You may have seen the letter that appeared in the New York Times from Jake DeSantis, an executive vice president of the American International Group’s financial products unit, announcing his resignation because … let’s all get out our hankies here … he was criticized for being paid a bonus of “$742,006.40, after taxes.” In the letter, he expresses his view of the unfairness of it all: He stayed on after […]
Cover of Reckoning My sister-in-law Yvette posted this challenge on Facebook: Think of 15 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. They might not be what you listen to now, […]
The bankers and the big dog finance guys are taking a huge hit in the press and in Congress right now, the large bonuses being paid to people who don’t seem to have done a lot of good for their companies recently being fodder for a thorough bashing. It’s hard to feel much sympathy for those on the wrong end of things right now; these are, after all, people who’ve […]
We went to San Francisco yesterday, on a beautiful, clear, fresh, sunny day, to celebrate Suzie’s and Will’s birthdays, and to attend the “Giants Fan Fest” at AT&T Park. (Pour mes amis étrangers, les Giants sont l’équipe de baseball de San Francisco.) We were able to walk on the field, go into the dugout (le endroit dans lequel l’équipe reste pendant le match), and watch a presentation by the Giants’ […]
Domain mon pays aura un nouveau Président. Après huit ans de Bush, nous avons beaucoup d’espoir pour l’avenir. J’espere que Obama sera un centriste, parce que il faut rassembler les americains. Bush et ses conseillers ont essayé de gagner des élections par diviser les americains. Malheursement, la gauche fait le même chose. Je crains que le plus grand probléme pour Obama soit sa propre partie. Beaucoup de ‘democrats’ a déjà […]
Je suis revenu en Californie il y a une semaine. La rentrée est difficile. La France me manque, et Paris me manque. Mes amis à Santa Rosa me demandent pourquoi, mais je ne peux pas facilement m’expliquer. Un jour, je regardais un match de football americain à la télévision, et il y a eu la pub pour une camionette. Dans cette pub, la musique était forte, tous les hommes étaient […]
It’s almost 10 pm, the taxi comes at 7 am, I’m still not packed. But we had a nice last day, which in addition to hours of packing, included a last lunch at the little restaurant on the side street next to our apartment (Le Daudet), a wonderful visit at the apartment of one of our instructors from the Alliance (coffee, tea, chocolates, and conversation), topped off by a trip […]
On the next-to-the-last day today, here are some things we did: 1. We came across our first flat-out crazy person. He was a guy with a scruffy beard and old shoes without any laces sitting by himself in one of the “booths” on the Metro. About a minute after we’d boarded, he suddenly, violently, and for no apparent reason kicked the seat opposite him, letting out a kind of low […]
I’ve been wanting to write a post that would summarize our time in Paris, succinctly and perfectly, but after several aborted attempts I’ve come to the conclusion that it will perhaps have to wait until after the return. We’re both still sitting around saying, “how are we going to go back?”, and I know that no one wants to hear that, the only proper response to it being, “Oh, mes […]
This is really silly, an annotated video I shot of myself a few weeks ago (not great camera work, I know, especially the big hand coming at the lens at the very end; I was trying to be inconspicuous). So upon my return to the States, when I am raving about such-and-such a wonderful thing in Paris, you can simply say, “Chatelet, Chatelet.” But, of course, Chatelet is also pictured […]