Beirut and Riyadh, April 2013

I will be in Beirut on April 24-25, flying out on April 26. As usual, I will be staying at the extremely nice Le Gray Hotel. I have a pretty full schedule but email me if you’d like to meet up.

My Riyadh time is limited–Saturday and Sunday, April 27 and 28. As usual (again) I will be staying at the Al Faisaliah Hotel. Again, shoot me an email if you want to meet.

I should be back in the Middle East in late May if we don’t connect on this trip.

What I’m doing this week

I am in Utah hiking with my son. This is me (today) at the saddle of the trail to the top of Checkerboard Mesa in Zion. This is a tough hike with scrambles over large boulders, a trail that barely dignifies the name, and scratchy branches everywhere. Blood was drawn and knees were twisted. What a great day.

If you need me, call the office. They have me covered. I will be back at work on April 1, 2013.

New Address

We have moved. It is only a one minute walk from our old offices. The new address is:

80 South Lake Avenue, Suite 680
Pasadena, California 91101

The telephone number remains the same: +1 626-689-0060.

The phone and computer systems are being worked on but should be fully operational by close of business today.

The story behind the story is simple. We need more space, and we need more people (we will be hiring a lawyer when we can find someone who is a match) so we need more space for them. Plus the new building is nicer than the old one.

Beirut, Monday Morning

Jakarta-Singapore-Mumbai

A quick note to all. After four days in Jakarta I am on my way to Mumbai. Jet lag report: in Jakarta I woke up at 2:00 am, 3:30 am, 5:00 am, and 6:30 am. Since my body clock was fully adjusted, it was time to leave.

The Citco Roundtable event went well. Jeroen and crew organized a great event, well catered and attended. I met a number of people there (hello and please keep on touch).

Nigel Hobler of KPMG in Jakarta gave the Indonesian tax side of cross-border financial transactions and I did the U.S. stuff. Hearing the Indonesian tax overview was instructive.

I will be posting the PowerPoints I used for you to download. I can’t do it at the moment because I am writing this on my phone. On the plane high above the Indian Ocean.

PS: business class in Jet Airways is very good indeed. People, cabin, food, the whole thing.

That is all for now. More from Mumbai later. I have client and other meetings and the Citco Roundtable to look forward to. Jeroen says there are a lot of people signed up for the event.

And I get a special treat.

Sunny Virmani was a computer tech in LA who worked for Beyond Management and kept our IT systems afloat years ago. He returned to school and did an MBA at USC, and is now working and living in Mumbai. We will be meeting tomorrow night, tentatively.

Can I tell you how cool it is to land in a new city and know someone?

Oh. And a special message to the Indian Consulate in San Francisco. That outfit you’ve outsourced your visa processing to? They couldn’t hit the ground with an egg if you squeezed the chicken for them.