Yearly Goals Halfway Point Progress Update

This morning I dropped Katie off at the airport and it wasn’t nearly as tearful a goodbye as our previous Swiss partings have been. This time I will be seeing her in a few days rather than a few months and that feels much better! Now that I am a lonely bachelor again, I have a chance to review my progress on the goals I set for myself at the beginning of the year. Just past the halfway point, how have I done so far?

Personal Relationships
So far I have been keeping pace with each of my goals for maintaining personal relationships. Starting up a company is very time-consuming but I have been able to maintain a balance with family and friends–both near and far. Katie and I have been getting our date nights in and I have been reconnecting in person in the US while still skyping with my friends abroad. This summer trip to Switzerland has really helped keep those latter connections alive too. If you feel that I have been neglecting my relationship with you, kindly let me know!
Health
I’m not burning as many calories as I’d like (3,163/day vs. 3,250 target) and I’m consuming more than intended (3,141/day vs. 3,000 target). I am hitting most of my exercise goals, though, and the net result is pretty positive: I’ve added about a pound of lean muscle mass and dropped four pounds of fat–not exceptional, but heading in the right direction. When I head back to the US next week I’m going to try working at a standing desk instead of sitting. I’m hoping this will help me keep moving about and widen the caloric deficit.
Early in the year I accomplished my running goals and in May I met my swimming target; now I must concentrate on beach volleyball. There are several tournaments left in the year and I hope to win one–especially now that my favorite men’s partner is back in town.
Professional Development
I have been powering through one book per week on leadership, economics, strategy, green business, marketing, and just about everything else I can get my hands on. If I keep up this pace, I will meet my yearly goal. While I have been pretty diligent about reaching out to mentors, I have not been quite so systematic about helping out others. Last week at IMD I had the opportunity to share some experience and guidance with this year’s MBA class (Check out the presentation that instigated these conversations.) and it reminded me how much I’m missing out on when I’m not paying it forward. In the second half of this year I must do better.
Professional Performance
The goals I set for Smart Office Energy Solutions at the beginning of this year aren’t terribly relevant anymore as our plan has evolved several times since then. At this point we have hit some major milestones: closed our first fundraising round, begun generating revenue with high profile clients in multiple cities, advanced our own intellectual property to increase the energy savings we provide by 50%, and several more. I’m not a patient person, though, and I yearn to pick up the pace during the second half of this year–for personal reasons, for our shareholders, and for the very significant global energy challenge we are trying to address.
If you haven’t yet voted for us, please support us at GE’s Ecomagination Challenge. We are currently the #65 idea out of 1,089 submissions and every increases our visibility significantly!
Professional Brand
I’m close to achieving my twitter and LinkedIn goals but my blog hasn’t gained too much additional viewership. That’s probably just as well as I am now considering leaving this blog focused on my personal life and starting a more professional blog on the Smart Office Energy Solutions website.
I evaluate my progress so far this year as good but not great. There are no huge holes and there have been some early successes, but several major goals need significant work to be achieved. Now it is time to refocus, buckle down, and ensure that H2 2010 is even more productive than H1!

IMD Times

Last weekend was very much centered around IMD. It began when two awesome classmates rolled into town–one from the Netherlands, the other from Zurich–with their partners. We had dinner at Le Pinnochio, an IMD standard, and then spent the night just talking and catching up back at our place, where both couples were staying with us. For one of my classmates, it was his first time back in Lausanne since graduation!

Saturday was a glorious weather day–typical for Lausanne in the summer. While most of the household had a lazy morning, one of my classmates and I got up early and headed into IMD. Saturday was Mock Interview Day, during which alumni return to campus to give the current MBA students experience interviewing with real hiring managers. It is also a great chance for us to get to know some of the students, reconnect with the school, and partake in the famous IMD lunch!
In addition to the mock interviews, I gave a presentation to the class on using social media for their own professional branding. We live in an ever more connected digital world and your online presence can either help or hurt your career–but you have the power to control which! The presentation went very well and I have posted the slides on SlideShare. Take a look and I welcome any feedback!
Saturday night we had some of my IMD classmates over to the house for a pool party. Hmm, summer, pool, good friends . . . sounds like the perfect recipe for . . . SANGRIA! We made up a big batch of French-Swiss sangria (using French wine instead of Spanish, and using Kirsch instead of Triple Sec – and all local, organic fruit, of course!) and served it along with mojitos, bellinis, beer, and wine all night. It turns out that Katie and the rest of the gang weren’t idle while we were at IMD all day. By the time the party started they had whipped up tables and tables of delicious, healthy, and mostly vegetarian food.
The party was a lot of fun! We had about 30 people over the course of the night and we didn’t turn out the lights until about 3 AM. Several little groups formed and people just kept switching between them, talking, and catching up. Another IMD couple stayed with us Saturday night as well, so Sunday morning we had a four-couple breakfast reunion.
It would appear too that my sangria hasn’t lost its touch: as one of my classmates came down the stairs Sunday morning, another one said to him, “Oh wow, you look how I feel.” Mission accomplished!
Monday Katie and I trained into Zurich, where I had lunch with the sponsor of my IMD ICP. Here again it was great to catch up with someone from the IMD world. It was excellent chatting with him and he still contends that our supply chain strategy project helped them through the difficult financial times of the last two years.
It has been a great, IMD-filled four days. This is why I came back for the summer! (OK, also for the perfect weather and gorgeous lake/mountain views!)

Engaged!

Nearly 9.5 years ago, Katie and I took our first steps down the long (and not always straight or clear!) path that has brought us to where we are today. Where the path is ultimately leading we still don’t know, but last Wednesday we took a major step and committed to continuing the journey together.

Several people have asked for details about the proposal and I must disappoint; there really wasn’t anything clever or creative or exciting about it per se. That’s something I love about being with Katie, though. When we are together I don’t feel the need to be “on” or performing; everything is just very natural and easy. Accordingly, so was the proposal. Perhaps I can make the story a little more exciting, though, by filling in some of the history leading up to the proposal:
March 21, 2009: after more than a year of living on separate continents, Katie was visiting me in Lausanne again. Because her flight left before my actual birthday, we did an early birthday dinner at La Suite, which we chose explicitly for their very underpriced 2003 Valdicava Brunello di Montalcino. We were a bit chagrined to learn upon our arrival that they were actually out of that bottle–and then we were elated when the waiter returned to our table having found their last bottle of it hidden away somewhere. It was way too young, of course, but we took our time and it really opened up. The evening blossomed into wonderful discussion about wine, food, nutrition, healthcare, careers, the future, and everything else. I blogged about that evening shortly thereafter. At some point I distinctly remember looking over at Katie and thinking to myself, “Who am I kidding; my future is sitting across the table from me,” if she would have me ,of course!
April 14, 2009: While on the Amalfi Coast with my mom, we broke away from the group and spent a day on our own in Capri. The weather was gorgeous and we found a little hillside restaurant along the sea to have some local wine, insalata caprese, and seafood (which I blogged about shortly thereafter). During that meal I first announced my intentions to propose to Katie, which thrilled my mom.
June 1, 2009: On another visit to Lausanne, Katie capitalized on a gorgeous summer day by taking me out for a picnic in the park of the Palais de Justice, which offers amazing views of the lake and mountains (also blogged about). Perfect weather, wonderful food, champagne, a lazy afternoon . . . I was sorely tempted to propose to her then and there but I wanted the chance to talk with her parents about it first.
July 12, 2009: On a visit to spend some time with Katie’s family in Minnesota I faked a conference call to weasel out of a lunch obligation that Katie had planned. Instead I spent time with her parents talking with them about my intentions over Swedish pancakes with fresh berries out on their deck. Again the weather was gorgeous and we were accompanied by an awesome golden retriever. After initially giving me a hard time, they offered their blessing and encouragement. The next day I submitted my resignation to Poken (blogged about) and began planning for a life with Katie, not thousands of miles away from her.
So finally I had lined up all the right elements; now I just had to find the right place and time! I wanted it to be somewhere special for both of us and somewhere really nice that we would remember (and to which we could return) indefinitely. While we were wine touring in Tuscany, there were many opportunities, but I lived in Tuscany for half a year before I ever even met Katie so it wasn’t as much “our” place.
There were some other opportunities in London, Sedona, San Francisco, and even in Houston, but nothing that ever felt just right. After nine years of dating I figured waiting until it just felt right would be OK.
Despite the fact that Katie didn’t live with me in Lausanne, I still very much consider it “our” place as our relationship grew much stronger while I was here. My favorite memories of Lausanne by far are when Katie was here with me and it certainly has its share of picturesque locations! So when Katie came out to join me in Lausanne for this trip, I had an eye toward making the move.
Unfortunately she brought lots of rain with her! July 23 would have been a good date for a proposal as it is Katie’s half birthday, but the weather gods had other plans. Finally last Wednesday, July 28, there was a break in the clouds and I suggested that we celebrate with a picnic back at the park of the Palais de Justice. Again we packed a picnic lunch and again we brought some champagne–Dom Perignon 2000 this time. I thought that might have tipped her off but she claims that it didn’t raise any flags for her. Fair enough; it’s not the first time I’ve gone a bit overboard with wine!
Again we spent the afternoon lounging on the grass, talking about the future, and agreeing that life was not so bad–especially not when we are together. At around 2:23 PM, I got on one knee and asked her to marry me. After some initial shock she enthusiastically said yes and we spent the rest of the day, week, month (and it’s still ongoing) in a sort of euphoric bliss.
People ask how it is being engaged and I jokingly respond that, “Oh wow, it’s so different!” as if it has somehow radically changed our 9.5-year relationship. It actually is different, though. In the business world we would call this a “credible threat.” We’ve made a move that says this is where we’re going and we are no longer considering other options. We no longer hedge discussion about the future with, “If we got married…” or “If we stay together…” or other conditionals. Now we are officially committed to that vision and that feels really, really . . . right.
I’m not sure how exactly I managed to persuade someone like Katie to spend her life with a scoundrel like me, but I’m definitely not complaining! Many thanks to everyone for the tremendous outpouring of support we have received since announcing our engagement. It really means the world to us and we love you all!

Luzern

This weekend was a fabulous trip to Luzern, where neither Katie nor I had ever been. More than just a quick trip, though, this was also our first experience traveling together with a dog–especially someone else’s dog! I was a little anxious that something might go wrong and we would be far away from home but, as it turns out, Acacia is an amazing traveler.

Saturday morning we hopped on the train to Luzern and she was a perfect angel. I love being in a country where dogs are just considered part of the family and are let in basically everywhere. They ride trains and buses as easily and naturally as humans; you just buy a half-price ticket for them. Acacia just plopped down next to us and snoozed for most of the train ride.
When we arrived in Luzern we met up with Katie’s mom and two aunts, who had just come in from Heidelberg, where one of them lives. We spent the afternoon catching up then went out to an early dinner at Schuetzengarten, a “vegetarian restaurant . . . with meat!” Their food was great with many vegetarian and vegan options–plus plenty of meat and fish options for those in our group who were not so inclined. However, all the recent factoids Katie recently unearthed about the energy and water chains in the [US] meat industry (e.g. eliminating 1 lb of meat from your diet reduces your water consumption more than not showering for an entire year!) motivated me to go the veggie route.
We were joined by two IMD classmates from Zurich/Zug at dinner and it was a real pleasure catching up with them. After dinner they dropped us off at the KKL concert hall for a Morcheeba concert. I discovered Morcheeba almost 10 years ago while I was living in Florence but had never seen them live. For the last several years I haven’t had much interest in seeing them live without Skye Edwards, their original vocalist. However, they reunited for their most recent album so the timing was just perfect.
After a really subpar warmup act (One redeeming factor: he led a Bohemian Rhapsody sing-a-long before finishing.), Morcheeba took the stage and ROCKED OUT! Their live songs bear enough resemblance to the studio originals that they are still awesome, but their showmanship definitely adds a significant “can’t get this on the album” element too. They played a great mix of of their older favorites and new additions; Skye Edwards has just as an awesome voice live as she does on recordings so I’m so glad she’s back.
The one downside was that the crowd was very . . . Swiss. Almost no one was dancing or singing and it was tough for the rest of us to get down without bumping into people. Oh well, the music got Katie and me so pumped up that we just had to let loose anyway. When the concert finally ended we were sweaty and satisfied after a great performance.
Sunday we spent just walking around Luzern, including a traipse around the lake to Wagner‘s house. We met up with another IMD classmate and his wife for a late lunch and had dinner along the river with Katie’s family. No agenda, just walking around a beautiful place and enjoying good food with good people.
Acacia caused a stir wherever she went. She’s a very big girl (Not sure exactly how big–maybe 100 pounds?) and tourists are either scared by her or enchanted by her. Many tourists, especially Asians, timidly requested to have their picture taken with her. She’s so sweet and good natured that this was no problem at all. And each restaurant we frequented brought her out a bowl of water–again, it’s so nice to be in a place that supports dogs and their owners!
Monday morning we ascended Mount Pilatus, which offered gorgeous 360-degree views of . . . mostly clouds since there was a lot of cloud cover that day. Oh well, it was still a fun trip and there was some good mini-hiking at the top. Again, Acacia was so good on multiple modes of transportation: train, funicular, cable car, and bus. It was a nice excursion to wrap up a quick-but-excellent weekend with family and friends in a new place.
Now we are back in Lutry! Katie is on vacation and I’m trying to sneak in work during her naps and reading sessions. As I’ve known since her first visit during my IMD year, Switzerland is so, so much better with her here!

Turkey for Me, Turkey for You

The IMD MBA Class of 2008 reunion in Bodrum, Turkey was awesome! My Turkish classmate organized a trip to his homeland and invited the rest of us. As I was already on this side of the Atlantic I couldn’t pass up such an opportunity!

My journey began very inauspiciously. I had planned down to the minute my Thursday morning schedule: drop Acacia off at the kennel, pack, walk to the Lutry train station, take the train to Geneva airport, and wait patiently/comfortably for my flight–very Swiss! However, it was not meant to be. There was construction on the one road into the tiny town where the kennel was located and my GPS had a hard time finding an alternative route. After an hour of driving around in concentric circles, the GPS finally locked onto a new route and we were in business–but the damage was done.
I raced back home, grabbed my suitcase, hoping that it had enough toiletries and clothes to sustain me for four days, and then realized that I was too late to catch the train from Lutry. My next chance was the train from Lausanne, so I hopped in the car and proceeded apace, intending to park the car at the Lausanne train station. Unfortunately I arrived about two minutes too late, leaving me with one final option: driving to the airport and parking there–very American!
Driving to the airport is slower than taking the fast train, though, so I would be cutting it close. And the Swiss have HUGE penalties for speeding (They take a percentage of your salary instead of a fixed fee.) so I wouldn’t be able to make up time that way. It was my only option, though, so I moved ahead. And then I hit major traffic due to construction–doh! Finally I arrived at the airport, figured out how/where to park, and ran into the checkin line about 40 minutes before the flight was due to depart.
This is where the Swiss really showed their quality. It took me minutes to check in and then I was expedited through security. After a very friendly exchange at Passport Control, I made it to the gate with 25 minutes to spare. Well done, well run GVA airport!
Turkish Airlines was another story altogether. Aside from the flight that left from Geneva, all of my Turkish Airlines flights were delayed. They also kept strange things like passenger meals and newspapers in the overhead bins, a practice I had never seen before. But the food was good, even the turkey sandwich (Was that supposed to be a joke?) on my second leg. At long last, we eventually made it to Bodrum airport several hours late. After a bus and a taxi ride I finally caught up with the rest of the group for dinner at a nice hotel along the ocean. Fresh, local seafood, mmm!
I shared a room on the trip with my Danish classmate, Peter, whom I usually call “The Great Dane.” Our room was small but it had enough air conditioning for us to sleep. He’s super nice and very athletic so we were looking forward to playing a lot of beach volleyball together during the trip. I brought my Wilson AVP ball to be used in its 5th country.
Friday we woke up early and went for a swim in the ocean, which was cool, clear, and still. This was followed by a monstrous breakfast as we waited for others to wake up. Turkish food features many cool foods with high water content, e.g. tomatoes, cucumbers, and watermelon, which work well in the hot, dry climate. These foods plus lots of cheese, bread, and honey comprised our breakfast each morning and were omnipresent throughout the rest of our days.
We spent the rest of Friday at a private hotel beach. “Beach” may not be accurate as there wasn’t any sand but they had wooden docks with shade and lounge chairs all along the coast line plus a private swimming area and great bar/kitchen. It was a very, very nice way to spend a long day in the sun.
Turkish women are beautiful, by the way. Everywhere you look there are Princess Jasmine lookalikes. This was not what I expected out of Turkey but it certainly isn’t the first time I’ve shown myself to be culturally ignorant.
Saturday we rented a boat and motored around the Aegean, dropping anchor here and there to swim and eat freshly caught, grilled fish and Turkish pastries. What a life! That evening we were treated to a veritable feast at a local restaurant where we had an “in” with the owners. We began the meal already full and by the end we were positively stuffed. To digest we added Raki (Turkish liqueur) too and then rolled ourselves home.
Sunday we spent the day eating and lounging around the beach at our Turkish classmate’s parents’ house. We hadn’t been able to find any beach volleyball the entire trip (Go figure with no “beaches” available!) but this place at least had a ping pong table. So finally we got some land sport in on top of the swimming we had been doing. By that evening all of our classmates had already departed so Peter and I walked along the coast, found a nice place for fresh seafood and had one final meal.
My return trip went about as well as my first one. The taxi got me to the airport with plenty of time but my flight was delayed 80 minutes. We arrived in Istanbul’s Ataturk airport after my connection should have departed but, fortunately for me, Turkish Airlines is consistent and my flight to Geneva was also delayed–just long enough for me to sprint across the airport and run down the jetway before they closed the hatch.
Waiting for me at GVA was a friend from Rice who will stay here for a few days. It’s good to be back in Switzerland but my few days in Turkey definitely generated positive memories that will last a lifetime! More than the eating, swimming, and boating, I thoroughly enjoyed the chance to catch up with my classmates and make some new Turkish friends.

Swiss Productivity

Now that I am settling into my routine here in Switzerland, I’m becoming very productive! When not meeting with previous connections or networking with new connections, I’ve been spending most of my time powering through major objectives at the Smart Office Energy Solutions EMEA HQ. Sometimes this is by myself but I have also had the fortune to work with some local experts on designing some revolutionary new product features. As I am very extroverted, working with others like this makes me even more energized and productive.

I have also been pursuing a new type of workout regimen: one with no gym whatsoever! This is a first for me so I enlisted the help of noted expert Drew Skaggs in putting together a program that would continue to meet my fitness goals without requiring specialized equipment. You can see the initial results at Drew’s THE SHOP blog. This first week won’t be quite complete due to scheduling constraints but, as of next week, I should be into the routine.
My time here hasn’t been all diligent work and working out, though; there has been plenty of time to play as well! On Tuesday I attended a concert at the famed Montreux Jazz Festival for the first time. Buddy Guy was in town and I just couldn’t resist the opportunity to see him. The event was fantastic: a bunch of people packed into a small venue and Buddy playing to the crowd. The concert was basically a nonstop medley of his original songs mixed in with blues standards (“Hoochie Coochie Man,” “I Just Want to Make Love to You,” “Five Long Years,” “Voodoo Chile (Slight Return),” “Strange Brew,” and “Sunshine of Your Love,” to name a few). He adopted a “point-counter point” style, singing softly and slowly then answering with blistering electric guitar riffs. As is his trademark, he used a wireless pickup and came out into the audience to play a couple of songs. I was 20-40 feet away from him all night; it was a grand experience!
The following night a French classmate and his family hosted a party for Bastille Day! There were 15 of us in all (including a family from a different IMD class year) so this was my best chance to date to catch up with those whom I haven’t seen in awhile. Even though I had to get up very early this morning to check everything off before departing for Turkey, I stayed at the party very late because it was so, so nice.
And on that note, I had better get moving in order to make it to the airport on time!

Returning to Normalcy

After my first week back in Switzerland I’m starting to feel plugged back in to a “normal life.” Although it’s not routine per se, it is beginning to feel just like business as usual–a good thing.

Even though I have a car at my disposal here it is amazing how much more active I am just from walking/taking public transportation everywhere! Since my arrival, I’ve burned an average of 3,415 calories per day vs. an average of 3,054 per day in Houston. The fact that much of the walking is uphill probably contributes as well!
Friday night I attended an apartment party for a former Poken coworker who is leaving to join the staff of . . . IMD! I know from personal experience that it can be hard to make the decision to depart from Poken but I am very, very excited for her new opportunity–and for IMD’s great new team member!. The party was a lot of fun and ridiculously international–exactly what I remember about my Swiss social life.
Saturday one of my best friends from IMD and his family came to visit so we organized a small dinner gathering with other local classmates. It was so nice to see everyone and impressive how easily and naturally we fell back into catch-up discourse. IMD is more than a name on our diplomas; it is a unique, trying, wonderful experience that binds us all together and–I suspect–always will.
Sunday was the finals of the World Cup. As I did Tuesday night for the semifinals, I attended a major outdoor viewing party in Ouchy with an enormous screen. The place was packed to the hilt with fans for Spain but we were cheering for Holland (supporting Margot, one of my French classmates’s Dutch wife, who organized the get-together). It was a tough, close match but, in the end, Spain won and we had to sneak out before the mob turned on us.
Soccer really frustrates me to watch. It does have potential and I can see why so many people worldwide get excited about it whenever there’s a run toward goal that makes you hold your breath. However, more of it seems to be about baiting the ref for some wimpy foul instead of just playing the game and that just totally ruins it for me. Still, it was fun to be amidst a throng of people who were very, very excited about the game.
This will be a short week as I have much to do before heading to Turkey for an IMD class mini-reunion!

Settling in in Lutry

Slowly but surely I am settling into life in Lutry. It is very different than living in Lausanne–or even Ouchy–where I lived for one year each. Although Lausanne is only a city of 150,000 people, it is a bustling metropolis relative to the sleepy town of Lutry. I definitely feel less “connected” here–which is not a bad thing! It does reinforce my preference for living in the heart of a major city while choosing more “out there” settings to get away.

I’ve always found Switzerland to be a very magical place and the further out you go the more fairy tale-like it becomes. Villages like Lutry are interspersed with old forests full of tall trees–very much how I would imagine the “dark forest” although not nearly as sinister. There are also spiders everywhere! Each morning when I wake up there are new cobwebs along the paths outside. Although I have no great love for spiders, I do appreciate the work they do on keeping the “mosquito” (not real mosquitoes because they don’t bite!) population small. The most surreal aspect of the Swiss environs, though, is the false twilight. Because we are surrounded by mountains, the sun “sets” out of sight at 8 or 9. However, it still provides plenty of ambient light until it actually slips below the horizon around 10. This leaves 1-2 hours with the sky a soft, mystical blue. The street lights are already on, but it isn’t quite dark yet. It’s fantastic.
Despite this I have been doing more than frolicking in fairy tale land. Every day (after taking Acacia on a morning walk through the nearby vineyards) I have had meetings in town with IMD faculty, staff, friends, and other connections. It feels great to be back in touch with this crowd!
Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday nights have all featured meet-ups with classmates. Tuesday’s was to cheer on the Dutch (on behalf of the Dutch wife of a French classmate) at the huge outdoor viewing party in Ouchy. While I’m still not in love with soccer–World Cup or no–it is fun to be around lots of people who are!
Wednesday evening I had to pass on social activities in order to give my first investor pitch on this side of the Atlantic. There is a budding Angel network here that has just started a small sustainable investment subgroup. The gathering was tiny and informal but it was very nice to be around others in the cleantech space. Because I was a last-minute addition to the program I just gave a five-minute “quick pitch” but it stimulated a great deal of Q&A. This group may not be a great fit for us right now but I’m very excited to have made the contacts.
The rest of the week and weekend is still up in the air but I will report in soon!

Back En Suisse

To beat the Houston summer heat I’m officing from Switzlerand for much of July and August. One of my favorite IMD professors is out of town for the summer and was looking for someone to watch his place, take care of his dog, water his plants, etc. Katie and I were looking for an opportunity to escape the Houston summer. Voila, a match made in heaven!

Narrowly escaping Hurricane Alex, my delayed flight made it out of Houston and arrived in Frankfurt too late for me to make my connection. That was no problem, though; Frankfurt’s Star Alliance lounge was nice and World Cup soccer was on. As most of my readers will know, I’m no big fan of soccer but I do enjoy the cultural experience of watching momentous games in places where people take it very seriously. The game that was on during my layover in Frankfurt was Germany-Argentina so the entire airport was abuzz with excitement. In the lounge, they were offering both German and Argentinian cuisine–very festive. Germany scored early and often so most of the travelers around me were quite pleased.
Eventually I made it into Switzerland and was surprised by a few things. First, it didn’t feel nostalgic at all. I suppose I haven’t been gone long enough for that. It really just felt like I was coming back to a second home. Second, nothing has changed about Geneva Airport. In the nine months that I’ve been gone, so much has changed in my life and my business, but even the watch advertisements along the moving walkway in Geneva are the exact same as those from before I left.
Finally, this was my first time being picked up at the airport in a car. Previously I had always just taken the fast train back to Lausanne. This time, though, I am living in Lutry, about 5km outside of Lausanne. The distance isn’t that great, but the dependence on an extra travel leg of bus or train adds significant time to travels and makes a car much more useful.
I spent most of the weekend catching up with my professor and familiarizing myself with the house. It is very, very nice and is going to be a wonderful place to spend the next several weeks. It features a pool, a great view of the lake, and–most importantly–it comes with a three-and-a-half-year-old Bernese Mountain Dog named Acacia! She’s a big girl with lots of energy and she seems to like me. 🙂
Sunday night we had an impromptu 4th of July dinner at my Singaporean classmate’s house, joined by a French classmate, his wife, and an American/Swedish/Mexican classmate. It was so great to see people for the first time in months and we very naturally fell back into old patterns of career discussions and IMD gossip.
People are complaining about how unseasonably hot the weather is here right now but I will take the moderate, dry heat over Houston’s oppressive heat/humidity any day! This isn’t a vacation; I’m just taking advantage of the fact that right now it doesn’t really matter where in the world I work. Still, it feels great to be back, especially at this time of year!

The Big Lebowski

I can’t believe that June is almost over already; it has really flown by! It began with (although technically this was the end of May) dogsitting our friend’s awesome chocolate lab. We took her on long walks around the neighborhood and frequent visits to Houston’s many dog parks. Some couples are described as “baby crazy.” Katie and I are definitely “dog crazy” and we intend to rescue one of our own this Fall.

The next weekend was a beach volleyball tournament in Galveston. My favorite men’s 2s partner and I reunited for the first time in three years and had a great time. We lost two games by a little and won two games by a lot but that wasn’t enough to advance to the playoffs. We played well, though, and one of our wins handed the top team in our bracket their only loss so we felt good about the day. Leaving early afforded us the opportunity to listen to Rice baseball win on the way back from Galveston, take a nap, and then Katie and I enjoyed dinner and a movie in the evening.
Rice baseball unfortunately did not advance out of the regional tournament hosted by UT. It was a really weird year for Rice; we lost many more games than usual and just didn’t seem to have the dominant pitching for which we are known. The upside is that our offense was pretty awesome this season. Led by player of the year Anthony Rendon, we won several games by mercy rule. Offense comes and goes, though, so you can’t rely on it alone in the post season. Oh well, at least football season is now right around the corner!
The following weekend Katie and I went to St. Louis for the first time for the wedding of a middle/high school classmate of mine. He had been another captain on the football team so many of our old teammates were there for the occasion. It was great fun to catch up with all the old guys; we tried not to spend too much time reliving the glory days and Katie was a great sport about it.
Last week I was up in Chicago (also for the first time) on business, which presented a great chance to catch up with some Rice folks I hadn’t seen in some time. I made it back on Saturday, just in time to prep for The Dude Imbibes, a Big Lebowski trivia night. Katie’s sister, Kelly, was in town with her boyfriend, Mike, who had never seen The Big Lebowski before. So, in order to prepare our team, we watched the movie with some white russians. Watching it again reminded me why it is still my favorite movie; every time I watch it I notice some new, subtle nuance.
The pub quiz was held at Little Woodrow’s in the Rice Village. Although there were only nine teams (many fewer than we had had for the Seinfeld pub quiz a few months ago), the competition was spirited and we had a great time. Geeks Who Drink, the organizers, put on a really good event.
We aced most of the rounds of questions, although we fared poorly in the audio round, in which we had to identify obscure artists of music heard throughout the movie. Fortunately, everyone else fared poorly on that round too so we spent most of the event in second place. Some rounds featured bonus questions for which free beers were awarded to the individual who presented the first correct answer. We won all but one of those and the team next to us insisted that my speedy writing be tested for doping. 🙂
We outperformed the top team in the final round to secure a tie for first place. This meant we had to settle it with sudden death overtime. The DJ played “The Final Countdown” to get us in the spirit and then we won by correctly answering the next question while the other team did not–amateurs! The DJ played “You’re The Best” and the Quiz Master gave us our winnings. It was a good night! We paid $20 to enter, $20 for beer, and $40 for food. We won $70 plus four free beers so I think it worked out pretty well. To celebrate, we went home and watched Tombstone, which also features Sam Elliott.
Sunday we arose early and traveled out to JD Organic Farms to pick blueberries. If you’re a blueberry lover (I add them to my cereal whenever possible.), it’s a great deal. You pay $2.50/lb for whatever you pick. They’re organic, local, cheap, not wastefully packaged, and easily frozen for future use. Between the four of us we picked 17 lbs in about an hour–AND the proprietors had a six-week-old golden lab puppy who was worth the price of admission all by herself.
After blueberry pie, scones, and pancakes, we froze the rest and participated in a vegan cooking class at Indika. As always, the results were delicious and it was so cool to cook in the kitchen of a major restaurant with the chef and sous chefs flitting about to help and advise.
It was a great weekend and a great month! Now I need to buckle down before heading off to Switzerland!