the house myself, but by now I should know better where to draw the line. It’s one thing to take on the reroofing of a wooden bird feeder by buying copper sheets and learning how to work them and fashion them into a hexagonal roof, as I recently did. The cost of such a whim is the cost of materials plus the potential cost…