Congratulations, Chelsea!

I just heard yesterday that Chelsea, a close friend of mine since kindergarden, who is applying for a Fulbright Scholarship to Australia, has made it past the first round in the selection process.

She says that they generally advance roughly twice the number of applicants as there are fellowships available.  This means that out of all the people who applied for 11 Fulbright slots this year, she is one of about 22 people to proceed to the final selection round.  Those are nice odds!

I'm so proud of her, and not the least bit surprised to hear that she is such a competitive applicant.  Plus, I would love to visit her in Australia!

All the best to her in the next round! 

35% pass rate on the December CFA Level I exam.

The results for the December 2008 CFA Level I exam (offered twice a year) were released yesterday, with 35% of candidates sitting for the exam passing it.   This is down from 39% a year ago.  

Interestingly, 25% more people took the exam too.  It is not surprising that more people took the exam due to the high level of industry uncertainty, nor is it surprising that the pass level declined. More importantly, as I am preparing for the June 2009 exam, I don't find this the least bit discouraging.  

I heard a statistic in college that has stuck with me since then.  It said that 90% of students who attend class 100% of the time receive either an A or B grade in the class.  Clearly, you could assume that students who attend class are also completing homework and studying too, but those are pretty high success odds just for showing up in class every day.  

No doubt the CFA exam is the same.  More people took the exam this year, including many more unprepared candidates.  The CFA Institute recommends a minimum of 250 study hours, and the curriculum covers 18 different study topics broken down into about 75 different readings. A shaky job market means more people attempting to translate their past experience to join an elite club providing industry clout.  

The CFA exam maintains its reputation as elite through its rigorous process and relative scarcity of successful charter holders versus applicants- to complete all 3 exam levels requires a minimum of 3 years, assuming all levels are passed on the first try.  I've invested about $1500 so far on level I for study material and test registration.  Cheaper than an MBA, but much harder to graduate.  

Also, the time commitment is tough.  Like many others, I work full-time in the financial industry.  And in capital markets, "full-time" is not the government's definition of a standard 40 hour work week.  Spending all day Saturday and Sunday drilling down theoretical bond yields and diminishing marginal utility is not easy.  

If the exam were easy and anyone working in the financial industry could just show up and pass, then the pass rate would be higher.  It remains low because the test is in fact challenging, but also because it requires a great deal of preparation and a deep knowledge of a wide range of financial and accounting concepts.  

For example, 2 people I know who took the exam both studied finance and economics in college and assumed they had a leg up.  One ended up passing his exam, eventually plowing through all 18 study sessions, but overall in far less than the recommended 250 hours.  Another passed, but also incorrectly assumed she could skip the economics unit study guide entirely because she studied it in college.  

Don't forget that I am also part of the "you're special" generation- a group who has been overly showered with praise, inflated grades, and evolved to assume we're entitled to success, happiness, an A, a job, a bonus etc, because we're "just that good."  Over confidence leads to under preparation.

So far, I've realized that nothing in itself seems particularly difficult- some things more complicated than others, of course, but even with a liberal arts background and meager capital markets experience, no topic is over my head.  The difficulty lies in the scope of the material though.  I've heard that the exam is quite qualitative, which tests understanding and application of a concept over memorization of a formula.  

If we go back to the class attendance statistic, 90% of ALL students certainly do NOT get either an A or a B.  (Actually, probably more accurate to say "earn" rather than actually "receive" after adjusting for grade inflation).  

Even though the CFA pass rate is only 35%, I would bet money that that the pass rate is much higher for candidates who study 100% of the recommended study material.  At least, my plan of attack is pure preparation.  

And more snow in New York

More snow outside

Inside a hot breakfast with fresh blueberries, tea, and an omlette-concoction from the best chef in Brooklyn

The Cherry Orchard at BAM

The performance yesterday was wonderful... intense but very moving.   Good thing I stashed tissues in my purse

Brooklyn Academy of Music.  I think this style is called "Warehouse Chic"

Bada bing bada BAM!

Tonight my favorite Russian is taking me to see another Russian cultural masterpiece, Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music).  

The performance is part of a collaboration called The Bridge Project between BAM and London's Old Vic theater for performances of The Cherry Orchard and A Winter's Tale, directed by Sam Mendes (as in, Kate Winslet's husband, also won an Oscar for American Beauty).

It is sponsored by Bank of America, which is the primary reason we're able to go tonight.  Thanks BofA, and thank you Serge!  

On a tangent, the other day I got a call asking for a contribution to Carnegie Hall.  The caller and I had a very frank conversation, but I felt quite torn because going to Carnegie Hall itself was the splurge.  Nobody needs to go see a play when there is already so much uncertainty around job security etc, and it can definitely be hard to justify seeing a concert or a play for pleasure.  Yet arts and culture are probably the first budget to be slashed, so really, a recession is all the more reason to support the Arts.  

It is kind of win-win, in that case, if the act of going to see a performance is supporting the cause.  A monetary contribution does provide additional necessary resources, but it is not the only way to become involved.

A performance is creative and thought-provocative, engages you in your local community and is a very healthy reminder that there are more important (and optimistic) things out there than the bad news emanating out of the Wall Street Journal.   

In 10th grade English class, I think we read the play, The Cherry Orchard together.  BAM is America's oldest continuously operating performance theater and one of the preeminent performance centers in the world.  Not to mention tonight's event features a pretty thick roster of talent that will blow Mr. Clopton's 10th graders out of the water!  

Talk about a multi-purpose kitchen

Believe it or not, this is my refrigerator.  On the right is a series of "humorous" postcards from the CFA institute that are supposed to help keep a light perspective about the amount of time you must commit to studying.

A New York City map (House Number and Transit Guide) of Manhattan circa 1942.

My house is covered in post-it labels.  At the bottom are the days of the week.

For those wondering, we are in the "kitchen" and now I know how to count to 10.

Yummy.

Look who finished the scarf?

I finally finished my scarf yesterday, and even added the fringe and everything.  Preliminary testing indicates it is a complete success.

Next project... how about a matching hat?

New York City Restaurant Week

As if a perfect day could possibly get any better... After a nice little 20 mile run this morning, and an afternoon at the Museum of the City of New York, I'd worked up quite an appetite.

Serge must have read my mind, and we stumbled on a little place called Mia Donna on 58th Street between Lexington and 3rd... only to discover we're in the midst of Restaurant Week!  

This is a twice-yearly phenomenon featuring over 250 New York City restaurants, each enticing customers with prix-fixe menus at a fraction of the normal price.

I've been living in New York City for nearly 4 years now, and am proud so say that I have now experienced Restaurant Week.  

Museum of the City of New York

This afternoon Serge and I went to the Museum of the City of New York on 5th Avenue and 103rd.  It is a collection of past, present, and future of NYC.  We were both struck by a film portrait of New York (since the days when it used to be New Amsterdam).  As if the exhibits weren't enough, we also caught a piano concert of  Steinway artist Zoya Shuhatovich perform a collection of Russian Music.  

The museum must be the best kept secret in New York City.  It is absolutely worth a visit.  

20 Mile run tomorrow...

Tomorrow I have my first 20 mile run in preparation for the Paris Marathon.  I'm "racing" the Manhattan 1/2 Marathon (the first in the NYRR Grand Prix 5-borough race series), with a nice little 6 mile warm up and a mile or so cool-down.

The plan is to leave my apartment at 7:00 sharp and run 1 loop of Central Park in the opposite direction as the race course.  The start is close to Columbus Circle, my park portal and I've arranged to meet my friend Kristin right near the start.  She will pace me for the 13 miles (at close to my goal marathon pace), and then I'll jog the final mile home. 

Baby Food from the New Yorker

Though I'm not at this stage in my life yet, I came across a very interesting article in the New Yorker by Jill Lapore about the politics of the breast pump.  It poses quite a question about making workplaces friendly for working mothers (luxurious lactation room?) and asks which is more important, the mother or the milk?  Should a women take 20 minute breaks to express her milk or leave the office an hour earlier to feed her baby formula?  

One of my "adopted mothers" is a childbirth educator, so I tend to send her articles like these that I come across.  This is definitely a topic I consider important, as this will likely impact me eventually too.   

You may fall off your chair

Oh, those Brits.  I nearly pulled a muscle laughing when I read this article in the New York Times today.  

Brought to you by the letters "Ya" and "Deh"

You wouldn't believe how much I'm learning from my Russian Language podcasts (thanks to i-tunes) through these little dialogs between  Natalia Petrovna and Sergei Ivanovich (formal!) or Sveta and Boris (informal!)

Carnage on Wall Street hits close to home

I've been at BNP Paribas now for 3 1/2 months, after Bank of America decided to sell my group, Prime Brokerage.  We had layoffs at BNPP last week- no one in my immediate group (now Strategy & Corporate Development) was let go, but many of the people I used to work with were laid off.  That is hard to see.  And at the same time, part of me almost feels guilty that I didn't loose mine.  I don't have kids or a family to support (just a mortgage), and I'm young enough and relatively flexible enough in my career that I could rebound if something did happen.  

Right after BofA sold my group, they bought Merrill Lynch.  Or from my new perspective, BofA threw itself in front of a speeding train to save a solid gold baby, only to find that the baby is radioactive and highly toxic.  

As a loyal employee and shareholder, I was looking forward to exercising my voting rights and voting the proxy.  I accidentally shredded the official voting form, and after 4 hours and double-digit attempts to get a new voting card, I never did get to vote anyway.  

The deal went through January 1st.  We heard today that Merrill employees were paid bonuses on December 30th (totaling ~$4 billion).  And on January 15th, Merrill disclosed a $21 billion operating loss.   That is convenient.

Ken Lewis, BofA CEO claims he only knew how severe ML's losses were in mid-December, but rather than disclose this to shareholders (who might vote it down, or demand new deal terms), Lewis claims "the government made him go through with the deal."  The government promised $138 billion to help absorb ML's losses because not going through with the deal would be too devastating to the economy.

So instead, BofA shareholders are surprised with Merrill's $15 billion net loss (talk about dirty baggage).  And BofA employees... are the ones getting laid off.  Financial Times reported on Tuesday that BofA expected to lay off 4,000 people in  Capital Markets (where I used to be) this week alone.  The catch--the majority of people were expected to be legacy BofA employees.

I spoke with a friend from college this afternoon at BofA and could not believe how entire groups were simply disappearing... all of the former BofA teams were just slashed.   She said first year analysts (she had taken a year off to take a Fullbright Scholarship), were let go with 3-moths severance pay plus 2 weeks.  And no bonus.  

Three months after BofA sold their Prime Brokerage to BNP Paribas, BofA bought an entire investment bank, including.... more Prime Brokerage.  Today I am counting my blessings that I actually made it out of BofA in a single piece and as of today still have a job.   Keeping a job (forget performance, as in not getting laid off) is the new "crushing it" on Wall Street.  This is really tough.

"Dear BofA.  Thanks for saving our butts and not letting us go bankrupt like Lehman Brothers.  We promise you won't regret it.  Thanks for taking care of that little mess we left under the carpet too.  It's a jungle out there- we're so lucky you care enough to make sure we all still get our jobs and our bonuses this year.  Make sure you don't let the door slam on your way out.  F***K you, ML."

New Year's Party

Just look at the expressions on the two faces.  

President Obama has such a nice ring to it.

First of all, it is time that "Obama" is added to standard computer dictionaries so it doesn't come up on spell check.  

This is amazing in so many ways.  What an honor it is to be an American right now.

This means I'm now an ObaMarathoner, and at work I can now quit "straterigizing" and start strategizing once again.

Yesterday I missed the speech at work, but I am looking forward to downloading it on NPR and listening to it on my run tonight.

Congratulations, President Obama!

My Little Ponies

I got this set in Stockholm years ago.  I'm pretty sure I have a "thing" for things that are blue.

MoMA or AMoM... one or the other!

On my way to Niketown to run tonight, I saw the reflection of the MoMA sign and had to take a picture...

The Little Cabin in Vermont

Our little cabin... Valentine's Day/ President's Day weekend in Eden Mills, Vermont

No TV, no cell phone coverage, but a fireplace and a gourmet kitchen

We're assuming the lake will be frozen mid February, with less fall foliage

The entire slideshow is here 

Snowy Central Park on a run

I brought my camera on a run yesterday (thank you little zip-lock bag in my pocket).  Central Park, which I now know like the back of my hand was completely transformed.  Absolutely beautiful.  The only tough thing about running in snow like that is your eyes... if you wear sunglasses (yellow lenses), your eyes are protected, but they tend to fog up and you can't see anyways.  Otherwise, the snow clumps onto your lashes and eyebrows.  I think you get to a certain point though where your eyelashes are heavy enough with snow that they actually shield your eyes from the direct snowflake assault.  

Central Park entrance at Columbus Circle

Columbus Circle

Date-night details

Hasselback potatoes.  I like them because they look so cool.  

London broil marinated in Red Wine and onions, and baked at 425 deg for about 20-30 minutes.

The finished hasselback potatoes with parmesan and bread crumbs.  Also not shown is broccoli sauteed with garlic and sliced almonds.  Delicious!

Little Snow People in Central Park

I brought my camera on my run today to film a video essay for Nike.  Talk about a warm welcome from these lil' guys!

"Take my wallet!  Take whatever you want!  We're in New York City!"

They look like little bride & groom snow people. 

See the scarf? We WILL finish it soon!

Compared to another scarf.  Must be long enough to complete the "European Scarf Knot"

It needs to be just a little longer, maybe another 8-10 inches.  Then I will add the fringe.  

While I'm knitting, I like to listen to my "learn Russian podcasts."  The pattern for this scarf is super simple- cast on 40 stitches and knit two, purl two.  If you look really closely, you can see a few little places where I seem to be more successful repeating Russian words than counting my stitches.

Note, however, that success is relative, and multi-colored yarn just hides a multitude of sins. 

 До скорой встречи

Bust a move... in detail

A step-by-step visual manuel to this dance move by Serge.  Note the strong backup support here.  

The Russian Christmas Party. Too many good things going on here to count

No caption could do this picture justice.  Sergey, yellow jacket busts a move, while Serge (white shirt) cuts a rug.  I'm in the background just kind of bopping.  

This looks like a very deep moment.  Either these 2 people are plotting something sinister and scandalous, or one is learning the Russian word for "tea"

"Now... don't get too excited just yet. Wait until you see the next picture."

The fish that Serge caught was much bigger than the fish that I caught.  My fish also had leopard spots, somehow

And finally, one picture where we both look normal.