The last couple of weeks have been very eventful. Not only does this represent an especially busy time of the year for most of us socially, but it’s the end of the year and a great many transitions are taking place, not the least of which is the change of the administration. I will comment on a few of these things as we see them and if you disagree I hope you’ll let me know.
For one thing, there’s a certain amount of optimism in the air for the new year. For example, Kelly Spors — a reporter at the Wall Street Journal — believes that entrepreneurship will once again reinstate itself and provide some of the stimulus the country needs to get back on track. Government contracts in particular will be a sunny spot for entrepreneurs to increase their business, online shopping will continue to grow, and the numbers of new entrepreneurs will skyrocket. On the downside, credit will still be difficult to get for many businesses and bankruptcies will continue to rise. I am personally optimistic about the new year and think we may soon be turning a corner.
It’s hard for me to believe what’s going on in Washington right now, however. I hope Obama can get control quick because this is not a time for lack of decisive decision making at the top. Richardson dropping out was not a help.
I had a busy two weeks starting on December 21 when world-famous oceanographer Walter Monk had his annual Christmas party at his house. All of his family was there and many of his friends. Walter is now 90 or so and is very active. He walks with a cane as do I and we have that much in common, if not a deep-seated knowledge of oceanography on my part.
On December 25, Betty and I entertained about 20 of our closest friends at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, where we all ate things that we don’t eat during the normal workweek. Cranberries and turkey stuffing are my favorites.
On December 28, Betty, Mary Ann, and I attended a formal wedding at the Estancia La Jolla. Kate Dillon — daughter of Tom Dillon, who worked with me at SAIC and who is now actively engaged in consulting for a variety of people in town — was married in a beautiful ceremony followed by a gala dinner in the dining room at the Estancia. By the way, most of these events were conducted in the rain, believe it or not.
On New Year’s Eve Jim, Mary Ann, Betty and I had dinner at the La Valencia, and again we all ate things we don’t normally eat. I checked my weight today, and it has not changed, which is a surprise based on what I ate. The dinner was wonderful. This is somewhat of a tradition for us and normally the Bozorgmaneshs join us, but they were out of town this year.
The last major get-together for the season occurred this past Sunday night — again in somewhat dismal weather. The Bozorgmaneshs picked up Betty and me, and took us to the Roppongi restaurant in downtown La Jolla. The restaurant was crowded, as though it were New Year’s Eve, but we had a wonderful time.
Hadi Bozorgmanesh hasn’t seen much of the old crowd we did business with, but as fate would have it I heard on the blog this week from John Leggate, who was our primary customer at British Petroleum. It appears he is doing well in San Francisco doing clean energy investing. John has always had a good nose for what’s going to be important. I had sort of lost track of the business level SAIC has with BP.
John used to be CIO for BP — he is now enjoying retirement in Greece. I hope I can see him in the future, although I am not planning go to Greece anytime soon, and I don’t know that he is planning to travel here.
— Bob