cityblog

Yes! I’m still alive.

We spent the mornings last week learning about all kinds of financial instruments that the Bank offers its clients, and the afternoons taking a crash course (essentially the basic first-year MBA class) in corporate finance. The corporate finance professor teaches at NYU and was excellent. I learned a lot from him about why things happen the way they do in business. The week ended with a bang, with four exams in one week and rather poor scores on my part.

To my complete and utter relief, our recruiter told the technology people that our scores were not being sent to our managers. These next three weeks, on the other hand, count much more vitally towards our first impressions. This week is bond math, and to be honest, it’s really pretty easy so far. I either have learned this stuff beforehand or the concepts are simple (or Excel spreadsheets can do the function for you). Also, we don’t have homework yet.

In addition to the coursework, we are playing trading simulation games in class to learn about what the global markets people (who we will be supporting) do and how they work. This should, in theory, help us to develop better products.

Aside from that, life has been pretty good. Jonny spent the weekend in New York, and we did all kinds of fun things (food shopping, cooking, watching movies, and such).

Also, I joined the gym yesterday. Today I went for the first time. I joined Equinox at 50th & Broadway, which is just barely past Times Square. I was delighted when I realized that my office is actually literally in the building on top of the gym, and the subway comes out right there too. Quite convenient. The gym itself is beautiful - clean, friendly staff, and very sort of spa-like (in fact, it has a spa in it). I went there this evening and took one of the classes (kind of a pilates/yoga fusion thing) and really enjoyed it. So, that is good.

It’s been almost unbearably humid here - the air is thick and it’s hard to breathe - so waiting for the subway is about ten times worse. But, the good thing about living in the north is that you can find it in your heart to enjoy the heat, since you know that in about six weeks it will start getting cold again . . .

Adieu!

Filed at 9:11 pm under Life, Daily Goings-On, Work
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It was a beautiful day, so I went out and took pictures with Jonny’s new (and really, really beautiful) new Canon Digital Rebel SLR camera extraordinaire!

The full set is here - I haven’t posted all of them here, but if you click below there’s a sample of the best, for your enjoyment.

Random celebrity information: I have recently learned that Katie Holmes, Topher Grace, and Keri Russell all live somewhere in the general area of my neighborhood. Katie, my roommate, says that she sees Keri pretty often.
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Filed at 10:48 pm under New York City, Photos
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The happenings in London are horrible - and they have caused impacts closer to home, for us. Our new hires in the London office are here with us, but they are concerned (even though most are not from London). Bank of America also closed their London office today, as a precaution. And of course, New York City is on a high alert. I doubt that had anything to do with the weirdly-running trains today, but who knows.

At any rate, things seem more real in a place where they’ve seen it happen before.

Filed at 4:12 pm under Life
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After a weekend at home spent in various fun ways - Dave Matthews Band concert, church, time with family - I got back into the city in the early afternoon today. I spent the afternoon cleaning up and tying up some loose ends here at the apartment, and then went with my roommate, Katie, to a party with some people she knew on a rooftop in Williamsburg (a somewhat trendy neighborhood in Brooklyn).

The fireworks were pretty cool! I haven’t seen fireworks in ages. The ones I was watching were over the East River, and they were visually right near the Empire State Building - so that was a neat perspective. I also met some new people and had some good food. It was my first real Brooklyn experience outside of going to the Brooklyn Tabernacle a couple of times. It’s a different perspective.

This was the first Fourth of July that I’ve spent doing actual Fourth of July things in a long time!

Filed at 11:19 pm under Life, New York City, Daily Goings-On
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