weekend notes

Hope all goes well… “I discover my obsessions when I step back from screens,” admitted one of London’s top CIOs, fresh from some time off. “Used to be the Aussie dollar; that obsession consumed me back in 2012,” he continued, confessing his fatal attractions, bringing a fresh pot of water to a vigorous boil. “Only reason to take on this next one is that there’s no real reason to take it on,” he sa

Hope all goes well… “My…legs…don’t…work,” groaned Osama bin Charlie, in a tone that fell a few pitches short of emergency. Mara and I sat up, puzzled. You see it was Spring Break in Santa Barbara. So we’d hit the mountains. To carve turns with the older three. Ditching our little man all day long, to terrorize ski school; six grueling hours of snow-plow. The groans grew closer, as he elbowed his l

Hope all goes well… “For the first time in 10yrs, CNN ratings have blown through the roof,” said the TV personality. Naturally, given my passion for news, I no longer watch. “You know why?” he asked. I had a couple guesses, but kept quiet. “Every story since they wrote the Bible has a beginning, middle and end.” So now, if a story has no ending, people get trapped, stuck, and don’t know how to mov

Hope all goes well… “This is my favorite quote daddy,” announced Teddy, my 8yr old, completing a collage for his school, Roosevelt Elementary. “You do know I named you after Teddy Roosevelt,” I said, “He’s one of my favorite people in all of history, probably America’s greatest president.” And my little guy, full of chutzpah, an extraordinary zest for life, smiled broadly, proudly. Then Teddy read

Hope all goes well… Eric’s been removed from power. The People’s Republic of Peters is now under our absolute control. His hollow “Be home soon” promise grew wearisome. His “Let them eat cake” refrain was pathetic, outdated, doomed. The “Unless we kill it at work, there will be no allowance, no food on the table” claim was shameless propaganda, a barefaced lie, perpetuated to serve no one other th

Hope all goes well… Where’d we be without communists? Or online newspapers? Particularly ones controlled by xenophobic saber-rattling politicians. And how boring would life be without war criminals? Or video games? Especially free ones. So Beijing’s People’s Daily developed a free online video game; “Kill the Devils.” Target any one of Japan’s 14 Class-A WWII war criminals, who scurry around the s

Hope all goes well… “Nothing’s cheap, nothing’s distressed, real estate is way too expensive throughout Asia ex-Japan,” said the CIO of one of America’s great family offices. He would know; been investing there for yrs. “They don’t want us making money over there anyway,” he continued, speaking of China’s elite. “So I pay the brightest Asian mgrs 2/20 to fight for returns and get to see those mkts

Hope all goes well… “My daddy’s home, my daddy’s home, my daddy’s home,” whispered Osama bin Charlie to himself, wiggling between us, beneath the covers – a pre-dawn incursion. So I whispered back that I love him, and never worry, daddy’s always come home. “I love you so much my heart bursts,” replied the cuddly little terrorist, lost in an uncharacteristic tender moment, snuggling in closer. So I

Hope all goes well… “The Broncos of course,” answered the waitress, with a strong Chinese accent, delivering a bucket of pre-Bowl Buds, unaware I was kidding. She was wearing an oversized Manning jersey, an equine cap; brand spanking new, bright orange and blue. So with minutes to go before kick-off, I asked the college exchange-student who would win the Super Bowl? “Broncos,” she replied, with ut