Estoy Harta

I've never been a die-hard fan of the Estados Unidos. That is why I moved to Spain. But lately I've been tired of people pointing the finger at the United States for all the economic problems that have been occuring lately. And I am tired of the world propagating the stereotypes of Americans being ignorant people of excesses and bawdy culture. I hear people say in class during a movie in which the wife opens a can of Spaghetti-Os: "Typical American dinner." Please. That is a stereotype. Just like the one that we all eat hamburgers all the time. True, I enjoy a good McDonalds hamburger from time to time (but usually only about 4 times a year) but typically I cook, just like you. And I hate that everyone thinks the typical American is downing in debt and spends what they don't have. True, we have national debt coming out the wazoo. But I'm sure I can find someone from any culture that lives beyond his means. And please don't blame the budget deficit on every American person. If I were President, I would never have aknowledged that. And I did NOT ever vote for Bush. I do agree that we need to keep it down, but I do not appreciate being scorned for overspending and collapsing the economy. The only debt me or my family has ever had were school loans. "American Excess." Witty, but Ouch.

Everyone seems to be pointing and laughing at the dollar perpetually dropping, and our economy going down the toilet. It is like all the other economies don't want to play with us anymore. I think it was because we were the big bully in the playground for so long. I do admit that a lot of Americans are ignorant to the world around them, but that is only because we don't put ourselves out there. Some of us don't move to other countries, or want to experience different cultures. But a lot of Americans are good-natured, humble people with a lot to offer the world.

In conclusion, we are not the arrogant, loud, ignorant, overspending people who eat hamburgers and fries like you think. (Do not look upon our president as an example.) Every person is different. I really hate it when I hear people in my classes and in my school badmouth America in the ways I described. They simply don't know. And, passing certain limits, it's disrespectful.

I have many Colombian friends who always tell me that they are sick of people thinking of their country as the land of wars, kidnappings and cocaine. Sure, there are those things, but it is only a small part of the country's greatness. I personally hate it when someone makes a cocaine joke regarding Colombia. There are great authors, singers, TV stars, and Formula One drivers that come from Colombia. Nobel Prize winners. An exquiste flower industry. Colombia exports 75% of the flowers we buy in the US. Great coffee. There is nothing more satisfying to me in the morning than 100% Colombian coffee with milk.

So I rest my case. The United States has a unique place in history. Every country does. We are all growing and developing together. Yes, we make some mistakes. But so do you. I don't appreciate it when people from other countries attack us when we are down, as if they are vultures waiting for our demise. It helps no one. What we need is to accept our differences and move on. Americans need to with respect to the rest of the world as well.

Hard times are ahead. Prejudice and malice are counterproductive, on both sides.

El Dia De Mi Suerte

Black Monday

Me paran siempre en la calle
Muchas hay gente que comenta
"Oye Hector! Tu estas hecho
Siempre con hembras y en fiestas"
Si nadie pregunta si sufro o si lloro
Si, tengo una pena que hiere muy hondo...
They stop me, always in the street
Many people comment
"Hey Hector! You have it made
Always with women and parties"
But no one asks if I suffer or if I cry
If I have a pain that hurts deep inside...
-El Cantante, Hector Lavoe


I've had a strange week. The weekend leading up to it was equally strange. Shook me to the core. And then the markets crashed. IESE gave an emergency session on the updates of the markets. I was frozen throughout. When the economy falls, especially when the US markets decouple, I get this feeling of impending doom inside. One professor put it best when he said that the US has an extraordinary amount of debt, and that we receive a capital inflow of more than $3 billion per day "So that Americans can buy themselves the newest Hummer 2H" or whatever it is called. And he was right. I always knew that. I hope this is what it would take for Americans to wake up.

Yesterday was strange. I gave my speech in Management Communications trying to influence an audience of investors to invest in a particular mutual fund (which by the way is revolutionary in its theory), and I have never seen everyone so bored. Literally I am used to all eyes on me, but I got comments like "That was sooo BORING!" and "WAY TOO TECHNICAL!!" Well, true, it's mutual funds, but how is systematic and firm risk not exciting??? One of my favorite guys here is Sebastian. He is like a wealth of financial knowledge. No matter what I am doing, when we start talking about the markets, it's like I cannot stop listening to the guy. It is just so interesting.

Anyways, Monday was strange as well. I felt as if I were in an alternate universe. I was trying to hold 2 juxtaposed thoughts in my head simultaneously: what I wanted and what I did not want, what I believed and what I did not believe, what happened and what did not happen.

In other news, I received an interview from Nomura, to which I applied for an internship in London for Debt Capital Markets. I have a very good feeling about this bank. And I think Debt Capital Markets might be a good fit for me, but as always, there is a journey in front of me. DCM is a little Corporate Finance and a little Sales & Trading. It would be really fun. I can't think of anything right now I'd rather do. Except maybe EQUITY Capital Markets... ;-)

And in still other news, I haven't been able to concentrate fully on the cases because my head has been enundated with salsa. I'm constantly focused on doing a great show for Spring Fling and MBA Olympics. I've never choreographed a salsa song before (though I have choreographed my own programs for figure skating), and I have never performed salsa before, AND I have never done a GROUP performance! But I know I can work with the other 1st years to make a great show. I'm constantly choreographing in my head... finding the bottleneck in terms of performers so that I can match everyone to his/her skill level, motivating people to push the limits. I've got a lot of show tricks I would like to teach. It's amazing, Salsa. It's in my blood. I would like nothing more than to spend a day choreographing.

I guess my idea of a perfect life would be working during the day at a bank, get off around 6, and at night practice salsa to perform. Being in front of an audience and being able to express your creativity is so invigorating.

But alas, I must stop this daydreaming and do cases. Executive shirts. Pfffft!

This Regression Stuff is Great! Gimme More!

This Regression Stuff is Great! Gimme More!
-Just one of the many priceless quotes from our Quant professor.

Others:
I want to be invited to parties!
Come to papa!
Oh yes, give me something good baby!
I'm obsessed with lines!

This trimester is shaping up to be something great. I actually follow all of the classes, I speak more intelligently in class (avoiding the COW comments), I'm not obsessed with banking, I understand all the cases, and I actually have time to breathe!!! In the beginning of the week, I was sick, and I actually had time to sleep 12 hours hoping to recover, which basically was the equivalent of having the entire afternoon off!!! That is unreal!

So I decided to actually get involved in some clubs this year. (Besides just the Finance Club). Wednesday night I sent out to the group the Managerial Accounting case (heh, I always volunteer to do those cases because I am quite fond of the... class.) before heading out to the Responsible Business Club dinner. Learned something key about Banking's role in society. The day after that, I still managed to follow the classes enough to be able to go on our Team dinner to Baltazar, then to the BOW after. Socially, I was getting more.

Classes I was getting more. My favorite class is Managerial Communications, because it comes so easily for me, and I love being in front of an audience. Quant methods, presumably the most quant class of the group, is all about statistics, one of my best subjects in college (actually, it was econometrics, but same thing). Managerial Accounting is much more interesting and intuitive than Financial Accounting, and the professor is top notch. Perhaps the hardest class I have is Operations, but Alejandro Lago is an excellent teacher; I can always count on coming to him with questions.

So I figured out why I was having so much trouble last year. After doing some reading for Communications class, I realized that much of the classes last trimester had used the Indirect Method, that is to say, discussion first, answer at the end. Many of the classes we just talked about the case and I had no idea what learning point the case was supposed to represent until the end wrap-up, if there even was a wrap-up at all, and by then, the answer already lost most of its value. Tulane University was so easy for me because we had great professors who used the Direct Method, which is to say, they outlined the class first, defined all the important topics, and highlighted them as they went along with lectures and cases.

Perfect point here is our Strategy class. We had the Cola Wars case. Since I was familiar with Strategy before, I knew that Porter's 5 Forces would be key to solve the case, so I found a great lesson on it, then printed it out for the group. Plus, I had talked to some friends at Section C to get the main focus points of the case, the bottlers vs the concentrate, for which we could base our analysis. The point is, for the class, our professor mainly wrote down random headings on the board as the class brought them up that seemed to have no order. It was only AT THE END that he introduced Porter's 5 Forces. Geez. I cannot describe this feeling I had. I guess it would be akin to being a child and your parents saying you could go to the mall after it had already closed. But my secret was that I had already snuck out to the mall earlier that day... and learned about the 5 Forces myself.

Sometimes I think I would get a whole lot more out of this program if professors would introduce the main topics in a lecture first, defining them, telling us what to look for, and THEN giving us cases to illustrate this topic, rather than cases after cases indirectly teaching us as we come up with it. But this trimester, the professors are doing a much better job with this. Managerial Accounting is great. Quant Methods... I wish he would use the words "statistically significant" instead of "the variable matters" and "multicollinearity" instead of "redundant variable". Maybe it is because I am a statistics nerd that I like that. All I can say is Gimme More!

Interview Days

Monday
I had interviews with 2 banks. The first one went extremely well; I had never clicked with an interviewer so easily. The second bank I thought went well also: I answered all the finance technical questions correctly, was my usual charming self on the fit questions, but when it got to the brain teaser area, I couldn´t answer any. I´m just not good with games. Or multiplying in my head. What´s 17x16? You can´t write it down. No, you can´t finger write it on the desk. No, you can´t finger write it in the air. Now, what´s 19x23? Jeez.

That night I decided to relax and practice Spanish by watching the Spanish news. I sat on the edge of our glass table and flipped channels. And as I was concentrating on the translation, I heard a loud crack as the glass broke and I fell through the table!! I looked down. Uh oh, I´m bleeding, I thought, nonchalantly. Better head to the ER. Went to the hospital, got sutchered, went to bed at 2AM.

Tuesday
Went to the ER again that morning because the thing wouldn´t stop bleeding. Rushed to another banking interview.

I was thinking as I read the Financial Times that all my investment predictions were coming true. The equity markets will continue to underperform until there is a true catalyst like earnings growth or favorable economic indicators. Defensive industries such as healthcare & pharma were outperforming. And utilities, and consumer staples. Energy stocks like Schlumberger and Transocean were gainers. Oil prices would trend around $100. People would put their money in gold, energy and government bonds. Perhaps munis would rise as interest rates lower to support government spending on infrastructure. The US is heading towards a soft landing recession.

Wednesday
Tuesday night I could not sleep. I kept waking up in hour intervals with dreams about oil prices dropping to $87, or the yield curve steepening or the effects of the subprime crisis. I could not distinguish dreaming from reality; it all seemed so real. Then I started dreaming about balls. And balancing them on a scale. And finding the odd ball and telling whether it was heavy or light. I woke up at 3AM, got some diet coke & proceeded to look up brainteasers on the internet and practice multiplying in my head. Felix told me to go to sleep. But I couldn´t, or CDOs will invade my dreams...

Had my interview with my final bank of the session early in the morning. Had a very nice conversation with a guy in Corporate Finance, my old profession. Why I fell in love with him: he said "I'm not going to ask you what the sq. root of 2200 is. I don't give a ****. I just want to chat." I considered for a moment switching back to corporate finance.... He popped some Spanish questions on me, which was fun.

Thursday:
Loved the new classes so far, especially quantitative methods. I love regressions. I used to regress everything and their mother in Econometrics. And when the teacher begged us to ask him about economic trends, I swear my heart was his. I love analysing macroeconomic trends.

That night I completed the cases around 23:30H. Went to BOW, then followed people to Sutton. It was my first time. Hooray!

OBAMANATION!

Iowa Caucus was yesterday, and Barack Obama wins 38% of the votes, with Edwards (be still my heart) coming in second at 30% and Hillary third with 29%. I am so happy I can hardly contain myself. What a great start to the new year. I am finally bullish on America, and Obama is the perfect candidate to lead us into a new era. Instead of going into the politics here, I’ll stick to the safe road by being vague and just plaster this entry with Obama propaganda.



So Inspirational:


To another victory in New Hampshire!

...Let’s dream for a little while. If I were President, I’d provide tax cuts to the middle class (increasing long term disposible income & therefore consumer spending), strengthen international relationships & increase trade, assume Bernanke will reduce rates enough to stimulate business investment (come on 50bp!), and provide subsidies to technological development in hopes of providing a positive supply shock and releasing our dependence on oil. Additionally, I will take money out of militaristic activities (substitute diplomacy, doesn’t cost a thing) and transfer that fiscal spending into reducing the twin deficits & domestic programs that have proven track records. I’d make sure our children know what is going on in the world, that we are not the only ones in it, or at least have them know where the bloody countries are located so that our international friends no longer point and laugh. Perhaps I’d find a way to make handguns illegal. That could take a while. Oh, and I would build a damn levee in New Orleans. Geez. It’s been long enough, I don’t care who was supposed to have done it. Dream over. Back to reality.

Leaving the United States Again

Tomorrow I go back to Spain. I rather enjoyed my brief respite in the States. It's so much more comfortable here (probably because I know my way around to whatever I want whenever I want) customer service is wonderful, and I don't have to do exchange rate loss calculations in my head whenever I make a purchase. But besides the things I miss about America: Peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, Wal-Mart, Frasier, being innocent until proven guilty, the great $400 John Edwards haircut, the thing I will miss most is driving. Driving: Good. Public Transportation: Annoying. Long open highways filled with trucks & SUVs (okay I hate SUVs; I believe they unnecessarily pollute and subconsciously promote war). There is nothing I love more sometimes than driving. Which is why returning to America for me is somewhat irresistible.


I-10E into Houston

Oh, Stick Magnetic Ribbons on your SUV:


I love Wachovia. They certainly paved the way with promoting ethics, community service, the best customer satisfaction (#1 6 years in a row!) and great people. Before I worked for Wachovia, I googled all the banks with the word "Scandal" and Wachovia was the only one I applied to that did not have a public track record. Whenever I walk into a Wachovia on any side of the country, I am always greeted with a cheerful “Welcome to Wachovia!” It's great.


My Wachovia retail branch

Last Days of 2007

I was in Houston the last days of December, visiting the friends I left before moving to Barcelona. Driving around, I saw the old neighbourhoods I missed with their distinctive cultures, the Montrose area, River Oaks, Midtown, the Heights… and I saw all my most-frequented bars and salsa clubs, all lit up with Christmas lights. I missed Houston a lot, but also knew I’ve sort of outgrown it. On New Years Eve, Marco took me to my favorite Colombian restaurant (even though he is Ecuadorian), Mi Pueblito, where he forced me to speak Spanish. It was nice.

A Family Guy marathon later, we headed out to the New Years parties. But on the way there, my car tire blew up. Damn! 30 minutes to New Years. Marco was a hero and changed it in something like 10 minutes (he is experienced with cars). So I walked into the party right on the stroke of midnight, looking fabulous as always. My first dance was a merengue, with one of my best friends, Christian, who works in Cancer research for MD Anderson. He must have spun me like 10 times in a row. That’s our thing. He is the best dancer I know. Well perhaps after Marco. But Marco does NY On2 and Christian & I dance LA On1. I digress.

Latin music has the perfect rhythm to get lost in. My favorite dance was with Jose, a guy from Medellin, Colombia whom I met that night. He dances Colombian style salsa (obviously) which is very cumbia related, and is not widely taught in the US. But I’ve danced Colombian style informally before so we hit it off quite well. It was a very pleasant dance to the classic “Cali Pachanguero.” He was the nicest, most sweetest guy. He had this refreshing sincerity about him that many South Americans I know possess: probably as a result of their way of life being so free and open. And when he told me that Medellin was famous for coffee, flowers and textiles, and not drugs, I had to smile, because it was like I knew that already by heart. Sometimes little things like that make me miss Colombia. His Italian-American friend Dustin, whom also is in love with Colombia, gave me a traditional "Rumba Navidena" CD with lots of Cumbia-Vallenato songs.

New Years Day, I had lunch at Pei Wei with Andrew C whom I had danced a nice bachata with at the party the night before. It was very enjoyable. I wish we had hung out more together when I was in Houston. After lunch, he took me to get my tire replaced so I could drive back home to Austin. Before I left I gave Marco this big, long hug. He was wearing a red sweater, my favorite color. I literally didn’t want to let him go, because figuratively, I knew this would be more than just a simple parting of ways. He had set his life down in Houston, and I would probably be living in London after graduation. It’s funny that no matter how drastically you change your life, you always can feel at home in the past. But the rub is knowing that you cannot stay there, and must create your own home, somewhere else.