Dont know if you heard the news but Alistair Darling announced that bonuses will be taxed an additional 50%.
My take home bonus will now be
50% (Bonus Tax) * 50% (the other half being deferred) * 60% (40% income tax) = 15% of the face value declared bonus...
Demoralising man. I feel cheated.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Monday, December 07, 2009
disorganised thoughts
So many different thoughts going thru my brain right now... And I can't be bothered to organise them so bear with me...
- my dinner is in my microwave and i'm starving but I don't want to distract my thoughts...
- occurred to me yet again how time flies. i've been married for just over two months now. more and more of my friends are getting married.
- when time flies, stuff happens. some young girl sadly passed away, another distant friend's granddad too. mortality does bring you back to reality, and once again remind you what really is important in your life.
- felt really sian at work today. dont really know why - perhaps its the press and the public riling against paying me something decent.
- exercise really helps me destress. now i realise why I wasn't stressed in school... i play football every day!
- the winter gloom is really starting to get to me. hard to stay cheerful. i should hit the gym more.
- my dinner is in my microwave and i'm starving but I don't want to distract my thoughts...
- occurred to me yet again how time flies. i've been married for just over two months now. more and more of my friends are getting married.
- when time flies, stuff happens. some young girl sadly passed away, another distant friend's granddad too. mortality does bring you back to reality, and once again remind you what really is important in your life.
- felt really sian at work today. dont really know why - perhaps its the press and the public riling against paying me something decent.
- exercise really helps me destress. now i realise why I wasn't stressed in school... i play football every day!
- the winter gloom is really starting to get to me. hard to stay cheerful. i should hit the gym more.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Honeymoon in the uk part 3
Sat oct 17.
On weds we spent the day at Cheltenham, a small city. We arrived at Chapel spa, had a "light" lunch there followed by some relaxing by the pool and then a massage. Then we checked in at beaumont house, a pretty restored old house with ample parking and a beautiful garden. We went around looking for food and finally decided to dine at the daffodil- apparently a famous place- but unfortunately it was fully booked! So instead we went to Moran's, a family owned wine bar / restaurant.
Thursday we went to Crewe Hall - a converted residence of a rich merchant. The driveway in was very impressive! It was a package deal so we spent the entire day there.
We are in York now. Arrived yesterday after spending one day at lake district. We stayed at the Rampsbeck country house hotel at the second biggest lake there called ullswater. Took a short hike to see a small waterfall, explored a small village, and took a steamer boat ride on the lake. The views were very pretty and the weather was good and sunny, just a bit chilly on the boat. There are a lot of sheep at lake district. The hotel we stayed at in lake district and York are very pretty restored country houses.
Yesterday we toured around York which is a very historical city. Walked on old castle Walls, walked on cobbled streets, around old church ruins and dd some shopping on their high street.
Today will be spending the day in the hotel spa and having afternoon tea. Heading back to London tomorrow.
On weds we spent the day at Cheltenham, a small city. We arrived at Chapel spa, had a "light" lunch there followed by some relaxing by the pool and then a massage. Then we checked in at beaumont house, a pretty restored old house with ample parking and a beautiful garden. We went around looking for food and finally decided to dine at the daffodil- apparently a famous place- but unfortunately it was fully booked! So instead we went to Moran's, a family owned wine bar / restaurant.
Thursday we went to Crewe Hall - a converted residence of a rich merchant. The driveway in was very impressive! It was a package deal so we spent the entire day there.
We are in York now. Arrived yesterday after spending one day at lake district. We stayed at the Rampsbeck country house hotel at the second biggest lake there called ullswater. Took a short hike to see a small waterfall, explored a small village, and took a steamer boat ride on the lake. The views were very pretty and the weather was good and sunny, just a bit chilly on the boat. There are a lot of sheep at lake district. The hotel we stayed at in lake district and York are very pretty restored country houses.
Yesterday we toured around York which is a very historical city. Walked on old castle Walls, walked on cobbled streets, around old church ruins and dd some shopping on their high street.
Today will be spending the day in the hotel spa and having afternoon tea. Heading back to London tomorrow.
Honeymoon in uk part 2
Weds oct14.
On the road now from cornwall to Cheltenham.
On monday after Bath, we spent a night in padstow, a small town in north Cornwall by the coast. The town is dominated by restaurants and b&bs by famous restauranteur rick stein.
Tuesday we went to the Eden Project, a very big educational garden built in a disused clay pit. There are two big biomes with a tropical rainforest and mediterranean climate. Lots of outdoor greenery and many varieties of plants. Pretty cool. Good weather has been following us too.
Went To the southwestern most tipof England to see the Minack theatre, an outdoor theatre made on a cliff in the 1930s by a woman. Of course it took a while to build given the terrain and wars. Very impressive though. Had scones and clotted cream in the cafe there. Yummy.
Drove onto Falmouth which is a Coastal town with lots of b&bs. Had Thai food for dinner because needed a break from British food. Had too much potatoes. Tomyum never tasted so good.
Now going to Cheltenham for a day spa and spend the night. Will head to Crewe and then to lake district tomorrow. Hope the good weather stays.
On the road now from cornwall to Cheltenham.
On monday after Bath, we spent a night in padstow, a small town in north Cornwall by the coast. The town is dominated by restaurants and b&bs by famous restauranteur rick stein.
Tuesday we went to the Eden Project, a very big educational garden built in a disused clay pit. There are two big biomes with a tropical rainforest and mediterranean climate. Lots of outdoor greenery and many varieties of plants. Pretty cool. Good weather has been following us too.
Went To the southwestern most tipof England to see the Minack theatre, an outdoor theatre made on a cliff in the 1930s by a woman. Of course it took a while to build given the terrain and wars. Very impressive though. Had scones and clotted cream in the cafe there. Yummy.
Drove onto Falmouth which is a Coastal town with lots of b&bs. Had Thai food for dinner because needed a break from British food. Had too much potatoes. Tomyum never tasted so good.
Now going to Cheltenham for a day spa and spend the night. Will head to Crewe and then to lake district tomorrow. Hope the good weather stays.
Honeymoon in uk part 1
computer died soon after my post. Now posting true iPhone. The honeymoon is over and L just left this morning.
Sat 10 oct
Lunch with friends was great. Weather very nice. Went for hampstead crepes n then to Xp's apt for late dinner n games.
Sunday picked up rental car then drove to a restaurant near Windsor called fat duck. Very good n super interesting food n concepts like liquid nitrogen cooked scrambled eggs n bacon ice cream. Took a lot of pictures. French waiters are funny. Lunch started at 2pm ended at 6pm. Longest meal ever. Then drove to bath n spent the night there.
Today went to the roman baths, had lunch n went to a modern day bath spa near the roman baths. Very relaxed. Will hv dinner at padstow n going ard Cornwall tmw.
Sat 10 oct
Lunch with friends was great. Weather very nice. Went for hampstead crepes n then to Xp's apt for late dinner n games.
Sunday picked up rental car then drove to a restaurant near Windsor called fat duck. Very good n super interesting food n concepts like liquid nitrogen cooked scrambled eggs n bacon ice cream. Took a lot of pictures. French waiters are funny. Lunch started at 2pm ended at 6pm. Longest meal ever. Then drove to bath n spent the night there.
Today went to the roman baths, had lunch n went to a modern day bath spa near the roman baths. Very relaxed. Will hv dinner at padstow n going ard Cornwall tmw.
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Got married!
Went to california last week to get married. In my eyes it was great! Superb weather and in a beautiful garden setting - can't get much better. Some of the pictures turned out really nice. I'll probably put up the pictures when I get the proper ones.
Now, back in London with L. We're having a lunch thing with all our friends on Saturday. After that we'll have a mini honeymoon.
I was pretty proud of my wedding speech (shamelessly adapted from a few I found online) so for my records I'm posting it here.
===
You are all about to witness a unique event in history. This is the very first and the very last time that the Wife is going to let me speak on behalf of both of us... You wont believe how hard I had to beg for this priviledge... so lets take our time...
So Ladies and Gentlemen, we'd like to thank everyone for coming today, it means so much to us, to have everyone we love and care about here to share our special day, and a big thank you to those who have had long journeys to be here. We hope the day is as enjoyable for you as it special to us.
On a personal note, I would especially like to thank my new in-laws C and W who have done everything to make me feel welcome since I first started dating Lu-En almost 7 years ago. Ma I would like to thank for the effort you have put in making the invitations, the place cards, the flowers, and Pa I'd like to thank for letting me marry your daughter.
I can't stand up here without giving a very special thanks to my mum who has always been there for me with support and guidance in every big decision I have made in my life. It means so much to me that you are here today, witnessing this occasion, thank you very much.
I would also like to thank H for agreeing to be my Best Man today. For those of you who don't know - H is also Lu-En's brother. Actually, maybe that explains why he's agreed to be my best man. Thanks for helping today run so beautifully....
And speaking of "beautiful", we'd like to thank the bridesmaids Y and X - I know how much support you have given Lu-En up to and including this day. I'd like everyone to compliment them on their shoes and dresses for they took as much time to pick the right color and style as it took for my bride to do her hair! Thanks to A, our cute flower girl, to K for the videography, and O, for the wedding cake. Thanks also to L, L and Z for everything you've done today.
When I proposed to L, I put a lot of thought into what makes a good marriage... seriously, yeh.. The dictionary says that a marriage is the institution whereby man and woman are joined in a special kind of social and legal dependancy for the purpose of founding and maintaining a family... hmm, if only things were that simple. Some people say its consists of 3 rings, engagement ring, wedding ring, and suffering. Others say its an alliance of 2 people - one who never remembers birthdays and anniversaries, and one who never forgets. Whatever it is, I know I'm marrying my perfect partner.
Today, I'm marrying my best friend and my soulmate. We have a relationship where we could spend every waking minute together and not get bored. We can talk to each other all day... well, actually she talks, I listen. On that note, I have to say thanks as well to Skype and MSN, for without you, it wouldn't have been possible to chat with L every morning for the time we've been apart.
Anyway I'd like to take this opportunity to first of all, tell L how beautiful you look today.. and secondly to thank you for all the hard work and time that you have put in to make today such a success. ... and believe me it was hell of a lot of time so I'd like everyone to raise their glass and join me, in making a toast to my new wife - To the most beautiful bride in the world - L!
I wont waste any more of your valuable drinking time - and instead leave that to the bride's father, W!
Now, back in London with L. We're having a lunch thing with all our friends on Saturday. After that we'll have a mini honeymoon.
I was pretty proud of my wedding speech (shamelessly adapted from a few I found online) so for my records I'm posting it here.
===
You are all about to witness a unique event in history. This is the very first and the very last time that the Wife is going to let me speak on behalf of both of us... You wont believe how hard I had to beg for this priviledge... so lets take our time...
So Ladies and Gentlemen, we'd like to thank everyone for coming today, it means so much to us, to have everyone we love and care about here to share our special day, and a big thank you to those who have had long journeys to be here. We hope the day is as enjoyable for you as it special to us.
On a personal note, I would especially like to thank my new in-laws C and W who have done everything to make me feel welcome since I first started dating Lu-En almost 7 years ago. Ma I would like to thank for the effort you have put in making the invitations, the place cards, the flowers, and Pa I'd like to thank for letting me marry your daughter.
I can't stand up here without giving a very special thanks to my mum who has always been there for me with support and guidance in every big decision I have made in my life. It means so much to me that you are here today, witnessing this occasion, thank you very much.
I would also like to thank H for agreeing to be my Best Man today. For those of you who don't know - H is also Lu-En's brother. Actually, maybe that explains why he's agreed to be my best man. Thanks for helping today run so beautifully....
And speaking of "beautiful", we'd like to thank the bridesmaids Y and X - I know how much support you have given Lu-En up to and including this day. I'd like everyone to compliment them on their shoes and dresses for they took as much time to pick the right color and style as it took for my bride to do her hair! Thanks to A, our cute flower girl, to K for the videography, and O, for the wedding cake. Thanks also to L, L and Z for everything you've done today.
When I proposed to L, I put a lot of thought into what makes a good marriage... seriously, yeh.. The dictionary says that a marriage is the institution whereby man and woman are joined in a special kind of social and legal dependancy for the purpose of founding and maintaining a family... hmm, if only things were that simple. Some people say its consists of 3 rings, engagement ring, wedding ring, and suffering. Others say its an alliance of 2 people - one who never remembers birthdays and anniversaries, and one who never forgets. Whatever it is, I know I'm marrying my perfect partner.
Today, I'm marrying my best friend and my soulmate. We have a relationship where we could spend every waking minute together and not get bored. We can talk to each other all day... well, actually she talks, I listen. On that note, I have to say thanks as well to Skype and MSN, for without you, it wouldn't have been possible to chat with L every morning for the time we've been apart.
Anyway I'd like to take this opportunity to first of all, tell L how beautiful you look today.. and secondly to thank you for all the hard work and time that you have put in to make today such a success. ... and believe me it was hell of a lot of time so I'd like everyone to raise their glass and join me, in making a toast to my new wife - To the most beautiful bride in the world - L!
I wont waste any more of your valuable drinking time - and instead leave that to the bride's father, W!
Monday, September 21, 2009
Blogging thru the iphone sucks
Well. not exactly true. the way I did it was I email to this blogging address and it automatically publishes. However the emails have automatically inserted line breaks and blogger takes those line breaks as intentional paragraph formatting. the end result is really ugly with stupid line breaks all over where it shouldn't be. In future if I blog thru the phone I'll blog directly thru blogger.com.
=== facebook stalking ===
Do you realise that you can see entire albums of pictures taken by other people as long as one of your friends is tagged? I've managed to see more than a couple of wedding photos because of that!
=== upcoming wedding ===
Excited. Nervous. Excited. Nervous.
Its in... 12 days... Colleagues planning a stag night. By the looks of things they are not going to let me off easy.
=== facebook stalking ===
Do you realise that you can see entire albums of pictures taken by other people as long as one of your friends is tagged? I've managed to see more than a couple of wedding photos because of that!
=== upcoming wedding ===
Excited. Nervous. Excited. Nervous.
Its in... 12 days... Colleagues planning a stag night. By the looks of things they are not going to let me off easy.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
How time flies
Been more than a month since I updated my blog.
Life has been pretty ok for me so far. It's a bit lonely without L but I try to make the best of it. Besides, wedding in a little more than a month.
Over this period, I've been to a few dinners with brokers and poole in Bournemouth for windsurfing. Also trying to play more sports, like badminton and tennis.
On my way now to victoria where I will board a train to Dover. Going to go around the "White cliffs county" with a few friends - should be fun!
Life has been pretty ok for me so far. It's a bit lonely without L but I try to make the best of it. Besides, wedding in a little more than a month.
Over this period, I've been to a few dinners with brokers and poole in Bournemouth for windsurfing. Also trying to play more sports, like badminton and tennis.
On my way now to victoria where I will board a train to Dover. Going to go around the "White cliffs county" with a few friends - should be fun!
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Blogging thru email/ iPhone
I just bought an iPhone. Having loads of fun with it now. Actually, I am currently typing on it now. So many cool things with it. From the maps with GPS, the syncing of google calendar and contacts, it's like
the best miniture portable laptop! except that the laptop wouldn't have gps of course.
the best miniture portable laptop! except that the laptop wouldn't have gps of course.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Ageing
Turning 29 this year and I am starting to feel my age creeping up.
When I was a kid I wished I could grow up quickly. When I first started work, I wished I looked older so I can get a bit more respect.
Now people say my hairline is receeding. Not sure if its work related stress (I try to destress by doing sports), the hard water in London (I'm drinking bottled water nowadays), or just age thats causing my thinning hair. It is a bit upsetting though.
So today, when I bought a bottle of wine from the supermarket, I was geniunely happy when the salesgirl asked to check my ID. After I smiled and said "Glad you asked.", I think she was looked a bit suspiciously at me - probably wondering if I was gay or something...
Anyway, I do feel a lot older now. I should really try to do a marathon before I'm 50...
When I was a kid I wished I could grow up quickly. When I first started work, I wished I looked older so I can get a bit more respect.
Now people say my hairline is receeding. Not sure if its work related stress (I try to destress by doing sports), the hard water in London (I'm drinking bottled water nowadays), or just age thats causing my thinning hair. It is a bit upsetting though.
So today, when I bought a bottle of wine from the supermarket, I was geniunely happy when the salesgirl asked to check my ID. After I smiled and said "Glad you asked.", I think she was looked a bit suspiciously at me - probably wondering if I was gay or something...
Anyway, I do feel a lot older now. I should really try to do a marathon before I'm 50...
Thursday, July 09, 2009
JPM run
I signed up for the run of 5.6km for fun. It was an excuse to get free T-shirts and to get off work early. I had set a personal target of 27mins for myself. Managed to finish in 25min 30sec which was, I think, my personal best.
I really think I put in everything in the race - was even feeling a little giddy as soon as I finished. Don't think I could have pushed myself harder than that, so its good.
** EDIT **
I found out that my time was really 26min 30sec... so, a bit disappointed...
I really think I put in everything in the race - was even feeling a little giddy as soon as I finished. Don't think I could have pushed myself harder than that, so its good.
** EDIT **
I found out that my time was really 26min 30sec... so, a bit disappointed...
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Nothing really to update...
Work - as per usual. Bearable.
Social - not too bad. The weather's been really good recently. Played football one weekend in the sun, felt a bit like in Singapore. Some weekends I went to the park (most times by myself)... its relaxing lying on the grass under a tree, looking up at the green leaves on the backdrop of blue skies and white clouds, watching (and hearing) the branches sway in the breeze.
But otherwise, nothing much happening at the moment. Which is probably good news.
Social - not too bad. The weather's been really good recently. Played football one weekend in the sun, felt a bit like in Singapore. Some weekends I went to the park (most times by myself)... its relaxing lying on the grass under a tree, looking up at the green leaves on the backdrop of blue skies and white clouds, watching (and hearing) the branches sway in the breeze.
But otherwise, nothing much happening at the moment. Which is probably good news.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
California - Part 4
== Day 6 ==
L had to go to lab in the morning. I napped. She came back, we had a simple lunch, watched a bit of videos, saw some pictures off a particular photographer's blog (*wink) then we went to get some Caribbean bbq for our small house party. Jerk chicken, BBQ pork ribs and braised oxtail. Not to mention their corn festivals which tastes like Ham Chim Peng :)
== Day 7 ==
Spent the first half of the day lazing around at home, watching Finding Nemo again... Took a nap, then finally in the late afternoon we met Gabrielle at Gamble Gardens. She's our officiator at the wedding.
After that we went down to San Fran - L managed to get a night free at St Regis because of some Starwood Preferred Guest offer. Whoa the hotel is damn cool... coolest part of course, is that it would have cost 429 dollars if not for the offer!!!
Dinner was at this Japanese/ fusion place called Namu. The food was really good but the decor/ambiance left much to be desired. The shop front looked disappointing and the interior quite small and barren so it got quite noisy... We had to practically shout to each other... definitely not a nice date place.
== Day 8 ==
Had a really late breakfast at Vitrine, the restaurant at the hotel. We shared some black truffle omelette (I know, it sounds posh) and coffee. Lunch I planned to go Swan Oyster Depot... but on arriving there it looked like a messy cheap seafood bar. So we went to the sushi/jap place next door and got some simple jap stuff (sashimi, beef teriyaki, tempura, udon).
Then L drove me to the airport and dropped me off as she had so often. We had lots of practice at this already. The dropoff is the best way for me to go.
== Plane ride back ==
I got allocated 62C, this aisle seat near the back of the plane. A young guy came over and sat in 62A (there wasn't a 62B since at the tail of the plane where its narrow, only 2 seats could fit). He turned to me all friendly and said "hi". I wasn't really in the mood for conversation but I said "hi" anyway. Then he said he was flying with his girlfriend, but they bought the tickets separately, how he thought he could change the seats at check-in but the flight was overbooked as usual etc. and asked if I was willing to move. Which seat was she, I asked. 58F was his reply.
I was hesitant of course. Thing is with some seats there's a stupid box under the seat so you can't extend your legs. My seat didn't have the box and I wasn't sure if 58F had that problem. Besides, the guy next to me was pretty normal sized... what if the seat I moved to (it was a center seat) was next to two hugeass guys?
But I agreed to move anyway... I thought I was alone anyway, and these two lovebirds could enjoy being together. So I moved. They thanked me and I said it wasn't a problem.
2 hours into the flight, after our meal and the lights were switched off and I was enjoying the movie... a woman suddenly thrusted a plastic bag at me from the aisle. I was momentarily stunned because a) it was dark and b) I was enjoying my movie. I then recognised the woman as the one I changed seats with. I took the bag and she left quietly. Inside the bag was a cute handwritten note, "To say thank you for moving - Jess and Rob" and a bag of chocolates.
Aww... I felt all warm inside. I feel that we don't get recognition for good deeds often enough. Sure you get it as a child when your parents/teachers praise you when you do something good... but as an adult, you don't get that pat on your back. That little gesture of thanks was really touching. More importantly to me, its cool to be recognised as being nice - especially as I was, ahem, a money grubbing banker.
L had to go to lab in the morning. I napped. She came back, we had a simple lunch, watched a bit of videos, saw some pictures off a particular photographer's blog (*wink) then we went to get some Caribbean bbq for our small house party. Jerk chicken, BBQ pork ribs and braised oxtail. Not to mention their corn festivals which tastes like Ham Chim Peng :)
== Day 7 ==
Spent the first half of the day lazing around at home, watching Finding Nemo again... Took a nap, then finally in the late afternoon we met Gabrielle at Gamble Gardens. She's our officiator at the wedding.
After that we went down to San Fran - L managed to get a night free at St Regis because of some Starwood Preferred Guest offer. Whoa the hotel is damn cool... coolest part of course, is that it would have cost 429 dollars if not for the offer!!!
Dinner was at this Japanese/ fusion place called Namu. The food was really good but the decor/ambiance left much to be desired. The shop front looked disappointing and the interior quite small and barren so it got quite noisy... We had to practically shout to each other... definitely not a nice date place.
== Day 8 ==
Had a really late breakfast at Vitrine, the restaurant at the hotel. We shared some black truffle omelette (I know, it sounds posh) and coffee. Lunch I planned to go Swan Oyster Depot... but on arriving there it looked like a messy cheap seafood bar. So we went to the sushi/jap place next door and got some simple jap stuff (sashimi, beef teriyaki, tempura, udon).
Then L drove me to the airport and dropped me off as she had so often. We had lots of practice at this already. The dropoff is the best way for me to go.
== Plane ride back ==
I got allocated 62C, this aisle seat near the back of the plane. A young guy came over and sat in 62A (there wasn't a 62B since at the tail of the plane where its narrow, only 2 seats could fit). He turned to me all friendly and said "hi". I wasn't really in the mood for conversation but I said "hi" anyway. Then he said he was flying with his girlfriend, but they bought the tickets separately, how he thought he could change the seats at check-in but the flight was overbooked as usual etc. and asked if I was willing to move. Which seat was she, I asked. 58F was his reply.
I was hesitant of course. Thing is with some seats there's a stupid box under the seat so you can't extend your legs. My seat didn't have the box and I wasn't sure if 58F had that problem. Besides, the guy next to me was pretty normal sized... what if the seat I moved to (it was a center seat) was next to two hugeass guys?
But I agreed to move anyway... I thought I was alone anyway, and these two lovebirds could enjoy being together. So I moved. They thanked me and I said it wasn't a problem.
2 hours into the flight, after our meal and the lights were switched off and I was enjoying the movie... a woman suddenly thrusted a plastic bag at me from the aisle. I was momentarily stunned because a) it was dark and b) I was enjoying my movie. I then recognised the woman as the one I changed seats with. I took the bag and she left quietly. Inside the bag was a cute handwritten note, "To say thank you for moving - Jess and Rob" and a bag of chocolates.
Aww... I felt all warm inside. I feel that we don't get recognition for good deeds often enough. Sure you get it as a child when your parents/teachers praise you when you do something good... but as an adult, you don't get that pat on your back. That little gesture of thanks was really touching. More importantly to me, its cool to be recognised as being nice - especially as I was, ahem, a money grubbing banker.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
California - Part 3
== Day 5 ==
L had to go to her lab in the morning. I lazed around a bit, picked her up at 11, then we went to this tea place at downtown palo alto. They had all sorts of tea - white tea, green tea, Chinese tea, Darjeeling, Assam etc... They also served some nice sandwiches and quiches. Yummy!
After lunch she had another appointment, so I dropped her off at Terman - then went back home and lazed a bit more. At roughly 3, we went to V's thesis defense. This would be the second thesis defense I've attended in 3 days. It was quite fun - both student and teacher were poking fun at each other. Then I met L's labmates for a bit, went to V's after-thesis-defense-party for a short while (I snacked on cheese and biscuits and champagne) and then we headed off to (in my mind) the event of the day... Arcadia restaurant in San Jose.
The restaurant, an American Steakhouse, is located in this convention complex right next to the Marriott. It had this dark brown interior, very much like Spruce (which we went there just two days ago). I had lobster corn dogs, kobe skirt steak, and molten choc cake. L had a salad (blue cheese, pecan, apple), some dover sole, and lemon triffle. We also shared a portion of duck fat fries (I assume the fries were fried in duck fat!) Everything was good, but the steak I had was legen-dary. Beautifully charred on the outside and juicy on the inside, it was so good I savoured every little bite.
"Are you ok?", L asked, seeing my dreamlike state as I took my first taste of the steak. I only wished they had served me a 24oz portion instead...
L had to go to her lab in the morning. I lazed around a bit, picked her up at 11, then we went to this tea place at downtown palo alto. They had all sorts of tea - white tea, green tea, Chinese tea, Darjeeling, Assam etc... They also served some nice sandwiches and quiches. Yummy!
After lunch she had another appointment, so I dropped her off at Terman - then went back home and lazed a bit more. At roughly 3, we went to V's thesis defense. This would be the second thesis defense I've attended in 3 days. It was quite fun - both student and teacher were poking fun at each other. Then I met L's labmates for a bit, went to V's after-thesis-defense-party for a short while (I snacked on cheese and biscuits and champagne) and then we headed off to (in my mind) the event of the day... Arcadia restaurant in San Jose.
The restaurant, an American Steakhouse, is located in this convention complex right next to the Marriott. It had this dark brown interior, very much like Spruce (which we went there just two days ago). I had lobster corn dogs, kobe skirt steak, and molten choc cake. L had a salad (blue cheese, pecan, apple), some dover sole, and lemon triffle. We also shared a portion of duck fat fries (I assume the fries were fried in duck fat!) Everything was good, but the steak I had was legen-dary. Beautifully charred on the outside and juicy on the inside, it was so good I savoured every little bite.
"Are you ok?", L asked, seeing my dreamlike state as I took my first taste of the steak. I only wished they had served me a 24oz portion instead...
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
California - Part 2
== Day 3 continued ==
So L had her hair made up for the photoshoot. Meanwhile she instructed me to get orange calla lilies... pretty specific eh. Called around but none of the florists had it. Went to the one at the Stanford Shopping Center and they had yellow ones. L was fine with it so I got them.
Then we went back, got dressed into our outfits, and started the photoshoot. Was quite fun. L got two friends to help out. We took a few pictures around the main quad, then we went to university avenue and took more pictures.
One picture was taken right in the middle of the road. J, our photographer, was like, "wow the lights look really cool. Wait here..." then he went onto the middle of the road while the lights were red. Took a couple of test shots then came back and said, "do you wanna do this?"
I was like, "in the middle of the road?"
"do you want to do this? I wont force you..."
after a bit of consideration, I thought, what the heck... this is once in a lifetime. So we agreed, practiced our pose at the side, then rushed to the middle, struck our pose and got our picture taken. We had a glimpse of the result on the camera and we were impressed! can't wait to see the real thing now...
== Day 4 ==
Woke up lazily late in the morning, had a small breakfast, then went to San Fran for our "Dine about Town" day. First stop was Spruce, a pretty hip/posh place at Sacramento shopping district. Nice dark brown and white interior. Was served by this white haired old gentlemen who looked and acted a bit gay. The food was really good. Started with a Tokyo turnip soup, followed by some mushroom trout thing (turned out to be salmon instead?!) and wrapped off with a delightful lemon pastry with ice-cream thingy. The soup was fantastic, the salmon flavours were subtle and the dessert was.. well, delightful.
Then we caught "Up" in 3D in this old classical theatre called the "Castro Theatre". While we were waiting for the movie to begin, there was this musician (organist??) playing old disney music with the theatre organ... man it was impressive! The movie was good too.
Dinner was at Campton Place. Quite a posh place as well, but we thought the food wasn't fantastic. The dessert was really nice though - I had basil braised strawberries with honeydew and vanilla ice cream. L had kinda like a lemon sorbet thing with meringue and oolong infused mousse. sweet...
Fun date :)
So L had her hair made up for the photoshoot. Meanwhile she instructed me to get orange calla lilies... pretty specific eh. Called around but none of the florists had it. Went to the one at the Stanford Shopping Center and they had yellow ones. L was fine with it so I got them.
Then we went back, got dressed into our outfits, and started the photoshoot. Was quite fun. L got two friends to help out. We took a few pictures around the main quad, then we went to university avenue and took more pictures.
One picture was taken right in the middle of the road. J, our photographer, was like, "wow the lights look really cool. Wait here..." then he went onto the middle of the road while the lights were red. Took a couple of test shots then came back and said, "do you wanna do this?"
I was like, "in the middle of the road?"
"do you want to do this? I wont force you..."
after a bit of consideration, I thought, what the heck... this is once in a lifetime. So we agreed, practiced our pose at the side, then rushed to the middle, struck our pose and got our picture taken. We had a glimpse of the result on the camera and we were impressed! can't wait to see the real thing now...
== Day 4 ==
Woke up lazily late in the morning, had a small breakfast, then went to San Fran for our "Dine about Town" day. First stop was Spruce, a pretty hip/posh place at Sacramento shopping district. Nice dark brown and white interior. Was served by this white haired old gentlemen who looked and acted a bit gay. The food was really good. Started with a Tokyo turnip soup, followed by some mushroom trout thing (turned out to be salmon instead?!) and wrapped off with a delightful lemon pastry with ice-cream thingy. The soup was fantastic, the salmon flavours were subtle and the dessert was.. well, delightful.
Then we caught "Up" in 3D in this old classical theatre called the "Castro Theatre". While we were waiting for the movie to begin, there was this musician (organist??) playing old disney music with the theatre organ... man it was impressive! The movie was good too.
Dinner was at Campton Place. Quite a posh place as well, but we thought the food wasn't fantastic. The dessert was really nice though - I had basil braised strawberries with honeydew and vanilla ice cream. L had kinda like a lemon sorbet thing with meringue and oolong infused mousse. sweet...
Fun date :)
Monday, June 08, 2009
California - Part 1
== Flight ==
Arrived at the airport 2.5 hrs before departure. Joined a "bag drop" queue but it wasn't moving. Joined another bag drop queue. Moved about a foot after 5 minutes... decided to stay in the queue - at least there was progress. One hour later, I was only halfway there. The desk was closing in 10mins - one Virgin Atlantic woman came around asking, "San Francisco!". I hurried to her, was directed to another desk and within 3 minutes I've checked in my bags. Leaves me really puzzled why the hell I had to queue for an hour.
After boarding the flight, we sat quietly waiting for the plane to move off. But it never did. Bored, I fell asleep. An hour later, we were still in the same spot. Apparently there was a problem with some lock somewhere and it would have to get replaced before we could fly. Expected time? 2.5 hrs after scheduled departure.
Sigh worst flight experience ever.
== Day 1 ==
As soon as I touched down, I switched on my phone and gave L a ring. She arrived at the airport just as I collected my bag and headed out the airport. We then went to Iberia, this pretty cool spanish bar/restaurant place at Menlo Park for some really superb spanish tapas. She had a glass of red wine and I had Sangria. Super... then we went to Coldstone for ice cream. yummy!
== Day 2 ==
Woke up at 8.. lazed around, then went for breakfast at Cafe Borrone. She had belgian waffles with strawberries and cream. I had egg-cheese-ham omelette with a spicy italian sausage. flushed down the stuff with Chai tea and frosted mocha. Good food and really enjoyable. There was this hugeass German Shepard next to us, but for some reason she was really upset. She kept making this loud high pitched whining sound. Her owner was female and didn't really care that much about the dog... and when a guy came to the table, she whined even louder to the guy. We concluded that the guy was the real owner of the dog and she's unhappy that his girlfriend was left "in charge".
== Day 3 ==
Just started. L has to go to lab to feed some cells I think. I'll join her an hour later at a common friend's thesis defence. Then we're going for lunch somewhere, she's going to get her hair done, and we're gonna be taking some pictures around the campus.
Arrived at the airport 2.5 hrs before departure. Joined a "bag drop" queue but it wasn't moving. Joined another bag drop queue. Moved about a foot after 5 minutes... decided to stay in the queue - at least there was progress. One hour later, I was only halfway there. The desk was closing in 10mins - one Virgin Atlantic woman came around asking, "San Francisco!". I hurried to her, was directed to another desk and within 3 minutes I've checked in my bags. Leaves me really puzzled why the hell I had to queue for an hour.
After boarding the flight, we sat quietly waiting for the plane to move off. But it never did. Bored, I fell asleep. An hour later, we were still in the same spot. Apparently there was a problem with some lock somewhere and it would have to get replaced before we could fly. Expected time? 2.5 hrs after scheduled departure.
Sigh worst flight experience ever.
== Day 1 ==
As soon as I touched down, I switched on my phone and gave L a ring. She arrived at the airport just as I collected my bag and headed out the airport. We then went to Iberia, this pretty cool spanish bar/restaurant place at Menlo Park for some really superb spanish tapas. She had a glass of red wine and I had Sangria. Super... then we went to Coldstone for ice cream. yummy!
== Day 2 ==
Woke up at 8.. lazed around, then went for breakfast at Cafe Borrone. She had belgian waffles with strawberries and cream. I had egg-cheese-ham omelette with a spicy italian sausage. flushed down the stuff with Chai tea and frosted mocha. Good food and really enjoyable. There was this hugeass German Shepard next to us, but for some reason she was really upset. She kept making this loud high pitched whining sound. Her owner was female and didn't really care that much about the dog... and when a guy came to the table, she whined even louder to the guy. We concluded that the guy was the real owner of the dog and she's unhappy that his girlfriend was left "in charge".
== Day 3 ==
Just started. L has to go to lab to feed some cells I think. I'll join her an hour later at a common friend's thesis defence. Then we're going for lunch somewhere, she's going to get her hair done, and we're gonna be taking some pictures around the campus.
Friday, June 05, 2009
Work Stress
The past week has been incredibly tough for me. My old boss has left. Two new colleagues came over from the "other side". One, who's younger than me but has about the same amount of experience (because he didn't need to do NS) talks a lot. He seems to like to hear himself. He never allows anyone else to talk. And by talking, I mean lecturing. After a day of "interaction" (in quotes because it was really one sided...) me and my other colleague were immensely pissed off... we finally confronted him and told him, in very subtle terms, "F off. you're not our boss so don't pretend to be".
The other one is almost the total opposite. He looks young but has 15 years of experience. He doesn't talk a lot, is very shy, and lacking confidence. Even I could walk all over him... But he's useless. He sat next to me and kept peering over my shoulder at my screens, not giving me one ounce of privacy. I hated it. I was so stressed about it, I finally told my new boss (who, bear in mind, is pretty close to him). I think new boss managed to get the message across to him, because he doesn't do it anymore (or maybe more discreetly).
New boss also had a 1 to 1 meeting with me. Wanted to know more about me, about what I thought were my strengths and weaknesses, what I can do to improve the business, about my goals and ambitions and how I want to achieve them... gosh it was like an interview.
I survived the week though... because...
... I'm flying off to see L tomorrow. I haven't packed yet... I guess I should start soon. Will be taking some photos, enjoying some food...
Don't think I'll be updating the blog for a week at least. :)
The other one is almost the total opposite. He looks young but has 15 years of experience. He doesn't talk a lot, is very shy, and lacking confidence. Even I could walk all over him... But he's useless. He sat next to me and kept peering over my shoulder at my screens, not giving me one ounce of privacy. I hated it. I was so stressed about it, I finally told my new boss (who, bear in mind, is pretty close to him). I think new boss managed to get the message across to him, because he doesn't do it anymore (or maybe more discreetly).
New boss also had a 1 to 1 meeting with me. Wanted to know more about me, about what I thought were my strengths and weaknesses, what I can do to improve the business, about my goals and ambitions and how I want to achieve them... gosh it was like an interview.
I survived the week though... because...
... I'm flying off to see L tomorrow. I haven't packed yet... I guess I should start soon. Will be taking some photos, enjoying some food...
Don't think I'll be updating the blog for a week at least. :)
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
It never stops...
Today one of my good friends left the bank. He was a junior, from Stanford, joined 1 year after me, into structuring, same as I. He's a French Jew - and that was really cool since I learned a lot about the culture of not just France but Israel - and learned a few foreign words. Like "mazal tov" which means congratulations.
We never got really close - somehow I always have this barrier up with colleagues - for the whole year that we were in the same team. It was fun, sure, but I never really considered him a close friend. But then I left structuring to join trading, and when things got really bad with the takeover of our bank, we turned to each other for support. We never did much together, perhaps played a few football matches, watched a couple of movies, knocked down a few pints, and I tried my best to be a "wingman" for him one particular party...
He's a really smart, funny and capable guy... the kinda guy you think would be arrogant and ambitious... but the odd thing is he told me some time ago he really respected me. I know, odd right?
The unlucky thing for him was that his boss, soon after the takeover about 18 months ago, moved to another team and he was stuck in limbo doing nothing for like 6 months. Two of his team of three were cut very early on. He got "absorbed" into another team but he couldn't manage to integrate himself with the guys who he viewed as sub-standard. He was like an outcast. As time went by he felt he was wasting himself away... and slowly began to wish he was made redundant so he can escape from such agony...
But I'm selfish. I didn't want him to go. He shared laughs with me...
He's happy to go... but I'm so upset.
The big boss who recruited me to the bank almost 4 years ago has also been made redundant. My boss was asked to leave the day before. And now my friend.
Fuck.
We never got really close - somehow I always have this barrier up with colleagues - for the whole year that we were in the same team. It was fun, sure, but I never really considered him a close friend. But then I left structuring to join trading, and when things got really bad with the takeover of our bank, we turned to each other for support. We never did much together, perhaps played a few football matches, watched a couple of movies, knocked down a few pints, and I tried my best to be a "wingman" for him one particular party...
He's a really smart, funny and capable guy... the kinda guy you think would be arrogant and ambitious... but the odd thing is he told me some time ago he really respected me. I know, odd right?
The unlucky thing for him was that his boss, soon after the takeover about 18 months ago, moved to another team and he was stuck in limbo doing nothing for like 6 months. Two of his team of three were cut very early on. He got "absorbed" into another team but he couldn't manage to integrate himself with the guys who he viewed as sub-standard. He was like an outcast. As time went by he felt he was wasting himself away... and slowly began to wish he was made redundant so he can escape from such agony...
But I'm selfish. I didn't want him to go. He shared laughs with me...
He's happy to go... but I'm so upset.
The big boss who recruited me to the bank almost 4 years ago has also been made redundant. My boss was asked to leave the day before. And now my friend.
Fuck.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Ubuntu
I was spending a lot of time playing around with Ubuntu trying to get it set up the way I like it. I have a logitech keyboard and mouse and use a lot of the extra buttons on the keyboard and mouse for shortcuts and stuff. Took a bit of learning to get to what I wanted but finally I think I'm happy with the end result. All the programs I usually use works - except for Skype that doesn't have compatibility with my webcam on my 64bit OS. Its a really specific bug (only 64bit systems with that webcam with skype) so I doubt anyone would fix the problem... so I would still have to use windows to skype... But mostly I'm really happy with Ubuntu.
Many cool visual stuff too. First there are more workspaces (like multiple screens... you can drag stuff off the screen into another workspace and the whole screen kinda flips into the new workspace) and then there's other stuff like an "expose" feature that allows you to zoom out and see all 4 of my webspaces (default is 2). Or you can enable this cube thing that allows you to see all 4 webspaces rolled around a cube. Or like in windows vista when u press the windows-tab key and you see a preview of the windows open in 3D mode - ubuntu has that too. Cool effects like when u drag a window, the window actually squishes and distorts as you drag it so u really feel like your dragging a real object. awesome stuff man. And the transparency stuff is uber fantastic too. Check out the screenshot.
Ok i'm hungry.. gotta go..
Frankly speaking
Thursday, my boss wore a tie and a suit. He doesn't usually do that so it was very unusual. Turns out he just had his meeting (I call it the exit interview) with HR, and was put "at risk of redundancy" (we all know it really means retrenchment). As mentioned in an earlier post, he had already decided to leave, so it was no surprise. But still it was a very sad day for me.
A few reasons why I'm upset. He's a really good guy. He's one of the last remaining people from my original bank before the takeover. He thinks highly of me. There is no-one now to fend for me. I'm like a little fish in an ocean - exposed to sharks and other predators.
That evening, he offered to drive me home (since he lives about 5mins drive away from me). After more than a year of working with him, I finally had a very frank conversation. I asked him questions like, "how do you decide who leaves?". He says usually the weakest leaves. I asked, "how did you decide on X?" (X is one other colleague who works for him and had to go.) He said that it was between X and Y and X hasn't had a lot of work to do. Then he reassured me that I really had nothing to worry about.
I asked him also about Z, this guy that doesn't really do much, who's a lot more senior than me. Unsure of how my boss would feel, I phrased it carefully... "What about Z? I don't know what he does." His reply was so damn straight... "Z? He fckin pisses me off man. I told N (his boss) that we should get rid of him, but he's too good friends with N. They were saying that they needed more senior people, especially if I'm leaving." Wow. I wouldn't have expected to hear something like that.
Sigh... All good things will come to an end. Its time to move on...
A few reasons why I'm upset. He's a really good guy. He's one of the last remaining people from my original bank before the takeover. He thinks highly of me. There is no-one now to fend for me. I'm like a little fish in an ocean - exposed to sharks and other predators.
That evening, he offered to drive me home (since he lives about 5mins drive away from me). After more than a year of working with him, I finally had a very frank conversation. I asked him questions like, "how do you decide who leaves?". He says usually the weakest leaves. I asked, "how did you decide on X?" (X is one other colleague who works for him and had to go.) He said that it was between X and Y and X hasn't had a lot of work to do. Then he reassured me that I really had nothing to worry about.
I asked him also about Z, this guy that doesn't really do much, who's a lot more senior than me. Unsure of how my boss would feel, I phrased it carefully... "What about Z? I don't know what he does." His reply was so damn straight... "Z? He fckin pisses me off man. I told N (his boss) that we should get rid of him, but he's too good friends with N. They were saying that they needed more senior people, especially if I'm leaving." Wow. I wouldn't have expected to hear something like that.
Sigh... All good things will come to an end. Its time to move on...
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Computer issues
- Windows gave me the black desktop and a little (ok, actually a pretty big one) notification that "I may be a victim of counterfeiting".. Seriously, I have absolutely no idea how my copy of Windows isn't genuine... But I was fcking pissed off that they offered me a copy for 99 pounds (wtf man, winXP is almost obsolete and I can get it off the shelf for way less than that). I have decided to switch to Ubuntu. Haven't installed it yet, because...
- My fckn LAN connection died. No idea how or why. Just one morning, for no apparent reason, I couldn't see my network connection anymore. I'm using my laptop now, in case you're wondering. And I bought a LAN card. Hopefully that will work.
On the work front - business is slowly picking up and I'm getting busier. Which is good cause it keeps my mind off things and you leave the day knowing that you've done work. But as the date of when my boss leaves approaches, I feel more... alone.
Personal life - well, I'm trying play more sports. Going to the gym is boring the hell out of me. Trying to pick up tennis (I only played a few times so am nowhere near where I'd like to be) and continue on badminton. Racquet sports are definitely safer than contact sports like football... although safe to say my passion is still with football. Well, lets see how far I can keep this up. :)
And I bought my air tickets to Cali, flying off in June for a week. Should be good, though i should also start planning for it.
- My fckn LAN connection died. No idea how or why. Just one morning, for no apparent reason, I couldn't see my network connection anymore. I'm using my laptop now, in case you're wondering. And I bought a LAN card. Hopefully that will work.
On the work front - business is slowly picking up and I'm getting busier. Which is good cause it keeps my mind off things and you leave the day knowing that you've done work. But as the date of when my boss leaves approaches, I feel more... alone.
Personal life - well, I'm trying play more sports. Going to the gym is boring the hell out of me. Trying to pick up tennis (I only played a few times so am nowhere near where I'd like to be) and continue on badminton. Racquet sports are definitely safer than contact sports like football... although safe to say my passion is still with football. Well, lets see how far I can keep this up. :)
And I bought my air tickets to Cali, flying off in June for a week. Should be good, though i should also start planning for it.
Saturday, May 02, 2009
AWARE Saved
You can read about it here.
Quite a turn, really. The NCCS (the umbrella body for the churches in Singapore) issued a statement saying it did not condone the use of the pulpit for the controversy; the pastor for the church of our savior apologised; the new exco was given a vote of no confidence and the former president has been reelected.
Hopefully the drama has come to an end.
Quite a turn, really. The NCCS (the umbrella body for the churches in Singapore) issued a statement saying it did not condone the use of the pulpit for the controversy; the pastor for the church of our savior apologised; the new exco was given a vote of no confidence and the former president has been reelected.
Hopefully the drama has come to an end.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Save AWARE part 2
It was late Sunday night, I was preparing to go to bed, when L messaged me, "check out the AWARE takeover, its big news in SG". I was intrigued by any kind of takeover... and if its big news it gotta be really good. Having the vaguest idea of AWARE, I typed "aware takeover" in google...
The first link I clicked praised the new exco (executive committee). The blogger thought that the old AWARE was "an organisation made up of the sort of Western educated Singaporean women of a certain social class whom I find particularly irksome." She congratulated the new exco, saying any change is better, and blamed the old guard (the former exco) for being complacent and sore losers.
Fine, I thought. But I still didn't know what AWARE was and what was the big deal. So I clicked the second link...I found out that the takeover was a conspiracy - the website showed lots of emails. I was short on time so I skimmed thru the emails and I saw a lot of these words, " I pray that", "May He in His almighty wisdom...", "God"... I got the creeps...
Then I got the link that finally clearly outlined the issue. The story, in my own simplified terms, is that AWARE, an associated for advocating women's rights, were deemed by a Christian church to be pro-homosexuality. Its not hard to see how it works - the church got its members to join AWARE, take part in the AGM and vote its own members into office, thus hijacking this once stable organisation for its own goals.
While ordinarily I would have said, "suck it up, old guards", the more I read about AWARE, the new exco and what they stand for, and how the takeover happened, the more concerned I got and the greater the injustice I felt.
I don't want to sound like biased but I do believe the truth is out there for people to draw their own conclusions. There are huge issues at stake here - it isn't really about the old guards being sore about losing control of AWARE. The issues, if you would forgive me for generalising, are:
Homosexuality - I saw a video given by a pastor at COOS (church of our saviour), the church which instigated the takeover, give a sermon about homosexuality. He proclaimed, based on the word of God, or the bible, that homosexuality is a sin. Anyone remember Galileo, who was prosecuted by the church for saying the earth rotates around the sun? Or the witch hunts back in the medieval times? The bible is open to interpretation. How can we allow an organisation, built on the promise of fighting for the rights of all women, discriminate against another group?
Ethics and Integrity - the way in which the AGM was hijacked was something you would only imagine in the brutal and evil world of corporate finance. Even I was amazed at how the new exco didn't invite one of their officers, because she was also a part of the original exco.
Religion - AWARE wasn't a christian group. It helped women of all race, religion and sexuality. Now its being run by a pro-christian organisation.
At the press conference, the new exco said they were surprised and upset by death threats that they've received. The curious thing, to me, is that they can't see the reason why! I'm not a woman, not gay, not in Singapore and not feminist, and yet I feel anger and resentment towards these people - is it so surprising that they've angered a lot of people?
The good news, as many people has pointed out, is that this saga has brought all these issues to discussion.
Sign the petition if you are like me, or even better, if you are able to attend the EGM, sign up as an AWARE member and go vote for justice!
The first link I clicked praised the new exco (executive committee). The blogger thought that the old AWARE was "an organisation made up of the sort of Western educated Singaporean women of a certain social class whom I find particularly irksome." She congratulated the new exco, saying any change is better, and blamed the old guard (the former exco) for being complacent and sore losers.
Fine, I thought. But I still didn't know what AWARE was and what was the big deal. So I clicked the second link...I found out that the takeover was a conspiracy - the website showed lots of emails. I was short on time so I skimmed thru the emails and I saw a lot of these words, " I pray that", "May He in His almighty wisdom...", "God"... I got the creeps...
Then I got the link that finally clearly outlined the issue. The story, in my own simplified terms, is that AWARE, an associated for advocating women's rights, were deemed by a Christian church to be pro-homosexuality. Its not hard to see how it works - the church got its members to join AWARE, take part in the AGM and vote its own members into office, thus hijacking this once stable organisation for its own goals.
While ordinarily I would have said, "suck it up, old guards", the more I read about AWARE, the new exco and what they stand for, and how the takeover happened, the more concerned I got and the greater the injustice I felt.
I don't want to sound like biased but I do believe the truth is out there for people to draw their own conclusions. There are huge issues at stake here - it isn't really about the old guards being sore about losing control of AWARE. The issues, if you would forgive me for generalising, are:
Homosexuality - I saw a video given by a pastor at COOS (church of our saviour), the church which instigated the takeover, give a sermon about homosexuality. He proclaimed, based on the word of God, or the bible, that homosexuality is a sin. Anyone remember Galileo, who was prosecuted by the church for saying the earth rotates around the sun? Or the witch hunts back in the medieval times? The bible is open to interpretation. How can we allow an organisation, built on the promise of fighting for the rights of all women, discriminate against another group?
Ethics and Integrity - the way in which the AGM was hijacked was something you would only imagine in the brutal and evil world of corporate finance. Even I was amazed at how the new exco didn't invite one of their officers, because she was also a part of the original exco.
Religion - AWARE wasn't a christian group. It helped women of all race, religion and sexuality. Now its being run by a pro-christian organisation.
At the press conference, the new exco said they were surprised and upset by death threats that they've received. The curious thing, to me, is that they can't see the reason why! I'm not a woman, not gay, not in Singapore and not feminist, and yet I feel anger and resentment towards these people - is it so surprising that they've angered a lot of people?
The good news, as many people has pointed out, is that this saga has brought all these issues to discussion.
Sign the petition if you are like me, or even better, if you are able to attend the EGM, sign up as an AWARE member and go vote for justice!
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Save AWARE
http://www.gopetition.com/online/27163.html
- getting late, I gotta go sleep but just want to highlight this issue. Will blog more about it when I get the time.
gosh there's just so much to write I don't even know where to begin.
- getting late, I gotta go sleep but just want to highlight this issue. Will blog more about it when I get the time.
gosh there's just so much to write I don't even know where to begin.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Den of thieves
Reading this book called "Den of Thieves" by James B. Stewart, written some time ago about the insider trading scandal back in the 1980s, involving people like Michael Milken, Ivan Boesky and Martin Siegel. Don't blame you if you never heard of them...
Was introduced to this book by an accountant friend. She told me once that we are in evil jobs. I refused to accept that banking, as a profession, is evil. Will skip my arguments now - but at that time I was protesting quite a bit.
And now, reading through just like 20% of the book, I'm really starting to reconsider. Maybe its true... bankers are evil...
Was introduced to this book by an accountant friend. She told me once that we are in evil jobs. I refused to accept that banking, as a profession, is evil. Will skip my arguments now - but at that time I was protesting quite a bit.
And now, reading through just like 20% of the book, I'm really starting to reconsider. Maybe its true... bankers are evil...
Easter Sunday
Went to Margate - a small town east of England at the coast to cycle on Easter Sunday. It was quite a last minute decision... Friday and Monday were bank holidays so it was a pretty long weekend, and all my closest friends had programmes already so I had to find my own. A colleague asked me to join him, so I was like, what the hell, lets do it! We got another 2 more colleagues to join us.
Was quite a relaxing day. We cycled in total for about 5 or 6 hours.. spent some time at a beach lazing in the sun. Some pictures below...
Was quite a relaxing day. We cycled in total for about 5 or 6 hours.. spent some time at a beach lazing in the sun. Some pictures below...
Golf course
Sun shining through the clouds
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Boss dropped a bombshell on me...
He called us (me and Colleague A) out for a coffee after the market closed. Now, we don't normally go out for coffee together, much less in the evening... I guessed something was up - maybe it was to do with the upcoming job cuts. Asking us out for coffee, the news can't be that bad... otherwise he wouldn't be the one telling us. So, a little apprehensively, but not-too-worriedly, I walked out the door with him.
After a few moments of inane, inconsequential conversation, he dropped the bomb. And it was a fast moving, exploding bomb... I didn't even hear the words carefully. I think I heard,
"... I am leaving the bank... end of May... so will be another two months... will maybe come back next year..."
I was stunned. We were making money this year. He had just closed several deals which not only cut our risk but made some money. And he was a geniunely nice guy who took care of us.
I learned he was planning to quit finance, go back to Greece, and start a family with his soon-to-be wife (in July). A reasonable explanation, one that I could definitely identify with. So I don't blame him, and am actually quite grateful for, thinking back to the past 2 months, he had been giving me more responsibility while being very nice (He would say, "would you like to do this? Only if you want to!").
But the question is, what does this mean for me?
I'll get a new boss, for sure. A few options - another senior colleague becomes my boss (in which case I'll most likely be VERY disillusioned), the head of another team becomes my boss as well (in which case I'll be stressed but I'll adapt and survive), or a head from asia comes over (in which case I'll probably just quit). Option B seems to be most likely - and me surviving.
Good news for me is that the bosses of my current boss knows about me and thinks pretty highly of me. The bad news is the other head (the one most likely to be my boss) doesn't think that.
Life goes on. I'm still collecting my salary. Wont get too stressed over it, don't worry :)
After a few moments of inane, inconsequential conversation, he dropped the bomb. And it was a fast moving, exploding bomb... I didn't even hear the words carefully. I think I heard,
"... I am leaving the bank... end of May... so will be another two months... will maybe come back next year..."
I was stunned. We were making money this year. He had just closed several deals which not only cut our risk but made some money. And he was a geniunely nice guy who took care of us.
I learned he was planning to quit finance, go back to Greece, and start a family with his soon-to-be wife (in July). A reasonable explanation, one that I could definitely identify with. So I don't blame him, and am actually quite grateful for, thinking back to the past 2 months, he had been giving me more responsibility while being very nice (He would say, "would you like to do this? Only if you want to!").
But the question is, what does this mean for me?
I'll get a new boss, for sure. A few options - another senior colleague becomes my boss (in which case I'll most likely be VERY disillusioned), the head of another team becomes my boss as well (in which case I'll be stressed but I'll adapt and survive), or a head from asia comes over (in which case I'll probably just quit). Option B seems to be most likely - and me surviving.
Good news for me is that the bosses of my current boss knows about me and thinks pretty highly of me. The bad news is the other head (the one most likely to be my boss) doesn't think that.
Life goes on. I'm still collecting my salary. Wont get too stressed over it, don't worry :)
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Sun, glorious Sun!
How rare it is for the sun to be shining bright in London. Its out again today! I felt like a typical Angmor... I changed into berms and sandals and walked to the nearest park (Primrose hill - its so pretty!), threw out my gym towel (I was going to wash it after my sunbathing trip) on the grass, took off my shirt, plugged in my ipod, and closed my eyes. Ooooh it felt soooooo gooooood.
There was nobody within 50 meters of me. Clean, green grass and bright sunshine. My words can't do it justice.
But it got a little cold at some point - the wind was pretty strong in an open field... so after about an hour of photosynthesizing, I got up and came back home, all the while still enjoying the warmth of the sunshine on my face.
I never really loved the sun back in Singapore. There was too much of it. And you'll always equate the sun with heat, and with heat comes sweat, smell, and discomfort. But its different here. Six long months of cold, dreary London can really drain your soul... and now Spring is here, and the Sun is back, and I'm like, "Gosh, I really missed you... don't leave me again."
There was nobody within 50 meters of me. Clean, green grass and bright sunshine. My words can't do it justice.
But it got a little cold at some point - the wind was pretty strong in an open field... so after about an hour of photosynthesizing, I got up and came back home, all the while still enjoying the warmth of the sunshine on my face.
I never really loved the sun back in Singapore. There was too much of it. And you'll always equate the sun with heat, and with heat comes sweat, smell, and discomfort. But its different here. Six long months of cold, dreary London can really drain your soul... and now Spring is here, and the Sun is back, and I'm like, "Gosh, I really missed you... don't leave me again."
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
G20 protests
I wore jeans and a scruffy looking Tshirt to the office today. Not hard for me to pull off the non-banker look, given I am pretty young and poor...
I was expecting a lot of people to be dressed down - but still I was surprised by what I saw as I left Liverpool St station. I could count the number of people wearing suits in one hand! Its surreal... usually at 7.30am in the morning its the other way around - its the people not wearing suits that are the minority.
And so it got a bit fun for me. I was checking out what some people were wearing. Some young ones looked like me - some even wore a hooded sweatshirt. Some were obviously trying to fit into their son's skinny jeans. And some people still can't ditch their striped collared shirts...
Thru the day I was watching the news about the protests. Was quite exciting. I actually wished for protesters to show up outside my building so I could experience what its like. Then at about 2pm, apparently a group of protesters smashed the windows of another building and a few of them scrambled in. They threw out some office equipment through the windows - but the police eventually evicted them from the building. Then it started getting a bit violent... then I changed my mind... I don't want them outside my building.
About an hour later an email from management came down, advising us that they received reports that the protesters will gather outside our building at 3.30-4, and advised us to leave if we don't have any urgent business. Ho ho ho... i don't need any prodding to leave early man... so I finished up my stuff and left the office :)
I was home by 4pm. The sun was still shining bright (it was actually 3pm because of the daylight saving) and so I took a leisurely jog to the park and then bathed in the sun for a bit. Heh heh you hardly find sun in London so you better squeeze all that you can get!
A very exciting day indeed for me :)
I was expecting a lot of people to be dressed down - but still I was surprised by what I saw as I left Liverpool St station. I could count the number of people wearing suits in one hand! Its surreal... usually at 7.30am in the morning its the other way around - its the people not wearing suits that are the minority.
And so it got a bit fun for me. I was checking out what some people were wearing. Some young ones looked like me - some even wore a hooded sweatshirt. Some were obviously trying to fit into their son's skinny jeans. And some people still can't ditch their striped collared shirts...
Thru the day I was watching the news about the protests. Was quite exciting. I actually wished for protesters to show up outside my building so I could experience what its like. Then at about 2pm, apparently a group of protesters smashed the windows of another building and a few of them scrambled in. They threw out some office equipment through the windows - but the police eventually evicted them from the building. Then it started getting a bit violent... then I changed my mind... I don't want them outside my building.
About an hour later an email from management came down, advising us that they received reports that the protesters will gather outside our building at 3.30-4, and advised us to leave if we don't have any urgent business. Ho ho ho... i don't need any prodding to leave early man... so I finished up my stuff and left the office :)
I was home by 4pm. The sun was still shining bright (it was actually 3pm because of the daylight saving) and so I took a leisurely jog to the park and then bathed in the sun for a bit. Heh heh you hardly find sun in London so you better squeeze all that you can get!
A very exciting day indeed for me :)
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Casual wear week
From HereIsTheCIty:
So, we've been advised by the management to come in casual wear next week during the protests. While I'm happy at the opportunity to dress casual, I'm more concerned about the future outlook.
We know that banks are built on reputation. When the name of a bank has been so thoroughly tarnished - there really is no turning back. The bank will start to lose business and sooner or later, it will go down...
Only the very brave (or the very stupid) admit to being a banker these days.
In times of trouble, we all like someone to blame. And bankers are getting it in the neck big time for the current financial and economic crisis - but not just the bankers that were responsible for our current difficulties, but any banker. These days, it's all about guilt by association.
Things have become so bad, that some firms are telling their staff to come to work in casual clothing, and not to wear anything that identifies where they work, or who they work for. Some staff have received death threats, or have been physically threatened.
Protesters went on a bus tour (the so-called Rich & Infamous tour) of the houses of AIG executives in the US last weekend, and vandals went to work on a house and a car owned by former Royal bank of Scotland CEO Sir Fred Goodwin in Edinburgh earlier this week, smashing windows. Police are investigating an e-mail which claims responsibility for the attacks, and says: 'We are angry that rich people, like him, are paying themselves a huge amount of money and living in luxury, while ordinary people are made unemployed, destitute and homeless......This is just the beginning'.
And then we face the prospect of the G20 protests in London next week, which are predicted to end up in riots and more vandalism.
So, we've been advised by the management to come in casual wear next week during the protests. While I'm happy at the opportunity to dress casual, I'm more concerned about the future outlook.
We know that banks are built on reputation. When the name of a bank has been so thoroughly tarnished - there really is no turning back. The bank will start to lose business and sooner or later, it will go down...
Monday, March 23, 2009
90% Tax on Bonus payments - what others say
The work we have all done to try to stabilize the financial system and to get this economy moving again would be significantly set back if we lose our talented people because Congress imposes a special tax on financial services employees.
Vikram Pandit, CEO, Citi
I am very concerned about our ability to retain some of our most valuable associates. The very best performers on our team will always have offers from competitors.
Ken Lewis, CEO, Bank of America
This will undermine the recovery efforts. It will decrease industry interest in participating in any recovery program, and cast a pall over existing and future contracts.
Scott Talbott, SVP for government affairs, the Financial Services Roundtable (Bloomberg)
While I totally understand the desire to recoup the bonus money, passing this bill out of anger and rage will only destroy the competitiveness of the industry and the banks you are trying to save. It is as simple as that.
Dan Greenhaus, equity analyst, Miller Tabak & Co (MarketWatch)
If you are not careful, the only people who will be interested in working for bailed out US banks will be about as bright as those lunatic US lawmakers.
Vic Daniels, publisher, Here Is The City
What Congress has said is that 'We will be an irrational-acting partner.' It dissuades anybody from taking on a relationship with the government.
John Canning, chairman, Madison Dearborn Partners (The Chicago Tribune)
Friday, March 20, 2009
Mass Hysteria Over AIG Obscures Simple Truths: Michael Lewis
I was feeling a little bit strongly about the AIG bonus tax affair when I came accross this commentary from Michael Lewis (the author of Liar's Poker) for Bloomberg news. I felt it described my thoughts so much better so I have shamelessly reproduced it here for your convenience.
Mass Hysteria Over AIG Obscures Simple Truths: Michael Lewis
2009-03-20 04:00:29.0 GMT
Commentary by Michael Lewis
March 20 (Bloomberg) -- Last September the U.S. government began to dole out the first of $173 billion to American International Group. A big chunk of it passed right through to banks that had bought insurance from AIG against mortgage and corporate defaults -- foreign banks such as Deutsche Bank and Societe Generale but also some domestic ones, such as Goldman Sachs and Bank of America.
U.S. government officials then went to great lengths to disguise from the public exactly what they had done, and why, going so far as to declare the ultimate list of recipients of taxpayer funds off limits to the taxpayer. To its immense credit, the media -- or, rather, a handful of diligent reporters, the New York Times’ Gretchen Morgenson chief among them -- prevented the public officials from getting their way.
This incredible act triggered hardly any political backlash. In effect, the U.S. taxpayer had paid off AIG’s gambling debts. The end recipient of the money was not AIG, but Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and the others.
Some large portion of the billions obviously wound up, in one form or another, in the pockets of their employees and shareholders. A few people on Capitol Hill moan and groan but there is popular agreement on the wisdom of this transfer of ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY THREE BILLION dollars from the taxpayer to the financiers.
Hari Kari
But when AIG itself pays out $165 million in bonuses -- money it is contractually obliged to pay -- the entire political system goes insane. President Barack Obama says he’s going to find a way to abrogate the contracts and take the money back. A U.S. senator says that AIG employees should kill themselves.
Every recriminatory bone in the political body is aroused; the one thing you can do right now in Washington without getting an argument is to rail against the ethics of AIG’s bonus payment.
Apart from Andrew Ross Sorkin at the New York Times, it occurs to no one to say that a) the vast majority of the employees at AIG had as little as you or I to do with its quasi- criminal risk taking and catastrophic losses; b) that the most- valuable of those employees can easily find work at AIG’s competitors; and c) that if the government insists on punishing those valuable employees they will understandably leave, and leave behind a company even less viable than it is, and less likely to give the taxpayer back his money.
And also -- oh, yes -- that if the government can arbitrarily break contracts made by firms in which it has taken a stake no one in his right mind will ever again make a contract with one of those firms. And so all of the banks in which the government has investment will be damaged.
Big Numbers
From this episode we can observe several general truths about the financial crisis, and the attempt to end it:
1) To the political process all big numbers look alike; above a certain number the money becomes purely symbolic. The general public has no ability to feel the relative weight of 173 billion and 165 million. You can generate as much political action and public anger over millions as you can over billions. Maybe more: the larger the number the more abstract it becomes and, therefore, the easier to ignore. (The trillions we owe foreigners, for example.)
2) As the financial crisis has evolved its moral has been simplified, grotesquely. In the beginning this crisis was messy. Wall Street financiers behaved horribly but so did ordinary Americans. Millions of people borrowed money they shouldn’t have borrowed and, not, typically, because they were duped or defrauded but because they were covetous and greedy: they wanted to own stuff they hadn’t earned the right to buy.
On the Line
But now that taxpayer money is on the line the story has changed: innocent taxpayers are now being exploited by horrible Wall Street financiers. The guy who defaulted on mortgages on his six spec houses in the Nevada desert has turned himself into the citizen enraged by the bonuses paid to the AIG employees trying to sort out the mess caused by his defaults.
3) The complexity of the issues at the heart of the crisis paralyzes the political processes’ ability to deal with them intelligently. I have no doubt that, by the time this saga ends, we will all know what happened to every penny of that $165 million in bonuses and each have our opinion of the morality of it.
I doubt seriously we will ever understand the morality of the $173 billion payment that is the far more serious issue. For instance, Goldman Sachs, which received about 8 percent of the pile, or $13 billion, has claimed publicly that the money was, to them, a matter of indifference, as Goldman had hedged itself against a possible collapse of AIG -- by making bets against AIG.
Goldman’s Clue
This suggests that it was clear to at least one market player, before the collapse, that AAA-rated AIG was behaving in ways that might lead to its demise -- which is to say that there was really no responsible place to lay off these bets. (So why bail out those who made them?)
It also suggests that it is a matter of indifference to Goldman Sachs whether AIG lived or died, as either way it was protected. (So why bail it out?)
Since the beginning of the crisis I’ve wondered why the government has found neither the will nor the way to attack the root of the problem -- the people who borrowed money to buy homes they shouldn’t have bought.
Now I think I understand. It would be too simple. People would understand a lot of small payments to the guy down the street who doesn’t deserve them, and become outraged. Far better to throw trillions at opaque corporations, the inner workings of which no one still really understands.
Mass Hysteria Over AIG Obscures Simple Truths: Michael Lewis
2009-03-20 04:00:29.0 GMT
Commentary by Michael Lewis
March 20 (Bloomberg) -- Last September the U.S. government began to dole out the first of $173 billion to American International Group. A big chunk of it passed right through to banks that had bought insurance from AIG against mortgage and corporate defaults -- foreign banks such as Deutsche Bank and Societe Generale but also some domestic ones, such as Goldman Sachs and Bank of America.
U.S. government officials then went to great lengths to disguise from the public exactly what they had done, and why, going so far as to declare the ultimate list of recipients of taxpayer funds off limits to the taxpayer. To its immense credit, the media -- or, rather, a handful of diligent reporters, the New York Times’ Gretchen Morgenson chief among them -- prevented the public officials from getting their way.
This incredible act triggered hardly any political backlash. In effect, the U.S. taxpayer had paid off AIG’s gambling debts. The end recipient of the money was not AIG, but Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and the others.
Some large portion of the billions obviously wound up, in one form or another, in the pockets of their employees and shareholders. A few people on Capitol Hill moan and groan but there is popular agreement on the wisdom of this transfer of ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY THREE BILLION dollars from the taxpayer to the financiers.
Hari Kari
But when AIG itself pays out $165 million in bonuses -- money it is contractually obliged to pay -- the entire political system goes insane. President Barack Obama says he’s going to find a way to abrogate the contracts and take the money back. A U.S. senator says that AIG employees should kill themselves.
Every recriminatory bone in the political body is aroused; the one thing you can do right now in Washington without getting an argument is to rail against the ethics of AIG’s bonus payment.
Apart from Andrew Ross Sorkin at the New York Times, it occurs to no one to say that a) the vast majority of the employees at AIG had as little as you or I to do with its quasi- criminal risk taking and catastrophic losses; b) that the most- valuable of those employees can easily find work at AIG’s competitors; and c) that if the government insists on punishing those valuable employees they will understandably leave, and leave behind a company even less viable than it is, and less likely to give the taxpayer back his money.
And also -- oh, yes -- that if the government can arbitrarily break contracts made by firms in which it has taken a stake no one in his right mind will ever again make a contract with one of those firms. And so all of the banks in which the government has investment will be damaged.
Big Numbers
From this episode we can observe several general truths about the financial crisis, and the attempt to end it:
1) To the political process all big numbers look alike; above a certain number the money becomes purely symbolic. The general public has no ability to feel the relative weight of 173 billion and 165 million. You can generate as much political action and public anger over millions as you can over billions. Maybe more: the larger the number the more abstract it becomes and, therefore, the easier to ignore. (The trillions we owe foreigners, for example.)
2) As the financial crisis has evolved its moral has been simplified, grotesquely. In the beginning this crisis was messy. Wall Street financiers behaved horribly but so did ordinary Americans. Millions of people borrowed money they shouldn’t have borrowed and, not, typically, because they were duped or defrauded but because they were covetous and greedy: they wanted to own stuff they hadn’t earned the right to buy.
On the Line
But now that taxpayer money is on the line the story has changed: innocent taxpayers are now being exploited by horrible Wall Street financiers. The guy who defaulted on mortgages on his six spec houses in the Nevada desert has turned himself into the citizen enraged by the bonuses paid to the AIG employees trying to sort out the mess caused by his defaults.
3) The complexity of the issues at the heart of the crisis paralyzes the political processes’ ability to deal with them intelligently. I have no doubt that, by the time this saga ends, we will all know what happened to every penny of that $165 million in bonuses and each have our opinion of the morality of it.
I doubt seriously we will ever understand the morality of the $173 billion payment that is the far more serious issue. For instance, Goldman Sachs, which received about 8 percent of the pile, or $13 billion, has claimed publicly that the money was, to them, a matter of indifference, as Goldman had hedged itself against a possible collapse of AIG -- by making bets against AIG.
Goldman’s Clue
This suggests that it was clear to at least one market player, before the collapse, that AAA-rated AIG was behaving in ways that might lead to its demise -- which is to say that there was really no responsible place to lay off these bets. (So why bail out those who made them?)
It also suggests that it is a matter of indifference to Goldman Sachs whether AIG lived or died, as either way it was protected. (So why bail it out?)
Since the beginning of the crisis I’ve wondered why the government has found neither the will nor the way to attack the root of the problem -- the people who borrowed money to buy homes they shouldn’t have bought.
Now I think I understand. It would be too simple. People would understand a lot of small payments to the guy down the street who doesn’t deserve them, and become outraged. Far better to throw trillions at opaque corporations, the inner workings of which no one still really understands.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Thoughts on AIG bonuses
There's been a furor over the AIG bonuses. Apparently they paid 165million in bonuses to the people who ran AIG with "greed" and played a part in the current crisis. Almost every single US politician is voicing their anger at the payments.
It seems like everyone is furious over the payments - so much so, that Congress actually passed a law taxing 90% of these bonuses. Retrospectively, after the payments were made. The speed at which the bill passed is also astonishing: the bonuses were paid just a few days ago and this tax is now legislation...
But lets put everything in perspective. The government has pledged like what, 165 billion in aid? The bonuses are just 0.1% of this aid package. So they have recouped 90% of this. But at what cost?
1. Destruction of their credibility. They have put in doubt all legally binding contracts. Who would want to do business in the USA, knowing that the government might just, due to some populism frenzy, CHANGE the law and rescind on agreements.
2. Corporations and banks will no longer be willing to take government aid. This exactly undermines the very aid stimulus they have been trying to revive the economy with. I would imagine a bank would rather seek help from one of the middle eastern soveriegn funds than help from their own government.
3. The very corporations and banks that they have injected money with... well, its predictable what's going to happen. Their most talented people are going to leave, they'll be left as a poorly run, horribly unmotivated organisation. It will be a spiral of rot and disposal. These banks will never return to profitability and the American people will never get their money back.
Man, I thought the UK government was hopeless. The USA is just appalling. Goodbye corporate america!
It seems like everyone is furious over the payments - so much so, that Congress actually passed a law taxing 90% of these bonuses. Retrospectively, after the payments were made. The speed at which the bill passed is also astonishing: the bonuses were paid just a few days ago and this tax is now legislation...
But lets put everything in perspective. The government has pledged like what, 165 billion in aid? The bonuses are just 0.1% of this aid package. So they have recouped 90% of this. But at what cost?
1. Destruction of their credibility. They have put in doubt all legally binding contracts. Who would want to do business in the USA, knowing that the government might just, due to some populism frenzy, CHANGE the law and rescind on agreements.
2. Corporations and banks will no longer be willing to take government aid. This exactly undermines the very aid stimulus they have been trying to revive the economy with. I would imagine a bank would rather seek help from one of the middle eastern soveriegn funds than help from their own government.
3. The very corporations and banks that they have injected money with... well, its predictable what's going to happen. Their most talented people are going to leave, they'll be left as a poorly run, horribly unmotivated organisation. It will be a spiral of rot and disposal. These banks will never return to profitability and the American people will never get their money back.
Man, I thought the UK government was hopeless. The USA is just appalling. Goodbye corporate america!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
It wasn't me that caused the crisis!
It was Washington that left the CDS market unregulated, Wall Street that securitized trillions of dollars of worthless mortgages, and Main Street that bought homes it never could afford. - Evan Newmark, DealJournal, via FTAlphaville
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Bonus update
So, I just learned about my bonus. Its a number close to 0. A number that won't affect me much, prob wont be able to pay for my wedding either. And I will get in 3 installments over the next three years (starting 1 yr from now). Which really really sucks.
But I guess I should be thankful. Half the team didn't get a bonus at all. My bonus was a token of appreciation for my hard work, apparently.
I'm not motivated. Worst thing is, there's so little business now, even if I was motivated, there was nothing to do! I spend half.. or 80% of my time reading news and surfing the net right now. My colleagues and I are now betting on what the level of the S&P will close each day (the closest guess wins a cup of coffee). Yeah, how bored we are.
Next week will be better. I'm sure.
But I guess I should be thankful. Half the team didn't get a bonus at all. My bonus was a token of appreciation for my hard work, apparently.
I'm not motivated. Worst thing is, there's so little business now, even if I was motivated, there was nothing to do! I spend half.. or 80% of my time reading news and surfing the net right now. My colleagues and I are now betting on what the level of the S&P will close each day (the closest guess wins a cup of coffee). Yeah, how bored we are.
Next week will be better. I'm sure.
Monday, February 23, 2009
We're doomed!!!
First came to me about a couple of weeks ago when both the UK and the US politicians started chastising the bank chiefs and blaming the banks for the financial crisis. Besides humiliating them on their huge pay packages, they have also brought out a lot of very flawed arguments - that makes me wonder if they really know what they are talking about.
Argument: RBS made a very bad decision buying ABN AMRO.
Analysis: That is now clear in hindsight. RBS simply didn't have enough cash to make such a large purchase - it would only have made sense if both RBS and ABN were growing as they had for the past 3 years. However, 94% of shareholders were in favour of the takeover. No one could have forseen the depth of the current crisis - that all banks, not only RBS and ABN, have massively lower market cap.
Argument: Bankers with their large pay packages siphoned money off the economy, therefore they shouldn't be paid so much.
Analysis: Bankers that have caused losses have long been fired from the banks, but its the ones remaining that are suffering the brunt of the blame.
Argument: Banks and their fancy financial products caused the financial crisis.
Analysis: Admittedly, they were part of the problem. But who profited from getting cheap mortages they couldn't afford, and walked away when they realised they couldn't pay up? Who built and sold houses on what we know now are inflated prices? Who bragged that boom in 2007 was due to the deregulation of the economy? We are all to blame.
There was even this very pointed question at a particular chairman of a bank, "How many in your board have experience or qualification in finance?". This question coming from a gray haired politician who, himself, has no such experience or qualification. In fact, looking at the entire room of executioners - I doubt that anyone in the room really understood the crux of the crisis.
I thought the point of the whole exercise was to find the problem, fix it, and prevent it from happening again. Alas, they never even got past finger pointing.
Under the current leadership.... We're doomed...
Argument: RBS made a very bad decision buying ABN AMRO.
Analysis: That is now clear in hindsight. RBS simply didn't have enough cash to make such a large purchase - it would only have made sense if both RBS and ABN were growing as they had for the past 3 years. However, 94% of shareholders were in favour of the takeover. No one could have forseen the depth of the current crisis - that all banks, not only RBS and ABN, have massively lower market cap.
Argument: Bankers with their large pay packages siphoned money off the economy, therefore they shouldn't be paid so much.
Analysis: Bankers that have caused losses have long been fired from the banks, but its the ones remaining that are suffering the brunt of the blame.
Argument: Banks and their fancy financial products caused the financial crisis.
Analysis: Admittedly, they were part of the problem. But who profited from getting cheap mortages they couldn't afford, and walked away when they realised they couldn't pay up? Who built and sold houses on what we know now are inflated prices? Who bragged that boom in 2007 was due to the deregulation of the economy? We are all to blame.
There was even this very pointed question at a particular chairman of a bank, "How many in your board have experience or qualification in finance?". This question coming from a gray haired politician who, himself, has no such experience or qualification. In fact, looking at the entire room of executioners - I doubt that anyone in the room really understood the crux of the crisis.
I thought the point of the whole exercise was to find the problem, fix it, and prevent it from happening again. Alas, they never even got past finger pointing.
Under the current leadership.... We're doomed...
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Swimming pool water is not good for you.
I went swimming on Thursday. I thought it would be a good idea to learn how to breathe from my left side as well as my right - since if I'm going to be swimming regularly better even out the neck muscles on both sides right?
Problem is, I can't. I ended up drinking quite a decent amount of swimming pool water...
I ended up with diarrhea, stomach aches, and a mild fever. I missed work on Friday and instead slept for roughly 20hours...
So take my advice. Don't drink swimming pool water.
Problem is, I can't. I ended up drinking quite a decent amount of swimming pool water...
I ended up with diarrhea, stomach aches, and a mild fever. I missed work on Friday and instead slept for roughly 20hours...
So take my advice. Don't drink swimming pool water.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
The woes of a poor banker
We heard our bonus pool (the pool of money, not a real swimming pool) on sky news, not through our intranet. Headlines were "NO CASH BONUSES", "BONUS POOL CUT FROM 2.1 BILLION LAST YEAR TO 175 BILLION".
The mood in the office was sombre. I could almost forsee people jumping off buildings.
Ah well... I was prepared for it. Its sad but... I guess there's no point thinking about something you cannot control.
What I can control is my spending. Sigh...
The mood in the office was sombre. I could almost forsee people jumping off buildings.
Ah well... I was prepared for it. Its sad but... I guess there's no point thinking about something you cannot control.
What I can control is my spending. Sigh...
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Snow in London
Just to show you a few pictures of London covered in snow. So, I mentioned how I came in from the airport last Monday. I took a train to Paddington, and took the Bakerloo line to Oxford Circus, where I got stuck for more than an hour waiting to get on the Central Line. In the end, I gave up, and walked out of the station - to be greeted by this scene:
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Bonus time
Everyone is talking about it. I mean, not just everyone in the bank, but everyone in the street. Its on BBC, its on the Metro, its on Evening Standard, the Times, the Daily Telegraph.
There is just so much vitriol and distrust against ALL people who work in the bank - innocent me included. "NO BONUS SHOULD BE PAID" they exclaim, "How on earth can they pay bonuses to bankers after receiving 20bln pounds in government aid?".
Indeed, if the government hasn't bailed us out, there's a chance I'd be jobless, let alone having a bonus.
But on the other hand, if the government didn't bail us out, maybe some other bank would have bought us (like Nomura buying parts of Lehman), and maybe we would have had guaranteed bonuses (again, drawing the Lehman example)...
I'm not really arguing for a bonus. I'm just upset at every layman hurling abuse at bankers in general, and applying pressure for us to get nothing. We all know the bulk of a banker's compensation is his bonus...
But I know, whatever I say will change nothing. The bank is owned by the government now. The government has to answer to the people. It will no longer care about running the bank like a commercial business, basing decisions on economic merit. The best talent will go without the accompanying compensation. The bank will, soon enough, become a lethargic, 9-5 government entity.
Even my bosses' boss said, "Either the salary moves to match the work, or the work moves to match the salary. There can't be a mismatch."
oh kay...
Time to plan my move. In the meantime, its gonna be 9 to 5 for me.
There is just so much vitriol and distrust against ALL people who work in the bank - innocent me included. "NO BONUS SHOULD BE PAID" they exclaim, "How on earth can they pay bonuses to bankers after receiving 20bln pounds in government aid?".
Indeed, if the government hasn't bailed us out, there's a chance I'd be jobless, let alone having a bonus.
But on the other hand, if the government didn't bail us out, maybe some other bank would have bought us (like Nomura buying parts of Lehman), and maybe we would have had guaranteed bonuses (again, drawing the Lehman example)...
I'm not really arguing for a bonus. I'm just upset at every layman hurling abuse at bankers in general, and applying pressure for us to get nothing. We all know the bulk of a banker's compensation is his bonus...
But I know, whatever I say will change nothing. The bank is owned by the government now. The government has to answer to the people. It will no longer care about running the bank like a commercial business, basing decisions on economic merit. The best talent will go without the accompanying compensation. The bank will, soon enough, become a lethargic, 9-5 government entity.
Even my bosses' boss said, "Either the salary moves to match the work, or the work moves to match the salary. There can't be a mismatch."
oh kay...
Time to plan my move. In the meantime, its gonna be 9 to 5 for me.
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Alumni Gathering
Today I was supposed to be playing football. But it got cancelled because of the snow - the pitch I suppose, was covered in it. Luckily there was this stanford alumni event that evening that my colleague (who was also in the same course as me) told me about. So I went together with him.
I had no expectations for that event. It was just a simple gathering at a pub. When we arrived the pub was crowded and we didn't really know who to look for. So we went around and found a small staircase with a little A4 sign with a Stanford logo on it. So we went upstairs, thinking that the whole room would have been reserved.
The room was packed. Like 50 or so people, all in their own cliques talking to each other. We felt a little intimidated. So we bought our drinks, and spent some time surveying the place and trying to at least talk to someone. Turned out that not everybody was there for the same purpose!
So finally we found this table of 4 with again the same Stanford sign on it. Talked to them and realised that the organiser was actually chased out of the pub because it was too crowded to hold organised gatherings there. She was in another pub across the road. We finished our drinks then headed over there.
There were another 5 people with her. Was nicer there as the music wasn't loud and there was a large table that everyone could sit around. We talked in smaller groups and changed seats as and when somebody had to go to the toilet. It was cool, I met mostly everyone there.
I didn't have any expectations, but I was glad that I turned up. Met new people and thoroughly enjoyed myself as they were a genuinely funny bunch! The organiser's going to set up a facebook group and maybe we'll have more of these gatherings in future.
I had no expectations for that event. It was just a simple gathering at a pub. When we arrived the pub was crowded and we didn't really know who to look for. So we went around and found a small staircase with a little A4 sign with a Stanford logo on it. So we went upstairs, thinking that the whole room would have been reserved.
The room was packed. Like 50 or so people, all in their own cliques talking to each other. We felt a little intimidated. So we bought our drinks, and spent some time surveying the place and trying to at least talk to someone. Turned out that not everybody was there for the same purpose!
So finally we found this table of 4 with again the same Stanford sign on it. Talked to them and realised that the organiser was actually chased out of the pub because it was too crowded to hold organised gatherings there. She was in another pub across the road. We finished our drinks then headed over there.
There were another 5 people with her. Was nicer there as the music wasn't loud and there was a large table that everyone could sit around. We talked in smaller groups and changed seats as and when somebody had to go to the toilet. It was cool, I met mostly everyone there.
I didn't have any expectations, but I was glad that I turned up. Met new people and thoroughly enjoyed myself as they were a genuinely funny bunch! The organiser's going to set up a facebook group and maybe we'll have more of these gatherings in future.
Monday, February 02, 2009
How I got in to the office this morning
I landed at Heathrow at 4.45am. Cleared immigration at 5. Baggage collection was delayed because of the snow. Managed to get my bags by 5.30.
Walked out to catch the Heathrow Express and learned that it was suspended. Next train (which is the heathrow connect) which they couldn't guarantee would arrive at 6.20 or so. So I walked over to the underground station - and the next train wasn't for 7mins, and it only went up to hyde park corner... I also didn't want to waste my return ticket on the heathrow express, so I went back and managed to finally take a train to paddington - and I thought the chaos would be over... It was 7.20.
Then I found out most of the tube lines were suspended, except the bakerloo and the central line. I was advised to travel to Liverpool street via the Bakerloo line to Oxford Circus and then the Central line. I managed to get to Oxford Circus and thats when the real nightmare began.
The central line was packed. There was even a crowd to get to the platform. When I managed to get to the platform I was like four "layers" of people away. When the train arrived a few minutes later, the carriage itself was packed. I was standing in between doors so there was no chance i can get aboard. After two more trains came and left, I decided to try my luck at the end of the platform where I naively thought would be less crowded. Another three trains came and left (all with intervals of like 10mins..). Finally, the station announced that the next train would take 50mins to arrive, so I gave up getting on the tube. It was really stressful standing at the edge of the platform for minutes before the train arrives... you were not sure u could get on and when the train left there's this gaping hole in front of you and twenty people crowded behind you. Imagine what if someone decides to stretch, nudges someone who loses his balance, and knocks into you....
At 8.40 or so I walked out of oxford circus and while i was so frustrated at the whole affair, a curious sight greeted me. Oxford Circus was bright white with snow. It was still snowing. There were no buses, no vehicles (well there were some very sparse traffic). People were taking pictures. There was probably a feet of snow. I took a few snaps and then tried to find my way to work. There was no buses and the few taxis that passed were full so I trekked, lugging my luggage through the snow. It got tiring and cold so I stopped at starbucks for a takeaway coffee and then continued my hike. It went on for about an hour. I was still thinking it would be cool if I managed to walk to the office with all my stuff... but the going got tougher and finally, at Aldwych, a taxi that was free came by and I hopped into it. Brought me straight to work for 7quid. I finally sat at my desk at 10...
So it took me 5hours to get from the airport to my office...
Walked out to catch the Heathrow Express and learned that it was suspended. Next train (which is the heathrow connect) which they couldn't guarantee would arrive at 6.20 or so. So I walked over to the underground station - and the next train wasn't for 7mins, and it only went up to hyde park corner... I also didn't want to waste my return ticket on the heathrow express, so I went back and managed to finally take a train to paddington - and I thought the chaos would be over... It was 7.20.
Then I found out most of the tube lines were suspended, except the bakerloo and the central line. I was advised to travel to Liverpool street via the Bakerloo line to Oxford Circus and then the Central line. I managed to get to Oxford Circus and thats when the real nightmare began.
The central line was packed. There was even a crowd to get to the platform. When I managed to get to the platform I was like four "layers" of people away. When the train arrived a few minutes later, the carriage itself was packed. I was standing in between doors so there was no chance i can get aboard. After two more trains came and left, I decided to try my luck at the end of the platform where I naively thought would be less crowded. Another three trains came and left (all with intervals of like 10mins..). Finally, the station announced that the next train would take 50mins to arrive, so I gave up getting on the tube. It was really stressful standing at the edge of the platform for minutes before the train arrives... you were not sure u could get on and when the train left there's this gaping hole in front of you and twenty people crowded behind you. Imagine what if someone decides to stretch, nudges someone who loses his balance, and knocks into you....
At 8.40 or so I walked out of oxford circus and while i was so frustrated at the whole affair, a curious sight greeted me. Oxford Circus was bright white with snow. It was still snowing. There were no buses, no vehicles (well there were some very sparse traffic). People were taking pictures. There was probably a feet of snow. I took a few snaps and then tried to find my way to work. There was no buses and the few taxis that passed were full so I trekked, lugging my luggage through the snow. It got tiring and cold so I stopped at starbucks for a takeaway coffee and then continued my hike. It went on for about an hour. I was still thinking it would be cool if I managed to walk to the office with all my stuff... but the going got tougher and finally, at Aldwych, a taxi that was free came by and I hopped into it. Brought me straight to work for 7quid. I finally sat at my desk at 10...
So it took me 5hours to get from the airport to my office...
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger
I never really experienced a recession. Wasn't born in the 1930s, nor the 1970s, and too young to understand the 97 Asian crisis... and somehow even the dotcom bust of 2001/2 didn't really affect me.
But now I'm right smack in the middle of one.
And it sucks.
The RBS share price dropped yesterday from about 50p to 10p. It has probably fallen like 95% since its high about a year ago.
RBS posted a loss of 28billion pounds. Thats a really large number. 28,000,000,000. I can't really put that in perspective... suffice to say its probably the GDP of some small country. And I read an article saying RBS is the world's largest company by assets (or liabilities). If RBS were to be nationalised by the UK government, the debt of the UK would swell by 400%.
Not surprisingly, the GBP took a beating. RBS was downgraded - and since its likely that the UK government will step in and nationalise the bank, the UK is also on its way to be downgraded.
Its bleak.
But hey, don't worry about me. Its only a recession. I've been through more pain. And I've always believed, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger.
But now I'm right smack in the middle of one.
And it sucks.
The RBS share price dropped yesterday from about 50p to 10p. It has probably fallen like 95% since its high about a year ago.
RBS posted a loss of 28billion pounds. Thats a really large number. 28,000,000,000. I can't really put that in perspective... suffice to say its probably the GDP of some small country. And I read an article saying RBS is the world's largest company by assets (or liabilities). If RBS were to be nationalised by the UK government, the debt of the UK would swell by 400%.
Not surprisingly, the GBP took a beating. RBS was downgraded - and since its likely that the UK government will step in and nationalise the bank, the UK is also on its way to be downgraded.
Its bleak.
But hey, don't worry about me. Its only a recession. I've been through more pain. And I've always believed, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger.
Friday, January 02, 2009
New year resolutions 2009
New year, new resolutions...
And, I learnt that two of my friends have the same first resolution about proactivity. That got me thinking that most people are procrastinators - which led me to remember that procrastination has its roots in evolution. Something about putting off doing difficult or unenjoyable things resulting in saving of precious energy... and then i came across this article which said, "Most people never achieve their new year resolutions"...
Nice. How inspirational...
- I will be more proactive. Repeat of last year's...
- I will control my temper and not snap at people when I'm frustrated at something or someone else.
And, I learnt that two of my friends have the same first resolution about proactivity. That got me thinking that most people are procrastinators - which led me to remember that procrastination has its roots in evolution. Something about putting off doing difficult or unenjoyable things resulting in saving of precious energy... and then i came across this article which said, "Most people never achieve their new year resolutions"...
Nice. How inspirational...
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