Like everyone else who was watching the Olympics on TV, I saw a young athlete from the former Soviet Republic of Georgia died after crashing his sled. When CNN started to playback the footage, it was plain to see the steel beams next to the track where he crashed were too close for anyone to survive. I am sure, in the minds of any reasonable parent and in the minds of any reasonable lawyer, they can find a reasonable case against IOC for cause and damages, maybe even wrongful death. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone told me negotiations have already under way.
At the opening ceremony, a minute of silence was held to honor the untimely death of Nodar Kumaritashvili. When I was watching, I remember feeling a deep sense of loss and sadness for his parents, to find out their son died on opening day of The Olympics, news beamed across the globe to billions. It’s not hard to imagine what they are going through. When the Parade of Nations came on, under normal circumstances, this should bring tremendous joy and pride to any athletes and parents. But, to find their son died, of all places, the Olympics before the game even begin - must be difficult. It’s safe to say the next 14 days will be hard for Nodar Kumaritashvili’s family. Their shock would certainly turn to anger, then the 'blame' would follow, and finally lawsuit, is my guess. Nodar turned 21 last November.
Another news worth mention, Jenny Sanford in a recent 20/20 interview to plug her “tell-all” book Staying True, a memoir detailing her life with her infamous husband, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, who confessed to his “transgression” (fav word of Tiger) in a press conference but that's not all, he also declared his love for his “soul-mate” referring to his Argentine lover not his wife.
As it turned out, Jenny wasn’t the only one who has doubts about Mark Sanford. Her former boss told Barbara Walters that he didn’t understand why (at the time) Jenny would give up her career.
We now know at 27, Jenny married her husband at the height of her career as VP of Mergers and Acquisitions at Lazard Freres. Basically, she gave up her career as a top investment banker to eventually working for her husband as his campaign manager to which she successfully got him elected as Governor of South Carolina. She said she is ready to move on and to rebuild her life. But she was quite willing to share her husband’s less attractive characteristic traits. “Mark is cheap” she told Barbara Walters. Apparently, during their marriage Mark has rescinded his gifts to her a couple of times and that she married him even though he refused to promise to be faithful, insisting that the clause be removed from their wedding vows.
Elizabeth Edwards, a former attorney and the estranged wife of former U.S. Senator of North Carolina, a former front runner for the candidacy of 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, John Edwards. He admitted to fathered a child with his mistress only after it became apparent his formal aide was about to spill the beans to 20/20 Bob Woodruff. Today, Elizabeth is legally separated and is seeking for divorce.
In 2007, she said her marriage was a fraud on Oprah. Dina Matos, former wife of then Governor of New Jersey, Jim McGreevey, Matos wrote in her memoir that she would never have married McGreevey if she had known he was gay, nor would she have chosen to have a gay man to father her child. In their divorce proceedings, the issue came up again, whether McGreevey committed fraud by marrying Matos. Today, Jim McGreevey teaches ethics, law and leadership at Kean University in Union, New Jersey.
I can think of several other ‘high-profile’ men who have cheated and almost always had to get their wives to stand by them while they fess-up – except for one, who refused. Jenny Sanford. She chose to stay away -staying true. I have one question. Why can't we get a man to love his wife? Or, dare we say it, sleep with his wife?
Would a man stand by his wife if she had gone astray?
I wonder if what happened to Tiger (19 mistresses and counting) had happened to a woman with the same caliber in skills and is just as good as Tiger in golf, would the press be asking her the same question as they did with Tiger today. Would they be anxious to see her back in the game as Tiger? Anticipating and guessing if she would show up at the next tournament next week as they did with Tiger? I doubt it. The little boy who we learn to love appeared on Mike Douglas lugging a small golf bag accompanied by his proud father showing his swing to Mike’s guest Bob Hope was only 5 at the time. So what happened? Perhaps the answer lies with his father.
This month's Pager Turner - A Must Read is on the failure of Corporate Boards, Money for Nothing written by John Gillespie and coauthor David Zweig, who co-founded Salon and has worked at Time Inc. and Dow Jones. These two men felt so strongly about their book they even made a video Who Watches Over Your Money to drive their point home. Another must read is What Your Divorce Lawyer May Not Tell You written by Margery Rubin. Her 22-year marriage ended in a bitter divorce in 1990. She was married to one of the city’s top divorce lawyers. According to her, she had to fight on his turf: the Manhattan matrimonial court where he litigated some of his biggest cases. And, the third book is a great book for any age by Maria Shriver. She has inspired many with her book Ten things I wish I'd known before I went out into the real world. Her words of wisdom has a way of reaching to her readers when she said that the greatest gift we can give to our children is to let them know that "they are enough."
The liveliest discussions at this year's Davos were the CNBC's The Next Global Crisis moderated by Maria Bartiromo and Global Economic Outlook chaired by Martin Wolf of Financial Times. In the FT session, the question of the day for most people in the room was China. It was fascinating to watch and you can feel the tension when Martin 'tactfully' eased into Zhu Min, Deputy Governor of PBOC by asking him why some believe $2.5 trillion in reserves might be enough and wondering why he is so determined to let the federal reserve make China's monetary policy. In the CNBC debate, the panelist that stood out the most was none other than U.S. Rep Barney Frank, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. If you like to see him debate, literally taking over the stage, he will be speaking at Compliance Week's 5th annual conference in May. Matt Kelly is the editor-in-chief of Compliance Week. His blog takes a global view of governance issues. His tweets have the most followings in "twitter-world of Compliance". Another Davos conference worth watching is Queen Rania, sitting in the audience looking lovingly to her husband King Abdullah of Jordan on stage discussing challenges in his country with Fareed Zakaris of CNN. Would his country be a Constitution Monarch when his son succeeds him. Check out the link below via Youtube.
A group of executives came together at 2009 Aviation & Environment Summit to discuss issues on aviation and climate change, hosted by Adrian Finighan, CNN International. They touched on issues normally wouldn’t matter to passengers but still the frankness in the discussion makes it interesting to watch. In attendance was CEO of British Airways, Willie Walsh, who was harshly criticized for not reacting fast enough when the state of the art luggage management system at the new Terminal 5 malfunctioned. Thousands of luggages were left stranded and some were electronically delivered to the wrong gate, causing major delays that lasted for days. Planes couldn’t disembark because passenger’s luggage either didn’t get delivered to the plane or went to the wrong gate. British Airways' media campaign promoting Heathrow’s new Terminal 5 being the Best in Europe before its official opening, didn't help.
The first time I heard Slowing Down the World was in 2000. Since then, Chris Botti has never disappoints his fans. Last March, he has out-performed himself again in a PBS special “Chris Botti Live in Boston”. You can watch a few of my favorite tracks including his duet with violinist Lucia Micarelli and a performance with Sting's My Funny Valentine with Trudie (Sting's wife) sitting in the audience via Youtube. I hope you will enjoy his music as much as I have.
Finally, I know a place that's perfect for Chris Botti's music to play in the background while enjoying a beautifully prepared meal with your one and only Valentine, try Deux Amis.
