2008 12 Hours of Sebring

And in the morning, when the markets opened, no counterparties were going to lend to Bear: theyБЂ™d all be pulling their money out. This would be bad news indeed, not just for Bear Stearns, but for every institution dealing with them. No wonder I slept no more than a couple of hours that night. I had never had trouble before, but this night was the beginning of a prolonged bout of sleeplessness that would haunt me throughout the crisis, and particularly after September. On tough days, I would fall asleep exhausted around 9:30 p.m. or 10:00 p.m., then wake up several hours later and lie awake for much of the rest of the night. Sometimes I did my clearest thinking during these hours, occasionally getting up to write things down. By the time the newspapers were delivered at 6:00 a.m., I would have already been up for an hour or two, often turning on cable TV to check on overseas markets. Friday, March 14, 2008 On Friday morning I had just shaved and was about to get in the shower when the phone rang. It was Bob Steel telling me that a conference call would start around 5:00 a.m ...»