Forum: Report from the Front

I just had a procedure done on my eye due to a detaching retina. Seems to be going well, but the interesting anecdote: I received a 30% discount...

In Sin City for a combo bachelor party followed by family meeting. Summary of my view: still keeping up a brave face, seeing a tiny bit of light...

Catching up with a friend of mine - who'd bought into the Florida Real Estate boom of the 2000's last I heard. His story: 2 houses bought in...

Had dinner with a friend, and said friend's son was also there. The son is a young (30 year old) prison guard in the California Correctional system....

I just spent two weeks in Uruguay. It occurred to me that others might enjoy a perspective on the country. Let me state to begin with that I...

Friend of mine is a shipper based out of Yokohama. He specializes in wood. Pre-crash imports were in the 6 to 7 million cubic meter range. ...

I spent yesterday with a man who "retired" at age 50 in 1990, on top of the real estate development game in Atlanta. He currently has a company ...

I subconsciously decided years ago that housing prices, differential US income levels, retail location saturation, the drain of brainpower into...

This is going to comprise several sessions since I was in Russia for over a month. 1) Summer is typically a slow season for retail in Russia -...

http://www.itulip.com/images/wallmart.jpgReport from the Front: Conditions of employers First and second person accounts of business conditions ...

I am happy to be moving back from KC to Houston, but sad to report that I bought a house in KC in 11-2007 to appease my lovely wife. I hunched,...

Not sure how credible it is, but here's a blog from an Icelander. Preview of what's to come? http://newsfrettir.com/alive/ Some excerpts:

Friend of mine works as a mid level technical manager in one of the leading semiconductor equipment makers. First round of layoffs was in...

I had dinner with a Brazilian customer of mine yesterday. He was flying through from a several week business trip to Taiwan and China. The...

Good news: still growing, still adding customers Bad news: slowdown has begun(?) Some anecdotes on the latter: 1) Cosmetics stores which...

Met a friend who went into appliance repair. He's doing really well. Apparently advertising on the internet is simply not done by his existing...

I was talking to a former compatriot - one of his regular gigs as a consultant is working with a 'media company': specifically a job recruitment...

I figured I'd contribute some first-hand observations about the art market, since it's where my experience lies. The art market typically lags other...

$29.20 airplane ticket, free hotel, free food - what's not to like? Some observations: 1) while rooms at Rio/Caesar's wound up being full,...

Spoke to the Hotel Manger and he said they were about 1/2 full of mostly Europeans. The restaurants and bars also were not nearly at capacity on the...

I was in a business meeting today in South America where we were still fine tuning strategy for 2009 now that January was behind us. We were...

FYI One of my equipment suppliers is located in Guastalla Italy: email:

Just a quick sketch of the state of things in Norway. Not too much data, but you'll get the gist of it. Some assessment of sentiment and a little...

Trip just started, but interesting items already: 1) 2 DHS representatives were inspecting passports of everyone as passengers boarded the plane...

http://www.itulip.com/images/itulipreportfromiceland.jpgReport from the Front: Post-crash Iceland I just returned from a brief sojourn in Iceland...

Wife and I just got back from a 2 week trip to California – we live in Kansas City, MO. We did a lot of driving, from LA to 100 miles north of San...