What a Week

1. The election

2. $11 billion capital raise

3. The Chicago Booth School of Business

1. A couple thoughts on Tuesday.  I know that everyone sings the praises of voting early via mail in or absentee or what have you.  I heard that some people could actually go to their polling station early.  I am one of the slackers who never got around to figuring out my mail-in ballot. I actually figured it out a couple hours after deadline.  I like that my permanent address is the same house that I grew up in in Alameda.  All of my mail goes there.  It gives either me or my parents a reason to see each other often.  That said, I really enjoy going to my polling place the night of the election and getting to see the hard-working retired volunteers.  I like comparing how things have changed since the previous year.  It’s just a beautiful thing to experience.  And the best thing…no line!  As I drove in to work, I saw lines wrapped around polling stations in San Francisco.  But that night in Alameda, I was ushered right into a spot to start marking my ballot.  

I left Alameda for a friend’s party in San Francisco.  Good wholesome fun–the kind of fun where we bashed a George W. Bush pinata filled with chocolate, fake dollar bills marked ‘In Goldman We Trust,’ and fake coins with pictures of Cheney and Bush.  I walked in during McCain’s speech and I just wanted to cry.  My main man!  Had it not been for his stupid VP choice, he definitely would have had my vote.

Alas, I am hoping that Obama is the change that we need.  Good for him and his team.  The election was not his to begin with and he earned it.  It is absolutely well-deserved.

2. Same story.  Working hard.  We did a $11 billion capital raise yesterday that will close in one week.  I am off to NYC on Tuesday.

3. An email came through: Join us for a historical announcement at 5pm central time.  The announcement?  My alma mater, the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, got the largest donation ever to a b-school.  Just for comparison, the last biggest donation was to Stanfurd at $110 million or something like that.  The one before that was Michigan for the Ross school at $105 million.  My b-school got $300 million–one of the largest donations ever to a university.  Wooohoo.  Granted, I’ve gotten used to being the GSB, I think it’s cool that someone is committing that much money to higher education.  He deserves to have the school named after him.  So it’s now the Chicago Booth School of Business.  And to keep the momentum going, the school is doing some kind of matching program.

Again, I urge everyone to donate to your schools, the arts, your favorite non-profits.  I really believe that the more you give, the more you get in return.  Be stingy and you’ll die a sad, poor life.  But don’t be like that guy I dated who’s still living in a $2400/month rental and still has not gotten a job and last I looked, his Facebook status said that he’s able to live off of bread and water.  GET A FUCKING JOB!