Ask El Diablo

[DarkForceRising]

Diablo,

Did you die a little inside when Aishwarya Rai's engagement was announced recently? I thought of you immediately and felt kinda sad. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Sorry, just reread your original outline and this is about you personally. However, I think it's a pretty valid exception since she is perfect and all threads can benefit from pics of her.

[LyinKing]

For NYC folks, the closest experience to the French Laundry is, unsurprisingly, Per Se. http://www.perseny.com

I'd also recommend the Modern restaurant at MOMA. Great view and food, relatively reasonable prices, impeccable service, and a different vibe than that of the Jean Georges stable of places.

[raindrops]

it would really suck to have even the slightest obligation to respond to all of these... you are a machine El D

[haakee]

NCJ: Short answer, I think the boonies (Cotati being a prime example) are going to fare worse than more centrally located properties (e.g. SF, Oakland, and the peninsula). Demand is going to fall more sharply in the outskirts and there's been more room to overbuild.

[kioshk]

You're such a happening dude, such a Renaissance man; do you attribute your greatness to nature or nurture?

And tell us more about your experiences in Norway, please.

[theBruiser500]

Okay here are some questions:

is your best friend a girl or a boy?

what is one of your favorite skills you currently posses? what skills are you giving priority to learning in the future? are you really learning parkour or are you too old? would you really beat me in soccer?

have you ever been fired, details? what is one of your biggest regrets (or maybe you don't live with regrets? i know quids doesn't) in business? IE. studying something in college you didn't use, doing a venture half heartedly, getting involved in a half baked illegal scheme, etc.?

have you ever seduced a girl who didn't like you? btw thank you for the story to TC on losing alot of money, makes me feel better about some of the mistakes i've made in poker.

[El Diablo]

Bruiser,

"is your best friend a girl or a boy?" If I had to go with one, my "best" friend is a guy. Out of my five or so super-close friends, one of them is a girl. I'm also super-close to my sister, but I don't count her in this.

"what is one of your favorite skills you currently posses?" Hmmm, I dunno man, anything from putting deals together at work to being good at learning languages to beind a decent snowboarder could be my pick of the moment.

"what skills are you giving priority to learning in the future?"
I really want to focus on more languages. Also continue to improve some athletic skills.

"are you really learning parkour or are you too old? would you really beat me in soccer?"
I'm not really learning parkour yet, but I'm pretty serious about getting to a level of shape where I am capable of doing some of the pure physical strength/flexibility skills. Probably not gonna do so much on the jumping. Yes, I would beat you in soccer.

"have you ever been fired, details?"
No.

"what is one of your biggest regrets (or maybe you don't live with regrets? i know quids doesn't) in business?"
I don't have any real regrets in business. There are tons of things that I could have done differently to make more money, many of those things were active choices to go a different route. I look back on some choices and in retrospect I probably would make different choices if I had it to do again, but nothing that I regret, really. My only regrets have to do with a couple of relationships that I probably should have pursued more seriously but didn't for whatever dumb reasons at the time.

"have you ever seduced a girl who didn't like you?"
Yes.

[El Diablo]

k: Heh, I would not characterize myself as "great" though I do think I'm a pretty nice and smart guy who has accomplished a fair amount. I think I have a ways to go to achieve "greatness" though. I'd say who I am is largely due to having good, supportive parents and being in an environemtn where I was able to develop what skills/talents I was born with. I lived in Oslo for 5th, 6th, and 7th grades. It was an incredible experience, I loved Norway. Went to Oslo American School (DoD school) there and spoke fluent Norwegian. That was where I had a lot of my firsts w/ girls, so it will always have a special place in my heart!

DFR: ENGAGED!?!?!?!?!! NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

iv: I was very lucky to be born with the abilities I had, have a great family, and be in a solid socioeconomic situation. Huge luck there. Beyond that, I think my luck in life has been very average. I've had few really bad breaks and few really good breaks. Generally, I'd say my life is pretty much what I have made of it. The more complete answer to your question probably requires a separate thread, which might be interesting for people. I'll add that to the list.

c: I don't know about poker taxes. I just pay all my poker taxes straight up and don't do anything complicated. All my tax complications have to do with stock-related issues.

tone: I don't know a ton about the Chinese tech market outside of the fact that tons of VCs are pursuing it super-hard. I think that's because there are a lot of Chinese people. Check out some VC blogs, there is a TON written on this topic.

[slush fund]

how much time do you spend on 2+2 while at work and at anytime do you feel guilty about doing it on "company" time?

and a follow up, if you had a partner (or if you do), how would you react if your partner blocked 2+2, or any other "recreation" sites because he/she felt that it was unfair to them that you are doing it while at work

[El Diablo]

slush,

I have 2+2 up all the time. I generally never spend more than a 5 minute chunk of time on 2+2. That is how I have always worked all my life. If I weren't on 2+2 during calls and between spurts of emails or documents, I'd be texting someone or surfing the web or doing something. My work is generally either crap that I'm half paying attention to on the phone, and doing 2+2 stuff at the same time, or stuff that requires intense focus/concentration, after which I need a little break.

That's why I'm pretty much never posting serious strategy stuff during the daytime, it requires more thought and time than I can devote while I'm working.

At my first job, some people got in trouble for posting too much on the internal discussion board. A couple of those people asked why a friend and I, who both posted more than anyone else, weren't getting in any trouble. The director said that was because we were two of the most billable guys in the company and got the highest reviews from our managers and clients and were requested on every project in the company.

That was 14 years ago. So, posting crap as a diversion to help me work productively is nothing new to me.

As for my partner, he checks deal sites and reads slashdot and gadget blogs and other such stuff for the same reason.