The Arbitrage of Place and Time

This time one year ago, a June weekend might have looked like this:  I probably woke up late on a Saturday, grabbed a New Yorker or a Gourmet magazine, and whiled the morning away over a huge coffee and a spinach, egg and cheese muffin at the bakery down the street.  Then I wandered into [...]

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1 EUR = 1.2693 USD

Rats. In the same way that I can’t not pick a scab, not reread a love letter from 10 years ago, not reply to an e-mail to which I absolutely shouldn’t reply, not engage in verbal sparring with a telemarketing agent, I can’t not continue to check the EUR/USD rate. Too many double negatives.

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1 EUR = 1.2867 USD

I feel a little numb, but at least I’m done checking the exchange rate every minute.  I’ve just wired 30,000 EUR to INSEAD at the last possible moment.  I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t have noticed until a month or two later if I hadn’t paid.  And then I could have spent another month or two [...]

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