What a Day!

It is almost midnight as I start to write this blog. But it has been too special a day to go unblogged. There are two parallel dramas that unfolded today

The first is the ongoing drama on Wall Street. Despite the mayhem and bloodshed -there are significant opportunities in Wall Street for an IT company - and we are out there seeking them. Even as we spent the weekend putting the finishing touches on a presentation for a client, word was leaking out that they were going to announce their quarterly results and were expected to post the biggest loss ever in corporate history. They called to postpone their meeting by a half hour so that the people could listen into the Chairman as he shared the results with the employees.

In the skies - another drama was unfolding. An unusual pattern of cold air formed somewhere over Tennessee and made its way East and North through Atlanta, Raleigh, Washington DC, Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York all the way up to Boston and Maine blanketing the east coast of the United States in a thick white cover. Most of our team had assembled in New York on Sunday night - those that planned to travel on Monday morning never made it in.

We caught the subway from Times Square to Fulton Street and then walked over to our office on Maiden Ln. The snow was coming down in big fat flakes and I realized that this was the first time I'd ever walked in falling snow. It was a special, magical experience - but I am still not anxious to repeat it anytime soon. It was COLD. Upstairs from the office window we watched the snow come down and cover the roof tops and the street, while we started taking bets re whether this meeting would happen.

They called to say that they were going to postpone it until tomorrow because most of their team had not made it in. And just as the winners started collecting their bets they called to say that the meeting was back on.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped below 7000 and closed around 6700 - territory it had not been in for 12 years - since I moved from living in a rented apartment to my own house.

The carts and food stalls that line Maiden Lane were all closed today because of the weather. But it will be interesting to see how many come back with the good weather. In fact it will be interesting to see how many of the Wall Street firms are still in business a year from today. I pray along with every other person affected by current financial debacle for a speedy end to our winter of sorrows.