Dear everyone,
It’s just post-Thanksgiving, so I don’t know how much I will
put in this - - just about everyone was here in Chicago.
The festivities started earlier in the week, with a bunch of
people in for the investment committee meeting.
Danica was not at this meeting, but Aaron Ali made his first. We spent
some time talking about asset allocation, and came to the decision that we had
too much in domestic (US) equities. So
we will sell some off. The problem is
that almost everything else is also too expensive, and we don’t necessarily
want to hold a bunch of cash.
After the meeting we all got together and had dinner at Meg’s
café, in Glencoe. The food was ok,
but not great, and even though it was Saturday night, they were out of several
items. I had a butternut squash soup
(too sweet), and a chicken pot pie. The
advantage of eating here is its proximity to the Writer’s Theatre (which I recall
getting some architectural write-ups in the Tribune some years ago). It is a nice building, and we saw their
production of Wilde’s “The Importance
of Being Earnest”. I think the
actors either did not play it with either sufficient faux-seriousness, or with
enough campiness. It’s not a play you
should stay in the safe middle zone. It
was fun, but the play is over 120 years old, and I think is starting to show
its age. Maybe it is time to rehabilitate
some Wodehouse.
The beginning of the ‘Four Days of Thanksgiving’ started off
at Andy and Gail’s house, which really, at least for me, turned into a real “Drinksgiving”,
Andy being quite liberal in his pouring. I sampled bourbon barrel aged beer,
whiskey, tequila, and then I lost track.
Gail prepared a mushroom casserole and a vegetarian chili. We played “No
Thanks” and Chicago
Express. Joey’s friend Avi wanted to
start a secondary market in railroad stock. I had a weird conversation with Eli’s
(Jacob’s friend) parents.
Thursday we did some cooking (I cooked up one batch of
pulled chicken South Carolina mustard style) and cleaning in Hinsdale, but then
drove out to Barbara and Rogers. There
were three turkeys (one smoked by Joey) and six pies. I think there were about 40 people at the
party, including Bruce Patterson and his wife Barbara.
Friday I got up early to prepare a second batch of pulled
chicken, this time Southwest chipotle style, and then went into work for 2/3 of
the day. Lucas and Jasper helped set up
our home for the influx of about 25 people.
We had honey roasted almonds, home-made fermented cauliflower/carrots/peppers,
Roquamole, two styles of pulled chicken, coleslaw, southwestern rice with corn,
beans and peppers. Lucas made two
batches of ice cream, one honey, and one coffee, and the wonderful cookies that
the kids had decorated earlier in the day. Aaron brought a game called Skyfall that we
all enjoyed.
Yesterday I went to tai chi, work, and then the gym (I
really needed to go to the gym!), and then back to Barbara and Roger’s. We had leftovers, as well as a bunch of pizza
from Barnaby’s. Afterwards there were games of Boggle,
Scrabble, Skyfall, Captain Sonar,
and Quiplash - -
Barron Trump better look out for the squatty potty!
Jasper has headed back to CMU, and we are trying to get the
house ready for some carpet installers - - we are redoing a couple of rooms and
getting new hallway and stair runners.
I just finished ready a horrifying non-fiction book, Kids
These Days, about the rise of ‘human capital’ among today’s
Millenials. Increased productivity has
decreased labor costs and shrunk the job market, leading to hypercompetition
among this generation, and the assumption of debt, and off the books training (or offset training to schools) to reduce hiring
risks by businesses and corporations. This book, along with Dream Hoarders and
Hillbilly Elegy, have been pretty depressing looks at the modern American
economy.
Talking about depressing, it’s time for me to watch the
Bears.
Love,
H.
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