Brussels Home: August 2006

Grad School, Career Changes and Poo pretty much sums it up. But not necessarily in that order.

Ethan has twice in the last couple of months explored his artistic side, and Sara and I are very proud of his creativity. We have however decided to encourage he use materials like water-based paints, clay, etc., i.e. anything but his own fecal matter. Twice we've put him down for a nap and gone upstairs a few minutes later to check on him to find that he had painted the hallway, his bed, his door, the mirrors downstairs, literally everything in his path, in poo. FANTASTIC! I could post some really disgusting photos, but I won't... those we will keep until his first date, upon which we will unleash a photographic catalogue of his exploits in excrement.

Moving on... I'm officially set up to sell credit over here... this includes primarily mortgages, but also car loans, personal loans, etc., so that's exciting for me. I do enjoy that, and especially with rates still very low, though they can be expected to head up over the next couple of years. The real estate market is less exciting to me as an advisor or investor because I think it's becoming saturated and the gains may not justify the extremely high taxes on the front end. I think we will still invest, but in a much smaller scale (an apartment here, a duplex there) than we were initially planning. I'm also starting a part-time job at a company called DeVere and Parterns which is a financial advisory focusin on offshore investing for expats. The job itself isn't that exciting, but I'm planning to soak up a lot of information that I can use later on once I have my own financial advisory or something along those lines.

Lastly, I'm starting French classes twice a week through January, and a Post-Grad Certificate program in Treasury and Financial Risk Mgmt organized by the Belgian Finance Federation, Bankers Academy, etc. and depending on how it goes, maybe getting a Masters or something. We'll see where all of this leads me... I'm thinking now either my own full-service Financial Advisory, either as my primary business or on the side, OR working in a Risk Mgmt position with an Asset Mgr like a bank, hopefully eventually leading to getting involved in Microfinance both here and abroad and if (a big IF) things go well, starting my own bank one day. That is the ultimate goal, that and writing the Great American Screenplay, both probably years in the works, but one day maybe.

Gotta have goals, at least I do, otherwise I'd be very satisfied to drink Belgian beer, eat frites, watch football and play with the kids while I weather away in some dead-end job, writing once a month, kind of like I've been doing with this blog of late. I'm going to try and do at least a weekly posting, more for myself than anything, just to put down in writing what I've done this week, what I'm hoping to do next week, etc. I've got a gay little sign in my 'office' at home that says Be Proud of Everyday. I already said it was gay, but for me, it's important because when you don't have a traditional job to go to with goals and markers laid out for me, it's hard to track one's career, and I want to make sure I keep moving forward, never being satisfied with the status quo. Status Quo is boring, life-sapping, miserable.

Kids are good, Sonia's taking more and more steps, but still lacking confidence, we already covered Ethan's 'growth', and Sara is still enjoying work more, but apparently it's going to get crazy again. Claire, Dom and Ellie coming to visit in late October, my Mom's coming in a couple of weeks for Ethan's 3rd birthday, Eric, Jen and Cameron coming next weekend, looking forward to having a full house. We just booked our trip to DC for Christmas, it'll have been over a year since we have been in the US by then... Looking forward to seeing the family and meeting my sister's newest family member, due in November, reconnecting with our Americanness, which includes in no specific order, watching my Skins, eating Chipotle, drinking American milk, and not having to worry about people not understanding me and vice versa.

Actually it's been crazy for a while now, but this shit at Heathrow today and in the Middle East the past few weeks just reminds us all what a truly fucked up world we live in... and we for the most part are spectators, what's it like to be a participant.

I don't know if maybe I was oblivious before or maybe I had too many choices when it came to media, but I feel like I'm much more in the middle of things over here. I think that's for a couple of reasons. 1. The BBC is superior to CNN when it comes to really delving into topics, really asking hard questions, being able to stay on an issue and not lose momentum because they don't have to cut every 3 and a half minutes to a commercial. Nothing against commercials, I happen to be very fond of someone in the industry, but when it comes to news, it just doesn't fit... issues are complicated, the world is complicated, and limiting us to soundbites and 2 minute reports from the "front lines" doesn't allow time for the in-depth reporting necessary with the state of our world today. 2. There's something about being on a land mass that is connected to the Middle East, India, Russia, China, Afghanistan, and if it weren't for a sliver of water south of Spain, the whole continent of Africa. 3. I'm sure I'm being naiive and idealistic here, but Brussels is a place, like DC, which draws people to the possibility of change... the countless NGO's, all the government programs (Brussels has 4 governments active here- it is the capital of the EU, the city of Brussels has it's own gov't, and the Flemish and Walloon governments have offices here, along with the 19 communes of the city... can you say bureaucracy?), all the international and multi-lingual people, really can't help rub off on you and makes me feel like I should be a part of it, but honestly what I see here that mosts interests me are the business and real estate opportunities. It's such a difficult place to do business, most people give up because they don't think it's worth it, and after my limited experience here so far, they might have a point, but I'm going to keep plugging away until I (officially) lose my marbles.

I know though that if I do make it, I will give back. Number one priority though is supporting my family, and that's the quest I'm on now, to find the next opportunity, especially as the mortgage biz in the US has landed in the shitter.

Sara and kids are doing well, despite the crap weather. Put it this way, August 11th, and I almost wanted to put the heat on this morning. It's been raining for days straight, with no end in sight. Mark Twain/Samuel Clemens must have never spent a summer in Brussels. I think our friends Chuck & Deb who are coming from LA to visit us are going to be in for a rude surprise. Enough bitching. It was 90 degrees and sunny for about 2 weeks straight, and I was complaining then too.

Kids are growing up fast, Sonia's almost walking, Ethan turns 3 in a couple of months, talk about crazy. Photos: