Interests and Hobbies

Which sports are you interested in?

I try to stretch every day, do cardio 6 times a week, and resistance training 3 times a week, but I can’t say that I don’t
skip a day or two. For cardio, when the weather permits, I ride my bike almost every day on the
Minuteman trail
(which goes from Davis Square in Cambridge to Bedford; I go from Arlington Center to Bedford and back).
When the weather is lousy, I’m planning on playing basketball. I also do resistance training (i.e., lifting weights),
which has enormous health benefits. (See
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The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding by Arnold Schwarzenegger.) I’m a member of the

Boston Sports Club in Waltham, where supposedly the Celtics practice, although I’ve yet to see on player actually practice there. I thought of joining the
target="LA_Sports_Club" title="LA Sports Club">
LA Sports Club, but realistically I wouldn’t use it enough. Other sports and activities I’m interested in include racquetball, hiking, water skiing and skiing. I’m also considering joining the Boston Sailing Center (located at Lewis Wharf in Boston) to learn how to sail. Once I’m done, I want to sail the C&C 34-foot sailboats. I spend 2 to 3 hours a day exercising and playing sports. I love it.

As for spectator sports, I watch the Super Bowl once a year, always with lots of friends, as much for the commercials as for the game. (If you’ve never seen the Super Bowl’s commercials, they are an art form unto themselves.) Other than that, I’m not big on watching (as opposed to playing) sports. If you wanted to go to a football or basketball game once a month, I’d certainly be willing to go, but if you’re hard core (e.g., two games a week) and it’s important that your boyfriend go or watch with you, I’m the wrong guy for you.

(In general, “guy talk” does not interest me; I’m not interested in discussing cars or sports or stereos. The one exception is discussing girls.)

What do you think of the Minuteman trail?

It’s OK but not great. I ride it because it is so close to home. There are far too many cross streets with traffic. In addition, a significant number of the people on the trail don’t understand the rules of the rode (e.g., which side of the trail you’re supposed to walk on if you’re walking East).

What are your musical interests?

After Harvard, I studied classical music for one year. I studied piano with a private teacher and music theory and composition with Louise Vosgerchain at Harvard. Classical music is my favorite, but I appreciate almost all other forms of music. Music is the greatest love in my life.

Who are your favorite composers?

I love almost all of the great composers. If I had to pick one, it would be Schubert.

What are your favorite pieces of classical music?

Ignoring obvious warhorses such as Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony or Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps:

Chopin’s Nocturne op. 9
“Fantasia for Piano, Four Hands in f”, D. 940 by Franz Schubert
“Winterreise — Gute Nacht” by Franz Schubert
“Trio for piano, violin and cello,” Op. 100 by Franz Schubert (Second movement — Andante con moto)
“Carmina Burana (Cantiones profanae)” by Carl Orff.

What are your favorite pieces of non-classical music?

“Sinnerman” by Nina Simone (from “The Thomas Crown Affair”)
“Turn the Page” by Bob Seger
“Everyone Knows” by Leonard Cohen
“Suzanne” by Leonard Cohen
“Matepedia” by Kate and Anna McGarrigle
“New Year’s Day” by U2
“With or Without You” by U2
“What Would Happen” by Meredith Brooks.

What are your other artistic and cultural interests?

Theatre (particularly the ART and Huntington), opera, dance, ballet and film. I love visiting museums, particularly the MFA and the Metropolitan in New York. My tastes in art tend to the more traditional, although over time I’m developing more interest in modern art.

List your favorite actors, actresses and movies

Male actors: Anthony Hopkins (my all-time favorite), Eddie Murphy, Tom Cruise, James Earl Jones, Sydney Poitier, Harrison Ford, Michael J. Fox, Martin Sheen, Tom Hanks, Michael Douglas, Richard Gere

Female actresses: Katherine Hepburn, Audrey Hepburn, Meryl Streep, Jodie Foster, Julia Roberts (admittedly not in the league of the previous four, but I find her appealing), Whoopie Goldberg, Lauren Bacall, Catherine Deneuve

Movies: Turning Point, Remains of the Day, Trading Places, Pretty Woman, The Philadelphia Story, Casablanca, The Thomas Crown Affair, My Fair Lady, Good Will Hunting, Chicago, Wall Street

Ideally I like to see 2 to 3 movies a week.

What do you read in your leisure time?

I never learned how to read, just to write. I am currently enrolled in a very good adult literacy class.

Seriously, every day I read “The New York Times,” “The Wall Street Journal,” and “The Boston Globe.” (I also have an ironclad rule — If at the end of the day I haven’t read them, out they go to the recycling bin. If you let them pile up, they could take over your house.) I also read a variety of magazines. Most of my reading is of books, which range all over the map — fiction, business, computers, history, current events, science and almost everything else. I probably read about 100 books a year.

I assume it’s important that a girlfriend be knowledgeable about current events?

Perhaps it’s just a coincidence, but almost every woman I’ve been even remotely serious about has been extraordinarily and blissfully ignorant of current events. The most recent girl did not know who Warren Buffett was, could not name one justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, but did at least know the name of our Vice President. So it’s definitely not necessary that you’re up on current events, but if you do, that’s a plus.

What are your intellectual interests?

I’ve had nine primary intellectual interests in my life (listed in chronological order):

1. Business– I became interested in business very early. I’m probably the only guy you’ll meet who was reading “The Wall Street Journal” at age 13. (Some would say it’s written for 13 year olds, but that’s another story.) I knew from a very early age that I would be an entrepreneur. My grandfather exposed me to his oil tool manufacturing company early on, and my father, who is a corporate lawyer, explained business problems his clients were facing.

2. Politics — I got interested in 10th grade. I am still interested, much more in policy than in politics. I would be much more interested if I held a policy-making position in the government, but since I do not, I’m not as interested as before.

3. Computers — I got hooked in my senior year of high school, and studied it intensely for several years. I worked as a software engineer for Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC, then Compaq, now Hewlett-Packard). I’m still very interested in computers, although I delegate a lot of the technical details to others. I am a guru in Microsoft Word and Excel — probably one of the 1000 most knowledgeable people on the planet in those two packages; I am one of the few people that has broken the Excel recalculation engine (that’s the code that resolves circular references). I have done a lot of database design and development in Microsoft Access, and I still sometimes program in Microsoft Target="Visual_Basic"Title="Visual Basic">Visual Basic for Applications.

4. Political philosophy — In my senior year of high school and freshman year of college, I studied economics and political philosophy. I was particularly moved by John Stuart Mill’s “On Liberty,” which I quoted on my page in my school annual. (Political philosophy is now called — incorrectly in my view — political theory.)

5. Economics — I went to Claremont to study political philosophy, and got hooked on economics. I’m still very interested in microeconomics, particularly industry and competitive analysis, such as economic power relationships between a firm and its suppliers and customers.

6. International relations — After I sold my company in Los Angeles, I became very interested in defense policy and arms control (nicknamed “Bombs ‘n Bullets”). Harvard and MIT seemed to have the best research centers for defense policy. I chose Harvard primarily because the undergraduates are so interesting.

7. Classical music — I was exposed to classical music at Harvard and fell in love with music. So after Harvard, I studied piano for a year.

8. Leveraged buyouts — I became interested in LBOs when an acquaintance of mine who was in the LBO business told me what he did. I expect to be buying companies until I die, but at the same time I’ve decided not to work very many hours in the future.

9. Law — I’ve always had some interest in and exposure to law. My father was a prominent attorney in LA, as was my grandfather. My father represented mid-sized companies and growing up, he exposed me to many legal issues facing businesses. My great uncle, Donald Wright, was Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court. (I remember when Don invited me to hear oral argument for the case where he decided the death penalty was unconstitutional under the California constitution. The lawyer for the plaintiffs, Anthony Amsterdam, was utterly brilliant.) What really got me interested in law was what happened when I purchased my first company. The lawyer I hired was less than competent, and as a result, many of the documents conflicted with each other. Document A said one thing, document B another thing, and document C yet another. After the deal closed, the lawyers for the other side (who were very good) pounced on these discrepancies to try to renegotiate the deal. I told them to go fly a kite, and that the deal was the deal. I was livid with my lawyer for permitting this to happen. So I became paranoid about the law and lawyers, and started asking thousands of questions as I was negotiating other deals. I remain paranoid to this day.

Basically, my life has been an odyssey of intellectual interests, moving from one field to another. I am still interested in all of these nine fields, although some more than others. (I read several computer magazines, for example, but I do not read economics journals.)

Which interests and hobbies are important to share?

It would be great if you were passionate about music. The women I’ve fallen in love with have usually had different intellectual interests than mine. (Few women are interested in defense policy, for example.) To me, what really matters is whether we have a connection, do we click — if we do, we’ll enjoy each other’s company. In general, I don’t really look for similarity of interests, since connection is so much more important to me. If the connection is there, I get real flexible real fast.

I prefer a girl who has different interests from mine, so that I can learn from her. If you’re an expert in computer science, defense policy, law, leveraged buyouts and that’s it, what can you teach me?