The Brown Lotus I have an acquaintance from my Cornell business school contacts who is a very bright Indian-American who operates in the venture capital space. He is a serious writer of editorials and I am on his email list. I have noted that while he is nowhere near being a MAGA Republican, he has a decided disdain for liberal ideology. He grew up in the impoverished areas of Southern India in a family run…
Running and Swimming My daughter, Carolyn, who is spending the month of July with us here on the hilltop, is a marathoner. She has run nine NYC Marathons and countless half-marathons. Last year while she was here, she tried running in the neighborhood only to find it too hilly and too warm for her, so this year she has asked me to take her to the gym so she can run on the treadmills. The…
Staying Relevant I have spoken before about the issue of people of a certain age (that would be of an older age like me) dealing with the issue of relevancy. This issue for me is less about desperately trying to find a way to stay relevant, and more about the issue of the decision we must all make at one time or another, or even on a continuous ongoing basis, as to whether or not…
Lawyering Up Everywhere I turn there are lawyers. The American Bar Association says that there are over 1.3 million lawyers in the United States. That’s only 0.73% of the working population of the country (I define that as those over 25 but under 75 since that seems like the working age), but it still sounds like a lot. That compares to 2 million engineers, 1.1 million doctors and only 141,000 bankers (I find that number…
Waves of Expertise There are plenty of historians who believe that the world moves forward in waves rather than in anything approximating a straight line. The Strauss-Howe Generational Theory is perhaps the best known of these waves or cycles and it states that there are four 20-year waves that form one full 80-year historical cycle. I have looked at the historical timeline and I find it hard to deny that there is a very clear…
Accepting the Loss You may recall that I recently wrote about replacing some windows in my house on the hilltop. Views being such a big part of the appeal of this property, windows are a clear priority (pun intended). You may recall that I chose the prudent path of ordering the replacement windows from the top window firm in America, Andersen. I have yet to find anyone who has anything but good things to say…
Star Witness This morning we are waking up to the most explosive part of the Trump Hush Money trial in Manhattan, the testimony of Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer and fixer over a decade in days gone by. At the early part of the testimony, the bulk of the pitter patter from the cable news legal/litigation pundits is about what the prosecution wants of Cohen and how the defense is likely to try to undermine…
4AM Again In the early decade of my career, while living in Rockville Centre on the South Shore of Long Island, I was 36 scheduled minutes on the Long Island Railroad into Penn Station. Penn is at 7th Avenue and 33rd Street. My office in those days was at Park Avenue and 48th Street. Once I had tested the waters of New York commuting, I knew that I was not built for rush hour travel,…
Slip Slidin’ Away We’re into the first week of the Trump “Hush Money” trial in Manhattan as the jury selection process or “voir dire” is underway. As of yesterday, seven jurors including the foreman have been chosen. That leaves five more regular jurors and six alternates to go. I have predicted for some time that the criminal prosecution process was going to be the great unraveling of the Trump candidacy and perhaps the Trump existence…
Nice Try Like everybody these days, my inbox and credit cards are inundated with fees for every service under the sun. The concept of micro fees and subscriptions has become a big issue in modern life. One of the reasons I subscribe to Rocket Money for $8.99/months is that they regularly remind me of all the small and large subscription fees I am being charged, which forces me to reexamine my services on a regular…