Bubba Gump and CFA

One sure sign that your bosses appreciate your value to the company is that they sometimes take you to lunch. Another sign is that they sponsor you to attend trainings and seminars that will contribute to your personal growth. Yesterday, we did both.

Our team, our American bosses and Ms. Cecile (36-persons in all) had lunch at the Bubba Gump theme restaurant in Greenbelt 3.

Table Logo

Early Birds a.k.a Mga gutom na
Look at our semi-forced smiles.




Mostly new guys at the L table.
We take our lunch almost as seriously as we do our work.

Bert, contemplating about how many plates of shrimp he's going to finish off.
He was the last man to rise from the table. He beat out bigger guys Carlo, Sam, Richard and Leslie for most shrimp eaten.

There was so much food. Even our appetite, whetted by the long wait, weren't able to handle the continuous stream of dishes brought by the waiters. I ate so much shrimp that I'm sure I won't order any in the coming months. Richard and Sam had to take medicines to offset allergic reactions. The food was a little bit oily and a little bit bland but I liked the lemonade with strawberry burst. I guess the menu is more suited to the American palate. Our staggering bill exceeded our wildest expectations. The total amount was much more than what an analyst makes in a month! I still remember the expression on Rick's face when he got it...he he he. It's safe to say that we won't be having our team lunches there again any time soon.

After the lunch, we headed to the nearby Renaissance Hotel (formerly New World) in order to attend a seminar sponsored by the Chartered Financial Analyst Society. Finance professionals from some brokerage houses and investment institutions were our co-attendees. We saw Leo Quinitio and his team from the Philippine Stock Exchange. The speaker, Marc Faber, really knows what he was talking about. He discussed long and short term economic, political and financial considerations at play in the global markets. His insights on the matter were very interesting. He presented a credible macroeconomic context to the research that the team is doing right now. I aim to read more about some topics he mentioned.

To be or Not to be

The wannabe CFA with the team's newest (?) love team... Xyza and Ryan!
Para silang pang-Starstruck... Xyza continuously reminded me of my relatively old age.

Bakal boys now, CFAs tomorrow
Ba't parang nanlalandi si Sam?

I had fun "hobnobbing" with players in the finance industry. Leo even invited us to apply for membership in the Association of Security Analysts of the Philippines. I am hoping that we get more opportunities to attend events like this.

Thanks to our bosses from New York. We really, really appreciate it.