10 reasons why I appreciate my job

1. This Friday we have our annual holiday Gala at the Boston Harbor Hotel.  Prom for grownups
2. Sane working hours, especially compared to the craziness of New York City
3. The gym in the building basement, which includes weekly Zumba classes, and is dirt cheap, like $12.50-a-month-for-membership-cheap
4. Casual Friday, every Friday 
5. Kurig coffee maker, with more coffee choices than I can count, including flavored and fair-trade coffee.  Limitless juice, soda, and bubbly water too.
6. 100% covered health insurance, for both Osei and I
7. Casual-attire every time it snows. Occasionally, snow days too
8. Co-workers are all smart, good people
9. Lots of leftover snacks from meetings, and bagles for breakfast on Fridays
10. I definitely appreciate getting a paycheck

A good and proper French lunch (sushi)... away from the office

My colleagues took me for lunch today... here is Boris and Joanna

Laurene and Joanna

Lizette and Felice

I really do work with a cool bunch of people :)

The waitress loved getting six different credit cards to split the check.  Thanks, guys!

Excuse me, can I lock up my unicycle next to your Kebab stand?

I saw a guy riding a unicycle this morning on the way to work. We were BOTH on our way to the office, it seemed. He wore dress slacks, black dress shoes, and his coat tails were sort of flapping, perfectly symmectrically behind the wheel. Couldn't see under his coat, but I imagine there was a tie too.

It was quite a tall unicycle too. No helmet though.

The guy rode on the sidewalk along 52nd street, so seeing him on this particular route, unfortunatley, left me still a little unsatisfied about the logistical details of how exactly does one ride a unicycle to the office in New York City?

For example...

* What happens when you get to a stop light? Do you just hop off the thing, or just kind of "balance" in place?
* What if you can't avoid a sidewalk with scaffolding? Can you lower the seat, or do you have to stop and walk to avoid hitting your head?
* Hills? Both inclines and declines?
* Can you ride with a purse or briefcase? Do they make little unicycles with baskets?
* Where, exactly, would you put the lock on your cycle?
* Do they make a special helmet with an attached mouthpiece-whistle-contraption since you can't exactly attach a bike horn to your (non-existent) handlebars?

Made it through the CFA materials...

Major accomplishment... made it through all 6 volumes of the CFA level I material.

The test is in 3 months, so I have until then to review everything and go through all the practice tests...

And 3 more months to come up with a good reason to figure out why this test is worth sacrificing my evenings/weekends, my social life, and my sanity

Keep on Playing!

Work-life balance is a major point of contention between me and my employers.  We differ sharply on the concept that "the longer you're in the office, the more work you do" and sitting in your chair for the sake of sitting in your chair.

I'm motivated to work efficiently and get things done so that I can leave in the evening to go run.  When I don't run, I am grumpy, sleep poorly, and overall less am productive and feel less happy.  Running-time is the only time I know I'll get fresh air all day, and I keep going during the day knowing I get to spend those miles after work (most of the time, occasionally before) in Central Park, my favorite spot in New York City.  

When I run with my friends, running is almost therapy- maybe it is something about sharing the bond of running/sweating/trying to have a conversation at an elevated heart rate in the first place that has brought my running buddies and me closer.  When I run alone, running is active meditation.  I think about something I'm trying to solve, or I intentionally let my mind wander to think about nothing at all.  Returning from a run leaves me re-inspired, refreshed, and energized.  In short, running is my play-time. 

The New York Times just published an article about the importance of recess in child development.  I beg to argue that it is not important to just young children, but that is besides the point.  Basically, there are 2 forms of attention- directed attention and involuntary attention.  Directed attention is what we use when we're concentrating on work, reading, sitting in front of a computer etc.  It is a limited resource and leaves us fatigued.  

On the other hand, involuntary attention kicks in when we are distracted by playing, and seems to kick in when we're in natural settings.  This kind of attention allows our directed attention to restore itself.  

Here is my favorite quote... "Young rats denied opportunities for rough-and-tumble play develop numerous social problems in adulthood.  They fail to recognize social cues and the nuances of rat hierarchy; they aren't able to mate.  By the same token, people who play as children 'learn to handle life in a much more resilient and vital way.'"

So, more proof that playing is important to physical and social development, and more fodder to my argument that running makes me work better.  

And as for the implied correlation based on rat studies between failing to play/failing to view playtime as important and socially-unadjusted colleagues with unhappy home lives?  I'll leave that one for the reader to decide.

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.   

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."

The French birthday Faux-Faux pas

Last week we surprised my very French boss with a confetti cake, boxed wine, and spray cheese on club crackers.  He was a gracious sport, but the look on his face is priceless.

But once we ended the joke, he really liked the Veuve Clicquot Champagne and Payard cake, and it ended up a very happy birthday

A faux-faux pas for your French boss

This is actually sort of a mean birthday joke... But not too mean.

Tomorrow is our Boss's birthday.  He is French, and by that I mean, he is very French.  He detests nothing more than cheap things.  

So, my job was to bring the spray cheese and crackers.  One colleague is bringing boxed wine, and another a tacky sheet cake (think plastic balloons).  

Normally, such a desecration of the Frenchman's wine, cheese, and pastries could be a detrimental career move for us, but, this is all a quick hoax, of course. 

The corollary to our French boss hating cheap things is his appreciation for nice things- bring out the Champagne and "Chocolate Chiboust Tart Cake" from Payard Patisserie. 

Did I mention we work for a French bank with very French standards when it comes to commemorating your boss's birthday?

Normally, I would feel incredibly guilty about buying fake decoy food.  However, we sit on a Wall Street trading floor.  Traders, for the most part tend to be a fairly affluent bunch (fyi I am not a trader).  Still, you would not imagine how quickly free food set on a counter for a bunch of traders disappears.  

Who knows if it is the American or the French traders, but rest assured, as long as it is free, that spray cheese will be devoured.