Small epiphany: I started reading Spanish-language financial papers a while ago. I kept seeing 'trimestre' appear and I am thinking "Why would they use a 1/3 of a year, when everyone else uses a 1/4?" At that point it hit me: some 20 years after I first heard the word, I realized that a trimester is the same thing as a quarter because it means 3 months.
Talking to my friend who is a trader at a hedge fund the other day. We were just talking about who is putting up great numbers this year, etc. It dawned on me that he was another example of the good/evil relationship: you often see finance people married to people who make a living doing much more socially useful activities, or at least less socially harmful activities. His wife is in medicine, which is unique in that once there's a practice, it is hard to uproot yourself. So it matters a lot where you work. In finance, it is much more fluid - it isn't uncommon to move every couple of years to find greener pastures - paper chasing, if you will (not paper chasing). For some things, it couldn't matter less where you are.
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains. Diane Lane is a vision.
