Goodbye Columbus, Philip Roth

I found this old book I hadn’t picked up in years, and got reacquainted with it this weekend. This collection of stories was Philip Roth's first book, and was published in 1959.

Jewish assimilation into American society is the common theme through all the stories.

“Dress British, Think Yiddish,” is always great advice; and summer reading is always best with large quantities of ice tea.

Barbour in Facebook

You can now comment on Barbour in Facebook.

For info on how to wax a Barbour Jacket, click here; for a review by me on the Barbour Beaufort Jacket, click here.

JP

PS- "How To Wax A Barbour" is the most often visited page on my blog.

South Beach Diet

My wife and I started on the South Beach Diet this week. (I’m trying to bring down my cholesterol.) We’re in Phase One, which means I can’t have sugar or carbs or alcohol.

I find I have a strange longing for gummi bears.

JP

(painting- 1922, Women Running on the Beach, by Pablo Picasso)

Madoff Schadenfreude

The current June issue of Vanity Fair has an interesting article on Bernie Madoff and his 18-billion dollar Ponzi scheme.

In the article Madoff’s former personal secretary, Eleanor Squillari, provides a glimpse of the personal dynamics of Bernie Madoff, his immediate family, and the commotion that transpired upon his arrest. The Madoff news story has a little bit of everything- an engaging mountebank, the surprising banality of evil, avarice, Manhattan gossip, and an uber-large dose of schadenfreude.

The Vanity Fair website also has related articles, describing how Madoff used the “con of exclusivity,” to take peoples’ money into his fraudulent swindle. In a January web article, writer Marie Brenner describes-

"Madoff masked the predator in the cloak of the familiar. His clothes said London—Barbour jackets, cashmere sweaters...

Madoff had used the Studio 54 approach, the con of exclusivity. He understood the swamp of insecurities that lay underneath many of his clients’ designer clothes, their face-lifts, their need to be part of an insiders’ club. A former governor of the New York Stock Exchange had once gone to see Madoff on behalf of a client who wanted to invest. “I don’t need your money,” Madoff told him, “and I don’t discuss my investments.” Then he ushered him out the door...

We rode a decade in which people conferred special status on those who lived in $30 million apartments, leased NetJets, and filled their closets with $5,000 purses. Did Bernard Madoff see his opportunities and seize them, or did the casino atmosphere in New York spawn the ordinary man in the Barbour coat who would become the greatest con artist of all time? Madoff provided his victims with a mirage of an impossible dream house—with investments that paid 12 percent in good times and bad—and their tragedy and ours was that they believed him..."
And while restitution for the Ponzi scheme victims seems unlikely, federal law enforcement has begun the seizure of Madoff "personal" assets as well. (I'm assuming they have already seized all assets within the Madoff financial firm.)

As of this writing, I have not read of any charges being brought against his wife, Ruth Madoff, but some reports exist that she made significant cash withdrawals just prior to her husband's arrest. The New York Post reported that Ruth Madoff was “fighting to hold on to her $7 million Manhattan apartment, $45 million in cash and $17 million in bonds…
(meanwhile) U.S. Marshals have seized Bernie's $1.5 million, 55-foot yacht, ‘Bull’ from its slip in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
They also seized a 24-foot-long boat named "Little Bull," that was also moored in Fort Lauderdale.
They've also seized a 55-foot, $7 million yacht in the South of France.”

A little more schadenfreude, anyone?



Read
Madoff Schadenfreude Part 2

Post Entry- For a list of wristwatches seized and auctioned from Madoff read Interwatches Blog.

A Minimalist Approach, men's stuff part seven

Some blogs I follow have started a commentary on what a man should carry on his everyday person. Some men insist on being loaded for bear, others prefer a minimalist approach.

I fall more under the minimalist category, or as my wife commented, "A functional minimalist." Here are my choices and their reasons-

1. A pen, a black Mont Blanc my wife gave me for my birthday. So that I don’t have to touch the germy pens offered at restaurants or stores.
2. Business Cards & Personal Cards in a thin leather card case; because you never know who you may run into, plus they’re useful for jotting down notes.
3. Reading glasses, an unfortunate “must” since I turned forty.
4. My mobile phone, a small Blackberry Pearl, carried in my sport jacket- or left in my car, briefcase, or desk if I’m not wearing a jacket. (I dislike carrying it in my pant pockets.) The Blackberry has my complete schedule, tasks list and rolodex on it and has become a valuable tool.
5. Wallet, a thin leather money clip, containing two credit cards, drivers license, health insurance card (for the wallet autopsy by EMS) plus ones and Fives for tipping. Again, the objective is no bulk, and carried in my right-front pant pocket.
6. At least one dog biscuit. They say money can't buy you love, but a dog biscuit can.

My main predicament is always what to do with car keys. To that end I like to wear a sport coat because it makes it easier to spread the personal items around thereby avoiding bulk in any one pocket. Of course a better solution would be to have a car and driver and never touch a steering wheel again, but that’s an entirely different conversation.

(Above, G approves of my "functional" minimalist approach- so long as I keep scratching his chin. Below, my everyday gear minus the dog biscuit- which G ate just before the snap was taken.)

The Audacity of Hope on April 1st

Like the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus, the scales have fallen off my eyes and I now see that my many years of conservative values and principals have been errant. Not unlike the epiphany of seeing a long lost crush at a high school reunion, my singular-horrified-musing was “What was I thinking?” As a result I am proud to announce that I am joining the Democratic Party, and getting on board with our fledgling President and his agenda.

Like the Apostles, this conversion has not been without personal cost. Already I find myself being overtly ostracized by the people closest to me.

For example, while walking the dogs this morning, I ran into my neighbors who remarked, “Morning neighbor, It’s a cool morning isn’t it?”
To which I replied, “Yeah! Just like Obama is a stone COOL groove dude MAN!”

Or when my wife asks, “Did you catch the Lost episode last week while traveling?”
And I reply, “NO MAN! But I got LOST in Obama’s soulful eyes!”

In both cases the conversation turns oddly silent; I find that nobody wants to talk to me, and I’m forced to go on Facebook.

JP

Up the Franklin Mountains

During my recent stay in El Paso, I hiked up the Franklin Mountains for exercise.

I used to run up the mountain on a fairly regular basis while attending UTEP as part of ROTC training, usually at 6am. This time, being an old man, I walked.




On the left is the view as I ascended via Baltimore and Robinson Streets.

Below is a picture of downtown El Paso as I descended on Rim Road.

Golf Etiquette, men's stuff part six

(Photo Left- For Christmas my wife gave me a travel bag for my golf clubs, which I’m getting some use of. I’m happy to report that so far the airlines haven’t been able to break the tube case and damage my clubs.)

On a recent stay at my parents’ house, I found an old Golf Magazine from January 2005. One article in particular stuck with me, “How to be the most popular guy in your group,” by Michael Corcoran. And while it had many good points on golf etiquette, here is a short list of seven which every man should consider:

1. On monetary bets- Be considerate, especially if someone is out of their league (and do it without naming names). Limit the maximum loss to $50 bucks or so. Politely put a muzzle on anyone getting obnoxious with large stakes.

2. Pick up the ball- If you’re hitting eight on the hole, pick up your ball. Take a snowman on your card, and be considerate. Don’t slow down the play for your group or the group behind you while you “quintuple-bogey putt.”

3. Buy the first round from the refreshment cart- This is a nice gesture which the other members in your group will appreciate. Don’t just ask if they want anything, but rather make the offer specific- “I’m buying. What do you guys want, beer, soda, candy bar?” And tip the cart girl appropriately so that you’ll see her again.

4. Be humble. Don’t offer swing tips- If someone is having an off day and does plead for help, defuse his frustration with humor. Corcoran suggests using the old Sam Snead line, “You’ve got just one problem- you stand too close to the ball after you’ve hit it.” He also suggests you “remind him that no matter how badly he feels, Greg Norman felt worse.”
Which leads to-

5. Keep a sense of humor- If you’re the one having an off day, don’t be afraid to laugh at yourself. Use humor to keep yourself loose and not ruin the day for everyone else. Corcoran gave some great quips:
-When you leave a putt 10 feet short- “How’d that stay out?”
-When you airmail the green by 50 yards- “Bite! Bite!”
I’m sure you can think of your own favorite quips as well.

6. Give a hand- After the final putt on the 18th, give everyone a smile and a firm handshake; look them in the eye and tell them how much you enjoyed the round. If you’re a traditionalist and wearing a cap, doff it.

7. Pay up- If you lost, pony up your money promptly. If you won, win with grace and offer to use the winnings to cover a round of drinks or lunch.


Conversely, Corcoran made a list of Don’ts. Here are the top five I selected:

1. Don’t call a rules violation when you’re not playing in a tournament. Trust me, it won't impress, it will annoy.

2. Don’t take a second practice swing, and a third, with a divot.

3. Don’t hit on the cart girl. It doesn’t make you look cool, just creepy; and will only serve to keep her away from your group when you need more beer.

4. Don’t linger on a green practicing a putt you missed when the group has moved on to the next tee.

5. Don’t impress your group by making your mobile phone (tackily clipped to your belt) play “I’m Allright” from Caddyshack. This action alone will ensure your status as a single for life.

JP

A Time of Soldiers

“He consumed works of art the way other people consumed beer and meat and potatoes. They fed his ego with proofs of his own imagination and sensitivity. He was constantly finding his own idealized self and nothing else in the works that he admired...Love of her was love of his own imagined self, and surely that was madness.”
From the novel A Time of Soldiers, by Andrew Jolly

A Time of Soldiers has been one of my favorite books since I first read it in 1985. It’s an obscure novel that few people have read, and Stephen King & Saul Bellow have nothing to fear from it. But nonetheless its one of the books I turn to when I feel introspective. The book argues that we become what we do, that what we become must serve a greater purpose than ourselves, and that men who fail in that, face moral desolation.

While assigned to the Korean DMZ, an officer I held in deep respect suggested I read it. To my surprise the book was based in West Texas, New Mexico, and central Texas; basically my home, so I was intimately familiar with most to the places described in the novel.

After I read it, I told him I enjoyed it, and asked him why he had suggested that I read it. He smiled and replied, “Pacheco, if you go through life seeing everything only in terms of black and white, you’re going to have a hard time of it in this world.” To this day I don’t know whether it was a warning or a complement.

I still see the world in terms of black and white,”but I am no longer content say ‘God is thus. Man is thus,’ and then make an end of it.”*

JP

*From the novel The Shoes of the Fisherman by Morris West (1963), which I am currently rereading.

(Painting- Lady Agnew by John Sargent)

John’s Excellent Horse Adventure on Christmas Day

Late Christmas morning, while jogging in our neighborhood, my wife came across a horse which had somehow gotten loose. A neighbor told my wife that she had been unsuccessful in attempting to guide the horse back into his stall and that the horse’s owners were away.

So my wife calls me from her mobile, and I got the honor of guiding the horse back into his stall by craftily using one of my dog's slip collars and some apples as the lure.

These are photos taken by my wife with her camera phone after I had returned the horse to his corral.

Below, the horse had just kissed me.


This guy wanted some attention too.


So I gave him some.


Here I am feeding them the last of their Christmas apples.


The End
JP

New Years 2009: Confessions of an Analog Man

OK, I have a confession to make. Despite my daily use of a digital ThinkPad and Blackberry Pearl, I still cling to my Franklin Day Planner.

I have it on my desk, and I carry it with me in the car. I draw great satisfaction from checking off items on my daily to-do-list, and I use it as a written record of daily events. My wife who has gone completely digital for many years teases me about this evolutionary throw-back behavior, but I persist.

I first started using the Franklin Day Planner system as a new stockbroker with Merrill Lynch in the early 1990s. Merrill used to issue a basic planner to new brokers. After I had a particular good production month, the branch manager gave me a leather ringed binder which is what I’ve used since that day. It’s old and battered now, but I refuse to part with it.

The one concession I have made to the twenty-first century is that I don’t carry my planner with me on business trips anymore because of the bulk. On those occasions I go completely digital; but on my return, I dutifully (and lovingly) write long hand into my day planner what transpired.

I keep the past three years in ringed storage cases, and then destroy them along with other paper documents which have exceeded their 36 month keep.

Like the 1975 Paul Simon lyrics, “I seem to lean on old familiar ways.”

May your 2009 be happy and prosperous.

JP

Shotgun Joe

In the past month or so, a number of people have mentioned to me that they are considering buying their first gun for the purpose of home & self defense.

What struck me as interesting was that these are people who have existed the bulk of their adult lives without any interaction with firearms; but who are now concerned about where the country is heading and see home defense as an increased priority. We’re talking about people with whom you’re more likely to bump into at a country club dinner party or engineering seminar, rather than a NASCAR event.

When pressed for reasons for the sudden interest in arming themselves, the general responses seems to be-
a) They worry that a worsening economy will create a greater scarcity mind-set and lead to more crime.
b) They think class warfare is about to be stepped up a notch.
c) They worry that anti-gun laws will be passed and that it will become harder for citizens to purchase guns.

If you’re one of those people considering the purchase of your first gun, below is an (edited) email I sent to an acquaintance who is considering purchasing a gun for home defense. He complained about difficulties target shooting with a pistol (at some point in the past) and was therefore thinking about buying a shotgun. For the sake of anonymity, let’s call him “Joe.”


"Joe,
My guess is that you were disenchanted with a 9mm or similar handgun. They’re difficult to control (aim) and the bullet tends to tumble, which means it could go through your target, bounce off the drywall and hit a family member. As a result, they’re probably not the best choice for a hand gun in the home. When the Army switched to the 9mm Browning I had a devil of a time qualifying with it.

By contrast I never had any issue qualifying with the 1911 45. Its two main advantages for a home defense side arm are:
One- It’s easy to aim, and
Two- the bullet tends to expend its kinetic energy on whatever it hits.
Translation it doesn’t tumble. You don’t have to worry about it going through your target, hitting the wall, and bouncing into someone else. It also has stopping power which makes it ideal for dealing with an intruder. In that situation you’re likely to be hurried, just aiming for central mass and trying hard not to jerk the trigger.

On the shotgun, it’s a trade off. For in home you don’t want a long barreled Jed Clampett type shotgun which would be very difficult to handle while running down a narrow hallway. A short-barreled shotgun one would be better; unfortunately a sawed-off shotgun would add legal difficult and would not work for sport shooting.

If you’re set on a shotgun, you may want to check out Orvis. Orvis has a custom service which offers some beautiful (and I do mean beautiful) American made over-and-under shotguns at reasonable prices. If you're willing to spend some money, you could purchase a custom job by a firm like Holland and Holland . When it comes to shotguns, I prefer the sport shooting over-and-unders as opposed to the side-by-sides.

Lastly, we haven’t seen any wild turkeys recently, but we do see deer every day. We also recently started to see glimpses of grey foxes.

Regards,

John P.

PS- If not Orvis, some people swear by Ruger and Beretta."

For NRA Membership info, click here.

(Photo is a Kimber Ultra CDP II, a smaller sized .45 made for the concealed carry market.  It weighs approximately 25 ounces with a barrel length of 3 inches. It also has ambidextrous thumb safety.)

Fort Lee QM OBC 90-5 Update

2nd Lieutenant Macan of Quartermaster Officer Basic Course 90-5 is now Major Macan and on the Lieutenant Colonel promotion list. (He left active duty for a while, but returned after a few years break.) Macan and I were in the same college commissioning program and then went through officer basic together.

Before commissioning, we were both prior service sergeants E-5’s with tours in Korea and similar campaign and service medals. As a result, the officer-basic-TAC-officers gave us wide leeways in comportment not usually allowed to brand new second lieutenants. We sat together in the back of the class, told each other jokes, and read unauthorized material in class. We would also claim dental appointments and then go play golf. In short we had a lot of fun during officer basic.

We were also fortunate to have a good group of people in our class and we formed many new friendships. We were what you would call a "tight" class. (Note: despite our insouciant manner, we did manage to pick up some learning and we both did OK academically. I was even an honor graduate.)

After losing contact for a few years, we recently had a great time catching up on the phone and we would like to know if anyone knows what happened to Gus or to “Big” Al (of “Club Al” 90-5 fame).

Macan has a family webpage which can be viewed at: http://fmakkanic.multiply.com/ . It contains photos and videos of his family.

iMBA Fall 2008 Residency

(Finance Professor Pierre Yourougou, Keet and myself haming it up for the camera after finance class)

Once again we had a great residency in Syracuse.

Our first day back in Syracuse we had our 18th Wedding Anniversary dinner at Joey’s Italian Restaurant; which is now our favorite restaurant in Syracuse. I made the reservation with Dennis Hay at Joey’s, explained it was our anniversary, and he set things up for us. There were roses waiting at the table for my wife, and we had a great flaming desert prepared at the table (Strawberries cooked in brown sugar and butter). My wife was very pleased and I sent a thank you letter to Dennis once I returned.

The next day, a Sunday, we went to Green Lake Park where we took a walk in the woods and I played 9 holes of golf as well. My wife caddied, and an older gentleman golfer seeing this asked me what the secret was. He told me he had tried unsuccessfully to get his wife to caddy for him for years. We finished up the day by having dinner at the golf courses bar and grill as the sun went down.

During the residency we also visited the town of Skaneateles, local wineries, Onondaga Lake and Chittenango Falls.

This semester we’re taking Managerial Finance, with Pierre Yourougou, Ph.D. Visiting Associate Professor of Finance, and International Business Law with Patrick Cihon, Associate Professor of Law and Public Policy.


Facing a long putt at GreenLake; I've always found long putts on par fives to be excellent metaphors for life: "Everything will take longer to complete than your original estimate."



Here we are at Kitty Hoynes Irish Pub in downtown Syracuse. My favorite item on the Menu is the traditional Corned Beef and Cabbage. They also have a great selection of beer, Irish Whiskey and Scotch.



Taking a walk at Lake Onondaga just before dinner.



Chittenango Falls is a great State Park within easy distance of Syracuse. It's a great place for a picnic lunch.


This is Pamela Suzadail, Assistant Director of External Programs. She is a good initial contact if you're interested in the iMBA program. She can be reached at pjsuzada@syr.edu , (315) 443-8384 . The school's iMBA site is- http://whitman.syr.edu/MBA/iMBA/ .

For a fuller description of the Syracuse University Whitman School of Management please see my February 03, 2008 Post.

Another tired man lays down his hand.

“It's sad to see another tired man lay down his hand and quit the holy game of poker... Third Generation Company, you think they would have shown more grit."
(Thomas Crown Affair, 1999)


I was sad to read that my former employer Merrill Lynch has agreed to sell itself to Bank of America. Apparently it has become just one more wounded item on the auction block.

For many years Merrill stood alone among brokerage houses as not having been merged or acquired, but proudly independent; all that has changed, now it will become but a cog in the machinery of Bank of America.

I think things started going wrong when the investment bankers took over. For many years the CEO of Merrill had always been a stockbroker who had come up through the ranks. The most notable one was Don Regan. “Bringing Wall Street to Main Street,” was the corporate motto and mission.

When the investment bankers took over in the mid-1990s, the company lost its focus and the retail arm suffered (it's called the private client investment group). Merrill management became more interested in making a quick buck off large commercial transactions in New York, as opposed to serving its retail clients.

One of my first jobs out of the military was as a broker at Merrill Lynch and I had some good years there. Their training programs and the people were exceptional. I have many fond memories of my time there. I had always hoped that Merrill would re-find itself and return to its core values.

For those reasons, I was sad to see my old company is no more.

"You've got to give loyalty down, if you want loyalty up."
-Don Regan

-JP

Montecristo Time

An unguarded moment. Enjoying a Montecristo cigar on the back screened-in-porch during summer.

By comparison look below-

Extreme Cold Weather Gear- This was me on very cold January day on the windy shores of Lake Champlain, Vermont, just eight months ago. It's a basic rule of life that no one looks "hip" or "cool" while trying to stay warm.

John P.

G&Ts and California Lemons, a surefire cure for the Summer Time Blues

I just received a box of large California lemons from my brother-in-law’s backyard lemon tree. I use them for my summer Gin & Tonics (G&Ts).

While my wife’s favorite summer drink is the Cape Codder, my summer drink is the traditional G&T. If I don’t get my daily cold and lemony G&T, I slip into a form of summer melancholy, so this shipment of lemons was a god send.

The combination of quinine, lemon, and gin is what gives it a unique satisfying taste. As for the quinine, in addition to staving off summer melancholy, I’m told that quinine was originally used by the Brits to counter malaria. So there you go; we’re talking medicinal healthcare here.

A G&T is simplicity itself. The key is to use quality ingredients. Most restaurants and hotels screw it up by using soda from a gun dispenser (that has no quinine) and/or a cheap oily gin. To add insult to injury they also provide a small miserly lemon or lime slice with the drink. The only hotel I’ve found that consistently serves a quality G&T is the Four Seasons. They always provide a freshly opened single serving chilled bottle of tonic water along with an ample lemon or lime slice; so kudos to the Four Seasons.

For home consumption, here’s the recipe for the perfect G&T-

G&T INGREDIENTS
• approximately 1 shot of a good quality gin like Tanqueray.
• Tonic water (from a fresh single serving bottle that has quinine)- Make sure the bottle is chilled. At room temperature the tonic will melt the ice too quickly and produce a watered down drink.
• Ample lemon wedge (or lime) fully squeezed into the drink. Throw the wedge into the drink if you want a garnish.
• On ice cubes
(Some drink recipes call for approximately 2 ounces of gin, but I find about ¾ of a shot glass to be about right. That way you can enjoy your drinks and not get bombed.)

I have mine in a manly un-adorned Stuart Crystal tumbler. But that’s optional.

It’s become a tradition in my family that Christmas is only officially here when we receive the Christmas Fruit Cake from “Uncle” Robert. Likewise, I’m hoping to start a new tradition- that summer is only officially here when the G&T lemons from Robert arrive.

Thanks Robert!

On Cape Codders, Texas, and a displaced New Englander

A guest blog by the ’lil woman

(For quite some time now my wife has had to adapt her staid New England ways to the dissimilar culture of Texas. In this guest post she writes about her inability to get a decent Cape Codder in Texas, a long time frustration of hers. And for the record, she even orders cranberry juice beverages on airplanes where the slightest hint of turbulence can permanently add the red cranberry stuff to your clothes, much to my discomfort as I’m usually sitting next to her wearing khakis or a white shirt.)

To me, the Cape Codder is the ultimate summer drink. Unfortunately it's unknown in Texas, the ultimate summer state.

The Cape Codder and the Seabreeze are well known in New England, where I grew up, but are virtual unknowns in Lone Star State. For years, I’ve been ordering Cape Codders in my adopted home state, only to get a blank stare from the bartender or a relayed “huh?” from the waiter as a response. At which point I order a vodka/cranberry juice instead, which is a simplified, lesser version of the Cape Codder.

You may be thinking - "a drink named after a New England vacation destination is unknown in Texas – what a surprise!" But the "Long Island Iced Tea" is practically as famous and common as Kool Aid here in Texas, so why not the Cape Codder? The Cape Codder is light, refreshing, and, unlike a Long Island Ice Tea, does not overdo it in the alchohol department. In a state that endures 90+ degree heat six months out of the year, the Cape Codder should be a natural.

Thankfully, The Wall St. Journal has just printed an article which gives the recipe for both drinks, so maybe all that will change now.

Here's the drink recipe as given by Eric Felten in the Wall Street Journal Article:

"1½ oz vodka, 3 to 4 oz cranberry juice, ¼ to ½ oz fresh lime juice, and a splash of soda water. Build on the rocks and garnish with anything from a simple lime wedge to a symphonic garniture of lime shell, mint and 'fruit stick.'"

For a change, try it on your next summer outing.

What regional drinks do you like that are unknown elsewhere?

SP

The Corn Poppy

If you find yourself in Houston, a good place to visit is The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH).
It has a good selection of art and archeology artifacts; and MFAH also hosts national tour items on a consistent basis.

My favorite painting at MFAH is The Corn Poppy (c.1919) by Kees Van Dongen. It’s found on the second floor in the impressionism section. The painting itself is not very large, but has a charm that makes it hard to forget. It’s a very colorful oil on canvass. Unlike many paintings in museums that dramatically overwhelm, I can easily imagine The Corn Poppy hanging in my living room or bedroom.

The MFAH is located at 1001 Bissonnet Street in downtown Houston, not far from the Houston Four Seasons where we stayed at during our last visit. The museum website is mfah.org.

The Ugly Truth about Time Management (and while you're at it, pick up the drycleaning)

Before you beat yourself up for not managing your time more effectively, read this observation made by Scott Adams in his Dilbert Blog:

"Let’s say you have a typical life and try to live it in the healthiest way. You might allocate your 24-hour weekday this way:
Sleep: 8 hoursExercise: 1 hourWork: 8 hoursEating: 2 hours (leisurely)Hygiene: 1 hourTravel: 1 (Commute, errands)

That leaves you three hours for family time, sex, shopping, food preparation, chores, household repair, volunteering in the school, and so on. If you have a dentist appointment, or your talkative relative calls, or American Idol has a two-hour special, you’re tapped out.

It’s a challenge to live a happy life if you aren’t giving enough attention to all of those categories, yet doing so is nearly impossible."

He proposes three possible solutions we can choose from:

One- Become independently wealthy, thereby freeing up the eight hours allocated for work.
Two- Ignore health concerns like sleep and exercise, but get fat and die.
Three- Work less, and live on cat food when you retire.

It only goes to prove that existentialism is not for the weak of heart.

The entire post (along with discussion comments) can be read at:
http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2008/04/time-management.html


JP

Management Tips by Gucci

Robert Polet, Gucci’s chief executive, was featured in the January issue of Fortune Magazine.

In it he revealed a moment in his life in which a fundamental premise of decision making was formed. While facing a difficult situation at a former company, he called the main corporate office for some help. The answer that came back was simplicity itself, “Take a piece of paper, write down all the options available, and pick the best one.” The next morning he said to his wife, “They’re right. It’s only by going through tough experiences that you can grow.”

I read the article while on a flight coming back from a Syracuse iMBA residency. At that moment in time, I was pondering some personal and career change issues and what to do about them in 2008. The straightforward idea of simply jotting down all the realistic options available and picking the best one struck me as virtuoso genius. It cuts through all the noise and focuses the mind on execution. Within thirty minutes of reading the article, I had all my 2008 options neatly written down, and the beginnings of a plan of action.

I also found his method of managing the Gucci brands interesting. The bulk of the decision making has been pushed down to the brands. The brands are now responsible for their own products and profitability (where as before they were centrally controlled). The article states, “In exchange for their newfound control, the brand CEOs must sign a two-page document that spells out which issues need to be elevated to the group level, and every year they work through a strategic plan with Polet for the next three years. Every month they give him a detailed performance report, and the group’s top management gets together four times a year.” Polet calls it, “freedom within a framework.”

This method of management is aligned with his personal value system which states, “the family comes first.” By giving autonomy to his direct reports, he doesn’t get sucked into daily crisis and can better organize his time.

He’s adamant about protecting his time with his family. He turns off his Blackberry on Friday night and doesn’t turn it back on until Monday morning. He also doesn’t take business calls while on vacation with his family, unless it’s a true emergency.

When he first took over Gucci he was derided by many as a misplaced “ice cream” sales guy. (His former job was president of a global ice cream and frozen foods division at Unilever.) The New York Times publicly disparaged him by asking, “Can the emperor of ice cream survive under the hot lights of high fashion?”

However as he has lead the Gucci group to “three years of booming growth,” most the skepticism has disappeared. The realization now by his former critics is that the job was not about someone who could “design dresses,” but rather of one who could manage and coordinate the ten luxury brands of Gucci. Polet was quoted as saying, “I hit the ground running because 80% of what I’m doing is the same as what I have always done-it’s about leading and coaching people.”

John P.

(In all fairness I should disclose that I own a pair of Black suede Gucci moccasins that I’m very fond of. They’re extremely comfortable.)

Parmigianino's Antea, in the U.S. for a short visit.

A celebrity of sorts has returned to the U.S. after a twenty year absence.

The Italian Renaissance painting Antea by Parmigianino (1503-1540) will be on short loan to the Frick Collection in New York City until April 27, 2008 after which time it will be returned to its home at the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples.

The Frick’s description of the painting is that Antea is depicted as “standing, looking out at the viewer with surprising frankness...As she meets our gaze, her pose and gestures create a dynamic of desire between herself and the viewer, who stands in for her lover.”

Fair enough, but Antea is also a grand mystery. I remember coming across Antea years ago in an art catalog and being fascinated by its story and all the surrounding speculation.

We don’t know the identity of the woman in the painting, her social status, or even why the work was commissioned. We can suspect she was of high status, but we can't be certain. (Courtesans of the time were adept at mimicking the appearance of high ranking women and crossing the class system.) We do know her name was not Antea. The name Antea was first used about 100 years after the portrait was painted and is a reference to a famous courtesan of Parmigianino’s time. Even the date of the work is not firmly established and is estimated to have been painted circa 1531 to 1534 which would have made Parmigianino about 30 years old at the time. (Could she have been Parmigianino's lover?)

Aside from the frank and direct gaze, the painting is strong on symbols. As the Frick's description mentions, the jewels and fur worn by Antea could be the wedding gifts of a new bride, or the gifts of a lover given in hopes of erotic attainment. By wearing them and interacting with the gifts (her hand points to her heart while fingering the chain) is she is accepting a lover’s offer? Or is she merely illustriously accepting her new role as a wife?

And while the depiction is suggestive of sexual tension, it has been argued that she lacks the brazen expression, disheveled hair and other clues used by Renaissance painters to portray courtesans and lovers. Instead we see dignity and pride of place.

In the end, each viewer is free to make his own conclusions.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to travel to New York before the painting is returned to Naples. But I post it here in case an interested reader has the opportunity visit The Frick Collection before then.

Visit the Frick Collection Site for more information- http://www.frick.org/

John P.

The Bane of Email, Two Tips on how to Manage Email

“I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.”
play King Richard II, William Shakespeare (dead English guy)

Email has become a bane in most of our professional lives.

We’re bombarded with email throughout the day and we sort through them in an attempt to figure out what is important and what is junk. As a result what was supposed to be a time enhancement has become a time quagmire.

Say the average time spend on each email is three minutes and you average 40 emails per day, that’s 2 hours spent on email. Now add the time for the daily phone calls we receive (and the shifts in priorities they bring), and you can see how quickly you can become time poor.

Here are two time management tips I’ve found helpful. The tips are a composite of various time management courses I've taken in my professional life.

First Tip, simplify your email to four basic responses-

1. Do it now- If the email needs a response and it will only take approximately two to five minutes, knock out the response as soon as you read it. If you don’t, you risk accumulating a mountain of email you have to respond to later in the week.

2. Decide When- If the email needs a response, but you can’t respond today, convert it to task and assign it to a specific day on your calendar. Don’t use our email as a task list.

3. Delegate/Distribute- Delegation, like intuition, is key trait to management & leadership. Train the people on your team and learn to trust them. Don’t try to do everything yourself. That’s a recipe for burn out and inefficiency.

On distributing the email, be careful here. Is the information really worth distributing? Don’t needlessly clutter other people’s mailboxes. I must get five “me-too” comments per day and they’re all annoying.

4. Delete- This has become my favorite response. Don’t save everything because of “just in case” anxiety. Your life will continue and the earth will continue to spin around the sun if you delete most of your email. If you really, really, have doubt, create a historical or archive folder and move grey-area email into it.

Back in the days of paper, I used to get my distribution/mail box full of stuff every day which I would carry back to my office. Once there, I would quickly glance at it and put in a tray. At the end of the week I would dump the tray into the trash can. My reasoning was that if it hadn’t bit me on my behind, or become important, by the end of the week, it wasn’t going to. That system served me well for several years. On those rare, rare, occasions when I did need something, the vendor who sent it, or a colleague could usually re-supply me the information.

Second Tip, email (by its very nature) turns you from proactive to reactive mode. Don’t begin your day with your inbox.

Begin your day by reviewing what your priorities are going to be that day, time allocated to fixed time tasks such as meeting or appointments, and your master task list. Decide what has to be done that day and what would be nice to do that day.

Since I do my planning based on a week unit, I also review this week and the following week to make sure nothing is about to blow up on me. This enables me to block out time on the calendar for what is important to me and prevents me from becoming time poor because I blindly reacted to other people’s priorities.

This planning also applies to what should be your main priorities in life: time with your family, worship, exercise, financial planning and true re-creation.

JP

(For related subject matter visit, “On Spam and Viruses, Part 1 and 2.”)

Whitman School iMBA, Syracuse

(Photo- iMBA January 2008 New Semester Reception. That's me at the food bar. "Food before you schmooze," that's my motto.)


I received a comment on the iMBA posting-
"Hi there-- I came across your site looking for information on Syracuse's iMBA program, as somebody who has decided to do an online MBA. Right now I’m seriously considering this program as my top choice, so I would love to hear about your views on the school's program as well as distance learning. If you have time to blog about this, it would be much appreciated! Thanks, Terry"


Terry,
Glad to be of help.

First of all the practical matters-
Time and Expenses- The tuition is going to run about $6,000 per semester (for two classes), plus books, plus airfare to the residency, plus hotel expenses, plus time away from work. The residencies are at the start of the semester and last about a week. You return to take your final exams and to start the following semester.

You’re looking at about three weeks of residencies per year; one in January (spring), one in May (summer), and one in August (fall). If you don’t want to attend the summer semester, you still have to go back for one day to take your final exams (usually on a Saturday).

The school recommends taking no more than two classes per semester (including summer sessions) which puts completion of the iMBA at three years. There is an open door policy between the iMBA and the full time MBA program, so students can transfer back and forth between the programs.

At present there are about 250 students in the iMBA program, and the Whitman School has decided to keep that number steady for now, which may mean admittance just got a little harder. At a reception this January, I asked an administrator what they were looking for as they tighten up admittance and she said diversity. She said they were looking for people from different parts of the country, and from different professions, in order to add value to student interaction with cohorts.

Most classes have group projects along with your individual assignments, and you’ll spend time coordinating these projects with your cohorts via email and conference calls. Some people are very active in expanding their networks via the iMBA program, others aren’t. On the first day back, the school normally holds a reception at the Sheraton for iMBA, and throughout the week there are additional chances to socialize with your peers.
For the most part, people in the iMBA are open and friendly.

The first semester, a new student is required to take Strategic Management and Financial Accounting. These two courses provide a foundation for the rest of the program.

Of the two, I found Financial Accounting to be the most helpful. In it, you cover how to read a balance sheet, and associated financial statements, with an emphasis on the cash flow statement for the final. With all the scandals today, the course emphasis is on compliance, and how to determine if a company is really making money and healthy. The course doesn’t really dwell on debits and credits, but on how to make sense of all the information and how the data can be manipulated by ethically challenged managers.

Strategic Management covers different business strategies common in business and the vocabulary required to discuss them. It involves case studies and group papers.

After these two initial courses, you are free to choose your courses based on availability.


Caveats-
The biggest caveat is the time commitment-
The residencies are time consuming and expensive. Not only do you fact the explicit cost of travel, but the implicit cost of time away from work. Make sure you have support from your company and direct report on this.

Then there's the change in your weekly schedule to accomodate study.
The best way to manage your study time is to knock it out first thing in the morning on a consistent basis, which means you should be prepared to log 5 hours minimum per week. And then plan to have concentrated time on the weekends, particularly just before assignments are due. I also catch reading time on airplane flights or lunches.

The last thing I'll mention is in the area of course enrollment. The courses fill up very quickly (enrollment is online). Fortunately the administrative staff is willing to work with you, and tries to juggle stuff around after the fact. The school is aware of it, and is working on issue. This enrollment issue is one of the main reasons they’re looking to keep the iMBA at its present student level.

On the plus side, there are different residency locations offered like London, France or the Bahamas. For example this May, there will be a residency in London which will cover the London Stock Exchange and Lloyd’s of London.

I hope this info helps.

John P.

(PS- For additional questions, a good point of contact at the school is Pamela Suzadail, Assistant Director of External Programs who can be reached at pjsuzada@syr.edu . The school's iMBA site is- http://whitman.syr.edu/MBA/iMBA/ .)

Things We’ve Learned

While taking a coffee break from the last of the Christmas errands, my wife and I talked about the things we’ve learned from life since our undergraduate days when we first met. Here’s the list I wrote on the paper napkin:

1. Everything will take longer to complete than your original estimate.

2. You can think it. Sometimes you can even say it; but you never, ever, put it in an email and send it out.

3. Company vision statements are always a load of baloney.

4. Keep your eye on the ball.

5. The sunroof is worth the extra money.

6. Switching to 1% milk makes more of an impact than you think.

7. Dogs are worth all the fur on the floor.

8. Captain Kirk is way cooler than Picard.

9. Al Gore makes more money off global warming than Dick Cheney ever made off Halliburton.

10. If you have to lay off people, get rid of the corporate jet.

11. You can never go wrong by keeping your mouth shut and nodding knowingly.

12. Save an additional 10% above what you’re putting into your 401k. You still won’t notice it and you’ll be rich at the end.

13. Illiquid assets are for wimps.

14. A luxury once tasted, becomes a necessity.

15. Flukes count.

16. There are three reasons people do things-

• The reason they tell themselves they did it.
• The reason they tell the world they did it.
• And then there’s the real reason.

17. You can’t get what you want, until you know what you want. It’s worth the extra twenty minutes to figure it out.

18. Trust your intuition.

19. We cannot emphasis this enough- in the kitchen, Clean as you go.

20. Call you mother.

JP