Rounding off the first half of 2001, here’s a story that sorta sums up life in New York for those in my position. I had a last-minute houseguest Thursday night who came in about 11pm and asked what there was to eat. I had figured he would have had dinner before he came and, alas, the pantry was bare. There are not many choices in this neighborhood at that hour for delivery if you are kosher and the rabbi did not want Chinese food. I eat take-out and buy just what I need, as do most bachelors living in the Big Apple (at least those who don’t otherwise constantly eat in restaurants). There was however – the Emergency Can of Salmon. That is kept around in the fridge, along with some cake, pudding, applesauce and juice, in case there’s nothing to eat, the lights go out and someone is hungry. I asked if he’d like mayonnaise with it or if I should chop it up; nope, just a plain can of salmon and a spoon would be fine.
To give you a sense of developments here, I resumed full-time employment with a company to which I am a partner that provides various types of services to immigration lawyers, such as expert opinion letters in political asylum cases and academic/work experience evaluations for skilled-labor immigration petitions. We dropped the Indian head-hunting portion of the business late last year when it became obvious that the market was evaporating. The company is performing according to expectations and stabilizing decently after its first year of operations. We were a leading sponsor of the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s national conference in Boston this month and made quite a splash. Soon we will have a website at www.morningsideeevaluations.com although for us a website is superfluous; we are not a technology company and many of our customers prefer faxes to e-mail.
My main responsibility is to deal with back office issues but I will also be editing the company’s newsletter which will focus on topics of immigration law that are of special interest to our clients. The idea is to put out a newsletter which reinforces our company’s reputation for high quality work product and to establish ourselves as a market leader in the industry. I have also taken steps to educate myself in immigration law so that I can be more capable of handling requests from colleagues regarding immigration matters. I have decided to have my office at the company’s location and you should be aware that I now have an e-mail address for daytime correspondence (ivanwork@ciment.com). My direct phone line in the office is 212.643.1231.
I am advised that the Islamic banking and insurance project that I am involved in has been receiving positive interest by major banks and has been scheduled for consideration during the 4th quarter 2001. Things move slowly in that region and this rate of momentum is expected. I hope that the Middle East situation will stabilize somewhat over the next 6 months although this project is neutral to political developments.
Since I last wrote at year’s end, there is nothing new to report on the dating scene. I was on holiday for 6 weeks in April and May traveling round the world (I hope you have checked out my journal and photos on globalthoughts.com) and then have been occupied settling into my new routine between being out of town for one reason or another almost every weekend.
In May I attended the 10th reunion from Penn Law and it was quite underwhelming even after my really low expectations having attended the 5th reunion. I don’t expect to attend further reunions. Aside from one fellow who became a film critic for the New York Post, everyone who attended is leading quite predictable lives as lawyers. I can certify that I am having way-above-average fun in my class.
I did keep my New Year’s resolution to join a gym and get a trainer who coaches me 3 or 4 times a week. Except for being able to “lift” more, I am totally neutral to the exercise. I don’t feel any better or worse for it.
Family is fine; we all gathered at Disney World in March to celebrate my dad’s 65th birthday and will next month spend time at a summer home we are renting in the Catskill mountains in upstate New York.
I expect to be on-hand here in New York for the balance of 2001 focused on securing the company’s future growth and stability, save for 10 days of holiday in September to Western European secondary cities that I have not yet visited (St. Moritz, Florence, Prague, Bavaria and Jersey (Channel Islands, UK). Visits to more exotic locales will have to wait until next year.
It’s often noted that I tend to focus more on the international than the domestic. In honor of the 4th of July (American Independence Day), I’ve posted a list of things that I think are great about America, just to provide some perspective and make note of items sometimes taken for granted.
Hope all is well with you; please drop me a note if I haven’t heard from you lately and let me know how things are.
