Gu's Active World

let's go rangers!

GuMan — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 13:15:39 GMT

To celebrate their new account, Diane and Gerry at BBH wanted to take CIFG out to dinner and a hockey game. Alas, our CFO is a golf fan and not a hockey fan. So Ellen and I got volunteered to go - not that either of us had ever been to a hockey game before. It was nice catching up with Diane and Gerry. They took us to Kean's Steakhouse where I had their special mutton chop. The game itself wasn't exciting as the Rangers stomped over Atlanta.

new apartment

GuMan — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 13:07:30 GMT

Jo-Ann has spent most of this new year in Chicago. Our lease is up in March and she was getting a little stressed about finding a new apartment. It didn’t help that buildings won’t show apartments until a month before you can move in. In addition Jo-Ann is spending the coming weekend in Chicago. So she was adamant about finding a place before leaving. Thus, we spend most of MLK weekend looking for places.

On Tuesday, I went and signed a lease on our new place. It is located just off the Woolworth building and the Trade Center site.

walk in the park

GuMan — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 01:04:35 GMT

What ever bug has been going around came back to bite us again. Jo-Ann was in Chicago all week and suffering from a cold. I was doing the same here while struggling with year end. This weekend we had to evacuate the apartment so that our landlord's realtor could show it. So we took a walk across the park and had dinner at Academia di Vino. It was a nice respite from work, illness and the impending snow storm.

capo d'anno

GuMan — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 06:16:28 GMT

Last night we went to Aix for dinner. It was a great five course prix fixe dinner and we had a great time. Unfortunately, we drank too much and were feeling the effects this morning. Hank had his by-pass yesterday, and Patty was in today to see him. So in spite of our headaches, we went to see Hank and then take Patty and Jon out to lunch. 08 is already starting off crazy!

best of times ...

GuMan — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 02:11:28 GMT

Well you you know how the saying goes. Yesterday was Grace Ann Malloy's wedding. It was at the Kosciuszko Foundation on the East 65th street. It was kind if spooky walking in because the venue was directly across the street from the Pakistani Embassy. Because of the bombing, there was a heavy police presence there. Nevertheless, the wedding went really well.

Unfortunately, Hank Hummel had to be admitted into the hospital for a triple by-pass. The operation is going to be tomorrow, and we will probably be there to bring in the new year.

madison square garden

GuMan — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 02:03:38 GMT

Last Friday our marketing department sends a note out asking if anyone is interested in the company box at Madison Square Garden. Not that there was anything interesting going on, but I figured it would be a good opportunity to get together with Betsy and Chris.

year end update

GuMan — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 01:29:59 GMT

christmas 07

GuMan — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 12:13:02 GMT

Once again Christmas was at Maureen's house. We had a great time; of course Julia was the belle of the ball.

josee's world

GuMan — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 12:06:24 GMT

Not only were we sick and overworked this holiday season, we didn't have much time to get together with friends. So far the only one was the evening with Betsy & Chris. However, Josee came through with a quick drink up just before Christmas.

lit tree

GuMan — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 11:55:11 GMT

Since I wrote about our unlit tree, I thought I would show you the final version. Because of all the chaos going on in our lives, we didn't get around to doing this until the night of the 24th.

unlit tree - unwrapped presents

GuMan — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 02:22:29 GMT

We have both been under the weather all week. Thus, we are way behind on all our holiday chores. Yesterday, we finally got a tree. It looked nice on the lot, but little did I realize that it weighed close to 120 lbs. And, of course, I was the one who had to bring it home. We got it set up but were too tired to decorate it. Also, we are too tired to wrap all the presents. So they just got piled up under the tree.

Since we are moving out of the apartment, our landlord has placed it on the market. Amazingly he has it listed at $1.2 million! For our stinky little place! Anyone who would pay that is out of their mind - no matter who good the Euro exchange rate is.

greetings from florida

GuMan — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 01:20:07 GMT

dinner out

GuMan — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 12:42:51 GMT

A couple of weeks ago Julie had brought some venison all the way from Minnesota. But there was way too much for us to just eat by ourselves - plus it just wouldn't be any good if it wasn't cooked on a grill. Fortunately, Betsy is both a fan of venison and has a grill. So yesterday found us in New Jersey.

In the morning Jo-Ann went out to go shopping for Christmas. I followed in the afternoon with the fixins. That way it worked out for the both of us.

four score and five

GuMan — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 18:05:19 GMT

Last Tuesday was my mother-in-law Mildred's 85th birthday. So we told her we would take her to any restaurant she wanted. She picked Servini's in Allendale. So off we went to take her out to dinner.

Then over the weekend we got our first real snow but not much accumulation.

I then proceeded to get sick. Being the good husband that I am I passed it along to my wife, who manages to get a more worse case of the the same bug. We are finally getting over the bug.

A while back when life was much calmer, I had agreed to go give a talk on derivatives at a conference in Florida. As luck would have it, that is next Monday. Of course, I still have to write the presentation. Looks like that will be my afternoon before I fly out tomorrow

thanksgiving

GuMan — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 11:35:00 GMT

Well it has taken me a couple of days to get the Thanksgiving photos up. Going into the weekend I wasn’t sure I would have a job when I got back. Then on Friday, there was an announcement that we were getting new funding and a set of new parents. So that meant my job was safe; unfortunately, that also meant we have several investment bankers in house trying to value the company.

As usual, we went to Dallas for Thanksgiving. We got to play around with my godchildren and eat way too much.

Here are some photos from the weekend