Internship

Greetings from Midtown Manhattan. It's been a busy stretch since I've started my internship and I'll fill you in on a few things that have been going on.

Aside from sweltering in the summer heat, I've been working Monday through Friday at Urban American (UA), a multifamily investor who specializes in workforce housing in the NY/NJ region. My primary role is to support UA's finance team and assist with investor presentations, refinancing activity and due diligence on any potential acquisitions and dispositions.

My routine usually goes like this:

I get up bright and early to catch the #1 line (subway) heading downtown to Port Authority. From there I take a bus heading to West New York, NJ. The UA corporate office is actually in New Jersey right across the river from where I live in Manhattan. Morning commute usually takes around 45 minutes.

The bus takes me right where I need to be. Since I arrive with time to spare, I get a chance to buy breakfast every morning and a cup of coffee (let's just say McDonald's revenue has gone up as a result). By the time I get into the office, it's around 8:30 am. I'm always one of the earliest ones to arrive in the morning but I feel it's important to make that point to others; you're there to work and you want to make the most of the experience.

I usually start with whatever project I've been assigned by one of the full-time employees. Sometimes these projects take a day or two, others take up to a week (or two). One project I've worked on was an investor presentation for potential JV equity partners. That one took maybe a week since I had to get familiar with the properties and their operating statements three days into the internship. Can't make mistakes so it's better to reserve enough time to get it right.

My interaction with coworkers during the day varies. For example, if I'm on a project that requires me to team up with an asset manager, I have a lot of interaction with whoever I'm working with. Other times, I'm on my own. It's generally a good idea to take time to visit other people at their desks during the day and ask questions when you have them. It's helped me get to know my coworkers and get the know the company better.

The day ends around 5:30 to 6:00 pm for me. Occasionally I'll stay later but keep in mind my commute back is not short. Usually takes me about an hour and fifteen in traffic. To anyone who has to do it, bring a good book or headphones. Dinner is usually a post 7:00 pm affair and sometimes even later than that. But that's the life of an intern.

Just make sure to enjoy the experience. Try some new restaurants, organize a happy hour with friends, or catch a baseball game. This is the last time you will ever be an intern. Take it all in.

All Other-Sport Team

This past weekend, Cartoon Network played the movie Space Jam to the delight of many long-time Toon Squad enthusiasts. I find it very hard to believe that there is anyone out there that cannot find at least one thing he or she enjoys about that movie.

One of the biggest underrated aspects of the film are the myriad of NBA player cameos throughout the movie. I can't imagine in this day and age, seeing so many current NBA players make a cameo in a film. I mean, Ray Allen pulled it off and so did D-Miles, but to get Ewing, Barkley, Bradley, Bogues and LJ (not to mention a sneaky few second cameo from the one and only Vlady-Daddy)? In the words of Martin Lawrence's character Marcus Barnett from Bad Boys, "Shit just got real."

Besides the cameos, which put this kid-classic over the top, Space Jam also delivers by producing a semi-real life plot. Okay, I'm not talking about the aliens but follow with me.

The entire basketball to baseball back to basketball plot? That really happened. The ability of this film to play off the real life career change of Air Jordan right after his dad passed away is just another reason it is so special. Apparently, His Airness was not shy about using the theme of his failed baseball career to inspire a movie.

Anyways, the whole career change thing got me thinking. What if other professional athletes decided to switch sports? Now I'm not talking Deion Sanders or Bo Jackson situations where they played both sports growing up and eventually reached the highest level for both at some point in their professional career, I'm more interested in athletes who excel in one sport and suddenly switch to a sport they have never played in their life before. Just for fun, I wanted to offer some ideas of athletes who could dominate a second field of play. Let's begin:

Lebron James, Wide Receiver: What if the most athletic player in the NBA played the sport where pure athleticism is most rewarded? Imagine King James in the open field!

Tony Parker/Steve Nash, Forward (soccer): Small, crafty and extremely gifted playmakers, these two could really excel on the pitch.

Floyd Mayweather Jr., Center-fielder: The quickest hands in professional sports might come in handy when trying to make contact on a Justin Verlander fastball.

Shaun White, Figure skating: The dude feels more comfortable in the air than on the ground.

Natalie Gulbis, Beach volleyball: Fairly easy on the eyes.

Michael Phelps, Rowing: Because swimmers are not good at any real sports.

Whatcha know about fashion?

I actually know very little about fashion. Unlike some who were gifted with a high fashion IQ, I have always relied on the genius of others to inform my dress and style. Of course I know how to pick out a striking tie or impressive shit...I just mentally borrow ideas from the fashion trailblazers before me.

Despite not being a writer of dress code, I constantly try to gather ideas that may elevate my sense of style. Whether it's a color scheme on a businessman I walk past on the sidewalk or a flawless cut of suit I see in the pages of GQ, I always have an eye out for that showstopping look.

One man I admit to borrowing from is The Sartorialist. This man is a visionary and a genius. Capturing the mundane street life of major cities, the Sartorialist handpicks the best and brightest in the game of dress. Making the individual the focus of his work, the Sartorialist champions the individualist spirit of fashion. Make it your own or borrow from others. If you are the former, you a true fashion genius.

As for me, I'll stick to the JCrew catalog.

Who does that?

One of my favorite phrases is "Who does that?" The perfect timing to use this phrase is when someone does something completely unthinkable that happens to also be completely hilarious. Usually the answer to the who part of the question is a person who just doesn't give a fuck. They're crazy, they're hilarious. We salute them.

2012

 

The year is 2012. Washington, D.C. is mired in political turmoil and the end is no where in sight. America is afflicted with a serious disease called bipolar disorder. The country can no longer think in terms other than us. vs. them, Main Street vs. Wall Street, and one percent vs. the ninety-nine percent. There is one bright spot however. America has finally learned the concept of credit.

Nearly six-thousand miles away, Damascus, Syria faces an entirely different kind of political turmoil. Their unrest borders all-out civil war. With the state of volatility in Syria, civil war could be realized any day now. Russia and China want the other U.N. Security Council members to butt out. Russia on the other hand wants in. Clearly, Russia still wants its part of the Middle East. Russia's long-term survival rests on $125 per barrel oil prices (currently $116). Oil talks.

Iran and Saudi Arabia jockey to influence the developments in Damascus. Iran is closely aligned with Syria's current Assad regime. By extension, Saudi Arabia favors his opposition. Behind the scenes the two sides plot to out maneuver the other if and when the opposite side decides to move. So far, all is quiet. That could all change any day now. There is no love lost between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Their war is still cold...for now.

Israel cannot help but sit on the edge of its seat. For years, the Israelis have flirted with the idea of attacking Iran's nuclear weapon facilities. Iran's leader has not been shy about expressing his plans for Israel and no one in Israel believes this is an empty threat. If Iran plunges into open warfare on the Middle East subcontinent, Israel finally has the opening to attack Iran under pretenses of war. By aligning with Iran's likely enemy, Saudi Arabia, Israel will not paint itself as the aggressor. 

Back in Washington, a financially-strapped government must decide whether to aid its closest allies in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and Israel. Since the Bush II administration the GOP has steered clear of foreign policy issues. A familiar faction in the Republican party reemerges in the debate over intervention. Back from a near decade-long hiatus, the neoconservatives bring back foreign policy to the GOP's front and center. Norman Podhoretz is still the wise teacher of this movement that demands Obama  put troops back in the Middle East. It's only been a year since Afghanistan and Iraq have been withdrawn.

The stock market is frozen. Commodity prices sky rocket. In Russia, Putin gets his $125 per barrel oil prices and his budgetary concerns are quelled. There's rampant violence in the Middle East. 

The year is 2012.

Sign Stevie

As the old saying goes, there are only two things guaranteed in life...death and taxes. Fans in Western New York might be familiar with a third guarantee: a terrible draft by their hometown Bills.

It all started in the early 2000s. Up until that point, One Bills Drive had cleaned up in the first round draft pick department. The list looks like this: 1983: Jim Kelly, 1985: Bruce Smith 1995: Ruben Brown, 1996: Eric Moulds, 1999: Antoine Winfield. When you consider that most of these picks were selected in the mid-to-late first round, you only gain more respect for what the Bills front office was able to pull off.


Guided by those very players who the Bills front office had brought together in Buffalo, the team achieved one of the most herculean feats in all of sports. They made the playoffs ten times in a twelve-year span. This historic run included four Super Bowl appearances in a row, a feat no team has and probably never will come close to in the near future. By 1999, the Bills were undoubtedly one of the most feared opponents on any team's schedule.

And then the pass. It was a backwards pass the referees said and that's all there was to it. It landed in the hands of a young wide receiver who would only spend a few years in the NFL. 1999 was his most memorable year and you may know him better as the guy whose arm was one-yard too short of the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history.

Shortly after was the firing.

Wade Phillips, the coach who led the team to three straight .500 or above seasons from 1998-2000 and won 60% of his regular season games (equivalent to 9.6 wins per season) was ousted. He too would never overcome the backwards pass.

In the last NFL draft that Phillips was head coach, Buffalo drafted a young lineman out of Arizona State. No one really knew his name at the time and most people in Buffalo probably don't know his name today. Erik Flowers, a player who would spend five years in the NFL, became the embodiment of Bills draft picks for the next decade.

From 2000 to the present, the Bills have amassed a list of first round draft failures that few other teams could match in a span of two or three decades. The "next-franchise" tackle out of Texas ended up being the worst draft pick in Bills history. The Bills surrendered future first day draft picks to trade back in the first round for J.P. Losman and later John McCargo. The team had the number eleven pick back-to-back years from 2008-2009 and ended up with Leodis McKelvin and Aaron Maybin. Not to be forgotten is the sickening reminder that in a span of seven years, the Bills used three first round draft picks on running backs.

Which brings me to a very important point.

The Bills are not a team who can just replace talent in the draft a la their division "rivals" in New England. You will not find a Rob Gronkowski on the Bills roster to replace a Randy Moss nor a Jerod Mayo to replace a Junior Seau.

That is why the debate among local sport writers on whether Stevie Johnson should be resigned or not is ludicrous. The Bills do not have a young player on offense nearly as established as Johnson nor do they have someone with such star power off the field. Letting Johnson walk would cripple an already feeble offense looking for a bit of hope.

Offer Johnson something comparable to Anquan Boldin in Baltimore or Brandon Lloyd in St. Louis and if he balks at the offer, let him test the market. Once he realizes no team will offer him WR1 money long-term, he will likely be very cooperative in signing a 4 to 5 year deal with the Bills.

It comes down to this: the Bills will never have a Randy Moss or Larry Fitzgerald type receiver because their offense will never pass enough on a consistent basis to create Moss or Fitzgerald individual statistics. Given the current state of the Bills offense, an 80-reception 1,100-yard guy is pretty much the most you could hope for. That's exactly what Stevie Johnson brings to this Buffalo Bills offense.

There is no realistic way that Johnson or any other receiver for that matter could produce better statistics in the Bills offense. That's not a knock on Johnson or whoever is the main target in Buffalo but rather an accurate understanding of the Bills offense and what type of pass/run breakdown is necessary to stay competitive. For Buffalo, that breakdown is more skewed towards the run with a strong 1-2 running back tandem of Fred Jackson and CJ Spiller. When local sportswriters compare Johnson to the top WR1 in the league, I laugh. You can't compare apples and oranges just like you can't compare Bills and Patriots.

Strange attractions

A few years ago, scientists in Toronto discovered the dimensions of a perfect female face. After months of painstaking Google image searches, our friendly neighbors to the north revealed that Shania Twain was the absolute epitome of female beauty. Even though Shania isn't easily impressed, I'm sure she cozied up to the idea that scientific research pinpointed her as the 21st century Helen of Troy.

But let's be honest; not every woman's face has the potential to launch a thousand ships. Everyone has their flaws and there's certainly no shame in it. Take for example Judy Greer (pictured above). You might know Judy as the girl who plays the lead female characters' best friend. Judy dominates this role and has really excelled at solidifying this niche. What's most interesting about Judy however, is her physical appeal.

Conventional wisdom says that Judy is a cute, next door type. I'm quite confident most men would not turn down the chance to be with a girl like her. But when we're talking about knockout, 12-year old boy bedroom poster status, she's just not quite it. Frankly speaking, she is often cited for having a disproportional nose.

Culturally, this is usually not a celebrated feature. Many years of Anglo-Saxon socialization in this country have deemed the perfect female nose as a small, symmetrical protrusion that points slightly up rather than hooking down. There's not much of a fan base behind the aquiline nose (sorry Adrian Brody).

But sometimes, there's exceptions to the rule.

For instance, I find for some girls that a distinguished nose with a slight bump near the bridge is actually quite attractive. I think it's a cute little quirk on some girls that really works for certain individuals. Judy Greer is just one example of a person who it works on.

Now, I'm not advocating for snaggle teeth (but I do see more high fashion models with that distinct gap in between the two front teeth) however, certain features society has traditionally labeled unattractive are not always quite that way. There are countless individuals who have strange attractions to unconventional beauty. In short, all people have their own fetishes and we are all deep down attracted to something that might not sound as appetizing to others. It's the people who openly admit what they're attracted to (yes, I have a huge crush on Judy Greer duh) even in the face of adversity that really make the world a wonderful place to live in. Everyone's imperfect but sometimes imperfection is beautiful. Just think of all the strange crushes you've had and try to say otherwise.