Ask El Diablo
 

OK, this is the catch-all place to ask any random question. I'll get to as much as I can.

Here's a well thread that is more focused on me and my poker that might be of interest to some in terms of background.

I don't want this thread to be about me, though. What I really had in mind was a place for people to ask questions about stuff you think I might be able to answer on topics like:

Restaurants
Alcohol
SF and NYC
Business
Business Travel
Startups
Venture Capital

and any other random crap you've seen me spout off about on these forums.

I get a ton of PMs asking questions like this, many of which I don't get around to. I figure I can tackle more questions this way.

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

What do you squat?

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

El Diablo -

I have some questions regarding small family-owned "ethnic" restaurants in NYC. Is this something that you are qualified to comment on, or do you mostly stick to the mid and high end establishments? My questions relate to both the business aspects and some food questions. I am especially interested in Jamaican cuisine/locations.

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

Are you self employed?
If so, how are you able to get business? Word of mouth?
Youve said before that you run software start ups. Can you give an example of one of these companies and how you helped it succeed, and an example of one company that failed and why you feel it failed?
What are some non-software venture capital investments have you made?
Someone asked you before where to go for graduate school, and you said nowhere, can you expand on this?
How often do you pick up chicks in hotel bars?
Have you been/vacationed in any third world countries? If so, what did you like/dislike and think about them in general?

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

plz post picture of you without mask?

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

Hey D,

Any advice on apartment/condo searching in good areas of big cities? What is the best way to go about it, what are some specific things you would make sure of, and what are some red flags and things that should be avoided?

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

Hey D,

Im hopefully gonna be faced with a decision where to spend the next few years studying. It might come down to some combo of Chicago/Stanford/Berkeley/Harvard/MIT, hopefully. As a man of much travel, who lives in San Fran, what are your thoughts on what I should do?

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

What are some good (re: INTERESTING) business-related job opportunities for an 18 year old kid in the bay area? Pay is not important so long as it covers travel/food. I had one with a small firm called Vega Capital that I ended very poorly a while ago because the boss failed to keep up his end of our agreement. I have no resume but anyone that knows me knows that I am smart and work more efficiently than just about anyone when motivated.

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

AJ: Everyone I know in the last few years who has rented has gone through either friends or craigslist, both with much success. My experience is just in SF and NYC, though, where it's a completely ridiculous process. I imagine it's still a lot easier in most places. Only thing I'd really recommend is talking to people who actually live in the area.

Reef: I'm just a normal looking dude. Who needs more pictures of dudes?

chop: I love going to small places like that, but I don't know any Jamaican places in NYC. In NYC I'm generally going to nicer places since I'm usually travelling, but in SF I eat regularly at many local places like that.

ed: I haven't been squatting for the last three years or so since a really bad soccer ankle injury. I've never squatted huge amounts, though.

f2: Very good questions. I'll come back and respond later.

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

Web 2.0 questions;

What are the best sites you have found for web based collaboration?

Do you see more players entering this market, and being able to survive?

If you wanted to enter this market, would you look for revenue from charging for the collaboration services, or have it ad-based and try to get traffic?

Are you involved in any companies that will have a presence at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Fran?

would you buy GOOG right now at $495?

Also, being an individual, how to you go about brokering deals with large corporations? Heavily rely on reference? What if you don't have any?

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

Diablo,

Think you could use the quote feature here? I'm sure you know that Ask Me threads are much more difficult to read if the question is not repeated right before the answer.

Also, how come you never use the quote feature? I know you often put other people's words in quotations, but it seems that hitting the quote button would be much easier.

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

Hey El D,

My plan for the next couple years is to play poker to make as much money as I can, then grow sick of it. At that point my goal is to start my own business. I don't have a particular type of business I want to start, I just really think that running a business of any kind would be extremely rewarding for the type of person I am.

Problem is I majored in political science and have no real business experience. Not only do I feel behind the curve, I also can't really afford to get jobs besides poker in the near future. If it matters I am 22 and graduating in March. What books would you recommend I read to start my mind thinking about business decisions the right way, as well as what other recommendations might you have to help me along this path?

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

el d.

i recently had an expensive bottle of wine and it had a plastic cork. good cork is hard to get but an expensive wine using plastic corks?

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

El D,

Have you ever read a book titled "Monster - The autobiography of an L.A. gang member"

If so, did you enjoy it?

If not, would you consider reading it based on the title? What if someone recommended it to you, assuming you have some regard for the recommender.

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

[ QUOTE ]
el d.

i recently had an expensive bottle of wine and it had a plastic cork. good cork is hard to get but an expensive wine using plastic corks?

[/ QUOTE ]

Ray,

My wife runs a Wine Meetup group that goes to restaurants and wineries etc., tastes wines and listens to lectures about wines/wineries/wine making/etc. She had an event recently and the wine somalier talked about this very topic. It turns out that there is nothing wrong with synthetic corks, and in fact, it delivers a better, less variable product. Without a real cork, there is far less chance that a bottle can be "corked." Guy seemed to know his [censored], so I'm inclined to believe him.

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

[ QUOTE ]
El D,

Have you ever read a book titled "Monster - The autobiography of an L.A. gang member"

If so, did you enjoy it?

If not, would you consider reading it based on the title? What if someone recommended it to you, assuming you have some regard for the recommender.

[/ QUOTE ]

I read it about 12 years ago. If I recall correctly it was a very fast read, enjoyable and hard hitting; just skimmed some Amazon reviews and I'd say I concur with most of them.

Even though it was written in 1993 I'd say it isn't really dated if you want to get a feel for hard core gang life in general from the inside.

~ Rick

PS I recommended mid priced wine in 3 liter boxes for small dose drinking before bedtime so I doubt El D has much regard for my opinion [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

If you could make two books required reading for every adult american which two would you choose and why?

How do I get someone to give me money to start my own gymnastics school? (or any business without the potential for 1000x% growth)

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

When I opened 2p2 today there was a menu item called "El Diablos General Discussion Forum" - or something like that listed. Once I logged in, this menu item disappeared and the only way to get to this forum was to use the link in OOT.

What happened?

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

Diablo - my wife is a complete retard when it comes to money management. For example, instead of maximizing a 401K with matching company contribution, she will put $5K in a CD and make $120 in a year. Her justification is "you can't touch the 401K for another 35 years anyway!"

I love her dearly, but I'm afraid that she will never understand the concept of compound interest. What should I do?

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

ED,

I meant to pm you this question recently: Let's say your company goes for 2 rounds of VC. First they get $10M from Sequoia, then $24M from some angel. Is company ownership split up at the time of each deal (so S could get say 30% for their 10M while A would get 20$ for their 24M) or is it all split up at the end according to what was put up?

- mmbt

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

what's your feeling on using frequent flier miles and/or Amex Membership Reward points?

I used to think that if a plane ticket would cost > $300, it was worth using 25k miles to get it for free. Now, I feel like there are so many restrictions, I'm just happy if I can use the miles, almost regardless of how much the ticket would cost.

or, should I be saving all the miles for some kind of awesome trip?

note: I have about 100k in Membership Rewards points, and perhaps another 100k scattered across a few other airline groups

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

El D,

I was wondering if you had any experience with restaurants in Paris and if so, what would you recommend? I will be traveling there in the next couple months.


- John

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

El D,

What exactly makes the perfect sushi roll?

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

I'm not Diablo, but I've been to Paris a bunch!

the restaurants in Paris tend to be fantastic. rather than give you specific recommendations, I'm just going to give you some general thoughts:

1 - Relax. Parisians move at a different speed than Americans, and this behavior is clearly exhibited in restaurants. You could sit at a cafe for 3 hours and nobody would look twice. So relax, and don't expect the check to come, and order coffee and linger over it after you are done eating.

2 - wine and cheese. These are both quasi-indulgences in America that are standard in Paris. Even after adjusting for the Euro, you can find fantastic bargains in both these areas. You'll obviously have a lot of choices wrt to wine, so it may behoove you to do some research on French wines before you go so you can have an idea what to order. Cheese more typically just comes in a plate - you normally won't have a whole list to order from - but order it! France is the cheese capital of the world, and Paris is probably the best place to take advantage of it.

3 - Regions. France has a lot of distinct food regions w/ different styles. Often times the best styles are found in those regions (ie Provencal, or Mediterranean, etc) but Paris has great examples of all kinds. Try to figure out what styles interest you the most, and ask your hotel for examples of these close to you.

4 - Notwithstanding what I said above, stumbling around random cafes and enjoying coffee, wine, dessert, etc is my #1 favorite thing to do in Paris. walk around the city, and when you're tired, hop into a cafe for 1 of the above. and linger. it's what Parisians do.

5 - enjoy! it's my favorite city in Europe to visit.

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

El D,

I have a second round interview this week with Fidelity Investments and have no idea what to expect. Can you give me some sort of idea what second round interviews are like in the finance industry or maybe business in general? What percentage of final round candidates get selected (maybe too firm specific)? Any questions that I should expect or specific ways to prepare?

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

[ QUOTE ]
el d.

i recently had an expensive bottle of wine and it had a plastic cork. good cork is hard to get but an expensive wine using plastic corks?

[/ QUOTE ]

Being from a winemaking family I think I can handle this one.

I'm sure it wasn't a plastic cork, but a composite one. This means real cork mixed with something synthetic, with the end result being fewer corked bottles, even when they sit in your wine cellar for twenty plus years.

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

El Diablo,

sup bro?

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

Le Diable,

What field of research do you see yielding the most important results over the next two decades?

Also: if you were forced to devote the rest of your life to a research niche, which would you choose?

Thanks!

P.S. Thx for recommending J.M. Roberts's History of the World a while back when I asked for a history text. Great read.

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

[ QUOTE ]
El D,

What exactly makes the perfect sushi roll?

[/ QUOTE ]

cold hands

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

El Diablo how did you find your passions in business, life etc. I'm stuggling to find anything that really excites me in life recently after poker became unavailable from China for the last 6mths, and the general advice is do something you love.

I wonder if I should just drift around at this age(23) doing university, working crappy jobs, filling time with lazy hobbies and that one day something will inspire me to work hard at or if successful people find there passions through a more active approach.

How did you find your passions or motivations?

I hope my question is clear.

Thanks Imitation

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

El D,

How much should one tip for pizza delivery service? Is it a function of the number of pizzas you get or the total cost? Maybe just a standard flat rate?

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

I suck at life, tips?

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

El Diablo,

I have "lived" in NYC for about 5 years now. Can you name 5 things to do in NYC that you assume I haven't done/should do? This could include "eat at _____", but not all 5.

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

Diablo,

Can you imagine a ballpark figure of how much money 2p2 might have "left on the table" by not being more aggressive in using the forums as a moneymaking tool in the past 3 years?

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

What's in your opinion best single malt based on price/value ratio?

What's best tasting whisky you've tried?

What's the most expensive whisky you've tried?

I bought a bottle of Macallan fine oak 18yo mainly based on your whisky thread. I liked it very much, so what's the next Macallan I should get?

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

El D, I noticed you're a Pixies fan, something with you listening to them among other artists while running.
Soooo...you can't be totally lost when it comes to musical taste.

Do you listen to a lot of recent bands / go to shows etc?
I usually get my musical recommendations from indie style magazines or friends with similar taste in music.

So I figure, f it, El D might have something in store for me that I wouldn't be very likely to run into otherwise.

A few more artists I like, just to give a small hint:

Velvet Underground, the Beatles, Tori Amos, the Smiths, New Order, Suede, the New Pornographer...I really should stop now [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] But those are some of the more well known (I imagine) in the US.

I appreciate any input.

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

Jgor,

Learn to plumb.

Imitation: "How did you find your passions or motivations?"

I actually talked to Diablo about this about a month ago when I was having a quarter life crisis. He sat me down on AOL IM, and told me the following story of what he called "his awakening". I dont remember every detail, but it was something like this:

I was just a 18 year old kid back then, probably not unlike you, except maybe better looking. My parents dropped me off at the Rice University Dormitory. It was my freshmen year. I will never forget that day because it was freezing cold and pouring raining, and while standing inline, a bunch of my co-eds were wearing white t-shirts. At some point or another, their tshirts all ended up getting wet. First I could see the color of their bras. Next, I was able to make out the imprints of their nipples. It was at this time that I felt really funny in my pants. It was on this day August 12, 1991 that I found both my passion and motivation in life.

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

[ QUOTE ]
El Diablo,

I have "lived" in NYC for about 5 years now. Can you name 5 things to do in NYC that you assume I haven't done/should do? This could include "eat at _____", but not all .

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not El D, but

1) Frick Museum, Brooklyn Art Museum/Botanical Gardens. Frick has 3 Vermeers in it, plus some other greats, and is just a stunning 'house,' see what rich guys lived like in the old days.

2) Met/NYC Opera. La Boheme/Magic Flute/Tosca, etc. Even if you just go once, at least go...once. You might like it.

3) Yankees game/Bronx zoo. Great spring/summer events also good 'date' things to do.

4) Qualifying rounds at US Open. Go early, you get to see the stars of tomorrow [and some of yesterdays/current recovering from injury] and see Federer/Roddick/Maria/Venus practice while sitting in the front row.

5) Shakespeare in the Park - another must-do, the talent there is usually quite high both on-stage and off.

The weekly, free outdoor movies in summer, in Bryant Park is also a ton of fun, get there early, bring food & drink, invite some female friends, can't go wrong.

Real Estate Question
 

El D,

Recall that about a year ago in a discussion on real estate and the housing bubble you noted that you had some smart friends in New York City who had sold and were sitting on the sideline waiting for prices to come back down.

I have been a firm believer in a national housing bubble and feel vindicated by recent price adjustments nationally. However, in NY prices have stayed pretty much firm notwithstanding lots of new condo units coming online.

Late last year things seemed to soften a bit here but now seem to be picking up in terms of sales activity although I don't see price increases really occurring. Part of the increased activity probably has to do with record Wall St. bonuses but I htink a lot has to do with a lot of people who were on the sdieline last year throwing in the towwel and looking to buy.

Curious what your views are and whatthe views are of your smart NY friends. Are these people still waiting or are they starting to buy again.

Thanks.

Colgin

Re: Ask El Diablo
 

[ QUOTE ]
El Diablo,

I have "lived" in NYC for about 5 years now. Can you name 5 things to do in NYC that you assume I haven't done/should do? This could include "eat at _____", but not all 5.

[/ QUOTE ]

Have you gone to Coney Island? Watch the Cyclones, ride the Cyclone. Good times.