Roman Holiday

Rome Around the World: To celebrate our one year anniversary and to make up for a much to busy summer Amy and I took a vacation in Italy. It was a fantastic time and what a treasure to be with each other for 12 solid days. It was a great start to the vacation when Air France provided complimentary champagne to make the flight go easier (and quicker). Our first stop was Rome, the eternal city- where we saw many of the classical sights. Our very first night began with a night tour of Vatican City, which was wonderful because it cut down on the number of Tourists. While there, and really all over Italy, we saw personally the art we could only enjoy from books. There is nothing quite like seeing the School of Athens firsthand, marveling at the Sistine Chapel, or loosing yourself in the majesty of St. Peter's square (at one time a Roman racetrack). If there is, then it would have to be the world class gelato. I think we tried to have every flavor at least once. My favorite was a combination of pistachio and hazelnut. We also took a day to see ancient Rome- the Colosseum, Forum, and Pantheon. From Rome we headed south to see the ruins of Pompeii. It was amazing to see a town emptied but still walkable from the volcano destruction. I highly recommend it to anybody to spend a day, and it will take a full day, to walk the city. We then continued further south to Amalfi to catch some coastal waters and spend a few days at the beach. Once fully relaxed, we packed up again and headed north to Florence. Florence is a wonderful blend of Renaissance art mixed with the medieval and modern city.  This jewel of Tuscany was a marvelous blend of food, wine, art, and La Dolche Vita. We spend a few days seeing the wondrous art the Medici funded, and a full day to see the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore from up top, and across the city. When we returned to Rome we spent a day following the steps of Robert Langdon in "Angels and Demons" to see the sights mentioned in the book. The pictures attached simply do not do justice to the experience we had.

See some of our favorite pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/Abel.Sussman/ItalyVacation2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCJ68j_XCpoHguwE&feat=directlink

Too much overtime is bad for the heart: Scientifically proven, so go outside and enjoy the day already! http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64A2SR20100511

Spring 2010 update

We're in the movies: Amy and I now have entries in the Internet Movie Database. It is good to be a Browncoat! No idea what I'm talking about? Then you should be watching more Serenity. Check it out at www.imdb.com/title/tt1593655

Overwhelmed by mutitasking? You are not alone, most people think they can do many things at once but really spread themselves too thin. To quote a favorite book it is not fun to feel "like butter over too much bread". http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35689822/ns/business-small_business/

This months picture: Was taken by yours truly at this year's DC Cherry Blossom festival. If you have never been to the Cherry Blossom festival, it is when - for a few days- DC is one of the most beautiful places in the country. You need to be there at dawn to avoid all the tourists but it is well worth it.

Favorite American designer  of 2010: I hope you will take a moment to cast your vote for my uncle, Isaac Manevitz, for the CFDA’s favorite American designer  of 2010 popular vote award sponsored by L’OREAL Paris. Isaac is very much involved in his designs from start to finish and all of his collections are hand crafted and one of kind – made in the factory adjacent to the main offices in NYC.  Isaac has continued to bring his love of sculpture to his collections by working with fine, unusual materials to create unique and inspirational designs that are always ahead of the trend. Please cast your vote at: http://www.wwd.com/popular-vote

Snowpocalypse edition

DC is experiencing a record amount of snow! The local airport has reported 54.0 inches over the past week. The Fed has been closed for the past 4 days. Without going into the office, its kind of amazing how much work I've gotten done! Hope all of you are warm, safe, and watching the Shining.

What I do for a living – Many of you have asked what I do for a living. In general I deliver information assurance and identity management solutions to federal clients, especially through biometric development strategies, privacy protection and associated policy development. I’ve set up a blog with articles and my commentary on Identity Management and Biometric topics of interest. If you are curious please check it out at http://minutiaepoints.blogspot.com/

Never say I didn't get you anything – How about a free (!) copy of MS-Office 2010 beta edition. Available for legal downloading at: http://us20.office2010beta.microsoft.com/default.aspx?culture=en-US#

The taxman cometh – Filing for taxes are only a few weeks away. If you need help filing I would like to recommend friend of mine who has been preparing my return for years: Julius Klausner. He's based in NY, but remember the Federal law applies everywhere and he can compute your state (or territory) easily enough; and what I like best about working with him is that it can all be done virtually (mostly email). You can reach him at 914-723-8560 or jklauscpa@aol.com.
 

 

Book Review: The Black Swan – is a book about randomness and uncertainty, by the epistemologist Nassim Nicholas Taleb. In its most distilled form the book tries to classify and describe the origin of High Impact, Very Low Probability events. For those of you with some military or consulting training this is the area of the “Unknown Unknowns”; or more aptly to quote Rumsfeld “These are things we do not know we don’t know”. Taleb states that the majority of human history is dictated by these events such as the JFK assassination, market crash of 1987, and the tragic events of 9/11 (even though the book was written in 2007 he seems to predict the 2009 global recession, but if you had read the book you would know that Taleb shuns the word ‘prediction’). There are of course some positive ones as well such as the rise of Internet with its various effects was scarcely anticipated. He states that many of the modern black swans originate because most of us use history as too much of a crutch to predict the future. This is provided in a narrative about a turkey.  Imagine you are a turkey born on January 1- the world is great for you, and every day you feel that Farmer Brown is looking after your best interests by providing fresh corn for you. This is true on February first, March first, April first, etcetera and so you come believe that the feeding will always be so, just as the sun rises every morning. Imagine your surprise on Thanksgiving (when Americans traditionally eat turkeys) . It is a very interesting philosophical read and I hope it can reduce some of the perceived uncertainty and randomness in your life.

Happy New Year

Happy new year everybody. I think we can keep wishing each other a joyful start to the year all January. Which brings me to the picture attached, snowfall around the National Christmas tree taken this year at the Ellipse, in front of the White House.

The play's the thing: I've been quite the househusband supporting Amy as she prepared for her musical debut in Washington. It was totally worth it, she is giving a fantastic performance! No need to take my word for it, read what the Washington Post says: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/20/AR2010012001462.html?wprss=rss_print/community/alexandriaarlington
Tickets are on sale through Jan 30 at: http://www.dominionstage.org/

Looking for things to do: Here are 100 (mostly) free things to do. http://washington.org/visiting/browse-dc/attractions/100-free-things-to-do. One of my favorites is the upcoming Cherry Blossom Festival on March 27th http://www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org/cms/index.php?id=390 . It is too early to predict peak blossom yet, but it should be around that time.

Newest Project: Amy and I hope to honeymoon this year in Rome. Has anybody been? Recommendations on when and where to go? How about on finding cheap flights?
You can catch the latest at: http://abelsussman.blogspot.com/

Wishing you a happy and healthy new year,
Abel