On my way to a half marathon

I took a three-year hiatus from running. I ran once in a while to feel like (and tell myself that I was) a runner but that was about it. Now I'm getting ready to run with a group of 5 people to push our friend Pino in a wheelchair for the Bavisela half marathon on May 4th. We practiced with him yesterday and I could tell he was thinking "Why the slow ones?" But he was a good sport anyway.

I am not feeling very in shape. I have done a couple of 10 milers but they were slow and torturous. Here's what got me to keep going, though. My friend Noel. He rode his bike from Wisconsin to China . That's what I think about when I am ready to whine about a couple of hours of running.

No biggy.

Don't say it's new if it's not

Hello from the Bologna Children's Book fair. It's been an exciting couple of days. As far as fair venues it has a two big pros. Natural light, and books.

I have been to a bunch of fairs since I've lived in Italy and I want to take this moment to give some advice to those interested in promoting their product, brand, and what have you, especially if you are doing it in Europe.

Find something that works, then tweak it but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't (rince and) repeat every year. Worse than that, please don't tell us you are doing something new if you are not.

I understand why people do it. It's cheaper to do the investment once and then use it again the next year, but, again, a fair is the venue for showing what you've got that's NEW. 

Just had to get that off my chest.

Some time has passed since I started this post, but I forgot to publish it and I'm hoping it will inspire me to write some other things I've been thinking about.

Here is why I started it:

1. Italian Advertising is all about spending a lot of money ONCE and then using the ad campaign FOREVER. So old. So boring. So annoying. Especially underwear ads in the dead of winter. The same girls that made me shiver last year and the year before by just looking at them at the bus stop made me shiver again this year.

2. Trenitalia uses the same "new" train (do they even paint it?) every year at the Innotrans fair in Berlin (I only had to see it once, luckily but rode on one just like it before and since).

3. Even in Trieste, the same 100-year-old "shark" is on display every year (It's  now made more of paper maché and painted with tempera or something. Doesn't even resemble a shark anymore) as the "novità" when they open the discovery museums downtown as if it was just fished out last week. Not scarey at all! Just dusty!

Do people think we don't notice? Change pictures in your catalogues, people! Freshen it up! There's nothing worse than paying a lot for advertising space and looking cheap anyway.

Ok. Rant over.

The Making of a Women's Space

It's an exciting day here in Trieste. At the Associazione Italo Americana we are getting ready to welcome the Consul General of the US Consulate in Milan to help us officially launch the Women's Space Book Drive. The book drive will last until May 31st when we celebrate our first ever Founders Day. We will consider anyone who donates a book  (in English having something to do with women) or money to buy a book, a founder. We thought it would be meaningful to have our community come together to choose the books and create the space.

At first we wanted to call it a Women's Library. We changed our minds for a couple of reasons. 1. It implies that the American Corner Library here is somehow For Men Only, and it is not. 2. The word "library" is too limiting. It is difficult for a lot of people to imagine it being more than a place that houses books. Actually, I really wanted to call it a Women's Corner, but I realized (just in time) that it would be abbreviated as W.C.!! Could not have that!

Want to know what goes into creating a Women's Space? Well, after a lot of conversations in my office, in the classrooms, with our friends, the idea came together (original brainstormers: Denise, Marina, Erin, Janine, Karry, Sheila, Maureen, Grazia, Leonardo, Judy), Denise and I wrote a letter to the head of the American Corners for the US Embassy. Then we forwarded it to our friends for more feedback. We got lots of great feedback from everyone. That meant we were on the right track. From there we got to organizing the book drive and the EVENT we are having today.

Here are the steps we took to prepare today.

step 1: Create a special Women's Space "Tag" in our library database. This same tag has info on who donated the book and when. Done by our volunteer Eryn.
step 2: Update information on our current American Corner library to have on hand for journalists, members, etc. Done by my colleague Denise (found all of our numbers increased significantly this year even though we moved from one apartment after 44 years to another. Also found that we have 60 active volunteers now, not 50, which is what we usually tell people.
step 3: Ask Grazia to create a logo.  Like lighting, she did. Awesome.
step 4: order a cake
Then, invite the Consul General, work the date around when he can come (cake delivery also dependent on date, of course), do a mass mailing to members, friends, etc. Do a Press Release and send to the paper.
Days leading up to the event:CLEAN LIKE CRAZY.
Beg interesting people to speak. Some say yes, some say no.
Put up a ribbon.

Now we wait and hope people show up. But not so many that we have a fire hazard.
Wish us luck.

Hopelessly Devoted to Corporate Finance on iTunes U

Thank you iphone for my new teacher!

My friend Michael got me hooked. He is taking a course on App programming through Stamford. I loved the idea of infiltrating  attending auditing courses at universities I never would have had any hope of getting into  top-notch institutions while riding the bus, before going to bed, etc.

What you do is download the free app from itunes (there are other similar things for you non apple people, of course), then you can scroll through all kinds of university courses that have been uploaded from top universities.

I chose one on Corporate Finance, which is completely out of character for me. My justification is that I often find myself hanging around corporate finance types who are like aliens to me and I wanted to create an adequate line of defense for when they criticize my artsy fartsy, superficial way of doing things understand a little bit more about what the hell they are talking about most of the time makes them tick. My course was offered in May 2013 as a 15-week class at the Stern Business School at NYU (Damodaran's web page -- he is my new idol).

I find the course fascinating. I am doing the homework, taking the tests after each lesson, watching the extra webcasts. In short, I am doing all of the things over-achieving school-nostalgic adults do when they have a chance to go back and be a student again, things that I did NOT do when I actually was a student.

It is invading the rest of my life too. I am thinking about stock value, corporate governance, conflicts of interest, markets, risks, managers and lenders, acquisitions, etc. 24/7. If I had my choice I would have finished all of my lessons by now, but I am trying to stick to one session a day. I need time for the information to sink in, after all, and I have to make it look like I still have other interests outside of Corporate Finance (see the stories below-- wait a minute! Maybe I can do my project on Covergirl! Do you think it's a Publicly-traded company??).

My life is exciting again! Halleluja for Hurtle Rates!

THIS is the way to go Viral

I told you we were going to talk more about doing the right thing and this Covergirl add is exactly what I'm talking about. Plus, I just love Pink. I mean the Person. Not necessarily the color. Although that has also grown on me.

You want a recipe for an awesome viral campaign? Pink and Ellen. The Hockey player chick is frosting on the gd cake.

Me loves this!!

Thoughts on New York

I got back from the NYC toy fair a couple of weeks ago and life went back to normal immediately. Klementina and I did a quick wrap-up report before I shifted gears from toys to Italian wine and Cuisine (I am now getting ready for events in NYC in May and June. More on those later) and Klementina went on to another project as well. Our toys are still there and there is a lot to be said about them, but for the moment we are using our time differently in order to manage this new onslaught of exciting work.

Every time I go into something new I feel like a kid again, excited about discovering a new world, but also like a college student who woke up from a long stupor the day before mid-term exams. Freaking out about how much I still have to learn. Plus I am trying to get back on my wake-up-early kick but instead kicking myself when I just don't get up! Curses!

Anyway, I do have some thoughts on New York to share.

Bad.
1. Too many TVs. On the elevator in the hotel, in every taxi, in every restaurant. Enough already. It felt like I was on a never-ending Ryan Air flight. From the second you get there-- someone is always trying to sell you something. Hated that. Noisy and distracting.
Good.
2.  Taxis now accept credit card and you can tip without having cash. Finally.
Good.
3. Indian food. Japanese food. Mexican food. American food. Variety in general. Thank you!
Good.
4. Transportation. The ease of big city travel. Except for where we needed to go, which had almost no real option for arrival except by taxi or foot (Javitz center)
Good.
5. Bus to Cape Cod. Went overnight to see friends. Left early, got there early.
Good.
6. I know it's not NY but the visit to Falmouth was like a Big Vacation. No TVs. Quiet. Calm.
Good
7. Working with brother. Seeing sister-in-law. Staying at their house. So much better than a hotel.
Good.
8. We worked hard. We got good results. The trip was a success.
Bad.
9. We were always on the wrong side of town for seeing the Statue of Liberty. This bugs me. I love her. Not seeing Lady Lib is a bit like going to Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower, you feel like something is really wrong.
Bad
10. Getting my computer stolen out of the bag I decided to check last minute like an idiot but let's not blame the victim here  at JFK.
Good.
11. Travelling and working with Klementina. It's so easy. She thinks of everything I don't.
Good.
12. American Breakfasts, and grilled cheese.
Bad.
13. New York doesn't do hashbrowns and "Home Fries" don't absorb egg well.
Good.
14. Even the greasiest spoon dives have a vegetarian burger option.
Good.
15. New York is New York and it's one of the best places in the world.

So much to tell you!

So little time! I will be back this week. I promise!!