2008: The Year of the Interesting Curse

In ancient China, there was a proverb - usually used to curse another person - which went something like, "may you live in interesting times". Its closest equivalent in Scranton is "may your mother-in-law have good health". While many years simply blend into one another, 2008 was very clearly one of those interesting times to which the Chinese were referring. As to whether it was a curse to live through, I will let you decide. I leave you with an A-to-Z of the most notable moments for me in the past twelve months.

A is for "ah-day", or Gideon's name for Ranen. 2008 was the year when we saw Gideon's first steps and heard his first word ("Cat", to call on Seamus, our feline of 13 years). It was also the year that a wonderful bond between Ranen and Gideon formed. Ranen became "ah day" when he taught Gideon to say, "good day". "Ranen" is still too hard for Gideon's budding language skills, so "ah day" seemed sensible.

B is for Boxing Day, a rather quirky holiday celebrated in the British commonwealth on December 26th. Its origins dates back many years to when the upper class would give to the poor on the day after Christmas. Either way, Boxing day was for us a way of celebrating the holidays and our new home in Chelsea with our family and friends here in London.

C is for C__ House, where Ranen began his first year of proper English school in September - uniform, et al (picture). I am proud to report that Ranen is already reading me to bed with his favorite story, "The Giving Tree".

D is for dad's 70th birthday in August, celebrated with his entire family by his side - a rare event since we moved to London. And thanks to the surprisingly close proximity of mom's and mom-in-law's birthdays, we celebrated these together as well.

E is for European cup, the once every four year continental soccer championship. This year, Spain beat Germany in a gripping final. More importantly, that game helped launch Ranen's healthy obsession with the beautiful game. It also meant I finally had a worthy sports companion in London! (Now we are just waiting on Gideon, although he already displays impressive dribbling skills)

F is for fourteen, or the wedding anniversary that Dina and I celebrated on November 12th. Admittedly, not usually a notable one. But in what goes down as one of our most challenging years together, the bond that Dina and I formed seemed to get even stronger - and surely more mature.

G is for Gideon, whom we finally got a chance to meet in 2008. Indeed, G is also for Garrett, a long-time friend and someone who summed up a second child perfectly. As he shared a bottle of wine with us, Garrett told us that for your first child, you cherish all the novelty, even the parts that aren't so pleasant. But for your second, you simply can't wait to meet the little person they will be. I met Gideon this year, and boy am I happy.

H is for Hank Paulson, the man who put the M in moral hazard. Hank's decision to let Lehman Brothers fail was not only a personal tragedy, but perhaps the worst policy decision in modern financial history. By time of print, $25 trillion had been wiped out in global equity value and more than 1 million jobs had been lost in the US alone since September. At the time, Lehman would have cost the tax payer about $40 billion. By the end of 2008, the cost of bailing out the US economy had risen to over $1 trillion. Happy retirement Hank.

I is for Istanbul, one of the wonderful new places I visited in 2008. In this case, the visit was with Dina, where we had three days to explore one of the most historically rich cities in the world. Other new stops for me included Cyprus and Australia.

J is for Jamestown, Rhode Island, the town we chose for our annual summer holiday with our entire immediate family. Two weeks of fun in the sun with baseball, hot dogs (mainly kosher ones), apple pie and a healthy dose of family "dynamics".

K is for Knights Tale, Ranen's 2008 movie obsession (following a near 2-year obsession with Pixar Cars). In a rather weird twist, the obsession began with another Ranen obsession - Heath Ledger, who died early in the year. Knights Tale was the only movie we could think of to show Ranen what a fine actor he was (we figured Ranen was a little young for Brokeback Mountain, aka "the cowboy movie").

L is for Lehman Brothers, the 158-year old firm which filed for the largest bankruptcy in US history. Lehman was also where I spent the past seven years of my career. I am sure that September 14th will be one of those dates I remember for the rest of my life. (The picture on the left is the Lehman bankruptcy bash I threw for my team in the week that followed).

M is for MarQCuS, the product developed by me and my team at Lehman. By September, MarQCuS had nearly $2 billion of client assets under management and had 2008 revenues annualizing at more than $60 million. MarQCuS now sits on a server under the control of PWC, Lehman's European bankruptcy manager. Rest in peace, MarQCuS.

N is for Nomura, the tiny Japanese merchant bank that bought all of Lehman's Asia operations and most of its European ones. Today, most of my old Lehman colleagues work there. I chose another path. I joined another US bank in November as global head of Foreign exchange and local markets strategy.

O is for October, one of the more expensive months in my adult life. Financing my own garden leave-- typically a perk of employment transition in the UK that I was denied. A few trips to far away places, some new furniture for our new home, a lot of leisurely lunches with Dina. And for the first time since high school, no paycheck. Who said the consumer is dead.

P is for Polina, our nanny from January through June. In a momentary lapse of reason, Dina fired our long-time nanny, Emerita (Emie). Polina joined with nearly no english skills and absolutely no nanny skills. Fortunately, Dina's regained her reason and rehired Emie in June. Polina remains a family friend and even got to join us in Cyprus in one of her last days as our nanny (see photo's background).

Q is for quadragenarian, which I became earlier this year. Dina through a swanky party for me, complete with a mock Financial Times birthday cake (pitcure up top - yes, that is really a cake), a collage of my early life, lots of champagne and an impressive mix of friends and family. Sadly, those family members that visited from Stateside got to witness the effects of quite a lot of bubbly on my declining, middle age tolerance (sorry for that).

R is for Ravello, a wonderful little town on the Amalfi Coast in Italy. We visited Ravello for the second time in August to attend our friends Ian and Michelle's wedding.

S is for the pound sterling, whose decline in 2008 was a professional and personal triumph. Professional because I was early in calling its demise (August 2007) and personal, because for the first time since we lived in London, it almost feels affordable (almost, that is).

T is for Turnberry, host of the 4th Annual Lehman Liquid Markets Conference (RIP), next year's British Open and Ranen's first round of pitch and put. Tiger, its time to start looking over your shoulder, as Ranen is not far behind you!

U is for University, Penn State University. Admittedly, the beating to USC on New Year's day was a disappointment (but technically, in 2009). Either way, this Scranton Boy in Chelsea appreciated the stellar 2008 season - We are, Penn State!

-

V is for the Vale, the area around our new home. After Lehman's fall, Dina and I decided we needed a full split from our pre-bankruptcy life (we are not bankrupt, for the record).

W is for Warwick castle, Hever Castle and the other wonderful medieval sites we visited in 2008. My young boy obesssion with King Arthur and all things medieval had to be satiated with books. For Ranen (and soon Gideon), we take him to the source (then make him read the book!).

X is for X-mas, where Nancy's back surgery and Auntie Lisa's unexpected two-day stay in the emergency room made the decision to stay in London feel a little better. There is always next year.

-

Y is for yin and yang, the Chinese concept of interdependence of various forces in the world. It is a fitting phrase when you look at the world through my economic eyes. At the start of 2008, the theme amongst many economists (not yours truly) was de-coupling - how the new emerging market tigers had broken their long-term interdependence with the US. By the end of 2008, we were in the middle of the worst global recession since the 1930s, a recession that was being felt most actuely in those economies thought to be immune to the housing-led crisis in the US - Russia, China, Brazil and India. While very little has felt funny about the global economy this year, I did enjoy the comic irony in watching Russia being forced to devalue the rouble in the closing weeks of the year (sorry Vladimir).

Z is for zero, or the level of overnight US interest rates at the end of 2008. Oh boy, we do live in interesting times.

Happy new year,

A Scranton Boy in Chelsea