Ask El Diablo

[Kneel B4 Zod]

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

[JohnAndersen]

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

[Gildwulf]

El D,

What exactly makes the perfect sushi roll?

[Kneel B4 Zod]

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.

[ahnuld]

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?

[fire_fly]

[ 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.

[gilbert]

El Diablo,

sup bro?

[Subfallen]

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.

[eviljeff]

[ QUOTE ]
El D,

What exactly makes the perfect sushi roll?

[/ QUOTE ]

cold hands

[imitation]

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