Almost fourteen years ago, my wife and I moved from the Houston tropics to the London cold. I accepted an ex-pat assignment in London to manage my company’s northwest Europe trading and marketing business. In early January, we boarded a plane and landed in frigid London. It had recently snowed, and …
Love and Work
Most people do not understand what I did at work. When asked what I did for a living, I usually replied, “I work in energy trading.” The person who asked the questions would usually stare back at me with a blank expression on his or her face. I would then say that I worked for Shell Oil. Then the …
Children & Economics
My daughter and her family recently entered a new phase of life: home ownership. She is a stay-at-home married mom with three adorable children (I am biased!). Her husband worked for a period after finishing his undergraduate degree, then spent five years completing his Ph.D. They rented homes until …
Dividing Line
I live in a multicolored world that is filmed in black-and-white. One is usually either ‘for’ or ‘against’ something, with little desire to envision the complexities of life. Humanity desires simplistic answers and quick solutions to some of the most vexing societal issues: homelessness, abortion, …
January
When I was employed, I disliked the month of January. I thoroughly enjoyed the December holiday season and the joy it brings. The week between Christmas and New Year’s was relaxing, with too much food and football. By the end of New Years Day, I started dreading going back to the office because I …
Two Sandwiches and Two Coffees
A few days ago, I read an article in the Financial Times dated October 15, 2023 (Citibank analyst dismissed for lying about meals expenses claim under €100 limit) about Szaboles Fekete, a senior analyst at Citibank (London). He and his partner went on a three-day business trip to Amsterdam. Fekete …
Sickness at Work
During my first London assignment in the mid-1990’s, I woke up early to run around Regent’s Park. I had to run through a few neighborhood streets before crossing into the park. One of the streets was St. John’s Wood High Street. This street was lined with small shops, restaurants, and grocery …
Napping
I have exercised early in the morning for almost 40 years. I realized in my twenties that if I did not commit to an early morning run or gym session, there was a high probability that my exercising would not get done later in the day. I commuted to downtown Houston early to beat the commuter …
References
During my assignment in The Hague (The Netherlands), I received a phone call from a British senior manager. He called to inquire about a person who worked for me that applied for a job that the senior manager had posted on my company’s job posting website. I first asked the senior manager about his …
Moral Man and Immoral Society (The Conflict Between Individual and Social Morality)
During my first London ex-pat assignment, I traded fuel oil, a heavy refined product burned for heating. A UK steel manufacturer bought a cargo of fuel oil every month. My company had never sold a fuel oil cargo to this steel manufacturer because they bought through energy brokers, who were …
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