Sunday, November 12, 2006
Catching up ...
Ooops! Sorry I've been out of touch for a few days ... I've been busy, as the following will demonstrate ... beer (Freudian slip! :) with me as I try to catch up in one entry!
Well, Tuesday was a bit of a writeoff as my friend Justin, a top investment banking Vice-President at Canaccord Adams in Hogtown, had a meeting scheduled at the same time as our coffee meeting. Oh well, making money takes precedence on Bay Street, so off I went on my own. Hmmmm, maybe I should've asked for a seat at the table!
Wednesday saw me catching up with another Bay Streeter, Greg, who is also an investment banking Vice-President but at Haywood Securities. Greg is a great guy, a former lawyer who got his MBA from Ivey before working for bulge bracket investment banks in New York. A few years ago, he came back to Toronto and now is reaping the rewards of a robust mining finance market. He gave me some "kick in the pants" advice for my job hunt for a Bay Street finance job. Blunt but clear, it was a bit painful to take but Greg meant well and was speaking from personal experience. I appreciated his time and advice and hope I can put his suggestions into action.
Later in the afternoon, I checked in with my boss, Kelly, Vice-President and Director or Corporate Finance and Equity Capital Markets at IPC Securities. Now Kelly's a great guy - smart, driven, creative, inspiring, a great leader and motivator - and he's only in his 30's! We touched base on the recently-launched Alpha Energy Flow-Through Fund and decided on what I had to do to follow-up with some IPC reps on their Alpha orders.
In the evening, I caught a webcast of an installment of Hart House's "Grand Design" series of lectures to explore "the architecture of ideas, people and places." Featuring Lisa Rochon and Mark Kingwell and moderated by Larry Richards, they and the audience delved into issues related to urban planning and architecture in Toronto. One of the issues raised at the session was that many cities have "myths" behind them - Paris for romance, New York as Gotham, LA as Hollywood, etc. - but was is Toronto's myth? Hmmmm, there doesn't appear to be one, or perhaps it tries to be too many things to too many people. Renown Queen's School of Business marketing guru extraordinaire and professor, the oft-quoted Ken Wong, once said that Toronto does a lot of things well but does not do anything great. As a result, Toronto does not particularly stand out in many people's minds as a destination, as a place to visit, etc. That is, in marketing-speak, Toronto has not really differentiated itself in a crowded marketplace of cities vying for tourist dollars. I'd recommend that Tourism Toronto just hire Ken and he'll find the fix for the problem.
Thursday, I finally caught up with Justin, the Canaccord Adams investment banker and, may I add, one of Hogtown's most eligible bachelors. With a cool new loft in King Street West, hangouts at Lobby and others, and rainmaking deals on Bay Street, he's on the fast track up the Bay Street career ladder. Anyway, he was kind enough to spare a few moments of his day, buy me a tea, and share some insights into the market and current job prospects. Justin always takes the time to help out and share his knowledge - clearly a model for us all to emulate.
After making some more calls for Kelly at IPC, I headed off to meet my friend Frances for a quick dinner before we TTC up to Yonge and Eglinton for the premiere of the movie "A Good Year," starring Aussie bad boy Russell Crowe and directed by Sir Ridley Scott ("Alien", "Gladiator", "Blade Runner", among others). We stopped by the BeerBistro on King just east of Yonge for some beer-infused pizza and mussels. Mmmmm, delicious! Frances did the ordering and her choices were bang-on fantastic! She is quite the gourmand and knows her way around a menu, let me assure you.
While "A Good Year" won't set any box office records (in fact, it sorta flopped over the opening weekend, I hear), I found it a nice, relaxing and enjoyable flick. Clearly a departure for Scott and Crowe in style and content, one must bear in mind it likely wasn't intended to conquer the box office hordes but provide contemplation and reflection as the film explores how Crowe's character, a wildly successful proprietary trader of gilts in the City (London, England) finds himself once again after inheriting his late uncle's sprawling country estate in la belle Provence in the south of France. Eventually, he finds his roots (literally, it seems - the estate also makes wine!) and trades in (no pun intended ... really) the trading floor for the vineyard. Oh, and also for a very attractive mademoiselle who catches his eye :)
Well, the weekend was spent mostly at the Toronto Condo Show, held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. While some of the exhibitors were interesting, the main attraction for me was the stellar lineup of speakers over the three days of the show. Condos are the "it" thing for real estate nowadays, especially in Toronto and Vancouver where they are the go-to form of real estate for many first-time and/or young buyers due to being much more affordable than the traditional detached home.
Well, that's it for now - gotta run so I'll fill in the rest later! Thanks for surfing by ...
Well, Tuesday was a bit of a writeoff as my friend Justin, a top investment banking Vice-President at Canaccord Adams in Hogtown, had a meeting scheduled at the same time as our coffee meeting. Oh well, making money takes precedence on Bay Street, so off I went on my own. Hmmmm, maybe I should've asked for a seat at the table!
Wednesday saw me catching up with another Bay Streeter, Greg, who is also an investment banking Vice-President but at Haywood Securities. Greg is a great guy, a former lawyer who got his MBA from Ivey before working for bulge bracket investment banks in New York. A few years ago, he came back to Toronto and now is reaping the rewards of a robust mining finance market. He gave me some "kick in the pants" advice for my job hunt for a Bay Street finance job. Blunt but clear, it was a bit painful to take but Greg meant well and was speaking from personal experience. I appreciated his time and advice and hope I can put his suggestions into action.
Later in the afternoon, I checked in with my boss, Kelly, Vice-President and Director or Corporate Finance and Equity Capital Markets at IPC Securities. Now Kelly's a great guy - smart, driven, creative, inspiring, a great leader and motivator - and he's only in his 30's! We touched base on the recently-launched Alpha Energy Flow-Through Fund and decided on what I had to do to follow-up with some IPC reps on their Alpha orders.
In the evening, I caught a webcast of an installment of Hart House's "Grand Design" series of lectures to explore "the architecture of ideas, people and places." Featuring Lisa Rochon and Mark Kingwell and moderated by Larry Richards, they and the audience delved into issues related to urban planning and architecture in Toronto. One of the issues raised at the session was that many cities have "myths" behind them - Paris for romance, New York as Gotham, LA as Hollywood, etc. - but was is Toronto's myth? Hmmmm, there doesn't appear to be one, or perhaps it tries to be too many things to too many people. Renown Queen's School of Business marketing guru extraordinaire and professor, the oft-quoted Ken Wong, once said that Toronto does a lot of things well but does not do anything great. As a result, Toronto does not particularly stand out in many people's minds as a destination, as a place to visit, etc. That is, in marketing-speak, Toronto has not really differentiated itself in a crowded marketplace of cities vying for tourist dollars. I'd recommend that Tourism Toronto just hire Ken and he'll find the fix for the problem.
Thursday, I finally caught up with Justin, the Canaccord Adams investment banker and, may I add, one of Hogtown's most eligible bachelors. With a cool new loft in King Street West, hangouts at Lobby and others, and rainmaking deals on Bay Street, he's on the fast track up the Bay Street career ladder. Anyway, he was kind enough to spare a few moments of his day, buy me a tea, and share some insights into the market and current job prospects. Justin always takes the time to help out and share his knowledge - clearly a model for us all to emulate.
After making some more calls for Kelly at IPC, I headed off to meet my friend Frances for a quick dinner before we TTC up to Yonge and Eglinton for the premiere of the movie "A Good Year," starring Aussie bad boy Russell Crowe and directed by Sir Ridley Scott ("Alien", "Gladiator", "Blade Runner", among others). We stopped by the BeerBistro on King just east of Yonge for some beer-infused pizza and mussels. Mmmmm, delicious! Frances did the ordering and her choices were bang-on fantastic! She is quite the gourmand and knows her way around a menu, let me assure you.
While "A Good Year" won't set any box office records (in fact, it sorta flopped over the opening weekend, I hear), I found it a nice, relaxing and enjoyable flick. Clearly a departure for Scott and Crowe in style and content, one must bear in mind it likely wasn't intended to conquer the box office hordes but provide contemplation and reflection as the film explores how Crowe's character, a wildly successful proprietary trader of gilts in the City (London, England) finds himself once again after inheriting his late uncle's sprawling country estate in la belle Provence in the south of France. Eventually, he finds his roots (literally, it seems - the estate also makes wine!) and trades in (no pun intended ... really) the trading floor for the vineyard. Oh, and also for a very attractive mademoiselle who catches his eye :)
Well, the weekend was spent mostly at the Toronto Condo Show, held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. While some of the exhibitors were interesting, the main attraction for me was the stellar lineup of speakers over the three days of the show. Condos are the "it" thing for real estate nowadays, especially in Toronto and Vancouver where they are the go-to form of real estate for many first-time and/or young buyers due to being much more affordable than the traditional detached home.
Well, that's it for now - gotta run so I'll fill in the rest later! Thanks for surfing by ...
