Rich Marin

Hospitality in the Modern World

By Rich Marin | October 4, 2019 by Rich Marin

Hospitality in the Modern World Back in 1975 I was asked to teach hospitality economics to the students at Cornell’s Hotel School, arguably the best school in the world for hotel management. It was not so challenging devising hospitality examples or cases to highlight important economics principles, though getting these abstract concepts into the heads of students fixated on “flush and gush” courses and wine-tasting was a bigger obstacle. The concept of mean reversion and…

The Table Tilts

By Rich Marin | October 3, 2019October 4, 2019 by Rich Marin

The Table Tilts We try to keep politics out of the mix during our motorcycle rides of the last twenty-four years. We tend to fail miserably at that goal since feelings run deep and in opposite directions, just like on the national scene. In the motorcycling world nothing means more than the kind of metal you ride. While there are plenty of subcultures in motorcycling, the big rift is between people who ride Harley Davidsons…

Love Memoir

Back in the Bul

By Rich Marin | October 2, 2019 by Rich Marin

Back in the Bul We arrived yesterday afternoon at the brand new Istanbul Airport. While I first came to Istanbul twenty-five years ago, I feel like I have had a crash course in Turkey in the past two years. When I came here several times between 1994-1998, it was while I was running Global Private Banking for Bankers Trust. We had a number of clients in Istanbul and I would spend most Friday’s and Saturday’s…

Memoir

Heading to the Center of the Earth

By Rich Marin | October 1, 2019 by Rich Marin

Heading to the Center of the Earth When you learn about the anthropological history of mankind (whether through a course or a personalized DNA sample intended to give you some sense of whence you evolved), you quickly learn that the best anthropologists can determine, we all began in East Africa somewhere as part of Lucy’s clan. From there our ancestors headed north across what we now call the Red Sea into the Fertile Crescent of…

Memoir Politics

A Man’s Character is His Fate

By Rich Marin | September 30, 2019September 30, 2019 by Rich Marin

A Man’s Character is His Fate I will be in Ephesus on the Western Coast of Turkey in five days. Ephesus is famous in world history for many things I expect to learn more about during that visit. As I sit here today, waiting to travel to Istanbul for this trip, I am trying to get my fill of impeachment news since I imagine I will be getting it all on some degree of time…

Memoir Retirement

A Little Bit City, A Little Bit Country

By Rich Marin | September 29, 2019 by Rich Marin

A Little Bit City, A Little Bit Country Donny and Marie Osmond made A Little Bit Country, A Little Bit Rock ‘N Roll their theme song for their variety show in the 1970’s. It was driven by the schizophrenia of Nashville in that era. Mashing up music genres must have been an unnatural act. In today’s multi-pronged social-media-saturated world, I guess everyone has an easier time with mash-ups. As I headed uptown this morning in…

Fiction/Humor

Water, Water Everywhere

By Rich Marin | September 29, 2019September 29, 2019 by Rich Marin

Water, Water Everywhere I think we all have our stories about water. I’m not talking about the sea or mountain lakes. By water I’m referring to that stuff we drink. I had never drunk water out of anything but the tap until 1965 when my family moved to a little town in Maine called Poland Spring. We spent three weeks at the Poland Spring Inn while our temporary house was being readied. I distinctly…

Business Advice Politics

The Illusion of Control

By Rich Marin | September 28, 2019 by Rich Marin

The Illusion of Control Control is what makes the world go around. We work our whole lives to obtain it. We are unsettled if we do not feel in possession of it. At times it allows us to go faster and at other times it slows us down to an excruciating crawl. “Get control of yourself!” “You’re out of control!” “You’re a control-freak!” Does it mean to rule or just to regulate? Is it…

Love Memoir

Bringing the Troops Home for Christmas

By Rich Marin | September 27, 2019September 27, 2019 by Rich Marin

Bringing the Troops Home for Christmas Only 90 shopping days until Christmas! I usually treat holidays with a great deal of flexibility. My oldest kids’ mother, a lovely woman for whom I have the utmost of respect and affection, takes Christmas as seriously as she takes anything. This is a woman whose basement storage room shelves are neatly stacked with sealed plastic Container Store bins, properly labeled with each of the holidays (major ones and…

Memoir Retirement

To Be or Not to Be

By Rich Marin | September 26, 2019 by Rich Marin

To Be or Not to Be I don’t know whether I want to work anymore. That sounds funny when I read that back. Work is one of those funny words that can mean just about anything. I was not a privileged kid (not that I was “underprivileged” either), so I did my share of manual labor jobs as a kid. Given a childhood interrupted by my mother going to graduate school for four years,…

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Author: Rich Marin