This article describes how I met Bill and came up with the idea of writing the book. If you remember my favorite Seinfeld episode you will realize right away this section has the same pattern. It starts from the end and finishes from the beginning.
On Friday 3 October 2008 I took the 7am flight from Washington Ronald Reagan National Airport to Chicago O'Hare International. I was still living on John's apartment in Washington DC. John is Philippine's uncle, and Philippine is my host sister from the Netherlands who spent a year living with my parents and siblings in Murcia in 1996-1997. John's apartment is in the Dupont Circle area in Washington DC.
I arrived in Chicago about one hour late, at 9am on Friday 3 October 2008. The night before I had not gone to bed, as I was preparing the 160-page book outline that I would be presenting the following day to Bill. Bill is Executive Editor with the publishing company John Wiley & Sons. Bill lives in a suburb about 30 minutes south of Chicago's Hyde Park, where Barack Obama used to live. The meeting with Bill was important. So it was vital that the 160-page outline was impeccable. Only the day before on Thursday 2 October 2008 I had met for the first time with Jocelyn B. Radifera, Madagascar's Ambassador to the United States, at the Malagasy Embassy on Massachusetts Avenue in Washington DC. I handed Ambassador Radifera a 20-page sample of the 160-page outline that I presented to Bill in Chicago on Friday. I would meet Ambassador Radifera one more time before leaving Washington DC. I will introduce the charming Malagasy Ambassador in Chapter 28.
On 23 September 2008 Bill had suggested to meet for breakfast at Valois/See Your Food, a greasy spoon on 53rd, or otherwise at Medica on 57th. I really had no clue so I suggested meeting at Valois/See Your Food. Coincidentally on 30 September 2007 Bill had suggested to meet at the Medici on 57th Street, at Valois/See Your Food on 54th Street, or at the University of Chicago campus for our first meeting in Chicago's Hyde Park area. I will revert to our first meeting later on.
The fact of the matter is that I had finished printing three double-sided copies of the 160-page outline before flying to Chicago on Friday morning. I had not had time to bind them and it was important that the copies be in perfect shape to get Bill's final seal of approval on behalf of John Wiley & Sons for an unusual piece of literature with the name The Monfort Plan.
Before heading to Washington Ronald Reagan International Airport the morning of Friday 3 October 2008 I searched the Internet and found a Fedex Kinko's on 52th Street of Chicago's Hyde Park area. Upon landing in Chicago O'Hare I went directly to the taxi area and took a cab that left me at Fedex Kinko's on 52th Street at 9:45am in exchange for $55. There is no need to say that I was exhausted. I slept during the 45 minute cab ride.
The meeting with Bill was scheduled at 10am on 57th Street. It was 9:45am and I was at the Fedex Kinko's on 52th Street. I had roughly 15 minutes to bind three 160-page copies of the book's outline and run five streets north to 57th Street. I certainly did not want to be late to Bill's appointment. I had two people in front of me. The girls at Kinko's were busy printing a very large poster for the University of Chicago. I asked if they could bind three copies at their earliest convenience. They said they would have them ready at noon.
I could not wait until noon. I looked around wondering what I could do. I had to bind those copies. I found two $10 leather binders and decided to punch two of the 160-page copies and put them in the binders. I still have the third copy with me at the beach apartment in Southeastern Spain from which I am writing these lines at 12:35pm on 12 January 2008.
I was able to leave the Fedex Kinko's at 10am. That was fast I thought. I then rushed to Valois/See Your Food on 57th Street. I arrived at Valois/See Your Food at 10:15am. I did not have a cell phone, which Renée Favand, a colleague from the monoline in New York City, once thought was very unorthodox. You see, having a cell phone implies more friends, more calls and less time to finish a book. Bill was not there. I was afraid he may have left.
I waited for Bill ten more minutes at the entrance of Valois/See Your Food. I was under tremendous pressure. I got inside the restaurant and approached the cashier. I asked if they had a public telephone. They said no, and they offered the restaurant telephone. I called Bill without success, and left a message.
I got out of Valois/See Your Food and saw a UPS Store right on the other side of the street. I decided to get there and used their phone and their Internet access. I called Bill again and left a second message. I also got on the Internet and sent him a couple of emails. After a while Bill replied saying he was going to be late. He finally arrived at noon. We had lunch instead of breakfast. The 90-minute meeting went well and I think that I finally did a good job. You see, when you present a book outline with the name The Monfort Plan to an experienced publisher from one of the leading publishing companies in the business you have to be very persuasive. You have to be a marketing genius.
Upon leaving Valois at 1:30pm Bill asked me if I wanted a ride somewhere. I had to be at the Department of Economics of the University of Chicago at 2pm to meet with my friend Hector, who at the time was doing a PhD in Economics. So the two of us got on Bill's SUV and drove to the Department of Economics. Half way to our final destination Bill decided to stop at a bookstore. He told me to wait five minutes inside his SUV. Bill came out of the bookstore ten minutes later with a copy of Slim's Table, the book by Mitchell Duneier that narrates a story that develops at Valois, the restaurant where Bill and I had had lunch. I then understood the significance of Valois. They have great eggs and sausage, by the way.
Bill and I had met a couple of times before our meeting of 3 October 2008. Bill and I met a second time in New York City on Friday 25 January 2008 at the Cervantes Institute of New York City. The Cervantes Institute is the Spanish institution that teaches Spanish throughout the world. I know everybody at the Cervantes, including Maria the Spanish receptionist and Hector the Colombian handy man. It is a very easy meeting point because it has the Spanish flag right outside the building and it is not too far from the monoline office I worked part-time for at the time on 825 Third Avenue. Bill and I met at 12:15pm and headed off to Pasta Presto, the Italian restaurant on the southwest corner of 51st Street and Second Avenue. Pasta Presto offers the best deal in town. I have eaten at Pasta Presto over fifty times, 35 of which in May and June of 2005.
On 17 May 2005 I moved from Berkeley, California to New York, New York. The following day I started working full time for the monoline on 825 Third Avenue. I had graduated from the master's in financial engineering at the University of California at Berkeley on 18 March 2005 and could not leave the country without first finding a full time job. Welcome to the world of working permits and visa holders in the United States. The monoline agreed to cover living expenses up to $10,000 for the first month. That included breakfast, lunch and up to $20 dinners. I do not have to acknowledge that I took advantage of the package and had dinner outside almost every night. The San Antonio Spurs were playing at the time the NBA finals, so the nights when the Spurs were playing I would buy myself a McDonald's menu and stay home in the corporate apartment of Furnished Quarters on 49th Street between Third Avenue and Lexington.
In the first few days after 18 May 2005 I tried a few restaurants in the area. I remember entering a French restaurant and leaving right after when I saw on the menu that the burger had a price tag of $35. I would be reimbursed up to $20 so each dollar above the $20 would come out of my own pocket. I was heavily in debt after attending the Haas School of Business. I had to save every dollar possible.
One night I found and tried Pasta Presto. You always get great food under $20. I tried it once and did not want to continue looking around. Pasta Presto was my choice for the rest of June, and I showed up every night at 10pm. The kitchen would close at 10:30pm. If you happen to be in New York City do not hesitate to pop in. They have a tasty menu under $15.
On 25 January 2008 Bill and I had a tasty menu under $15 at Pasta Presto. I can even tell you what I ate, because I always order the same meal, the Porcini Ravioli. You can order them with walnuts or bacon. I suggest the walnuts. We spent about a couple of hours chatting about the book. Bill has a great sense of humor. Lunch was important. I was changing the original topic of the book from microfinance to poverty eradication. Bill's open mindness made the shift easy. I now have two chapters on microfinance, Chapter 23 and Chapter 24, but not an entire book. I gave Bill the second Decem T-shirt. We left the restaurant and turned left in the southwest corner of 51st and Second Avenue. When we reached Third Avenue Bill no longer had the T-shirt. We returned to the restaurant and finally figured out Bill may have dropped the T-shirt and someone may have picked it up. I sent Bill another Decem T-shirt the next day.
I first met Bill at noon on Sunday 30 September 2007 at Medica on 57th Street of Chicago's Hyde Park area. I was staying with my friend Hector who lived a few blocks away on Berkeley Street. Hector was still doing his PhD in Economics at the University of Chicago. The two hour meeting was fantastic. I had happened to know Bill because he was the publisher of four co-authors for whom I worked as Research Assistant between July of 2006 and December of 2007. Rob Nimmo, the former chief risk officer of Barclays Bank that I introduced in Chapter 10, was one of them. The four co-authors published the second edition of Managing Credit Risk in May of 2008. I am featured on the first pages. When I knew I was visiting Hector the weekend of 28 September 2007 I suggested Bill that we meet. I had a couple of ideas in mind to write my own book. This is one of them. The other was a book on financial engineering cases.
This book targets non baby boomers. This book targets those dreamers that watched Seinfeld in the 1990s and whose favorite movie is The Shawshank Redemption, released in 1994. It is up to our generation to move ahead. Baby boomers are too focused on keeping their pension benefits and securing a comfortable retirement. We must move ahead. It is time. It is our time.
Find more about Jaime Pozuelo-Monfort at http://Monfort.ORG