I named these most recent additional 20 lbs I'm carrying "Marc"...

OK. I opened my trap and promised a posting today to a few of y'all. I had planned to do a cathartic year in review to mark the anniversary of Marc Dreier's arrest, and the subsequent immediate failure of his eponymous law firm of which I was an unfortunate employee and am now an unfortunate creditor in bankruptcy (I'm sure I'll be seeing that $14K check any day now). But, well, it ain't done yet.

Instead, I'll give you 12 months in 12 days.

December 2008

Today is the anniversary of the day that my office learned that Marc Dreier was arrested in Canada for criminal impersonation. He was actually arrested on December 2, but it was not until about 7:30 p.m. on December 3 that my office heard anything about it. And then all we heard was that he was arrested. I jokingly asked if he killed a prostitute. We all thought drunk driving. The next night was supposed to be our gala holiday part at the Waldorf=Astoria in NYC.

By 4:00 p.m. on December 4, you could see tumbleweeds in the halls of the New York office. By that time, Marc had apparently told his peeps in NY that not only was it true that he impersonated an attorney for an institutional investor in Canada, but that he has drained the firm's escrow accounts. By the time he was arrested at LaGuardia airport on Sunday, December 6, we learned that he had scammed hedge funds out of hundreds of millions selling them bogus promissory notes.

We also did not know if we were employed, if we would be paid on December 15, if we had malpractice or medical insurance (maybe, no, no, and no -- Marc hadn't approved paying the premiums).

After pleading guilty to something on the order of $700-800 million in securities fraud, Dreier is now serving a 20 year sentence in Minnesota, where I hope his heater does not work.

December ends up being the very worst Christmas season I ever endured. I can barely remember it. The details are fuzzy, what with the stress, the lack of sleep, the malaise, the fear, the risk to my family's well being. I cannot describe the extent of the stress I experienced then and since as a result of Marc Dreier. But it has resulted in a 20-lb weight I wish I gain, so I got that going for me...

I wish I could find some "True Meaning of Christmas" message in all of this. But I still feel actual physical pain from the stress of thinking about it.

I find his personal discovery and pleas for mercy revolting. I did not watch the 60 Minutes interview, but I lost a bit of my (already overtaxed) faith in humanity when I read in the Vanity Fair article that Marc Dreier's moral compass was really just another victim of the September 11th attacks on NYC. Just like the emergency workers dying from mysterious respiratory ailments, I suppose.

The Hubbins and I spent a day over Christmas break trying to take a breather at Foxwoods. Benazir Bhutto is killed while we enjoy a long-overdue cocktail.