Life in Kyiv, Ukraine

Chicago photos trip 2004

Just posted good pictures of Chicago to Flickr (my Chicago trip 2004) - see pictures here

Books read : Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewes

The book is about work and atmosphere in investment banking in mid 80-s. The author describes people and relations that existed in Solomon Brothers, major investment bank and tells the story of ups and downs in Solomom Brother’s history.

It has a lot of descriptions of financial operations within investment bank,  that  were  sometimes difficult to understand for me. But informal down to earth language did not aim to make readers understand the operations with bonds or  mortgages. It was used to tell how it feels “work in top investment bank”. The author is really critical about essence of investments bankers, so I have got some kind of negative perception about the industry as well.

Here a few quotations I found the strongest :

Description of entry level analyst job in investment banking :
На лучших аналитиков навешивали пищалку, чтобы их можно было вызвать в любое время откуда угодно. Отдельные лучшие аналитики после нескольких месяцев такой работы утрачивали всякую волю и способность вести нормальную жизнь. Они полностью предавали себя в распоряжение начальства и работали чуть не круглые сутки. Им редко доводилось высыпаться, что сообщало им болезненный вид. Чем лучше они справлялись с работой, тем ближе, казалось, становились к могиле. В 1983 году на Дина Виттера работал из рук вон выдающийся аналитик (мой приятель, многообещающему положению которого я в ту пору завидовал), так он был настолько перенапряжен и вымотан, что, когда днем случалось затишье с делами, он запирался в туалете и там спал, сидя на стульчаке. Он обычно работал до глубокой ночи и по выходным, и при этом его мучил стыд, что он не со всем справляется. Если кто-то замечал ему, что он слишком подолгу торчит в туалете, он оправдывался запорами. Срок службы аналитика по определению не более двух лет. После этого он должен идти в бизнес-школу на повышение квалификации. Позднее многие аналитики признавались, что эти два года между колледжем и бизнес-школой были худшими в их жизни.

Investment bakers do not care about legal rights :
Такая игра. Помнится, один из первых встреченных мною инвестиционных банкиров продекламировал мне следующее двустишие:
Бог дал тебе глаза, чтоб воровать.
Чего же ты застыл, едрёна мать?!

Would I recommend this book ?  Well, only if you are looking into investment banking. And it’s only a view of one person.

Swimming report

Place : pool Unist’, Bastionna st 7
Time:
Visit 1 - Thirsday 20 40 – 21 35
Visit 2 – Friday 7 50 – 8 40
Note : (time indicates net swimming time, total visit time is usually 15 – 25 minutes more.

Place description : Without a doubt –best swimming pool in Kyiv (at least for middle class as  I have not  been to expensive fitness clubs like Aquarium o5 5th Element. 

Visit 1 :
Best point – ability to communicate to friends you don’t see to often : 4 colleagues from
Deloitte, including two from favorite former UMC team
Good -   A lot of space after 21 20
Bonus : Inspiration. After dark water reflected lights and it was a beautiful picture to watch.
Bad : Quite a few people were at lanes till 21 00.

Visit :
Best point – Excellent fit afterwards. Good appetite. Superproductive time at work till afternoon!
Good – meeting buddy from PricewaterHouseCoopers
Bad: Had to get up at 6 30

Seeing the best

Impressions from Top Talkers and AmCham jointed Toastmasters meeting on July, 25,2007
All of the Toastmasters meetings have positive atmosphere. Most of the Toastmasters are interesting in terms of speakers and topics. More than a half of Toastmasters are really inspiring and add energy after hard working day. The last meeting on July 25, 2007 had really unique and rare feature, only a few meetings possess. It was great speakers and evaluators performance !

Most of the time we learn by doing or reading ! That was the case when club members were granted the  opportunity to learn by seeing and listening ! What happens if you see somebody better than you ! Correct. You want be like the best ones. Not “want”. You desire. Desire to improve own skills. That’s why after meeting end I immediately signed up for the speech at August 1.

Always to remember  -  the major reason for being a Toastmaster is personal development and growth. Feels so good, when you receive inspiration for this continuous process.

"Who Moved My Cheese ?" by DR Spenser Jonson

Basically it is short novel that “reveals profound truth about change”. Its easy to read  format makes the novel worth about 30 minutes of your time. But it is the case when you may extrapolate the truth on your  life and think about own resistance to change.

I remember tone day our HR department  stopped sending 1MB individual happy birthday cards and replaced them with one weekly happy birthday e-mail. People, who have worked in the company for a few years were quite dissatisfied. They thought the individual charm was gone.

But with growth of our company everybody is happier to have one weekly e-mail instead of 10 1MB ones. I bet even those for have been with the company for years.

So major steps in dealing with the change :
- anticipate the change
- monitor the change
- adopt to change quickly
- change !
- enjoy the change !!
- be ready to change quickly and enjoy it again and again !!!

Web-site      http://www.whomovedmycheese.com/

Jeans Beach club

Entrance on Sunday is 35 UAH and there a few people between 10 a.m and 13 p.m. 10 minute walk from metro Gidropark
Advantages : 
- 5 volleyball playgrounds which may be used for badminton as well
- 1 playground for wet football
- chaise lounge, bar and drinks are  available
- like one of my friends said “the wall protects us from “gopy”

Disadvantages :
- stinky dirty polluted water of Dnirpo river. 35 UAH can’t improve it.

Conclusion :
Good place for weekly Deloitte volleyball. But if you  look for a beach on hot summer day – avoid Dnipro river

Book read : Discover Your Strenths

Book read : Discover Your Strenths. (actually it was about 3 years ago)

Main idea : People should concentrate on developing their strengths, not on improving their weaknesses.

Like most : First paragraph

Guided by the belief that good is the opposite of bad mankind has for centuries pursued its fixation with fault and falling. Doctors have studied disease in order to learn about health. Psychologists have investigated sadness in order to learn about joy. Therapists have looked into causes of divorce to learn about happy marriage. And in schools and workplaces around the world, each one of us has been encouraged to identify, analyze and correct our weaknesses in order to become strong.

This advice is well intended but misguided. Faults and failings deserve study, but they reveal little about strengths. Strengths have their own patterns.

Impact on my life : Passed a test and discovered mine 5 main strengths. Report attached.

Download strengths-guide.pdf

Salsa story

Actually I can't write the post now, because it seems I lost salsa passion . I have not visited any single lesson or party since my trip to London. Too many intelectual ideas occured after the trip...
But, of course I will come back. I know It just a matter ot time.

What Toastmasters are about

First of all I am going to tell you about Toastmasters global and our club, use links if you want to know more.

This post to answer "How do I feel about participating in  Toastmasters"

I started Toastmasters in September 2006 with the goal to improve my presentation skills. At the moment I have completed 6 speech projects and I feel much more confident about speaking in public. No temptation  like during the first speech, increased awareness of eye contact, vocal variety and body language.

But coming back to my very first visit to the Toptalkers Toastmasters, when I stood up to introduce myself, I said that time “I came to your club to improve my presentation skills and meet new people”. The second part of the statement was just one ordinary thing we usually say when we need to say at least two words. I did mean a wish to meet new people, but September 2006 I was not aware how important it could be.

Almost a year over that first visit, the number of good friends increased. The informal motto of our club may be “TopTalkers Toastmasters : It not solely about communication skills, it’s about meeting interesting people and having fun”.

Finally, on the favorable day it’s fantastic amount of FUN. The positive energy that flies out of prepared speeches. The smiles during impromptu ones. Gravity of evaluation reports. Postwork fatigue hides away for hour of public speaking performance. We come to Toastmasters for self-development and new friends. The reason we stay because we love every single moment of it

My speeches at Toastmasters :

Download imagine_yourself.doc

Download making_decisions.doc

Download toptalkers_toastmasters_in_search_of_success.doc

Download to_sell_or_not_to_sell.doc

Download trust.A matter of what.doc

Download speech_for_debates_gossip.doc

Download happy_in_the_dark.doc

Download feel_what_you_listen. Listen what you feel.doc

Book read : “Rich Dad Poor Dad”  by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Leichter

Description of idea :
The main idea of the book is that middle class and poor people tapped in the “Rat race” They work for money, receive their salary with taxes deducted and strive to cover their consumer expenses. Their income is always behind their expenses, as they rise with new cars, houses and other goods. In contrast to middle class, rich people have money to work for them. They invest first in assets, and assets produce the income to cover the expenses. Robert Kiyosaki says it is not “Work Hard and Grow Rich”, the truth is “Think  and Grow Rich”.

Impact on my life : Great impact. Not like I have not known about rewards of saving and reinvesting, but the book made me analyze my own life.

I did found myself in “Rat race”. My income is going higher but so do the expenses. I have spent my salary and yearly bonus on paying debt and  London trip and now at zero again.
But I was thinking not about making more money, but about new laptop and then possibly car in credit. More and more consumer spending as my needs grow.
I  stop it. I still will work for money, but I start saving and make money work for me. Ukrainian stock market through risky investments funds seems a really good idea.

Quotes and  things I like from book :

- According to Robert Kiyosaki financial intelligence is about following skills
1 Accounting : Financial literacy, ability to read numbers
2 Investing :  Investment strategies, ability of money making money
3 Marketing : The market, understanding supply and demand
4 Law : Awareness of rules and regulation

- KISS principle – Keep It Simple Stupid
- JOB – Just Over Broke
- Texas proverd : Everyone wants to go to Heaven, but no one wants to die.

If you want to learn more about Robert Kiyosaki’s ideas go to www.richdadbook1.com (requires registration)