Friziday

Sonnet writes Xmas cards while watching Mad Men

Another Friday upon us.  This an unusual week with Paris in the middle putting me off my rythme.  But not Sonnet nor the kids : up before dawn, out the door 6:55AM (Sonnet and Madeleine) and 7:25AM (Eitan).  Me, I catch the early train for a breakfast on Berkeley Sq, a smart part of town (Anchorman Kent Brockman on the Simpsons, which we watch now: "Childhood obesity: It's not funny anymore.")

I notice that most of the people in Mayfair are younger than I am or, at least, those bustling about the grey London streets.

Me: "How was school ?"
Madeleine: "Fine."
Me: "What did you do?"
Madeleine: "Not much."
Me: "Care to add more?"
Madeleine: "No."
Me: "Four words. That may be a new record."
Madeleine:
Me: "Don't lose your discipline kid."

Pre School

Eitan off to school.

I am back from Paris : the last two weeks, including Canada, Astorg and I have met with 18 investors representing private equity programs of $117 Bn. This is where the rubber meets the road. Fundraising by private equity firms remains well below the peaks of 2007 - last quarter was about 10% of Q2 2007 - but some partnerships, including Astorg, attract attention. This month Advent Intl closed their seventh fund at €8.5 Bn, the largest since Lehman flatlined, at the 'hard cap' - they turned away interest.

So what does it all mean? In France, investment has surpassed fundraising by €5 Bn for three years bringing the capital surplus 'overhang' to €19 Bn or about two years of deal-making which, in theory, should bring prices down for primary transactions.  So far, though, this has not been the case.   The market clinched thanks to Hollande's tax proposals where sellers need clarity on how their capital gains to be treated. For now it is a moving target.

Op-Ed Go

Katie's staff map out 2013

Katie's business continues to grow : in the next couple of weeks The Op-Ed Project has seminars with PwC, Arizona State University, Depaul and NYC.  Her ongoing programs are Yale, TWU, Emory, PwC, Dartmouth and Northwestern.  Then there are the various many success of Op Ed alum in Slate, Huffington Post and the New York Times.

The thing about growth for most businesses is that it is not linear but exponential : once it grows, it takes off.

Jog On

Madeleine reads in the kitchen

It is tough to arrive in Paris, late, and 'Alien' on the television.

Christian and I get one last run in - which reminds me of our final loop in Central Park when he left NY for Chicago and Sonnet and I split for the unknown.  That was 15 years ago in May 1997.  Christian and I (with Adam) jogged along the waterfront in San Francisco before my first date with Sonnet in June 1993.  We ran the NY Marathon in sub-freezing temperatures listening to the Smashing Pumpkins to get fired up - 1996.  He and I have logged countless miles on Wild Cat Canyon Road and Nimitz Way in Tilden park.

Sunday Evening

Madeleine devours "The Hunger Games"

Christian and I take Eitan to his match against Melbrook FC, with their Inter-Milan kits, who travel from "Croydon way" to join us. The All Stars win the non-league, Surrey Cup match 9-2.

Madeleine begins her career with the Barnes Eagles and, while her side loses 11 to 3, our gal plays the second half with enthusiasm.

Christian brings gifts : Cal swimming and soccer t-shirts for the Shakespeares, Peet's coffee for Sonnet and Michael Chabon's "Telegraph" about Berkeley, purchased at Moe's bookstore, a Berkeley institution for over 50 years. Moe's across the street from the once-great Cody's Books, which closed in 2008 leaving a physical and emotional hole on Telegraph Ave. Cody's , founded in 1956, " a pioneer in bookselling, bringing the paperback revolution to Berkeley, fighting censorship, and providing a safe harbor from tear gas directed at anti- Viet Nam War protesters throughout the 1960s and 1970s" (says KQED).  

Betty Draper

Sonnet multi-tasks

Paul and Camilla over for lunch and we reminisce about our walks. Eitan returns from a Hampton match in school coat and tie, though Saturday, as required for away-games (1-1 draw, school undetermined); Aggie picks up Madeleine (hereself home from football ) to practice netball in the common while Christian checks out M83 on youtube.  Aneta pops into the kitchen and does a turn-around given the crowd.  Rusty jumps up and down on Camilla with excitement until I let him in the backyard where he leaps after a squirrel. It could be a song by the Beatles.

Seduced By Art

Christian and Sonnet on the lower-level of the Sainbury Wing

We join Scott and Cindy for Friday late-night at the National Gallery. On show : a view of the old master paintings through the camera lens, the first time the museum has exhibited photography .

Afterwards we have dinner at the National Cafe which has a series of Friday night socials , mostly for young Londoners, showcasing a renown chef. Last night, it is Chef Patron from Michelin-Starred Murano and Angela Hartnett MBE, one of Britain's most successful chefs, serving tagine, family style (at closing Angela mingles with the singles).

Scott and I recall, amongst other things, a dinner from ten years ago in Belgravia where we were seated, by coincidence, next to Sean Connery and his wife who, we thought for a blissful moment, was Ursula Andress for the ultimate Bond Reunion.  Alas it was not but fun nonetheless.

Christian And M83

Post concert, Brixton Academy

Christian arrives from San Francisco and we converge at 45 following my return from Paris to pick up Sonnet and Lorena to head to Brixton (I say a quick 'hi' to Eitan, who is buried in homework while Madeleine at swim practise).  We see M83, a French electronica band, which is de la mode : a big concert that opens with a goblin-like monster emitting green lasers from its fingers before a sonic blast of sound overwhelms the crowd. Levitation.  It is mind bending.

Sonnet, mind you, up at 5:55AM this morning to ensure the kids to school and this afternoon speaks at a conference.  Christian counts the minutes to the first martini at Dukes.

President

Obama by Terry Richardson

Remarkably the elections down to a razor's edge.  Europeans don't understand it but my sister explains: Americans own their individualism which is more Romney than Obama.  Nobody wants to be associated with a handout.  Owning a gun enters the equation, as does gay marriage and Wall Street. Religion, too, but weirdly there has been no exposee on Mormonism which would not be so if the Republican a Jew or Catholic.  As Bill Clinton notes, it also about the arithmetic - Romney lies about balancing the budget while cutting taxes and increasing military spending and etc.  Trickle down hasn't worked since Harding and it didn't work very well then, either.

Ever since I started wearing cufflinks 15 years ago, it is 50:50 that I get the outside cuff link correct, which means taking off my shirt and re-threading the damn thing (usually when running late).  But now it strikes me : match the forearm button to the outer button and, voila, problem solved.

Back-To-School Monday

Belated Hallowe'en

Sonnet at Buckingham Palace for a cocktail soiree honouring Judy Kelley whose recent book about Her Majesty's jubilee wardrobe.  Since Monday, the Queen not in residence, which makes plenty good sense to me.  Sonnet sashays with fashion historians, book publishers and members of the Royal Household inside the Royal paintings gallery where hangs Reynolds, Ruebens and van Dykes.  I have chili con carne with the kids.

Me: "Good day back at school ?'
Madeleine: "They gave us loads of homework.  I had to write an essay about a Roman who was, like, 90 years old, and he died. It was 200 BC which is ages before the Tudors."
Me: "What was his name?"
Madeleine: "I don't remember."
Me: "You don't remember?"
Madeleine: "Yes, Dad, I don't remember."
Me: "I'll give you two treats."
Madeleine: "Cornelius Nepos."
Me: "Well done."

Eitan has trouble setting up his iPod.
Me: "Didn't it come with instructions?"
Eitan: "What good would that do?"

"E-eee-eecchCHH!"
--Rusty, in the office, while I am on the phone

Richmond Pk Ferns

Beowulf

Madeleine wants a family walk and here we are Sunday afternoon. It is properly autumn - cold and blustery also wet.  The dog happy.  Tomorrow Guy Fawkes and, for the first time in eight years, I am not manning the BBQ pit.  There are not too many things I have done for so long.  The times are a-changin.

Madeleine: "I finished my book."
Me: "Oh? What are you reading?"
Madeleine: "Beowulf."
Me: "Cool, tell me about it."
Madeleine: "It was about a man named Beowulf."
Me:
Madeleine: "Okay. Okay. It is an old English story about this guy Beowulf, and he fights Grendel, a monster, who has been killing all of Hogarth's men in a big hall."
Me: "And then what happens?"
Madeleine: "He tears off Grendel's arm so he bleeds to death and so Grendel's mom seeks revenge and pulls Beowulf into an underground cave below some water but Beowulf kills her too."
Me: "Sounds fierce."
Madeleine: "It was. Then, later, Beowulf is King and he has to fight a dragon after someone stole the dragon's goblet and gave it to Beowulf as a gift. Beowulf didn't know it was the dragon's goblet but it didn't matter because the dragon scorched everything. So Beowulf had to kill him."
Me: "That was excellent Madeleine. And what do you admire about Beowulf?"
Madeleine: "I admire that he was brave and killed lots of people."

Marcus And Adrianne

Sonnet in East London

In Toronto I see Marcus and Adrianne who cross the border for dinner at an excellent hole-in-the-wall Chinese : Toronto has one of the largest Chinatowns in North America, second to San Francisco. The honeymooners enjoy themselves : Marcus takes classes at Niagra University where Adrianne oversees grant writing and development; next year Marcus will take a course on this subject taught by .. Adrianne. We each agree : interesting.

Three Essays And An iPod

Madeleine does some homework

Today the last day of the two-week half-term and so the kids scramble to do what they have put off : my three essays.  They cry, complain and bemoan their circumstances which, in the end, requires a direct command - sit! - at the kitchen table and get it done.  It takes maybe 45 minutes work and, for the amount of resistance and procrastination misery, it seems hardly worth it. But oh yes it is, boy.

And with one-click^tm of a mouse, Eitan has an iPod.  He cracks his safe-box (disguised as a photo book) and hands me his hard-saved allowance.  The boy has done his research and knows what he wants : white, 8 gig and wi-fi. We discuss Spotify, iTunes and ripping CDs.  . . This is how a middle-aged man bonds with his son these days.  Moe and I used to toss a football.

NB : Our policy on computers is downstairs only and no gaming. Eitan's purchase catches us out. I am more liberal - trust the little animals - but Sonnet knows better: "I don't want to be the bad guy telling you that you cannot play on your iPod" and of course she is right.  The rules stand.

Montréal

Montreal's Olympic Stadium (photo from the web)

I return from several days in Canada starting in Montreal and ending in Toronto.  I travel with AFIC, the French venture capital association, to convince Canadian investors of the merits of French private equity.  Despite the European crisis, questionable Euro and Hollande tax scheme which initially aimed to tax carried interest at 95% in France, we put our best chin forward, meeting with a number of the Canada's largest institutional investors.

Montreal a French city (the French drop the "t" from the city's name so "Monreal") and I am happy with my tongue which holds up through travel fatigue and multi-course dinners. I enjoy speaking to my friends in their mother language.

Europeans love Montreal for its size, aethetic and sensibility.  It is like Boston and San Francisco : a managle place.  Once Montreal the city of Canada but when the seperatists took control in the '70s, wanting to split Quebec from the country, Big Business split for Toronto, which has grown to five million people while Montreal has stayed about the same size. The '76 Olympics didn't help much, either, bankrupting Montreal and taking taxpayers 30 years repay the debts.

Madeleine (after we watch the film Litte Big Man): "Are there any Indians left?"
Me: "Yes. Do you remember New Mexico? 
Madeleine: "Do they kill rabbits?"
Me:
Madeleine: "To eat. Do they?"
Me: "I guess so. I had not thought of it."
Madeleine: "Yeah, I thought so."

Three Zees

We get some sunny weather while the rest of the world concentrates on Sandy which hits the Eastern US with energy equivalent to 10,000 nuclear explosions.

Zebulon (far left) has discovered programming : he spends his free time making computer games and describes a creation where squares appear on-screen in various places and the player must "tap" each to disappear; their speed increases with the user's skill. Another applies a gravitational formula to mimic lift.  Zebulon did not sleep for three days while doing this.  Zakkai and Zephyr hold their own : the former into theatre and drama; the later football.

Theirs a suburban family that bicycles everywhere so I am surprised that none of the boys own a "chopper".  In my day, this was the ride : small front wheel, banana seat, "U" handlebars and back support with orange fiber-glass pole and flag attached (for the blind corners). Baseball cards in spokes optional.  No, today's yuf own mountain or racing bikes as sleek as their parents' SUV or hybrid. They might be more functional but where is the thrill in that ? Left in the 70s, no doubt.

Monday Morning

Madeleine at Starbucks.

Sonnet and I start the day at Cafe Nero, something we rarely do, and it is a good way to sync the various activities. The kids engaged in Week Two of their half-term break and so far neither has submitted to me their reports on various selected activities (museum visits, Kew gardens and etc).  The three Zs ("zeds") over for the night.  I am off to Canada tomorrow and shall miss the pumpkin carving.

Sunday Run

On my Sunday morning loop of Richmond Park, Rusty jumps on a guy, Alex, in a high-tech lyrcra outfit  with dual water packs and sipping straws. He is on his way to 3X the park, 21 miles, in preparation for the April Marathon des Sables, a six day, 151 mile endurance race across the Sahara Desert in Morocco.  I learn 900 athletes driven by army trucks one full-day into the barren sand - no roads exist.  Runners carry their equipment - sleeping bag, vaccinations, gear - all this weighing 7 kgs before water.  Aid stations are 14 km as the crow flies and "the drip" for dehydration a disqualifier.

Four years ago Alex picked up running and completed his first marathon in 4:15 minutes, dropping 20 kg.  His next was 3:45 and a couple of weeks ago he finished Berlin in 2:55.  He is my age and encourages me to take another swing.

Elm Grove defeats the Fleet Colts 5-1, placing the All Starts tops in their division.  For reward, Eitan zonked in front of the TV for Manchester United v. Chelsea.

Beserker

The Enterprise faces a "beserker," a planet-eating machine made by a long-dead alien race

"Doomsday Machine" : my all-time favorite Star Trek episode including the movies which, other than "The Wrath of Kahn," are bunk, and excluding Next Generation and Deep Space 9, which I never got in to.

Episode: TOS 35 - Doomsday Machine
Season 2, Ep. 6
Air date: 10/20/1967
Stardate: 4202.9

NCC 1701

USS Enterprise NCC 1701

Star Trek hit hard in the 3rd or fourth grade, introduced to me by neighbour Todd.  The iconic, dual-phaser firing USS Enterprise was the perfect after-school pre-supper show. Todd and I drew the Enterprise in various battle scenes on printer paper (perforated side strips for 'grip') pinched from the earliest computers at UC Berkeley where Todd's dad worked in the sciences.

The Enterprise BTW designed by Matt Jefferies and no kid ever questioned its ability, with those gigantic thrusters, to zip around galaxies at 'warp speed' (I did sometimes wonder about 'Space 1999' whose out-of-orbit moon arrived, every week, at objects many thousands of light-years away).

The NCC 1701 registry, according to Jefferies, from "NC" being one of the international aircraft registration codes; the second "C" added for differentiation while the "1701" chosen to avoid ambiguity: according to Jefferies, the numbers 3, 6, 8 and 9 are "too easily confused". It also suggests the ship the 17th cruiser design with the first serial number of that series.  The "USS" should mean "United Space Ship" and the "Enterprise" a member of the Starship Class (all this explained in 'The Making of Star Trek').

"We've got to risk implosion. We may explode into the biggest fireball this part of the galaxy has seen, but we've got to take that one in a million chance. "
--Captain James T. Kirk in 'The Naked Time'