Digging Archeology John was perfectly happy living in Turrialba. He was five years old and where he lived was inconsequential to his daily activities and state of mind. He had lived his whole life, except a year in Santa Monica, in and around the equator. As a kid, he just made the best of whatever his circumstances. Perhaps if he had known that Turrialba was a remote and unknown tropical valley, two hours due east…
Chasing Wealth Twenty-five years ago, I was in my second career at the same bank. I had spent fifteen years rising like a meteor at Bankers Trust, a white-shoe bank of the old order (positioned originally at 16 Wall Street at the famous corner of Broad and Wall across from the NYSE, Federal Hall and JP Morgan). Lately the bank had become a renegade, exiting the retail banking business and focusing on “Merchant Banking”. It…
My Happiest Child I once heard the expression that you are as happy as your unhappiest child. I even wrote a story titled My Unhappiest Child. It is about my oldest son and I have never published it because I do not want to risk offending him in any way. I have worked with him for the past twenty years to get him on a good track and I feel he is on such a…
Going to the Dentist No one likes going to the dentist. I doubt even dentists like going to the dentist. Like many things in life, some things you do in order to prevent the horrible. It’s like Woody Allen’s old definition that life is divided into the horrible and the miserable and you should feel lucky if you were just miserable. Going to the dentist is miserable. Not going to the dentist will end up…
Being Contrite I was baptized a Catholic, but life on the road had my mother convert us to a Presbyterian upbringing. If asked, I say I am Christian, which is my way of declaring that I believe in the fundamental Christian dogma of the golden rule and the Good Samaritan, but I’m not very inclined toward the organizational trappings of any specific sect and I know Judaism and Islam have tenets similar to that dogma.…
The Top of the Hill I went to Cornell for two degrees. My mother went to Cornell. All three of my kids went to Cornell. I was on the faculty for ten years at Cornell. I have a home just off the Cornell golf course. I have served on countless Cornell committees over the years. My charitable contributions to Cornell rank number one in my gift-giving. Many of my oldest friends are from Cornell. I…
Thawing a TV Dinner When I was a kid, just starting in grade school, we moved from a remote tropical valley in Costa Rica to Madison, Wisconsin. It was January, which was the start of the school year in the one-room schoolhouse on the institute grounds where we lived. I had never seen snow and here I was in frigid 30 degrees below zero weather in the midwestern United States. The explanation was that I…
The Last Angry Man Fred was livid and inconsolably so. The thing was, he didn’t really know why. He was generally an upbeat and pleasant sort that usually started each day with a smile and an optimistic outlook. There had to be a reason he was so angry so he decided to set about figuring why. Fred had had more than an average amount of success in his life and in his career. Yes, it…
Time to Do What? Time. It flies by and it stands still. It is most precious and yet we all waste it. Sometimes wasted time is the best time. Yet there is never enough of it. Barry was the Marlboro Man. In 1975 he had the best look a guy could have. Imagine a young Tom Selleck. Big manly mustache. Longish floppy hair and a quick and broad smile. Tall, lean, but well-muscled. And to…
Where Did the Time Go? It was only 11:00am in New York and the entire Saturday loomed ahead of Sean to do with as he pleased. He had come from Edinburgh, Scotland, where it was 4:00pm and folks were getting ready for their night out and on the town. Sean wasn’t quite sure if he was done with the day or ready to take it on. He was not new to foreign travel so jet…