Hanis bought me lunch in Singapore

Last week I spent a day in Singapore meeting potential fund managers for the ETF to be created on the FTSE/ASEAN 40 Index. Prior to arriving I managed to hook up by email with Hanis Hussey. Hanis and Naomi used to work as models together, and I have seen her and her husband Steve in the past on other visits. Hanis and I agreed to meet for lunch at the American Club and we had a nice visit comparing family notes and talking about old friends. She has gone on to be quite a golfer, and her son is also golfing a lot. At 15 he is 6'4" and wears a size 14 shoe. Big!

Cucumber Salsa

2 cups chopped cucumber
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
1 1/2 T sugar
2 T finely chopped shallot
1 T minced jalapeno
1 1/2 t fresh cilantro
combine
chill 2 hours

Brother In Law Boating

In Minnesota my brothers in law and I went out on White Bear Lake to drink and talk and watch the sun set. George is married to Nancy and has the pontoon boat. He likes investing so was interested to hear more about FTSE Xinhua and China.

Roger is Sally's husband. They are running a plating business and Roger has been trying to sell it. We had a chat about company valuation and he is interested in the Rob Arnott and David Morris work on valuing companies in portfolios based on fundamental factors.

We also had George's son Nathan on board. He entertained us immensely with his observations and theories on just about everything. He went over to see Grandma Viv the next day and entertained the old ladies at lunch as well!

Sally Gets A Dragon

When in Shanghai I picked up a pair of dragons on the cheap at a store clearance sale in front of the Jin Jiang Hotel. We decided to give Sally one of them, so I carried it from Tokyo via Palo Alto to Minnesota. I think he'll like being with Sally looking out on their lake.

California Drinking

There was an opportunity to stop off someplace in the US besides Minnesota on my round the world ticket, so I decided to see Tom Knapp in Palo Alto. It was like old times when I was working for Time Life. Tom would pick me up in the morning from my Tokyo flight, then we'd spend the day driving around Palo Alto and Woodside. After a nice lunch -- this time at the cafe in Woodside -- I'd usually need a nap. Then back to business, dinner and drinking. Well this time we had Greek in downtown Palo Alto. After a nice dinner and an over priced bottle of wine from Santa Barbara, Tom and I bid goodby to Mary Ellen who went home to take care of her dogs. Then Tom and I headed out for a pub crawl. We went to a Cajun place that plays house music, a micro brewery, a couple of English pubs, one with a trivia contest in full swing, a piano bar that we skipped out of because of the lousy music, and another bar with live music. All in all an interesting look at Silicon Valley and the Stanford University crowd enjoying themselves. The only problem we had was that Tom was not in training and experienced the ill effects of following the Hoffster.