Meandering Musings

2011-06-18T16:06:00.000-07:00

Travels appear to be over, for now. I’ve been in my own apartment for a week for the first time since April. Last time I wrote, I was in Dallas, suffering their unbearable heat and working out of our Internal Audit offices there.

On Thursday, June 2^nd, I went with a few Raytheon colleagues downtown to the American Airlines Center for the Dallas Mavericks’ gamewatch against the Miami Heat. Although the game was actually being played at the other American Airlines sports edifice, the American Airlines Arena in south Florida, the Mavs organization opened the stadium up to fans and showed the game on the big screens there. Every sports team should do this. What a way to build organizational pride and build goodwill, while providing just a little more revenue for the vendors at the facility? (Free admission was nice…)

We sat in the luxury level, at eye level with the jumbotron at center court. The Mavs didn’t play very well to start things off, and the mood in the stadium reflected their poor performance. Well into the fourth quarter, it looked like the Mavs would certainly lose the game, and fall behind 2-0 in the series. Knowing that we had to go to work the next morning, and with the evening making its way towards the morning, a few of us decided to peace out, with maybe eight minutes remaining in the game, down by at least a dozen. On the way back to the office, one of my colleagues was talking to his wife on the phone. It appeared that the game was not, in fact, over. Shortly after we arrived back to the office, we got another call: the Mavs had won the game! I got a text from one of my buddies who had stayed at the game—dude, you’re missing out. Apparently! It was perhaps the team’s greatest comeback in history, and absolutely turned the tide of the series. Considering the fact that Miami won the next game, there’s not much doubt that this comeback was key. The Mavs, of course, ended up winning the series in six games, embarrassing the trio of James, Wade, and Bosh, and perhaps showing that team unity, and a single super-star, are better ingredients for a championship team.

It was back to Boston on the third, flying through Charlotte on my way back. On Saturday morning, I ran to UHaul, where I picked up a moving truck, which I then used to transport a couch from a law school apartment building to my apartment. With that addition (thank you to the kind individual who made the donation), our living room is finally livable, with two couches, a $5 coffee table from a random garage sale I drove by one day on my commute, and a postage stamp TV from college, which sits on a $5 end table I picked up from a Harvard School of Ed gal down the street. (Another Ed school gal sold me her air conditioner; one year programs must be tough living wise?)

The afternoon was spent, very enjoyably, at the Arnold Arboretum, Harvard’s tree and other plant space down south in/near Jamaica Plain. It’s quite the spot, and it was a perfect day for lounging (and, apparently, running around in circles, which one visitor was disposed to do). That night, after some bibimbop at Koreana (not a huge fan of Korean food, I’ve decided), I went down to McGann’s by TD Garden to watch the Bruins-Canucks game. The Canucks took the game, going up 2-0 in the process, and disappointing the Bruins fans around whom I sat. I was watching the game with one Canadian, who was cheering for the bad guys, although not openly or obnoxiously.

The next week was spent out in Foxborough, MA at Gillette Stadium for Session C, or graduation for the Leadership Development Program participants from Raytheon. Folks from all the functional areas with programs were in attendance for the week-long event, which was at once a training session and celebration of nearly two years of rotations around the country and world. We had some wonderful training sessions, as well as great access to our company’s leaders. A good week. It was particularly exciting to go to the Hall at Patriot Place, which is sponsored by Raytheon. It made all of us, even the St. Louis Rams fans among us, proud to be associated with the partnership between Raytheon and the Patriots organization.

Unreal. All of my recent writing was just deleted. I did lots of running recently. Also watched The Social Network. Priory guys hanging out, winning trash fine hearings, running around town, doing stadiums at Harvard, eating Trader Joe's food, meeting up with former Duke advisors, going to the Bruins' victory parade. Silly command z. Don't use it!

Hot in Dallas

2011-06-01T17:41:00.000-07:00

Still more traveling. Getting very used to spending a lot of time in Boston Logan International. I've never flown so many airlines and been to so many airports in such a short time in my life (I don't think).

Last week I wrapped up Internal Audit's All-Hands meeting in Dulles, VA on the 20th, and headed back on a JetBlue flight to Boston. I had a burger at HarpoonFest at the Harpoon Brewery downtown with a friend from work.

Later in the night, went to Liberty Hotel at Charles MGH for a stiff beverage. Following that, it was down to Harp to see an old friend, then to King Kong in Harvard Square for the tail end of a wedding reception party group thing. Busy and very fun night.

On Saturday, I went for a good run to and around the Fresh Pond in Cambridge. Apparently they used to use the ice from that body of water to cool drinks around the world before refrigeration.

On Sunday, I went to Mass at St. Paul's in the morning. It was the graduate Mass, so a number of graduates were in attendance. I'm a big fan of the homilies there. Afterwards, I made a quick stop at Peet's before getting on the T to head to Logan to go back to D.C.

I had a suit tailored last week. It was a suit from an uncle with slightly broader shoulders than mine. I'm hopeful that it will fit better. Definitely better than buying a new suit, although the fact that the gal at Zuit's didn't measure me is a bit concerning. (She just made some general guesses about how it would fit.)

D.C. was a lot of fun. On Monday, after work, I went for a run along Vernon Trail on the Potomac and had dinner at Ted's Montana Grill in Crystal City with a couple old Duke Wayne Manor friends.

Tuesday it was back along the trail after work, this time with a co-worker, with whom I ran to the Washington Monument. I never thought I would be removing the lactic acid from my calves with my feet up against such a symbol of American freedom. The last part of our run, which went directly by the Lincoln Memorial and up the hill to the Washington Monument, was exhilarating. We sat down to dinner, after walking past the White House, Treasury, etc. at a restaurant in Dupont Circle for sushi. I'm not sure I've ever eaten at a nice place just after a sweaty long run. I hope the next person didn't mind the sweat I left on my chair...

On Wednesday night I met up with someone for a burger at the Burger Joint at Clarendon. Thursday was dinner at the Crystal City Sports Pub with a friend from the National Young Leaders Conference, which I attended in high school, some time around 2002. Happy hour=cheap food. Happy hour is illegal in Boston, so I take every opportunity I get to haggle a good deal.

Earlier in the day on Thursday, I went with a few fellow Raytheon employees and shareholders to the Annual Shareholders Meeting, held at the Ritz Carlton in Pentagon City. It was my first such meeting. Parts of the morning went as expected; others not so much. Attendance was minimal. Although Raytheon’s entire leadership team and Board were there, I saw few regular old shareholders. There were a few elderly ladies, some “activist” shareholders, and a few others scattered throughout the room. I expected some contentious debate over a few of the shareholders’ proposals, but none ensued. Although the shareholders’ proposals were all opposed by the Directors and leadership team, all discussion of them was civil and dignified. One of the proposals, which sought to enable shareholders to more easily call meetings to order on their own terms, narrowly lost, garnering around 48% of the vote. Each of the board members was reelected; most received between 75% and 90% yeses. Bill Swanson, the company’s Chairman and CEO, received the most yes votes, followed closely by Stephen Hadley, President Bush’s former security advisor. I introduced myself to Hadley after the meeting, discussing my time in the classroom and with Raytheon. He’s someone I admire a great deal for his role in shaping American defense policy and for his well-developed ethical boundaries. He offered his resignation to his former boss after the Iraq nukes incident, and was turned down. I have a lot of respect for people who hold themselves accountable to their expectations of themselves.

On Friday, after a short day in the office at Rosslyn (my 2006 summer job location), we drove the very short distance down Jefferson Davis and other roads to Reagan National for our flights home. For the third time in four weeks, I completed a round-trip JetBlue flight between Boston and the D.C. area. That airline’s entertainment options are hard to match, with free DirecTV on every flight. I was very impressed last week, when I received a $15 voucher automatically after one of my flight’s DirecTV acted up and was dysfunctional. That’s customer service.

Getting home from Logan took significantly longer than flying from D.C. to Boston. At the airport, I hopped in a cab bound for Waltham, where I’d left my car over the last two weeks while traveling. I was trying to save the company money by leaving my car at work and carpooling to the airport for All-Hands. It was a long, hot ride to Waltham along the Mass Pike and up I-95. My cab didn’t have air conditioning in the back; we remedied this by doing a quick switcheroo on the highway, whereby I moved from the back, hot seat, up front where it was cool.

After the traffic on the aforementioned roads, we finally got back to the office, where I spotted my car, lonesome in the parking lot, and covered in pollen and other plant matter from its fortnight of rest under the cover of very generous trees. As I watched the cab driver take off after collecting an $83 fare, I reached into my bag for my key. Huh—my carkey isn’t on my keyring…Why would that be? Oh yeah, I LEFT MY CAR KEY IN SOMERVILLE. That’s ok, I’ll just go up to the office and ask someone for a ride home. It’s only 4:30, so people should still be around. Fast-forward a short elevator and card swipe later—the office is an abandoned desert of empty cubicles and dark offices. And I’m sweating from this sport coat and khakis. It’s hot, and my bags are heavy. Think. Call people over on Winter Street? IM. No answer from the only guy I see online. Bus? But that would take so long. Cab? Too expensive. I’m an idiot. Bus it is. I get to the bus stop around 5:00PM. 5:15. 5:30. 5:45. Finally, it’s here, the 70A back to Central Square. A long ride later, I’m home. Well, kind of. I still have a 25 minute walk from here. Sheesh! Guess I don’t need to run today.

My apartment was really hot on my return. We need to get some window units. Craigslist, we’ll have to get together this weekend to work that out. Dinner on Friday at Tavern on the Square, Porter Square. We watched the Bruins-Lightning Eastern Finals Game 7, held in Boston and very closely watched by the entire metropolitan area. Playoff hockey is impossible to beat. Hockey is such an underrated sport. It’s fast, team-oriented (think multiple lines), physical (checks, fights, etc.), requires incredible precision and skill, quick-moving, international, and all PLAYED ON ICE. The game was a nail-biter, with no scoring into the third period, when the Bruins finally netted a goal on a cross from the left side. The game’s most memorable moment came earlier, when Lightning player Stamkos took a deflected slap shot directly in the face. After what looked like a potentially career-threatening collision of frozen rubber and soft cartilage, Stamkos covered his face, skating off the ice before anyone could get a visual. Somehow, he later came back into the game, playing with a cage.

It was back to the ranch after the bar for some sleep, as Saturday would be a fairly early day. (As has become my habit, I also did a round of laundry on Friday night, washing the clothes I’d worn the week before and getting them ready for another wear the following week.

On Saturday morning, I went for a short jog, running into a TFA-Chicago buddy now at the Kennedy School. After a quick (cold) shower, I packed a bag and walked down to Central Square, to catch the 70A back out to Waltham to retrieve my car. I scarfed down a burrito at a local Mexican spot, got a Cherry Coke Zero, and went to the bus stop, where I waited a few minutes before boarding.

The drive up to New Hampshire has become a very familiar one; I’ve made it several times this year. I was hopeful for a sunny and hot afternoon in North Hampton, but the clouds had other ideas. We ended up with a chilly evening by the sea, made endurable by the warm company, an outdoor space heater, and some mucho delicious rib racks. There were maybe a dozen folks out there over the course of my visit. Yesterday, we went to a road race to watch a friend run the Red Hook Brewery race; unfortunately, the strongest memory I took from it was of a seizing woman who collapsed not further than 25 yards short of the finish line. It was a scary moment: right in front of us, the woman collapsed and very quickly began to have a violent seizure on the pavement as runners ran by towards the finish line. Although it may have been a bit more embarrassing, collapsing near the finish was probably better for her health, as she immediately got the attention of numerous people, including the announcer, who stopped calling out names long enough to call medics to the scene. Those medics administered help, sequestered by some guard rails directing the runners around the middle of the course, where the medical staff worked to stop the seizing and calm her down. Once she seemed to be ok, she started screaming loudly at those around her. It wasn’t an ideal situation, but it appeared that she was going to be ok.

Inspired by all of the runners, as soon as we got back to the house, I took off running, pointed north up the coastal road towards the Rye Beach Club. I did a four-mile run, up and down the Atlantic Coast. I couldn’t help but compare the calm blue waves of the East’s Ocean to the more torrent, unpredictable motions of the Pacific, along which I completed, almost a year prior to the day, my first marathon. That race was in San Diego last June 6. It’s fun to think about the places I’ve run since I was training for that marathon—on the streets of L.A., along the Strand in Hermosa and Manhattan Beaches, along Lake Michigan in Chicago, over the hills in Chesebro, through quiet Andover, MA, on a treadmill in hot Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, around Harvard, MIT, and Cambridge, up and down the dry hills of Tucson, alongside the Washington Monument, by the canals in Indianapolis, in (sadly) countless gyms throughout the U.S.A., and this week, along a trail in Anderson Bonner Park in 91-degree Dallas heat. And I’d prefer to run more, too.

Seeing the Old Students, Hitting Up D.C.

2011-05-18T18:58:00.000-07:00

Been on the road for the last few weeks.

After a week at Raytheon's Dulles offices in early May, it was back to Boston for a quick weekend break before taking off for the Midwest.

On May 8, I flew from Boston to Indianapolis, via Newark, New Jersey. The only benefit of flying through Newark is that one gets a pretty spectacular view of the New York City skyline in the terminal. (It’s also fun to see pigeons at the gate, which also happened.)

Indy’s airport impressed me, with its vaunted ceilings and wide open space. It was a cab ride downtown, where we stayed at the Hyatt Regency, right near the state capitol building and much of the city’s cultural and entertainment nerves. We had our last FLDP quarterly training session there in Indy, at the RTSC site located in an old Navy building not too far from downtown. We were sold on Indy as a city, though I can’t say I would prefer it to another of Raytheon’s sites, such as L.A., Boston, or D.C.

Monday afternoon included a very informative and exciting scavenger hunt around the metropolitan area. We visited the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (where the Indy 500 will race within the month), the governor’s mansion (where we were accosted by state police for not slowing down upon entry, even though we saw no police presence whatsoever as we came on the premise), the Capitol, the NCAA Hall of Champions, and a few other locally historic sites. I was our group’s driver, and nearly got us into a couple of wrecks, most notably near the MLK memorial, where a planned u-turn almost turned into a side-swipe by a very quickly-moving motorist.

On Wednesday, May 11, I was set to take a Megabus from Indy to Chicago. After locating the (moved) pick-up location, we were told that the bus was having problems and needed to be serviced. No telling what time it would make it. I was standing near a group of men wearing Cardinals’ and Cubs’ gear. I was in a Cardinals’ shirt myself. Upon hearing the bad news, it was clear that all of us were going to miss a game in which we had some stake. One of the men, whom we soon learned was called Slug, noticed our garb, and offered a spot in his minivan—if the Megabus wasn’t going to go off, he was willing to drive.

Each of the four passengers passed him $20 as we neared Chicago, a price well-worth it. I was deposited just a few blocks from my old roommates' new place, where I stayed over the next few nights.

On Wednesday night, I caught a Cardinals-Cubs game with a friend and his buddy from Rhodes College. The game, which turned out to be a blowout in favor of the home team, was interrupted by a torrential downpour midway through. Luckily, our seats were under cover, and we managed to stay dry throughout, unlike most of our fellow fans. It was fun to watch the logistical exercise of rolling out, and up, the massive rain tarp. We noted that some of the tarp-men could stand to get a little more exercise between tarp outings (they fell far behind their brethren throughout).

On Thursday, it was back to Marquez, where I spent the morning presenting to my old students on three topics: setting goals, working hard to get there, and making good choices. The eighth graders were most definitely not fifth graders anymore in demeanor and attitude towards school. Getting them to participate was certainly not as easy then as it was when they were innocent little fifth graders. The seventh graders were more eager participants. In any case, being in front of them again was a great feeling. I spent the balance of Thursday, and the entire day Friday, sitting in on seventh grade classes, tutoring and working with kids in between the math and English lessons. The students have had excellent teachers since leaving my tutelage, and it shows. I handed off individualized graduation letters, printed on fancy paper I bought at an art shop on Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, for the eighth grade teachers to distribute when it's time. Only four of my original fifth grade class of 30 have left Marquez, a fairly impressive retention rate given various factors at play.

Thursday night, I went to the Teach For America Chicago Alumni dinner, which happened to be scheduled during my visit. We heard from Director Josh Anderson, as well as a panel of speakers that included Juan Rangel, UNO's CEO, and Tim Knowles, a sharp professor at University of Chicago. I was able to catch up with many former TFA cohorts.

On Friday, I hung out with my old roommate, watching basketball and taking a low-key evening. The hometown Bulls were to play the Miami Heat in the NBA semi-finals.

Although I was delayed a bit at O'Hare, I eventually made it back to Boston on an American Airlines flight. I only had a couple days in Boston before heading to D.C. I spent the first evening playing bocce ball at a public park in Cambridge, before a nightcap at Atwood's. Sunday was spent up in New Hampshire. Poor weather made it a movie/TV day, which was fine by me. We watched Boston classic Good Will Hunting as well as The Golden Child before taking in the first part of the Bulls-Heat game.

On Monday the 16th, I took an afternoon flight with a number of my teammates to IAD for the Internal Audit All-Hands meeting.

We had lots of work-related activities during the week, which were educational and useful.

One of the highlights of the week was a bus tour around downtown D.C. We drove from Dulles to the White House, where we alighted and snapped some pictures, from from the iconic White House lawn side facing the Washington Monument, and then on the other side near the Treasury Building. Then it was dinner at the Capitol Room in Old Ebbitt Grill, 675 15th Street. Our tour guide, a 1965 Duke grad named Sonny, told us that Old Ebbitt is a favorite lunch spot for lobbyists, cabinet members, and others. After a dinner of crab cakes and steak, we continued our tour.

The bus took us past the U.S. Capitol, where we ascended part of Capitol Hill for some pictures, then drove over to the Lincoln Memorial. As we gathered near the base of the steps up, I saw a group of kids in white button downs and trademark UNO blue ties. Could it possibly be!? I went over to the kids and asked if they were indeed from UNO. They said yes! It was a class of UNO students on the annual eighth grade trip to D.C. The kids I saw were from Carlos Fuentes I believe, and unfortunately my own students, whom I had seen the week before in classrooms in Chicago's south side, were on a different schedule. It was certainly a moment though, later standing just above where MLK Jr. made his famous "I have a dream" speech, standing among UNO students who had traveled in the same caravan as my old students at Marquez. Hopefully someday some of those students will be pulling the levers of power in this city.

After watching the sun set behind the Lincoln Memorial, we walked over to the Vietnam War Memorial, then by the Korean War Memorial. It started to drizzle on our walk between the memorials, but it wasn't enough rain to dampen our good time. The last stop was at Iwo Jima, across the Potomac near the Raytheon offices in Rosslyn, VA.

D.C. is a lively city. Although security is rightfully tight, we still saw folks playing kickball under the Capitol, snapping pictures outside the White House lawn, and wandering among the memorials and sites commemorating our country's great yet troubled history.

I went home on Friday. I met my neighbors, went to Harpoonfest for some tasty brews, took in a cocktail at Liberty Hotel, met an old friend and a Raytheon colleague at Harp by the Garden, and finished with a cheap beer at the Kong in Harvard Square. It was my first time to the Kong; I thought it would be bigger, given its reputation as one of the more fun places in the Square. (I didn't make it to the top floor; maybe there's more space up there.)

I did a good job running consistently last week; I even managed to wake up at 5:00AM and run before work a couple times while in Dulles. I made the run around Fresh Pond in Cambridge for the first time yesterday. Having had no caffeine all day, and a bit stressed from work, I ended up taking a nap around 6:00PM that turned into a 15-hour night's rest. I shouldn't have to sleep at all this week.

Steal This Book!

2011-05-08T19:07:00.000-07:00

Tough week, that week of April 24. Some not super-wonderful news.

Did attend a class down at HBS on April 25. I went to the last session of Professor David Thomas' Entrepreneurship in Education. The case was on School of One, and with the founder and leaders in attendance, it made for quite an interesting case. Being in class and talking about education most definitely excited me. A good part of me would like to start school tomorrow.

"Hometown Glory" by Adele encapsulates the rest of that week. Good song, no doubt about it.

Listened to Raytheon's Q1 earnings call on Thursday, April 28. Good quarter, tough times, cool to feel like I'm a part of all of it. Not an insider, but I feel close to what happens at the Company as a part of Internal Audit.

That weekend, I went up to Middlebury, Vermont to visit my cousin Gen, who will be graduating from the College in just a few short weeks (week?). Middlebury is a beautiful town and college. We had a wonderfully sunny day on that Saturday, and took advantage by walking to lunch at Two Brothers, then taking in a women's tennis match against Skidmore. After I made a quick stop in the bookstore for some postcards, it was back to the "Giggle Pit," then over to Atwater for some college redux. I was more of an observer, but very much enjoyed all that made that day a college redux. Naturally, as an old man, I went to bed before everyone went out for the night. I did have to wake up early the next day, in my defense. Gen and I made it to an early Mass on Sunday, and then it was back to Boston in the Prius. Great ride back down to Boston. Lots of greenery. I made some voice memos, listened to some good music, and generally enjoyed the scenery that Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts have to offer. (Later read a story in the NYTimes about a gang beating/murder that took place in Tewksbury; one of the alleged killers is now in Londonderry, through which I drove on my way back.)

No sooner than I got home to Boston did I leave for the nation's capital. I ran into an old A-A Ranch colleague, whom I ended up having lunch and attending Mass with the next weekend. That encounter happened at Logan. In a not-too-crazy twist of fate, the day I flew out of Logan to America's political center (at least our time), our forces were busy plotting and executing an attack on Osama Bin Laden's house in Pakistan. I later realized that at least one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, took out from Logan International Airport. I thought it symbolic, and I took pride in, the fact that I flew out of Logan to D.C. on the day that American forces permanently removed Bin Laden from this world. (There's been a lot of subsequent debate about the whole operation, including over the various responses in the U.S. I think we should be above celebrating deaths, regardless of who's doing the dying. At the same time, to know that Osama will never threaten an innocent life again is a good feeling.)

I was working at the Dulles office outside D.C. all week. I almost was able to meet up with a cousin who flew through Dulles on his way back from Kabul to New Orleans, but sadly his flight was delayed and we missed each other. To know that we were fairly close proximity will have to be enough. I do wish I could have joined him in New Orleans for the weekend though!

Work was super-interesting. Wish I could write more about it. Lots of different types of food up in Dulles. Went to the same restaurant two nights in a row, which is something I can't say I've done too often (Stone's Cove Kit Bar).

Took my car in for some service last weekend. Did well. Way to be, Prius! Thinking I'm going to need to sell it before I start school. If you want to buy it from me, let me know! If you want to pay twice as much as I did for it, also let me know. I would like that.

Had dinner with a couple other Priory Harvard kids on Friday night on my return. Actually, I didn't have dinner. I had eaten some in D.C., and also had very much enjoyed the nuts on JetBlue. Good stuff, no doubt. I like JetBlue. It really is an experience, as they claim.

I missed the Derby. I was too busy doing laundry, going to the cleaners, and working on graduation letters for my students at Marquez.

In the Midwest this week. Got to Indianapolis today. My hotel room at the Hyatt has a view of Lucas Oil Stadium, where the vaunted Colts play, and the air traffic control tower of the Indy airport, which is quite impressive. I think that the last time I was in Indy was for a basketball game or two in the area during college. I remember we went into the Colts' stadium (in fact onto the field), to mentally prepare ourselves for a possible Final Four appearance there (which never materialized...).

I went for a nice run this afternoon in Indy, running along the canals. I passed the State House, various historical museums (every city claims a history), the NCAA headquarters, and a big river. In fact, I crossed that river. I should look up which river it actually is.

Dinner tonight at Scotty's Brewhouse. Big place, lots of FLDPs in attendance, very cheap drinks and food, and a nice fire by which I spent a good portion of my evening.

I recently started reading David Brooks The Social Animal. It's one of those books that everyone should just read. Go, now, and read it. Seriously. Buy it and read it.

Various Updates

2011-04-24T18:48:00.000-07:00

Had a fun last few weeks. Definitely keeping myself busy enough. Since the last time I wrote, I've moved apartments. I moved down the street about a mile.

Week of March 13: Was in Boston, although I didn't celebrate St. Patrick's there, sadly. I did pass the Certified Internal Auditor test, Part I, which was pretty exciting I guess, especially since I had only been working in Internal Audit for a few weeks.

Week of March 20: In Los Angeles all week for an FLDP training session and to see old friends there. We got dreary weather unfortunately, but I had a good time visiting old friends and working on a case study on mergers and acquisitions. I scored some tickets to the NCAA tournament as well, seeing Duke lose to Arizona in Sweet Sixteen, and UConn beat San Diego State on their way to ultimately winning the National Championship in 2011. I checked out a new restaurant in Hermosa, Hot's Kitchen, which was delicious.

Week of March 27: back in Boston; had some fancy dinners, including one at Upstairs on the Square at Harvard Square, and moved into my new apartment in Somerville. My brother came up from New York to help me with my move. We got a UHaul and went to town, finishing in a short morning of hard work. Some pain afterwards, but that's ok. Also, I didn't have any furniture in my living room. (I took care of part of that today, picking up a cheap table to serve as a coffee table there. Still need to get some couches.)

Week of April 3: Watched one of the worst national championships ever. Bummer. My mom visited this weekend to help me get organized in my new apartment, which was super-helpful. I also went to a Teach For America political training event down at Boston University, and to the Harvard vs. Haiti soccer game, which Harvard lost in PKs (though we left after regulation due to the chill). Also turned 27.

Week of April 10: Hanging in Boston during the week. Went to an auction for BAGLY down in South Boston. Almost won something on the silent auction; ended up losing out by maybe $10. Went to St. Louis for a wedding of an old St. Louis/Duke friend.

Week of April 17: delayed return to Boston from the Lou'. Didn't get to bed until after 1:00AM, which was a bummer. Had a great career discussion with some leaders at my company. Made for one of my favorite days at my company so far. Checked out some good restaurants in Inman Square--East Coast Grille and J.A. Sullivan's. Good fish and burgers, respectively.

Back in Hermosa

2011-03-25T15:52:00.000-07:00

Waltham

2011-03-15T15:03:00.000-07:00

D.C., Tucson, Boston, L.A. (March)

2011-03-13T13:02:00.001-07:00

I’ve been on the road for the last two weeks. I like traveling, and wonder if I’ll ever reach the point where I dread getting on a plane or checking into a hotel.

I’ve been working on an audit the deals with a number of Raytheon’s functions, including Human Resources, Legal and Ethics, and Supply Chain. It is my first audit since joining the group, and while there have been growing pains, I am learning a lot about what it takes to be a successful internal auditor.

My colleague put it well when he described internal auditing as internal consulting. It’s hard to explain exactly what auditing it. What it isn’t is a police force looking to “catch” people out of policy compliance or making mistakes. We work with our customers and stakeholders to evaluate current practices potential risks to the company or to individual, and work to mitigate, control, or eliminate those risks. Audit serves an important independent role for the company. Since we work across the entire enterprise, we are able to leverage best practices seen throughout the businesses.

In D.C., we spent the first day working in the corporate offices in Rosslyn, Virginia. It was like déjà vu all over again, to quote Lou Gehrig. I spent a summer during college working in the very same building on Wilson Boulevard. In fact, we set up shop a floor below my old office, and were almost directly under my old tiny, shared office. I made a run through my old hallway, seeing a number of folks who had worked with me back in 2006. I spent a few minutes with my old boss in the strategy group, and made a visit to the intern room to greet those who were doing what I had done way back when.

While the people have stayed to a great extent the same, and the building hasn’t changed, it’s always interesting to note the different moods places put you in depending on your age, experience, or life position. When I was there in 2006, I was taking the Metro every day from Chevy Chase, bearing the brutal heat on the walk to Friendship Heights from the country club grounds, not yet sure about my plans for after college. Teach For America was definitely on my mind then. But who would have thought that almost five years later, after another year of college, two years of teaching, and a year and a half with Raytheon in Los Angeles, Boston, and Saudi Arabia, I would be back in the same building, this time as an auditor. The world works in strange ways.

Here’s another example of the strange ways of the world. When I worked in Saudi Arabia last fall, I essentially was working for another FLDP; we’ll call him P. My office, in room 13, was previously occupied by a good friend of L’s, whom we’ll call G. I actually found a number of G’s items, which had been left in the desk on the compound. G came back to Saudi in another capacity while I was there working, and the three of us had a chance to work together and socialize. I left Saudi. G left Saudi. I started a new rotation not long thereafter, working in G’s group. On my first assignment, I ended up working for G, this time based in Boston. P visited Boston while G and I were working together, but unfortunately we were not able to meet up. Still, sometimes it feels like there are a lot fewer degrees of separation than are officially declared.

Although traveling can occasionally be tough, one of the benefits is the opportunity to experiment with new types of food. While in Washington, I had Asian fusion, Indian (chicken vindaloo), Turkish (chicken meze with a coban salad and apricot juice), Vietnamese (Pho with cow gut innards), and Southern American (pulled pork sandwich and St. Louis ribs). In Tucson last week, I had Texan (pulled pork at Dickey’s in Dallas Fort Worth airport), American (sirloin), Mexican (chicken tortilla soup and fish tacos), more “American,” (burger and Mediterranean hummus plate), and more Mexican (rolled tacos and a chicken quesadilla).

The last two weekend have been spent in part watching Duke basketball as well. Last week March 5, the Devils lost to disliked rival North Carolina in somewhat of an embarrassing outing. After watching the game at Game On Fenway, I made a stop at Jillian’s for a couple drinks before calling it a night.

This weekend, I’ve had the pleasure of watching parts or all of three Duke games as part of the ACC Tournament, which Duke wrapped up today. I watched the Friday game at Tavern on the Square at Porter after returning from Tucson. On Saturday, after doing some studying and work at the Boston Public Library, I met a high school buddy at Game On to watch the Blue Devils in the semi-finals. Today, after wandering around Cambridge and Somerville on some important errands, I watched Duke handily defeat the Tar Heels in the season’s rubber match at John Harvard’s. Although I don’t love watching games by myself, when you’re the only one interested in watching the game who has any rights over the TV, you end up solo fairly often.

Someone wrote a book about never eating alone. I would in general agree with that advice, although eating alone does have its benefits. (For one, it’s often less expensive. ☺)

This is my first and last full week to be spent in our Waltham offices. I’m looking forward to it. I have a test on Friday, Part I of the Certified Internal Auditor test. I’ve been studying for it, but remain not ready. I need to spend a few hours tonight on it.

Tucson is good-looking

2011-03-07T06:26:00.000-08:00

Basically driving the tram at Dulles

2011-03-04T11:31:00.001-08:00

Last time I was at IAD I was coming home from Saudi Arabia.

Eating and Drinking

2011-02-28T04:35:00.000-08:00

Good meals and good people have been themes of the last couplish weeks.

After the excitement of seeing Wendy Kopp twice over three days had died down, I decided to distract myself by tasting a few new places in Boston. On the 17^th, I went to the Green Street Grill(e) at Central Square in Cambridge. There I enjoyed a very tasty chicken dish; the chicken was infused with various kinds of vegetables/filling of some sort. The meal was accompanied by a couple very fancy (but reasonably-priced) cocktails. One of those drinks counted absinthe, until recently banned for its potency. Our waitress happened to have some experience with the solution from Europe.

The next night, I found myself trying a ziti pasta dish at L’Osteria in the North End. Although the speed at which the food was prepared and delivered made me a little curious about the diligence of the chefs, the meal was good and enough to last a couple nights. (In fact, I ended up carrying my leftovers out to the Vault, a bar downtown, after dinner. I was the only one to do so…)

With all of this eating, it’s only fair that Saturday the 19^th required a dental appointment at Gental Dental. I had a very friendly dental professional, and did pretty well on the “did you floss” exam. As punishment for not flossing quite enough, and because it’s my habit, I sided my leftover ziti with a PBJ. Mmm. Sunday capped the eating experimenting. I joined a high school buddy for a large pizza and pitcher of beer (all for just $14) at Newtowne Grille on Mass Ave just north of Porter Square. I don’t need to say that I’ll be back there in the near future. To fill two people with food and beer for $20 is quite the steal.

Harvard Business School ASW

This past week was pronounced by the Admitted Students Welcome at Harvard Business School, which was on this past Thursday and Friday. The welcome was like the TFA Summit in that we did a whole lot in very little time. On Thursday, we were welcomed by current students with clever videos and friendly smiles. We heard from representatives from a number of student clubs, among them the Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprise Clubs, both of which I’m interested in. Sitting among other future HBS students, it was hard not to wonder if the next Facebook, Ikea, or Apple idea was in someone’s cranium.

On Thursday also, I had lunch with a former Duke classmate who will be in my class at HBS. As we were walking into the cafeteria at Spangler, we walked by a group of people surrounding a tall, thin man. My friend turned to me as we walked in—“That’s Paul Farmer.” Never one to pass up chances to meet such folks, I suggested we say hi, which we did. We introduced ourselves as fellow Blue Devils interested in his work. Farmer was extremely friendly and laid back, while still subtly selling us on his organization and its work. He was heading down to Duke later in the afternoon for a Board meeting. They say that one of the benefits of HBS is that you get to meet people of consequence regularly. This was my first such experience there, and for it to have happened on my first day on campus as an admit bodes very well for the next two years.

We also had a chance to walk around the various dorms and apartment buildings on campus. I’m still undecided on where I’ll live, but I’m leaning towards the dorms for a few reasons: 1. They’re much cheaper; 2. I don’t cook; 3. I don’t want to sublet my place for the summer; 4. There are tunnels between the dorms and class, meaning I won’t ever have to go outside during cold/wet Boston days.

Champagne Reception

On Thursday evening, there was a champagne reception, where we had a chance to mingle among our future classmates over drinks. In some ways it was exactly what you’d expect—sharply dressed folks from around the world discussing their impressions of the school and future plans among at least somewhat like-minded folks. In other ways though, I was pleasantly surprised. The arrogance that some associate with the place just wasn’t apparent. Everyone was interested in getting to know everyone else, and the normalcy of people was almost shocking.

On Friday, Director of Admissions Dee Leopold and Dean Nohria welcomed us bright and early. The dean told a number of stories of former HBS students who have gone on to lead successful organizations. What I’m hearing from other students is that Dean Nohria is making some significant changes to HBS admissions. We know he’s changing up the curriculum; we heard later in the day about the new “Field Method” aspect of the MBA Program, through which we’ll work with an international partner throughout the year to tackle real-world business problems. The field study will include a required international component during the January term. I know I’m not alone in looking forward to this addition to the curriculum.

We had a number of sessions through Friday, on the courses, on financial aid ($84 grand per year is not cheap), and on career and professional development advice. In the afternoon, we did a mock case study. My mini-section did the case on Benihana, the Japanese restaurant. Our professor was Steve Kaufman, who in fact wrote the case, and who, it turns out, is familiar with the A-A.

There’s nothing I’m more excited for at Harvard than the case method experience. I saw it on Friday—there’s just no better or more engaging way to learn. I’ll never fall asleep. Our professor was pretty nice to everyone, even when it was clear that familiarity with the case varied among the participants. He pushed people to think on their feet, especially when it came to doing quick mental math. For me, the whole experience was highly valuable. I can’t wait to get into a section and really start tearing these cases apart (productively of course).

Lots of scotch

On Saturday, I went to a spirits tasting through the MIT Club of Boston. I tried north of 20 different kinds of whisky, scotch, cognac, tequila, beer, and possibly other varieties of alcohol. It was quite an enjoyable experience. I tasted one drink that costs more than $600 per bottle. I ended up running into a group of HBS first and second years. Having gone there solo, I ended up bumming around for much of the afternoon with them.

Wendy Kopp Is My Hero

2011-02-15T17:19:00.000-08:00

Education dominated my week. Just dominated it. It’s impossible not to return from the 20^th Anniversary Summit that Teach For American threw this past weekend in Washington, D.C. and not be thinking of nothing but education. (There are a few other things that are fighting for time on my mind, but they’re struggling to get a word in edgewise right now as the exuberance of the Summit blocks all else out.

But I did do a few other things last week. Last Tuesday, we had a Director’s Council meeting downtown at the Bostonian club. I presented some findings on Excel data that tracked various cohorts as they made their way through the program. The data shows the remarkable impact that Excel is having on its students; especially impressive is the percent of students who score at proficient or advance on the MCAS tests—Excel brings almost 100% of kids to proficiency in both reading and math, and should be proud of that achievement.

I lost my glove on my way to the Bostonian office building, which is, as part of a mall, the most difficult office to find. Whoever designed Boston’s streets seemed to have also had an office building contractor on staff, because this particular building was as labrynthine as downtown Boston.

On Wednesday, after a dentist appointment with a very friendly Moroccan dentist who encouraged me to visit her home country, I watched the Duke-UNC game at Tavern on the Square at Central Square. It was quite a game, with Duke mustering an epic second-half comeback to beat our biggest rivals in the biggest game of the still-progressing season. After the game was a Wednesday Night Drinking Club gathering in Cambridge. A good follow-up meeting of this club.

Thursday evening I did an interview for Duke, then went to a dinner party with a number of PhD candidates down in Cambridge. I had to help knead (is that the word) some dough before putting toppings on it. We were having pizza, and somehow I was assigned this role. I did better than I could have, although I have to admit that I had no idea what I was doing. (I also think I may have used far too much flour.)

On Friday, I left work on the early side to head for Logan to catch a flight to the nation’s capital. This weekend, as I mentioned above, was reserved for the Summit, for observing some of education’s greatest leaders on panels, for rekindling friendships with old classmates, teaching buddies, and friends, and for general celebration of what Wendy Kopp’s organization has accomplished in the last two decades.

I had changed my flight in order to arrive in D.C. a couple hours earlier; this was an excellent move, as it allowed me to get to the Washington Convention Center in time for the regional receptions. The convention center is absolutely enormous. It was chosen for its size, clearly—there were more than 10,000 participants there. TFA alumni, staff, and friends all descended upon the city for a very educational weekend (no pun intended).

On Friday night, the regions held receptions throughout the convention center. Chicago shared a room with a few other Midwest regions, but I had no trouble finding lots of fellow 2007 Chicago corps member alumni to catch up with. I ventured over briefly to the Houston reception, and to the Los Angeles reception, to see friends from both of those.

After catching up with friends from Chicago and other regions, I joined a number of corps members at a bar in D.C., Marvin. I saw a bunch of Duke corps member alumni, as well as Chicago CMs. It was far too crowded to be comfortable though, so we made our way to Fado, (spelling uncertain), an Irish-style bar in China Town. More catching up with people, and lots of dancing there. Quite fun.

Saturday morning, it was up early and over to the convention center for a very big day. Walking into the building from our hotel just a few blocks away, I noticed an important-looking man in a suit behind us. I commented to my buddy that this particular man had a distinguished look of someone with influence. As I wreaked my brain wondering if I knew who it was, I realized—that’s Joel Klein, former chancellor of the New York City public schools. Klein is among the nation’s most important education policy experts, who as the former head of the nation’s largest school district exerted huge influence on policy and practice both in New York and around the country. Although I was pretty sure it was Klein, without 100% certainty, I avoided doing what I normally would do—introduce myself. As he made his way into the building and started making hugs and being instantly recognized by others, my suspicions were more confirmed. I Google-imaged him on my phone, and all doubts were removed—that was indeed Mr. Klein.

The opening ceremony included a number of education luminaries. We got a welcome from Kaya Henderson, D.C.’s new chancellor, and address from TFA founder Wendy Kopp, and a panel of leaders that included Geoffrey Canada from the Harlem Children’s Zone, John Deasy (L.A. USD superintendent-elect), Joel Klein, KIPP co-founder Dave Levin, and former D.C. chancellor and founder of StudentsFirst Michelle Rhee. The panel was moderated by Jon Schnur. I was particularly impressed with Klein and Canada, both of whom spoke passionately about educational reform while also making generous huge of humor in delivering their messages.

The morning “Sessions” ranged from discussions on teachers’ unions with AFT President Randi Weingarten to a “Tipping Point” session with Malccolm Gladwell to my session, “Math and Science Education: What we need to do to catch up.” Though their were no celebrities on my panel (Sally Ride was a last-minute no-show apparently), all of the panelist had great insights on STEM disciplines and subjects. To be blatantly honest, I was a bit tired from the events of the previous evening, but definitely happy with the session. (I should note that there are literally hundreds of people in these break-out rooms. I wasn’t anticipating such huge numbers, but I guess I can’t really be surprised given the number of people interested in these ideas.)

Over lunch, I went to a lunch break-out session on effecting change in education form the business world. Moderated by an HBS grad and current Goldman employee, this session was a powerful reminder that the movement is comprised not just of life-time educators, but also of future business and other leaders forever committed to educational equity.

My afternoon session was really neat. The panel was moderated by the Chairman of Citigroup, Dick Parsons, who also used to head-up AOL Time Warner. On the panel were Chris Barbic, who founded YES College Prep Public Schools, Elissa Clapp, Senior VP of Recruitment at TFA, Peter Gorman, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent, Julie Jackson, the Wendy Kopp-recognized Principal of North Star Academy Charter Schools, and Don Graham, the CEO of the Washington Post group.

The evening closing ceremonies again saw a number of impressive speakers. This time though, we heard from a bunch of actual Teach For America alumni, who described how they make an impact. The theme was actually “What role will each of us play,” and we heard from Mike Feinberg, the other co-founder of KIPP, two TFA alumni now serving as state senators, a principal, teacher, educational entrepreneur, PhD candidate, and others. Most impressive to me were the two politicians, Bill Ferguson of Maryland and Michael Johnston of Colorado. Their stories are particularly impressive and inspiring. After seeing them talk, I couldn’t help but wonder—who will be the first TFA alumni President? Will there be a TFA alum President before the first female President? Will the same person break both of those goal lines? Also at the closing ceremony was Arne Duncan, the United States Secretary of Education (and former schools chief in Chicago, whom I spoke on more than one occasion when I was teaching in the Midwest). The closing reflection came from Jeremy Beard, an Apollo 20 School Improvement Officer in Houston. He offered an impassioned call to reform.

Perhaps the best part of the closing ceremony (other than the video they played from Obama congratulating TFA) was the performance by John Legend, accompanied by a KIPP string and rhythm orchestra. The man has a voice. One of his songs, “If You’re Out There,” almost had me in tears. I suspect that it had a similar effect on the 10,000 other people in the room. I left that convention center hall more inspired and pumped about education than I have been since I left the classroom.

Overall, the weekend was one I won’t soon forget. The only negative aspect of it was how powerfully it made me miss being in the classroom with my students effecting change on a daily basis. I am reminded of the tremendous work being done around the nation on a daily basis by teachers, both TFA-trained and not, and remain deeply appreciative of what they do for a living.

I returned to a destroyed apartment, with a ripped up floor and all of my stuff moved to various places. I don’t know where any of my belongings are, besides most of my clothes, which I had already moved upstairs. I’ve been sleeping on the floor for the last weeks, and at times have been unable to use our shower, or freezing cold due to a dysfunctional heating system and terribly insulated door. But when I think about the hundreds of thousands, millions even, of kids who are shorted every day in their education, it’s really hard to feel sorry for myself. Even with no bed, desk, or bookshelf, I’m about as well-off as anyone in the world.

In keeping with the spirit of education, tonight I attended an event at the Boston Public Library with Wendy Kopp and David Gergen. David interviewed Wendy, who is of course the founder and CEO of TFA. As usual, she had plenty of wisdom to impart on the crowd. Gergen at times tried to push her into taking a position on charters, but Wendy was, true to form, diplomatic and very much focused on student outcomes over all else. She didn’t say whether or not she think more charters should be open, but did acknowledge that most of the high-performing schools that people are talking about are in fact charters. She didn’t say that money will solve the problems we have, but did recognize that more money, spent well, certainly wouldn’t hurt.

Wendy (the only reason I refer to her first name is because most TFA-people do, without, it seems, her objections) stayed afterwards to sign copies of her new book, A Chance to Make History: What Works and What Doesn’t in Providing an Excellent Education for All. Although to be honest I hadn’t anticipated buying the book when I signed up to attend the event weeks ago, the chance to meet Wendy again proved too valuable an opportunity to turn down. I’m not even sure how much I paid, though I think it was a different price than normal, since the Harvard Book Store seems to have had some sort of special arrangement at the event.

Waiting in line, it was hard for me not to harken back to my senior year at Duke. Trying to decide what to do with my life, I attended a TFA event in the Bryan Center basement on West Campus. Wendy was the featured speaker of the relatively intimate dinner. After we had all eaten and people were starting to head out, I noticed an empty spot at Wendy’s table. I immediately made my move, taking a seat directly next to her and asking her for advice on my situation—I was interested in TFA, but also wanted a career in business. Did it make sense for me to do TFA? We need you, Wendy said. She gave me the sell that I now so often make to current students considering both business and teaching. There’s such a tremendous need for smart, committed, organized and thoughtful leaders in classrooms throughout our country. Although I didn’t decide to do TFA on the spot, this impromptu meeting with Wendy had a major impact on me. I’ve stayed in touch with her ever since, e-mailing her with career updates about Goldman, Raytheon, and Harvard, and occasionally shooting her a thought about TFA or education. Every time I’ve emailed her, I get a response within hours. It’s remarkable. I don’t know how she does it. Especially now, with four kids, two major organizations under her helm, and a book just completed. She’s a truly remarkable woman, a hero of mine, whose idea has transformed American education already but will likely have an exponentially greater impact over the long term, both here in the U.S. and abroad. When I think about some of the most influential ideas of the 20^th century, and I know I’m biased, but I don’t know how you don’t include hers among the greatest of the great. Thank you Wendy.

I finally got to the front of the line with my book, marked with a post-it with my name on the correct page to save her time from opening it up. (Of course TFA had a cadre of people there to make sure everyone’s book was 100% ready to go by the time everyone reached the front!) I was shocked that when I reached the front of the line, I felt nervous, like I was in the presence of a celebrity. I guess I was. She read my post it, “Patrick Erker,” and seemed to make a look of recognition. I reminded her that the last time I saw her was as a senior at Duke, and that we’ve stayed in touch over email. She asked what I thought about the Summit, and what my favorite part was—John Legend, I said. His music really does encapsulate so much of what Teach For America stands for. Hopeful, ambitious, beautiful, American. “If You’re Out There” has now been added as a favorite on Grooveshark.

On a side not, I drove by the White House on my way to Reagan on Sunday. I like that building a lot. It’d be really cool to live there.

On another side note, I wish David Gergen hadn't snuck out the back of the theatre after the session tonight. I really want to be in his class, and was hoping to get on the inside track.

Planet Fitness: Out of Shape

2011-02-07T18:52:00.000-08:00

I don’t know why Planet Fitness doesn’t get ESPN2. I know it’s a discount gym, so to speak, but can it really be that much more expensive to get the Little Brother? Duke Women’s basketball games seem to often be broadcast by the 2, and I have found myself sitting on a bike pedaling along to Jeopardy when I could be watching my girls. (Note: I don’t have much of a right to use “my girls” to describe the team. I’m like 35 years old now and haven’t been a manager for some time now.)

But as you can tell from the above paragraph, this week did involve at least a little bit of exercise. Today (Monday) I was on for about a half-hour. Yesterday, I got a good hour in, which felt very good. As I’ve said before, I like the bike over the treadmill, mostly because I’m able to multi-task. And doing one thing at a time is usually silly.

Speaking of stupid, two stories involving H20 in various forms. The first involves my own stupidity, the second a very mean father. The first is easy to tell. After I left the gym yesterday, I went to move my car into a better spot along my street. (The snow build-up is making certain spots significantly more coveted. Another story possibly on that later.) In my efforts to step over the snow bank that had, through various forms of precipitation, become icy, wet, and sharp, I slipped on said surface, and went down hard. I scraped my bare leg (I had been at the gym so was in shorts) on the ice. Although it didn’t particularly hurt then, the hot water of my next few showers reminded me that while Bean Boots are among winter fashion’s most important mainstays, they are, in the end, made of rubber, and without spikes to eliminate slippage. (That is an odd-sounding word that shouldn’t be used unless completely necessary.)

The second story is a good lead-in to my Saturday. I guess we’ll start at the beginning of the day, and make our way towards our second stupid story. I woke up early on Saturday, having spent Friday evening watching Black Swan and dreading the nightmares that were sure to follow (but were somehow avoided.) After moving my car, which I had had to park on a different-than-normal side street, I headed downtown on the T. First, the Red Line. Next, the Green Line at Park. Finally, the Blue Line at Government Center. I ran into a friend from L.E.K. who was on her way to my destination, Excel Academy Charter School. She was going to tutor. I was going to recruit new students for Excel’s new school in Chelsea, MA. I was lucky to have run into this particular friend, as she showed me how to get to Excel from the Orient Heights Blue Line stop.

Excel Academy Charter School sits in a strip mall, next to but inside the same building as a CVS Pharmacy. It has great views of parts of Boston, but it is undoubtedly in a strip mall. Inside are the markings of a high-flying charter school—clean, organized classrooms named after universities of their leaders, MCAS test score data posted on the walls, students in the back hard at work, tutors, teachers, administrators, and others milling about. It’s amazing how many people were at Excel, especially given that it was a Saturday. I actually ran into a friend of mine from St. Louis. This particular Villa girl went to school up here. She and I hadn’t seen each other since high school, however, and it was quite a surprise to bump into her at a Charter School in East Boston on a cold, but sunny, Saturday morning in February.

[Quick side note: I’m writing this from Christopher’s at Porter Square. I’m sitting under a heater. It’s really hot. Unfortunately, I don’t have many other seating options in here, since I refuse to sit at the bar with a computer. I have a nice corner ledge along the front wall, and I’ll just have to bear it. Unfortunately, I just showered, and most definitely didn’t make the standard pass with the old Mitchum handle on my way out. Keep those arms close…another note: listening to “Darker” by Doves, and loving it.]

Back to Excel. So I’m in East Boston. I get into a car with a number of Excel staff members, and head to Chelsea to go door-to-door spreading the word about their new school in Chelsea. We went to some of the housing projects there, and I set off solo for a bit to do a door-to-door run along a street there. I put information in mailboxes (but only if they were already open; apparently manipulating mailboxes as a non-mailman isn’t kosher), rang on a few doorbells, and chatted it up with a number of community members. I didn’t get anyone to sign up on the spot, but I spoke with a few people who had kids of potential Excel age, and most definitely expanded the marketing reach of the place by speaking with the various community members. Chelsea is a neat little town. I read on Wikipedia that it’s the smallest city in the U.S. by size. True? Maybe. It also has what some women I know might describe as an adorable downtown/main street. It’s undoubtedly blue collar in parts, and I like it. In some ways, Chelsea reminded me of Brighton in Chicago. Mostly though, it was probably the fact that I was walking around in the neighborhood making pathetic attempts at speaking Spanish to strangers. Man do I miss the classroom, miss my students and their families, miss Chi-ca-go. Some day I’ll be back in the classroom, maybe. But probably not for a long time. And if I ever do get back in the classroom, I may as well say it here—it will be in a low-income school somewhere.

Our work for the day complete, we made our way back to Excel, where students were finishing up their tutoring sessions for the day. After saying parting words with my old St. Louis friend, I hopped in another friend’s car to head to the Garden for a Bruins’ game. We were joined by a number of fellow Raytheon folks at the game, which the Bruins lost 2-0 to the Sharks. The second goal was an empty-netter; the game was exciting and close the whole way through. We walked around the stadium’s, let’s call it middle, section during one of the breaks in play. It was neat to see all of the memorabilia from various Boston sports franchises. You gotta give it to these fans—they have good teams here in Boston. One display caught my eye—that of the Beancup, a Boston-area college hockey tournament that happens to be going on now. (Like maybe this second.) Tonight’s the first round. Harvard lost to Northeastern tonight, and BC plays BU. Next week will be the championship. Harvard won the first Beancup, and an NCAA championship sometime in my lifetime, but haven’t really been a powerhouse with in the Beancup for some time. Boston College, of course, won the NCAAs this past year. I know little about Northeastern’s squad, other than the fact that they beat Harvard yesterday.

It was upon our approach to the stadium from the outside that the second stupid story shocked us. My buddy and I were walking behind a kid; in front of him were this kid’s ostensible parents. I was about as close to the kid as were his folks. As I walked behind him, I noticed that he was going to hit a puddle. Though his parents had avoided it, they essentially had led him straight into it. This kid, maybe seven or eight years old, stumbled right into the puddle, no small body of water. His sneakers quickly sent me a message of coldness and throw-me-in-the-dryer-now wetness. As he tried to step out of the puddle, the poor kid tripped, falling face-first onto the concrete, and smacking the left side of his face into the pavement hard enough for it to have been at least jarring and at worst extremely painful. Considering my proximity to the kid, my natural instinct was to start to reach towards him to help him up and see if he was ok. Before I could get there, Dad noticed that his son had fallen, and came back. What happened next was disgusting. With a sigh of impatience befitting a two-year-old, he reached down with both hands and violently grabbed the boy by his torso, lifting him quickly and shoving him upright. “STUPID,” the friendly father exclaimed. “How could you possibly walk into that puddle! I can’t believe you would do that!”

The dad made no effort to check on his son’s face, shoes, or general well-being. Instead, he went on a tirade, belittling the kid for tripping in a puddle he’d been guided to by his father. The mother tried to console the boy and check on him, but her efforts were far overshadowed by a domineering, mean-spirited, jerk of a father. I should have said something. Better yet, I should have shoved that guy’s face into a puddle and given the kid box seats to the game. I later saw them in line coming into the stadium. The kid was clearly holding back worse tears, and in no shape to enjoy the game as any kid should. Clearly, though, this was not the first, nor last, time the kid had suffered such abuse from his dad. I sure hope the kid is ok at home. Golly jeepers. Remind me NEVER to be like that dad, in any way.

After the game, we drove up to New Hampshire for the evening to lounge and eat lobster. Tasty lobster. What I liked most about the dinner, besides the lobster, was the lack of anything else on the menu. Lobster is one of those few foods that can and should stand by itself as a meal. We watched a good chunk of The Dark Knight before calling it a night. (Also before falling asleep we saw some lightning and thunder-snow. Although it wasn’t technically snowing, I don’t think, there was lots of snow on the ground, and it couldn’t have been pure rain that was accompanying the thunder and lightning that my senses perceived before I fell asleep in the cold New Hampshire room overlooking mounds of snow and ice.

Breakfast is good. Eggs, sausage, English muffins, and blood-orange cranberry jam with tea is better. After downing said breakfast and typing up some notes from a Duke interview I did last week, we drove back down to Somerville. That’s when I went to the gym and then fell on the snow. Yesterday’s adventures also involved watching the Super Bowl at my cousin’s apartment with her roommates and friends. I participated in a “squares” game for the fist time. Gambling is illegal. Winning, though, is more fun than losing. I was cheering for a close game, and I got one, though I probably would have preferred the Steelers to win, mostly so that they’d have a better claim at team of the decade over the Patriots, whom I strongly dislike.

All I’ve talked about has been the weekend, but it was also a good and fun week, I promise. On Monday night, I represented business at a Teach For America alumni event. I ran into an old friend from TFA Chicago, and met a number of TFA staff members and corps member alumni. The business table had truly remarkable small-world connections. I won’t review them here. Suffice it to say that they were ridiculous. I learned about Education Pioneers, a neat program that takes smart people from top business schools and puts them in education-related internships during the summer between their two years in school. I’ll definitely consider it for next summer. One of the connections is worth mentioning. There was one person at the event on Monday who was representing law school-type alumni. Although we didn’t make each others’ acquaintance on Monday, we sat at the same table, and ended up watching the Duke basketball game against Maryland on Wednesday at a small gathering of Dukies and others. Everyone there besides me was a Harvard Law School student. I’d love to write about what that must be like, but I’m not sure how wise it is to put such things in writing. Suffice it so say that based on what these folks were telling me about the competitiveness and intense insecurities of law school-types, I’m glad I never used my LSAT score and instead sat for the GMAT.

On Tuesday, I sat with the senior most leader of Internal Audit at Raytheon for a career discussion. Excellent. Nothing to share here.

On Thursday, it was down to Chinatown for a meal at Ginza. This restaurant is actually Japanese. But that’s ok I guess. What’s not ok is how long it took me to get there. From Waltham downtown was a one-way total of an hour and 15 minutes. Gross. One of our party actually had it much worse—she spent FOUR HOURS in her car going FROM LOGAN AIRPORT TO CHINATOWN. If you know where those two places are, you’ll understand why I overcame my general aversion to all-capitalization to drive home that point.

I need to be better at staying in touch with my brothers and sisters. I should have a weekly call with each of them. I need to make an effort to make that happen. Get organized.

So that’s about an hour of writing, with about 2,200 words. This is bringing me back to college.

Cairo Protests (verb)

2011-02-03T19:12:00.000-08:00

As often happens when something so consequential happens in the world, the news has been covering almost nothing but the unrest currently embroiling the Middle East, and Egypt in particular. Everyone has an opinion—what will happen to Mubarak, what his options are now, how the country will change, what it does to the Middle East peace process between Israel and Palestine, who is to blame, how responsible the United States ultimately is in what’s happened. Like anyone interested in world affairs, I can’t inhale the news fast enough. I read just now that Anderson Cooper of CNN has been beaten up by some thuggish protesters; I wonder if anyone told them who he was or how directly their actions will affect the outside world’s opinion on what’s happening on the ground in Cairo.

The civil unrest, the violence that’s broken out, and the confusion and disarray that are gripping the capital of the Arab world’s biggest country—all are made more relevant for me by my profession and recent travels to what has become a kind of ground zero for these protests.

As someone who works in the defense industry, for a company that counts Egypt as a customer no less, it’s important to be aware of changing mores in the region. You only have to look other countries in the region to see that government transitions, power transfers, come with major consequences. While it’s important for us to support freedom and democratic principles, we have to do so while also remaining committed to supporting stability in otherwise volatile neighborhoods. Iran is a case example—autocratic ruler supported by the U.S., a customer of companies like Raytheon—underwent a dramatic regime change in 1979, and has become a sworn enemy of the U.S. Saudi Arabia, a country from which I recently returned, is a critical ally of the United States, for a number of reasons. Make no mistake: Saudi Arabia is not a free society. But frankly, it’s quite a perplexing thought experiment to imagine Saudi becoming a democracy tomorrow. First, such a transition could potentially be incredibly violent. And second, the result might not even be pretty.

The United States precedent for securing its freedom, let’s remember, was not a peaceful event. A lot of blood was spilled before the United States was able to stand up on its own two feet and face the world as an independent, sovereign, state. And back then, politicians, generals, soldiers, and citizens didn’t have the internet and constant news cycle to broadcast their every move and reaction. Seeing how intractable all of these situations are in the Middle East really does make me appreciate the genius of our Constitution. Good work men.

I was in Cairo in the first half of October 2010, less than four months before protests there have forced American ex-patriots to high-tail it out of the country on chartered flights to “safe-haven” locations throughout Europe. While in Cairo, I was hosted by two American ex-pats, one of whom works at the Raytheon facility in Cairo. In conversations with them, I was struck not by any obvious latent political ill-will shared by Caireens (sp?), but by two other surprises: Mubarak’s apparent distance from the people and the country’s in-your-face poverty and degree of desperation. I drove by Mubarak’s palace/house/whatever it is when I was driving around Cairo (I should say while I was riding in a car that was driving around Cairo’s exceedingly dangerous streets), and remember seeing all the guards and somehow feeling that Mubarak was inaccessible to the people. Being in D.C., one feels so close to the political process and to the leaders and decision-makers of our country. Even if it’s an unfounded connection, it’s a feeling of closeness that helps ensure stability and confidence in a people.

The poverty in Cairo is devastating and omnipresent. Driving through the City of the Dead, a Muslim cemetery, I’ve never felt so fortunate to live in Boston, U.S.A. I’ve never seen such living conditions first-hand. It’s an unwanted, undeserved, and unfair squalor that is truly depressing for its obvious impact on its victims. Driving through Cairo, I remember seeing a car with a big hole in the windshield. (I took a picture of it actually.) Such a sight seemed so representative—perhaps the driver couldn’t afford to fix it, or maybe he didn’t care—of a city that in a lot of ways was falling apart physically, and, apparently, politically too.

Give me a quarter. I'm cold!

2011-02-02T23:02:00.000-08:00

Looks like people will be working from home today

2011-02-02T04:20:00.001-08:00

Sunday Funday

2011-01-30T14:22:00.000-08:00

Busy, stressful, noisy week was this last one.

I started a new rotation. My fourth and final rotation in the Financial Leadership Rotational Program at Raytheon will be with our Internal Audit function in Waltham, Massachusetts. It will be the fifth office I worked in (after two in El Segundo, one in Andover, and one in Jeddah), in the third general geographic location (Los Angeles, Jeddah, Boston). It was a great first week on the job. IA, as I'll call it, is a unique part of Raytheon's corporate structure. Essentially, our role is to assess various risks to the business and ensure that the company has adequate controls in place to mitigate those risks. We make sure we're doing business the right way, which includes both auditing for compliance to laws, regulations, and policies and searching for potential efficiency improvements throughout the company. The Vice President of IA reports directly to the CEO, and maintains an independence and objectivity while remaining an internal part of the organization.

I like a lot about Internal Audit. I like the fact that we look at the company from a "higher" vantage point, from the 30,000-foot view. I like that it's a corporate function, independent of the six businesses. I like that what we are doing helps ensure that the company is doing business according to the highest ideals. The potential for travel to various sites is also appealing to me, as is the particular kind of person who often ends of working in audit.

Besides work, it was a busy week. I did a couple more interviews of high school students who have applied to Duke, met a new education/consulting/etc. friend for a drink at an Irish-type bar downtown by Park St. on Wednesday, and watched the Dukies handle Boston College from John Harvard's with a former Duke classmate and future b-school compatriot.

This weekend was a good one too. Friday night I went for dinner at a Tibetan restaurant at Davis Square with a Raytheon FLDP who recently moved to Boston. I had hoped to watch a few more episodes of The Wire, but didn't have the disks I thought I should have, so settled instead for a viewing of City of God, a disturbing and violent portrayal of the slums of Rio. I'd rate it at a 4 out of 5. It was the eighth movie I've watched this year so far. Maybe I'm watching too many movies. I'm still working my way through Bush's Decision Points. I only went to the gym once this week, which is disappointing, and partially explains why I haven't made as much progress as I would have liked to have on our former president's memoirs. (I've been reading them on my iPhone Kindle application while riding the stationary bike; always better to do two things than one.)

Yesterday was a good day. It started with some breakfast and some reading (of the paper--I just started getting The Wall Street Journal's print edition). I spent the afternoon down a the Harvard Catholic Students' Center at an HBS-sponsored retreat. It was a reflective and productive afternoon; I enjoyed meeting a number of current HBS and other Harvard graduate students and thinking about important questions regarding leadership and work/life balance with them. Our organizer gave an excellent overview of what it meant to lead a balanced life, and encouraged us to think about it in a number of creative ways: how many hats we wear; physical fitness; bucket lists; being deliberate; and legacy. I hadn't given a ton of thought to what I want my legacy to be, so these were very useful exercises.

After leaving the retreat at Harvard, I went down to MIT Sloan for a bowling event for prospective LGO candidates. I am not one of those candidates, but have a friend from Chicago applying, so was this person's tag-along. We bowled at a candle-stick bowling alley near Alewife. I won the first round with a 72, but was beaten in the second round and again in the third. Shucks. There was lots of pizza to be had though, and plenty of soda, so I was happy. It was also fun to be surrounded by current and future members of the LGO, one of the country's most interesting MBA dual degree programs, and a big Raytheon feeder. I actually met a gal who will be starting at Raytheon in the fall in El Segundo, and a guy who did his internship there this past year (but will be heading to a well-known tech company after graduation). The bowling after-party was at an LGO house on Franklin Street near Central Square. I was impressed with the sociability of the revelers, though disappointed with the height of the ceiling (which couldn't have topped six and a half feet). I had a moment of embarrassment upon entering the house, slipping on the wet wooden steps on my way down and falling in front over everyone fairly hard. Oops.

I spent some time at work today working on an article about my time in Saudi Arabia and trying to organize my life tax-wise. Fun. I'm sitting at a coffee shop near Central Square, Andala Coffee House, which must rank among the coziest in Cambridge. The variety of seating arrangements, wood-paneled windows, and various plant life being nurtured, and the two levels of fun, make this place one to which I'd love to return.

Oh, and my apartment flooded on Thursday. Bad news bears. Times a number larger than two.

I'm planning on going to the No-Name Restaurant downtown tonight, which should be tasty. It comes with a high rating by my grandfather. (A side note: I recently met someone whose grandfather has literally the exact same birthday as my own 92-year-old grandfather. If that's not a serious coincidence, I don't know what is.)

No, I'm not walking right now thank you

2011-01-26T04:17:00.000-08:00

Duke Interviews

2011-01-25T16:25:00.001-08:00

I've been doing a bunch of Duke interviews recently.

Although it wouldn't be right to discuss specifics, I can mention that I helped out with our interviews up at Phillips Academy in Andover. Impressed with the plant and student progress there. I hope I can afford to send my own kids there for all the opportunities kids there have in all realms.

The "West Point of Capitalism"

2011-01-25T16:09:00.000-08:00

Harvard Business School changes reported by Business Week blog

It's interesting to me that relatively minor changes to the HBS curriculum are covered by Business Week's blogs.

It's really cold on my floor in Boston.

2011-01-24T16:33:00.001-08:00

Although our apartment was built this decade, it has very poor insulation in the basement. This temperature of 29 degrees Fahrenheit was recorded inside the door near my desk. It actually got down to 26 at one point, though I didn't capture that on film. I stuffed the doorframe with saran wrap and bought a portable radiator for the area, but with hardwood floors and a very porous frame, it looks like there's not a ton I can do to fight old man winter here in Boston.

Ides of January

2011-01-16T17:41:00.001-08:00

Two-thousand eleven is roaring along. We're already past the ides of January. Soon enough, it will be 2012 and we'll have another Presidential election upon us. (I'm looking forward to the lead-up to that election, though am really hopeful it's not as ridden with vitriol and bitterness as politics have been recently.)

I've made some important winter purchases over the last couple weeks. First of all, I bought some Bean Boots at L.L. Bean on January 7th. Those were an excellent purchase, the best $74 one can spend on one's feet. They're undoubtedly going to save dressier shoes from snow, rain, and other forms of destruction. The first test of the boots was up in New Hampshire, where I spent the night the weekend after buying them. They passed. I also bought some pant-related items this past Friday at R.E.I. Although I'm not super-excited about the cost of furnishing the items, I'm definitely happy that I now own comfortable and warm long underwear, stretchy ski-type sweats, and navy Marmot snow pants.

I wore all four recently procured winter items yesterday. I drove up to Loon Mountain with a buddy of mine from Raytheon for a day of skiing. My folks got my ski boots and a helmet for Christmas--I wore these items as well throughout the day. We got dumped on last week with a ton of snow (two feet? three feet? ten feet?), which made the mountain 1. very good to ski and 2. exceptionally busy. We were on the slopes from around noon to 3:30PM, with a break for some grub. I was impressed with the slopes at Loon; my impression was that about everything was open, and everything includes a lot. I stuck mainly to the blues, though I did try my hand successfully at navigating a black diamond. I fell two or three times; my gnarliest spill was on a bumpy narrow blue run. It took my about five minutes and great frustration to get my left boot back in my ski; I'm embarrassed to say that the heel of the binding had come down, and a very simple remedy eliminated my problem very quickly once I discovered the root cause. Meanwhile, skiers and snowboarders flew by me. I'm not a huge fan of putting life and limb in the hands of other peoples' abilities.

The mountain has a gondola, which I eagerly rode. It was my first gondola experience. It won't be my last. I'm going to try to get back in the snow at least three of four more times this season if I can. I'd like to try other lengths of skis, in case I decide to make the move and buy a pair at the end of the season. I skied on 167s yesterday. I think I could go a little longer. I'll try 170 next time.

I've been eating a lot of peanut butter sandwiches recently. Last week I had one three days in a row! I've also gotten into the habit of reading while I ride the stationary bike at Planet Fitness, my gym of choice here in Beantown. Running is awesome and I love it, but when I have the chance to multi-task in such a big way, I'm willing to sacrifice a little bit of extra work-out for a significant chance to turn the pages (and play Angry Birds--my rule is that I'm allowed to play Angry Birds for some fraction of the time I'm on the bike. I won't say what that fraction is...)

I need to start assigning time to work on the work.

It was 11:11:11 on 1-11-11 this week. I was excited.

2010 recap

2011-01-16T16:53:00.000-08:00

I obviously need to do a better job at keeping at these posts on Blogger. It may come down to putting an update in the to-do list every week. Hopefully I can maintain sufficient discipline to avoid that.

A few thoughts on 2010. All in all, it was a good year. I lived about seven months of it in Los Angeles, training for a marathon and spending as much time on the beach as my 9-80 schedule would allow. At the end of July I made the move to Boston, living for a few weeks at a Residence Inn in Tewksbury, Massachusetts and commuting the short distance to my new job at Patriot International Programs. On the first day of my job with Patriot, I was told I was needed over in Saudi Arabia to support our programs there; on August 23rd, I boarded a plane at Logan International. Three flights and two cities later, I was in Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia working with our team there. While in Jeddah, I spent a lot of time on my application to Harvard Business School, which I submitted from my villa on the Raytheon compound. It was Halloween Day when I returned to the United States, flying directly from Jeddah to New York City. After a visit to the New York Stock Exchange with fellow Raytheon FLDPs, I returned to Boston to "move in" to my apartment in Somerville. That move was a slow one at best. I slept among boxes my first night back; those boxes turned out to be acceptable bed-fellows, as I was ready to go for my HBS interview on my first full day as a Somerville resident. I had to wait more than a month for a final decision from Harvard; good news came at noon Eastern on December 14th. I was home in St. Louis to receive it, sitting on a computer in our kitchen with my mom and five-year-old sister Maggie, with my Dad on the phone. I accepted the offer of admission while in Chicago on New Year's Eve. I clicked into the class of 2013 while at a NYE party with old Teach For America friends at an apartment just yards from my old stomping ground in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood.

Two-thousand ten seems to have been the year of domestic (and some international) travel for me. I was in a different city almost every month, and for a non-consultant, that's a decent amount of traveling. January started in Chicago and saw a brief hop over to Las Vegas for some fun there. In February, I went to Orlando (Disney World was part of the itinerary there). March was boring apparently, with no trips. But in April, I visited two different western cities, Tucson for an FLDP training session and San Francisco for a baseball game--Cardinals vs. the eventual World Series champion Giants. In May I was back in Chicago visiting my old students, telling them all about my adventures in sunny Los Angeles and running a half-marathon along Lake Michigan on a slightly injured right groin. In June, I ran a real marathon in San Diego, and made a house-hunting trip in Boston at the end of the month. July held the usual vacation in Wyoming, then the move from LA to Boston. In August, I spent a week in Dallas for Session B of the FLDP, then moved to Jeddah. September I reserved for Jeddah exclusively. The same wasn't true for October; I made weekend trips to Cairo and Dubai from Jeddah, then flew back to the USA on Halloween. In November, I was in New York twice--once for FLDP training and once for Thanksgiving. December saw two visits to the Midwest--one to be home for my decision from HBS and the SLU-Duke basketball game, and one to come home for Christmas. I count thirty-one plane rides in 2010, definitely a personal record to this point. (Though I definitely hope to beat that in the near future.)

It was a good sports year too--Duke won the national championship in lacrosse and basketball, and the Lakers won a championship just before I left for their prey's hometown, Boston. I made it to Cardinals games in Los Angeles in June, and was in New England during the Patriots' good run through the 2010 regular season.

Skiing at Loon Mountain

2011-01-15T22:21:00.000-08:00

Lots of fun. Very cold. Good snow.

Getting Used to Boston

2010-12-20T17:09:00.000-08:00

Back in Beaaaaantown.

Lots of exploring and fun in Boston. Last weekend was fairly representative of the kinds of nights I've been having in my new city. I went to a friend's holiday party downtown on Massachusetts Avenue near the Symphony. Afterwards, I met a few folks at TC's Lounge, self-described best dive bar in the city. I decided to walk home from the Back Bay, which was a bad idea. It was a lot longer than I thought. I crossed the Charles on Mass Ave (it must be a half-mile wide there), then walked along the Charles by MIT. I thought that Harvard was coming up right away, but apparently not--I'd walked for 40 minutes in the frigid cold, and my phone was telling me I had another hour to go. At that point, I jumped in a cab for the rest of the ride to Porter Square.

On Saturday night, I went ice skating at the Frog Pond on Boston Common with my cousin. We waited in line for almost an hour, but finally made our way in. I chowed down a chili-dog and some chicken nuggets, then we skated, clockwise (much harder that way!). We walked from there to a bar on Boylston, Vox Populi. We passed the old City Hall building, which now houses a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse (weird), and other parts of the Freedom Trail. I'm falling in love with Boston, and I know almost nothing about the place. We walked past Trinity Church and the Public Library before settling in at the bar for a couple of drinks.

I spent Thanksgiving in New York with family there, watching all of Dexter Season 1, and also going to the Fordham-Hartford basketball game (which Fordham, against all odds, won in exciting fashion). I ended up going to another Fordham game the next week, this time against Harvard in Cambridge.

The Blue Devils basketball team are doing well recently. Specifically, they're undefeated and the undisputed #1-ranked team in the country. I went home last weekend to watch Duke play the SLU Billikens. It wasn't much of a game, but that's ok.

I also heard on December 14th that I'll be, for the first time since high school, in the same place for more than two years. That was good news.

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and related travel musings

2010-11-07T16:37:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Up around 6:30AM. Showered, to breakfast at the Oasis. Had blueberry pancakes.

Walking outside, felt like 100 degrees (heat index was around 98). Sweating on the five minute walk to the dining center.

Into the office; have my own office.

Getting set up in the morning, meeting everyone in the office.

It’s Ramadan right now, so many of the employees are fasting all day and are on a reduced work day (10 to 4 or so); need to be respectful and avoid eating or drinking in front of them.

Met a guy who has been abroad for 23 years and worked in ten countries. He cited the pay in Saudi as a major factor for living here.

Lunch back at the dining center. Had the daily special. Lots of guys in the center for lunch. Read the Arab newspaper; surprised to see a story about the Miss Universe contest, which a Mexican gal won.

Went to the gym tonight after work; on the bike for 45 minutes, some sit-ups etc. a little lifting as well.

Ten Filipino guys playing basketball on the courts; intense but ultra friendly competition. My buddy describes them as some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. Heard a story about how recently three Saudia stewardesses joined the men for some volleyball in the gym; they apparently were there as guests of a male Saudia flight attendant.

Cats all over the compound. Not sure why, although I hear it may have something to do with a religious aversion to culling the cat population. No problem killing stray dogs here apparently, but cats are another story.

Also got a broad overview of the operations here in Saudi. Quite an impressive outpost here. Extremely lucky to be here.

Very tempted to try to work here. No taxes, no living expenses, no car expense. You’re basically doubling your salary by living here. More vacation time. An extra “bachelor” week.

Heard the first call to prayer today at lunch time. Listening to it right now as well (it’s about 8:45PM now). Five prayer-times per day! There are tons and tons of mosques here in Saudi Arabia. There is a law demanding that a mosque be within a certain small proximity to anyone’s house.

At lunch, talking about Idi Amin, former Uganda dictator, who resettled to Jeddah after being exiled from his own country. His son was good buddies with the son of a guy I work with now; he used to call during Ramadan late at night wanting to hang out with my colleague’s son. (During Ramadan, everyone stays up super-late eating after the long day of fasting.) My colleague also remembers seeing Amin once in Jeddah emerging from an elevator with multiple women on his arms. (Note: I need to watch The Last King of Scotland.) According to Wikipedia, “He escaped first to Libya and ultimately settled in Saudi Arabia where the Saudi royal family paid him a generous subsidy in return for his staying out of politics. Amin stayed for a number of years on the top two floors of the Novotel Hotel on Palestine Road in Jeddah.”

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Smoked hookah last night with a couple guys. One is from Phoenix originally. His wife made us some delicious Moroccan green tea, which we drank as we smoked the hookah and watched TV, all the while talking about Saudi Arabia and other random stuff.

There are few things you are allowed to do here in Saudi Arabia that you cannot do in the United States. One of those things is to smoke Cuban cigars. I’ll have to do that at some point soon.

Didn’t get to bed until around 2:15 last night.

Slept in until around 10:30 this morning.

Went grocery shopping today at a nearby mall. Huuuuuge grocer, with a much wider assortment of goods than you’ll see in a normal American store, especially by way of produce, juice, etc.

Need to mention dinner last night; we went to a nearby Turkish restaurant. The waiter spoke very little English; I got a chicken kabob after sharing an appetizer. Hotdog salad as well as curd juice were on the menu. Mmmm.

Went swimming today also. Water is hot. Had some non-alcoholic beers.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Notes from the day, taken on my blackberry and with additions made.

Long trip. Thinking about length. Left around 6pm est from Raytheon’s offices in Woburn. Took a cab; driver nervous about highway traffic. Got there with plenty of time to spare. Airport BA lounge, dinner. Flight to London. Flight to Riyadh. Flight to Jeddah. Thought we lost bags. Saudi meet and assist guy helped us out. Colleague picked us up, drove us back to the compound through crazy Saudi traffic. I think we got into compound by 11pm jeddah time. 22 hours traveling.

Apparently folks here use their hands as toilet paper here. They use their left hands exclusively; right hands are used to eat and to greet people.

We went to the beach club today. We drove around “The creek,” a maybe two-mile (more?) inlet from the Red Sea along which are many private residences and compounds, as well as lots of yachts.

Abandoned Mercedes. They say you’ll see abandoned cars along the side of the highway that people just leave. We saw a Mercedes crusted over with dust etc. that seems to have met that fate.

Lots of hotels, including American ones like the Hilton etc.

Mile high bldg north of Jeddah. We drove by a site today that I was told will be the cite of a “mile high” building. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mile-High_Tower . According to the preceding website, such a building may or may not eventually exist.

Mosques everywhere. There are mosques everywhere. And you hear them, many of them, during each prayer call. We have a mosque on compound as well.

Swimming in the Red Sea. Went snorkeling. Saw lots of cool fish, including a sar fish, sea turtle (saw that from above the water actually), and tons of colorful ones I cannot name. Sea urchins were around too, but we avoided them. We went out to end of shallow coral, where there is a sharp drop-off. My friend's dad, who spent time in Saudi as a lawyer, recommended that I do this. We also saw lots of trash. Pepsis, Pringles can, 7up cans. (No beer cans of course.) Also a tire, and lots of barrels that may have been excess building supplies for a pier they have going out into the water. The beach club was gorgeous. Date trees, coconut trees, yellow birds, little two-bedroom huts that people (married only) can rent out.

No restaurants open during the day due to Ramadan. You drive by places that are just shuttered. Even American fast-food places must be closed during the day. They’ll open them in the late afternoon to start making food for take-out, but generally everything is closed all day.

99 degrees and 50 percent humidity when we were leaving the beach club. It was forecasted to get up to 102 today. I can’t imagine what it must be like further inland. At least it’s likely not as humid in there.

Used to drive on desert from Jeddah because there were nothing between that and the compound. You literally would go offroading in Suburbans or the like through the desert, just like in the movies. Now the compound is completely surrounded by hotels, upscale massive walled residences, restaurants, and all the trappings of a modern city (well, minus a lot of trappings of modern cities like bars, night clubs, etc.)

Desert is flat coral bed; no sand dunes really

Multiple wives inc emps

Drove by Hajj terminal. Reminds me of denver airport. The Hajj terminal is, according to at least one source, the largest terminal in the world, but is only used to organize people who are making the Hajj.

Medinah road. Which goes north to Medina. Drove south along this back to the compound.

Arab News. Soooo different from American news. Extremely different perspective, especially vis a vis Israel. One article headline about Palestinians bombing Israelis read something like “Palestinians resist mosque encroachment.” There was an article in the opinions section which condemned America’s “hearts and minds” campaign, saying that the hearts and minds needed to be won over were those of Americans. There as also an opinion article outright condemning upcoming negotiations between the two sides of Israel/Palestine, arguing that a senior Israel office be silenced eternally. Every time the prophet’s name is mentioned in the paper, it must be followed with “peace be upon him,” or pbuh for short. The king of this country is referred to as The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah. This takes a lot of space in short newspaper articles. I do enjoy reading the paper here though, as it gives me a good other perspective. What’s frustrating is that next to the article calling Jews “egotistical Zionists” and “the enemy,” and calling for the destruction of its leaders, there is an editorial espousing Islam as a peaceful religion. I believe Islam to be a peaceful religion, but for writers to encourage the killing of civic leaders, ostensibly in the name of Muslims, makes any peace difficult to achieve.

Tumarin. Went out to eat tonight to a place near the U.S. Consulate. In 2004, there was an attack on the consulate that killed several people (none of them Americans to my understanding). One of the guys I was with used to run security at the consulate (way after the bombing) was telling me a little bit about the attack. Makes my blood boil just a bit when I think about terrorists and how destructive they are to society. Only men at this place of course. Smoked shisha, drank a Tumain blue milkshake (ice cream, blueberries, banana, etc.) and had a hearty meal. Lots of Saudi nationals and others enjoying their meal. TVs playing dramas with horrendous acting. Lots of TVs in restaurants here. They love their TV.

Paul Johnson. I shouldn’t have been reading so much about past terrorist events here in the Kingdom, but I couldn’t help myself today. Johnson was a Lockheed Martin employee who was kidnapped and beheaded here in the Kingdom several years ago. Lots of contractors have been killed here in fact, but few in such a gruesome manner.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Women’s restroom is a storage closet/office. There is a women’s bathroom in the office, but it’s currently being used for storage. I saw someone sitting at some sort of desk (it might have been the counter) working in there one day. There aren’t any women at the office though, so I guess they don’t really need a ladies’ bathroom. (Administrative jobs are also exclusively held by men at our office, which is the general pattern in the KSA.)

Played volleyball tonight. Two to two in games to 25.

Saudis shamelessly use profiling when doing security checks. In a country like Saudi, they can’t afford to be politically correct; they do what makes the most sense and will maximize overall safety. It’s interesting how as we gain security we sometimes lose common sense and the ability to make calculated decisions for the greater good.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

It’s Thursday. Well, actually, it’s Tuesday. But it’s kind of Thursday, in that tomorrow is the last work day of the week.

There’s ice wafting through my front door’s keyhole. There’s such a differential in temperature between my villa and the great outdoors that I can literally feel cold air coming through the key hole on its way outside. The doorknob, which is metal, also transmits the interior’s cold, giving the greeting hand a pleasant preview of what’s to come upon entry.

Thursday, September 02, 2010

Went to Jarir Bookstore last night. Like they claim, the place is much more than a bookstore. It’s more like a Best Buy and Office Depot and Barnes and Noble put together. I stayed away from their Best Buy-like section, but did pick up some envelopes and writing paper and some books and postcards and a map. I bought a Koran, an Arabic language helper, and a big coffee table book about the Kingdom. My goal is to finish the Koran at some point, possibly while here, but more like when I return to the States. I need to read it to have a better understanding of Arab and Muslim cultures generally. People often see popular movies or read bestsellers simply to keep up with society; I guess I’m doing the same with the Koran, although the Koran happens to be an excellent book as well.

We’re ten hours ahead of Pacific Time here. That’s a big difference! It means that when I’m finishing up work on Monday evening, and am over the Islamic workweek “hump,” people are just starting their week in Los Angeles. Of course, since I work both during our weekend and during the American weekend, they may have the last laugh in a sense.

Friday, September 03, 2010

Went to the fish market today South of here. Drove by the massive fountain, although it was off.

Also went through Old Jeddah. Very old city. Apparently 2500 years back, it was founded. Sheesh. Used to be a fishing village. Not sure how old the building are. Hundreds of years old no doubt. I bought a whole big red snapper. Not sure how much it weighed. At least ten pounds I’d estimate (of course they weigh it in kilos). One guy bought shrimp, another shrimp and some tuna fish. I got my fish for 60 riyals, bargaining him down from 70. Even at 60, it’s quite a deal. After you get the fish, you take it down to another area, where it’s cleaned and chopped up to your liking. Red snapper has lots of scales, so it also had to be descaled. My hands still smell like fish, after I spent a few minutes wrapping the individual fillets in aluminum foil and bagging them for the freezer.

Sent my first update to U.S. team. I spoke with the team on the phone yesterday evening.

Monday, September 06, 2010

Labor Day today means labor day today. We’re not on the American holiday schedule, which means we work today. Bummer. That makes five days in a row that we won’t share the work day with the States. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and now Monday. By the time the Americans wake up tomorrow morning to start their work week, we’ll be wrapping up our second-to-last day of the week here and getting ready for “Friday.”

Mosques and a machine gun. That’s what I can see when I look through my (barred) window. There’s the compound mosque just outside to the north, then the machine gun facing outside from the compound, then another mosque out in the distance. I find it very interesting that I can see these two things so closely. It’s a reminder of some of the dominant themes in this country and my experience with it.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

9-11 ceremony today outside the office. Interesting to have the sounds of Arabic prayers blaring from loudspeakers surrounding the compound during our moment of silence. A reminder that we’re not in the United States I guess. Also a reminder that we have a lot to do in our country to ensure rights and privileges of every American, regardless of religion or creed.

Four Raytheon employees lost their lives on 9-11. Three on American Flight 11; one on American Flight 76? People at my office here knew two of the guys. Two worked in Andover, one in Tewksbury, and one in Arlington, VA. Raytheon is a big company, but you wouldn’t expect that we’d have had four die that day, from a pure numbers perspective.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Had a call last week with Boston and Canberra. The call, if my math is correct, spanned 14 time zones. It was around 5:00AM in Boston, noon in Jeddah, and 7:00PM in Canberra. Sheeeeeesh. Only in international business circles is such a feat possible.

Went to Tony G’s meats. The owner of the place, Kevin somebody, is from New Jersey. We met the CFO of the company when we were there. We went over Eid, so he was the only one working. We each got a ribeye and some sandwich steaks. We cooked the ribeye a couple nights ago. Delicious. Grade A US beef vacuum-sealed (twice apparently).

Ramadan vs. Eid vs. normal store hours. It’s confusing as heck here to figure out hours. During Ramadan, stores are open late at night. During Eid, places limit their hours too, but are open during the day. The restaurant we went to yesterday opened at 1:00PM for lunch.

Guys were greeting each other with one kiss on the left cheek and three on the right. Guys walk around here with their hands held too.

Only men work at stores. It’s hard to get used to—every waiter, every cashier, every store clerk, has been a man so far during my visit. Even women’s clothing stores are staffed by men.

I called AAA at 10:20PM my time and my agent was on her lunch break. My uncle called me this morning at about 7:15AM my time; it was only 11:15PM in St. Louis. I’m going to call him back this evening.

Football games are still on when we wake up here. I watched part of the end of a Stanford-UCLA game yesterday morning. California is essentially on the other side of the world, 10 or 11 hours behind, depending on the daylight savings. I’m sure I could turn the TV on now to catch part of some NFL games.

Some folks here learned the pecking order here the hard way. They were driving and saw a guy in a pick-up truck drive by. He had a goat in the air-conditioned front cabin. In the back? His wife, doing her very best to manage the wind in a fight for her privacy.

The same couple were refused service at a furniture store when they first moved here. They tried to buy some chairs at a store and were told that those chairs were not for sale. They went back days later to try, and were then told that the chairs had already been sold. They instead sent a Saudi national on their behalf, and got their chairs.

Traffic laws and standards don’t seem to exist here. There is a stretch of road on a major thoroughfare near our compound that randomly becomes a one-way road for one block. That makes getting there from here quite difficult if you don’t know the side roads. There must be a huge market for one-way signs, because they have a lot of those streets here, but not much visible signage.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

We lost Ogie Guerrero yesterday in a tragic diving incident in the Red Sea. Ogie was one of two IT professionals responsible for our entire IT operation. Although I only knew him for a few weeks, I was impressed with his friendly demeanor. Just a couple weeks ago, Ogie was telling me about how he goes diving every weekend with his friends. We had talked about the safety elements of diving. I can’t believe he died in such a way. What is crazier is that just last week the management team had an all-hands in which Herckie and Ogie’s single-point of failure status was bemoaned. People actually said things like “if something were to happen to one of them” we would be lost. And now Ogie is gone. It’s hard to believe.

Duke is playing #1 Alabama today in Durham. I saw the beginning of the preview for the game on this channel, but AFN (American Forces Network?) then moved over (understandably) to the Nebraska at Washington game.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Still not entirely used to having weekends on Thursday and Fridays. As my weekend is ending, Americans’ starts. The nice thing is that in some ways I feel like Saturday and Sunday is still the weekend, which means that when Monday comes around, I feel like I’m just starting the week even though it’s the third day.

Went to a fundraiser at the U.S. Consulate last night for the Marines there. Intense security getting in. Had to walk between four foreign nationals armed with machine guns to get into the party; guards, again armed with machine guns, patrolled the event as music played, people smoked cigars and cigarettes, and drinks flowed from the bar inside.

Cuban cigars are legal here. Trinity/Trinidad and Cohiba Siglo IVs.

Yesterday was National Day. Flags being sold on the streets. Kids hanging out of windows and sunroofs waving flags, faces painted, green everywhere. Tons of ppl everywhere. Tons of Saudi pride eberywhere. K.S.A and hearts spray-painted on the car. Back of pickup trucks. Guys in thobes out the side of cars dancing. People in the median too. Flags being sold everywhere. People wearing green bandanas. Souped-up Camry with seriously altered shocks and a trunk that could be opened, sideways like the car of a Lambourghini almost, from inside the car. Pictures of King Abdullah on cars. Women all covered in the cars, unable to participate in the celebrations. Kids everywhere at 1130pm. Huge celebrations. Saw pictures in the paper the next day. Not a single picture included a woman. Only recently have celebrations been allowed for natl day. 80th natl day though -overall. It was like Mardi Gras sans booze and boobs. David Villa-jersey kid waving Saudi flag in an American SUV Chevy Suburban was a reminder of how integrated this place is with other cultures but how remote it remains overall. Green covering on brake lights. A guy passed out on the top of a car. People (men only) dancing in the street. Kid driving car. Lanes cease to exist. Cayennes, Camrys, chevys, hondas, fords, benzes. People driving on and over curbs. Mustang rumbling along with dual green Saudi flags flying on each side of the back of the car. Maserati driving by at high speeds. Saw a 90 degree wheelies on speeding motorcycle. Kids getting out of green cars dancing. Most motorcycles have two guys on them. Most without helmets. "You're helping Pakistan." After my buddy bought a flag--relates to money being spent there on flood relief.

Spoke at length with a foreign service officer with State, who is a public affairs officer here. Lots of interesting things.

Also had a conversation with an employee at KAUST, Saudi’s new $20B university. Apparently the school cost $4B to build, and includes another $14B endowment. Literally cities, universities, an entire society being built from scratch here.

Monday, October 04, 2010

Tom Kennedy, Sanjay Kapoor, and Tom Vechiolla in town today. The President of IDS, VP of Patriot, and BD fella are on a literally around-the-world journey to several Raytheon locations. Saudi Arabia, and Jeddah, was their final stop before returning (via London) to Boston. They flew west from Boston last Saturday to San Francisco, and from there to Japan, where they met with some customers. From Japan it was I think directly to Turkey (although they may have stopped in Taiwan?), then from Turkey to here. I sat with Kapoor and Vechiolla at dinner in the rec center. I spoke for a few minutes after the meal with Kennedy about living in Saudi Arabia, about Config-3, and about my upcoming travels to Cairo and Dubai.

Played volleyball last night again. It’s mostly Saudi guys who play. Yesterday’s match-up was fairly epic relative to the usual. We split the first two games. In the third, my team was down 23-15. With defeat just two points away, I stepped up to serve. I won six or seven points in a row, putting us back in contention. After we lost a point, we quickly scored one back, getting the serve. We ended up winning 27-25 I believe, for quite a comeback victory.

Otis Hopkins, the Saudi PM, passed out 5- and other-year certificates. As he was doing that, he joked, in front of Kennedy et al., about how I’ve been here for two months but will hopefully someday get a 5-year certificate here. Hmmm.

Heading to Cairo this weekend and Dubai the next. Looking forward to both trips very much.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

10-10-10. Wow!

Went to Cairo, Egypt this weekend for some sightseeing. Stayed with Raytheon colleague and his wife in their Maadi apartment.

This is a non-smoking building. This I hear from the loudspeakers as I sit enjoying a fruit juice in the airport lobby in Jeddah, as I see smoke coming off at least four nearby tables. There is no regard whatsoever to such rules and regulations. People do what they want. [Note: smoking was later banned at airports.]

"God bless you" on side of aircraft. We took a bus out to the aircraft and climbed in via an attached movable staircase. People push, lines aren’t very well-respected at all.

Shouting man a few rows back. I had only just taken my seat on the plane when noise erupted from several rows behind me. I looked back, joining the rest of the plane in watching this guy go on an emotional tirade, only stopped by his wife and a male flight attendant.

I saw next to some Saudis. They were in the wrong seat so had to change when the actual owners came. I was somewhat glad for the trade, as the original guys didn’t pay much mind to deodorants and had no regard for my personal space. One went so far as to reach into my seat-back pocket and take my barf bag. Sheesh. Pitt/Clooney movie was playing on his TV, which I found interesting. I couldn’t be much farther from Hollywood on that plane. The woman next to me was watching religious TV, with a woman preacher exhorting her audience to follow Allah no matter what, even if that means wearing modest Islamic garb. Interesting.

No FAA in KSA. Definitely no FAA. After they had closed the doors, ppl still on phones, standing up, some inaudible announcements being made. Seat belts are definitely completely optional. I looked back as the plane was landing to see an aisle of hanging seatbelts. On the way home, a child slept, beltless, across two seats, as the plane landed in Jeddah. Nice plane though. Lcd screens at each seat with movies, games, etc.

Finished Innovators' Dilemma 10-6-10 on plane from Jeddah to Cairo. Started Freedom on plane too.

Showed Kindle to my second set of Saudi neighbors. One was very curious about it as well as my IPhone which he said costs $1,000 in KSA.

After arriving in Cairo, I quickly paid a visit to Banque Misr for some Egyptian pounds. While I was at the register, a Saudi guy tried to bust in, completely ignoring the fact that I was standing at the register. No luck. I have hardened enough by this point to assertively reject any such moves.

After wandering around a bit, trying to decide which line to get in, I saw a sign for "Patrick Ereker" and quickly met up with Ramy, who was there to help me get through customs. I had to go back to bank to buy a $15 visa for my passport. I stood in line for maybe 15-20 minutes, spending part of it chatting with a Saudi who was on his way to Johannesberg with a friend.

Mobinil is carrier my phone picked up.

Went around the sites of Cairo on Thursday, October 7^th. Although most of the tourists were European or others, I did see plenty of Americans, as evidenced by an IU hat, Texas Rangers shirt, and other American paraphernalia.

Saw the Pyramids, Great Sphinx. Went into the Second Pyramid. Was brought around by Wanda, who has guided a lot of Raytheon folks, including our CEO. She’s also taken Barbara and Laura Bush to the Pyramids. Cool.

Rode a camel by the pyramids!

I bought a papyrus roll at a neat papyrus shop in Cairo, after seeing a demonstration of how papyrus is converted from plant to paper. The artwork is a big tree of life, five stages of life, with my family’s names written in hieroglyphics.

Drove around town, by French embassy, Four Seasons west side of Nile (in Giza).

Aida playing at the pyramids.

The streets are unbelievable. Packed with people. Drove by at least two herds of sheep, and past horse carriages, motorcycles, and lots of broken down cars being pushed by their former passengers. It’s amazing that I didn’t personally witness any major accidents while I was there. They have these old vans that they just pack with people who pay one or two pounds for a ride, depending on how long they stay on. The honking compares to New York City.

Drove also by Cairo University. Actually in Giza.

Next stop was the Egyptian Museum. Had some carcadeh juice (hibiscus) and chicken schwerma at coffee shop there. Saw the royal mummies of Ramses II, Amenhotep II, Tuthmosis IV, Seti I, Queen Hatshepsut, among others. Perhaps the highlight of the trip was seeing King Tut’s Golden mask. I stood directly in front of said mask and stared deeply into the guy’s eyes.

As we were walking through the museum, through some of what was found at King Tut’s cave, we walked by a Russian guide, who, to my delight, greeted my Egyptian guide with a very friendly “howdy!”

Had dinner with Raytheon folks. Guy visiting is quite the character. He and his wife spent several years in Korea before coming to Egypt. My host, for his part, worked in an interesting country before coming to Egypt.

People don’t make much money here. A “boab,” guy who acts as a janitor to office buildings, apartments, and houses, might make $100 to $170 mth. The embassy rate is $170 per month. Drivers might make $2 per hour. A nurse? Maybe a few thousand per month, not so bad.

A lot of expats who come over to Egypt apparently end up marrying housekeepers etc. You might have a 60-year-old marry a 25 year-old gal.

TGI Friday's for lunch on the Nile.

My driver, M, took me back to the airport on Friday evening. We drove by Mohammed Ali mosque and the city of the dead, a cemetery for Muslims only. People living there. Looks like destitute poverty. Sheep in the road. Trash piled up everywhere. Kid peeing on wall. Donkey and cart in the street. Narrow streets. Limping dog. Cat picking through trash. Truck piled with massive bags of trash or recycles.

Fundamental religious make me nervous. My driver, a great guy whom I grew to completely trust in just two days, thinks right to kill a daughter for illicit sexual affair. He knows he would get three years of jail and it’s worth it, he says. He also believes Obama's dad is from Afghanistan and that President Obama lived there. I did my best to rid his mind of that falsehood. He also had never heard of Jews. Just Israelis, who, he says, are on Filistine.

"Diplomats, Businessmens and Businesswomens" on sign as I went through customs in Jeddah. The misspellings never get old.

Went to a meeting of the American Business Group of Jeddah this morning. Met the Consul General, Tom Duffy, a Notre Dame grad and seemingly qualified guy who lived in Riyadh in the mid-90s, before, he says, internet was here. Exchanged some emails with him afterwards about getting an absentee ballot. It looks like I won’t be able to vote this year, which stinks big-time. I’ll be in New York on election day, so technically back in-country by election day, and I just tried applying for an absentee ballot today. I also neglected to register early enough. Shame on me. I even had it as a to-do for when I first moved here to Saudi Arabia. Shucks.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Aside from my stomach’s recent vendetta against my desire to travel, it’s been quite a good week. Work continues along apace; the auditors arrive soon, and their impending presence most definitely has changed the dynamic of the compound and its inhabitants. I’ve been concentrating on finishing up a few concrete projects that I’ve been working on over the last two weeks, and preparing notes and talking points so that I am ready for when they get here later this week.

Last Wednesday night was the Black and White Party at the U.S. Consulate. It was my first event hosted by the Consulate itself (rather than the Marines at the Marine House), and it didn’t disappoint. Unlike the Marine’s events, Consulate nights are a bit more formal and feel that way in several ways. First and most obviously, the venue is slightly more upscale, taking place around a calm pool outside a small bar/dance hall/dining area. I sat with a few Raytheon guys and a State Department diplomat whom I’ve gotten to know since I moved here. He and I had an extended frank conversation on the future of Saudi Arabia. We both agreed that the country will be hardly recognizable in 20 years. It is my true hope that the progress they make lifts the traditionally relegated folks, particularly women. Who knows, maybe someday they’ll allow booze, or movie theatres, or DVDs, or freedom of the press, or even…elections? Until then, all we can do as a country is support them in appropriate ways.

One of the benefits of going to the Consulate is that it is U.S. territory, and therefore able to serve drinks that are otherwise not allowed here. Needless to say, I took advantage of this, enjoying some Carlsbergs and even trying my hand (feet?) (poorly) for a few minutes on the dance floor.

As soon as we stepped out of the party, we were immediately escorted by three very well-armed guards to the exit. Thousands of miles from home, in the middle of an Islamic world many Americans fear and most (including myself) don’t understand, I felt incredibly safe, surrounded by a trio of foreign (non-Saudi) guards loyal to their American employer. I wish the guards weren’t necessary. I could go on and on about how I felt about this escort. Are these guards protecting me, as an American, from potential threats to my safety? Am I myself considered, as a guest of the consulate, not 100% trustworthy and therefore in need of some watchful guns? How long will we need to live in this kind of fear? Is this just part of the equation now? Will it always be? In any case, having those guards flanking us as we left, I felt deeply proud to be an American, invested in my own country’s success and committed to working with the Saudis as they build their own society and, hopefully, move towards a freer society.

On the drive home, some of the guys I was with shared a number of extremely entertaining stories, many not worthy of putting into permanence. The expat life in the Middle East is one of intrigue if nothing else.

Picked me up at my villa early on Thursday morning. Other traveler was running late (apparently his Blackberry’s clock was off by 15-20 minutes), and we waited outside his place for about 20 minutes until he was ready. Then it was off to the Saudi Arabian Airlines terminal for our 0825 flight to the United Arab Emirates. We were moved up in the line after the attendant realized we were on the Dubai flight and needed to get to our gate soon. So it was back to the same Saudia terminal I visited the weekend before for my trip to Cairo. We got a quick snack before boarding our plane. Saudia, for all its quirks, does generally run very efficiently. If I recall, we boarded almost an hour before the flight was scheduled to take off. I noticed an American gal on our bus towards the plane. She was by herself. Spy? Diplomat? Businesswoman? Certainly a rarity around these parts.

The plane couldn’t have been half-full. As we sat on the tarmac, I watched a constant flow of ice cold air fill the fuselage with sub-zero bursts. I had worn sandals on the plane—I was beginning to regret this. However, I was too excited to have an entire row of three seats to myself to possibly complain about the irony of the frigid conditioning in the plane. I made good progress in Freedom, Jonathan Franzen’s critically-acclaimed book, and took down a very tasty and balanced meal, and took in as much of the desert view as I could.

The sand is as you might imagine—it goes on and on. It looks, frankly, like a massive sandbox from up high. I wanted a shovel. I felt like running through it, but only if I was a giant and I had plenty of water. There appeared to be houses in the middle of the desert, with no access roads whatsoever. I can’t imagine living in such an environment. How do you get your water? Food?

The Dubai Airport is a good proxy for the city itself. Huge, clean, new, friendly, well-run, perhaps built to accommodate far more than it actually does, it was easy to navigate. As Americans, we apparently didn’t need to get Visas or have our eyes scanned (which apparently hordes of others do, based on the lines we skipped). We just went upstairs, exchanged some Saudi Arabian Riyals for U.A.E. Dirhans, and lined up to get our passports stamped.

One of the first things I noticed was the local dress—men in white thobes and white head dresses, women in all black, but with faces uncovered. The airport employees were all in this national dress; you had to notice an ID attached to their clothing somewhere to know they worked there. My passport was stamped by a woman, a very welcome change from Saudi Arabia, where women generally do not work (and most definitely not in the airports in such roles).

We made a pit stop by the duty free shop (of course) to pick up some liquid investments, settlings on a bottle of Black Label scotch whiskey (which we did not end up finishing, sadly). I also got a soda. Apparently Dubai has some of the best duty free shops in the world. It did seem that way.

Our hotel sent a car to get us at Dubai International Airport. Our driver pointed out some of the sights as we made our way south to the Minc Hotel Apartments, located just south of Ski Dubai and adjacent to a brand-new Metro station set to open in a few months. We drove by untold skyscrapers, along a highway that cut between enough massive towers to make New York City blush. The glass and steel in that city is a sight to behold. It’s not like anything I’ve ever seen. (Although I’ve never been to some of the big cities in the Far East—those have to be the only things that remotely compare to the newness and vastness of Dubai’s infrastructure.)

Three choice words: you’ve been upgraded. We lucked out on the apartment, paying the price of a one-bedroom apartment and getting a two-bedroom one. The place itself was great, brand-new, two bedrooms, three bathrooms, with a kitchenette and living/dining room area with a (semi-functioning) TV and small stereo system. The other room had a small balcony too, with a decent (fifth floor) room. Room 502 wasn’t where we’d spent most of our time, but it was nice to know it was there. We paid $220 for two nights total. Really not shabby.

After dispatching our bags at Minc, we decided to make the most of the hot afternoon in the desert and go skiing. Wearing sandals and t-shirts, we made our way to Ski Dubai, where we paid 190 dirhans to ski the two slopes of Dubai for two hours. It was pretty neat. You get all your gear there (not including gloves, which you buy) for free. There’s a chair life, a J-lift, jumps, two slopes, a little ski coffee shop, and plenty of other people there to enjoy the couple hours with. I ended up sharing the lift a couple times with a woman from Newport Beach, Orange County, who is in Dubai on business (and who regularly apparently goes to Cairo) and who took the chance to ski while there. I told her that I spent the last year in Hermosa Beach, which she correctly described as an amazing place to live. She and I had an honest conversation about the interesting moral questions that come up when you discuss how Dubai has been built up. She coined Dubai’s rise as moral arbitrage with people’s lives. I’m not sure she’s far from the truth. The city has been built with absolutely dirt cheap labor from Asia, most of it from the sub-continent (more than 40% of Dubai is Indian).

I probably got in 15 or 20 runs over the course of the two hours, each time getting more and more comfortable in my skis. By the end, I was essentially going straight down what they claim to be an “expert only” slope, which is in fact relatively modest. Fun though. One of my favorite parts of the ski slopes is the fact that it’s part of a mall, such that as you go up, you look out into restaurants and shops packed with people. I did my best to wave to kids and others as I made my way up on the lifts, and impress them with my speed on the way down!

After our two hours were up, we turned our gear in, bought some over-priced souvenir photos (there were guys at the bottom of the slope taking pictures of everyone as they finished their runs and then attaching wrist-bands to jackets and gloves for later retrieval), and headed out into the Mall of the Emirates. We grabbed a drink at a Costa Coffee. I got a strawberry and Nutella crepe at CreParis, which hit the spot like nothing else possibly could.

Skiing done, it was time for some dinner. We first freshened up back at the Minc, and downed a few glasses of our scotch, then eventually headed out in a cab to the Brauhaus (sp?) for a spectacular all-you-can-eat buffet and all-you-can-drink bar. We took advantage of both offers. I would tell you what I ate, but there isn’t much of a point, since there wasn’t anything I didn’t eat. The beer flowed as well, and it was good beer indeed. Sitting at the table next to us were two couples with not-quite-English accents. At some point, we struck up a conversation. Soon, they were asking us to name their accents. I got close—they were Scottish and Welsch, and they turned out to be a good resource for us as we planned our next two days. They had unlimited advice on which bars to go to, where to eat, what to see.

We ended up taking their advice and heading for a quick drink at the next-door hotel bar, aptly named “Boston.” I had brought in my beer from dinner, which I sipped as I wandered around in this foreign bar scene. Clearly we were in a different world, unlike both Boston and (more so) Jeddah. The clientele was mostly European. Drinks were very much flowing. Guys outnumbered women. There were pockets of dancing, which for a brief moment I joined, a decision that I almost regretted. Some guy, who wasn’t quite in a walking-around-at-noon state, encouraged me to leave the area I had innocently colonized. Perhaps because this area appeared to be somewhat desirable based on its gender make-up, he was fairly adamant. Luckily, a gal intervened, and peace was held. We weren’t much into the scene, however, and soon left. We took a black Lexus doubling as a cab back down south past our hotel to the Barasti Bar in Jumeirah, Dubai (at the Le Meridien Mina Seyahi Resort). There was a short, but apparently clogged, line to gain admittance. However, no sooner were our blue American passports waved into the air than we were quickly waved past and in. Amazing what an American passport will get you there. The bar was packed. There are really two bars—one inside, with TVs etc., and one outside, on the sand, dispersed with mattresses and hookah stands, lighted by a DJ stand blasting clubby music and projecting images of women in various stages of dance and dress. We enjoyed a Jaeger bomb and a couple European beers as we watched the scene unfold around us.

I’m not sure exactly how late we stayed there—not super late. As we left, I ran into a Duke fan. It was a reminder that although we’re very far from home in Dubai, it’s very much a Western city, very welcoming of it.

On Friday morning, our first goal was to climb the tallest building in the world. Mission accomplished. The Burj Khalifa, opened this year, stands at more than 2,700 feet tall. That’s a thousand feet taller than the Sears Tower. That’s tall. We had to go through the Dubai Mall to get to the base of the tower. Once through ticketing, we took in various proud record notes on the building on the structure, went through a video perspective of the history of Dubai, and looked, from underground, through a small metal circle at the very high balcony to which we were about to ascend. Just as I lined up the shape with the point on the window to show where we’d be going, a plane joined the Burj as the only objects in the clear sky. For a brief moment, I thought I was about to witness the making of very bad history. But the plane passed, as we got on the elevator. It took us up, up, up, at 10 meters per second, to the 124^th floor, to an indoor-outdoor observatory at the top of the world. It was hot and windy up there in the open desert air, and the view, naturally, disarming. To the north, skyscrapers. To the south, skyscrapers. Inland, sand. Outwards, the Persian (I mean Arabian!) Gulf, the Palm Islands, the “World” islands, all around a city that has risen from almost nothing to almost everything in just a few short decades. Cranes everywhere. The city has a quarter of the world’s cranes. Think about that. A quarter of the world’s cranes are in ONE CITY. Six billion-odd people. Just a few million in Dubai. But 25% of the world’s cranes. There’s no way that’s sustainable.

After getting down from At the Top, we spent some time wandering the Dubai Mall. We walked down Fashion Avenue, home to every luxury store you’d never buy anything from, past the Aquarium with the biggest single window face in the world, peering at hundreds of fish and plenty of sharks, through the biggest Gold Souk in the world (I’m told), past a majestic indoor waterfall, and by an ice rink. I had a latte at a Brunetti coffee shop as well. Oh, and a tonic water, as my stomach was starting to bother me more and more.

Friday afternoon and night was spent out on the Palm, under the sun baking the beaches at the Atlantis resort. We were told that we couldn’t use their beaches without being guests. We paid “admission” and after some sweet-talking of my own, were allowed to patronize their bars and restaurants for the afternoon and evening.

After running around the Mall earlier in the day, it was nice to be able to rest on the beach overlooking all of Dubai. Most beaches in cities face the ocean, as that’s generally the most impressive view. That’s not the case here. I’d much rather face the city. After all, there is indeed water between you and the city, since the Atlantis sits on a massive artificial island that they decided to build. The beach was like any normal European beach, full of sunbathers, families, and cool drinks. We swam for a bit in the Gulf, which was cooler than the Red Sea but not too cold to bear. It’s shallow around there, which keeps in warmish.

We had dinner at the Atlantis as well, and planned on spending the evening there. Unfortunately, that wasn’t in the cards. We were, after all, not exactly supposed to be there in the first place. On our walk to the night club nearby (which we could hear from what had to have been a half-mile to mile away), we were stopped by a guard and denied entry. He told us that we could go as guests to the party, which would be attended by 4,000-5,000 people, but we’d have to get a ride over, and pay something like 250 dirhans. Not worth it.

On Saturday, we got a tour of much of Dubai by a private driver. He took us to see a number of sites, from the Dubai Marina to the beach near the Marina to the Souk Madinat Jumeirah to the Burj Al Arab (only seven-star hotel in the world) to an Islamic Art Center (where we were given an introduction to Persian carpets and encouraged to buy the carpets, which ranged from three grand to 28K and way beyond) past the Dubai Ladies’ Club and Drydocks World-Dubai and to the Gold Souk, where I made one purchase after some heavy negotiations.

Overall, I’m impressed with the statement that Dubai is about man’s condition. Clearly we’re capable of some truly mind-bending accomplishments. But the city also represents many of mankind’s fallacies, from its greed to its willingness to take on overburdening debt levels. There’s no way they’ll fill all those offices and luxury apartments. Just no way. It doesn’t take a real estate expert to tell you that. When you’re building the world’s biggest everything, you’re bound to do some serious overbuilding. I just hope that they don’t some day find themselves with 25% of the world’s wrecking balls.

Oh, and I got really sick right as I was coming back. I think I got a virus in Cairo that has gotten worse since I got back. I’m on a strict diet now and starting to feel better, thankfully.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

I visited King Abdullah University of Science & Technology on October 28^th. It was like leaving

The Raytheon Halloween Party was on Thursday. Attendance crept towards, and may have exceeded, the 200 mark. I wasn’t particularly outgoing at the event, instead quite comfortable parking myself with a plate for food and sodas at a table overlooking the dance floor and just off the edge of the pool. There were a lot of costumed folks, and people brought plenty of fun with them.

Feverishly checking off the remaining boxes before I travel back to the United States. Two big ones this weekend.

First, went golfing in the desert yesterday. After a small breakfast at the Oasis cafeteria on the Al Khalediya compound, we went s to the Desert Lakes Golf Course. It was almost a failed trip. My buddy, who drove, knew generally how to get there, but wasn’t sure about any specific exits off the highway. We need to go back the airport and find its northeast corner, he said. Hmm. Our first attempt to turn off the highway found us heading towards a dead end at a drop-off in the Jeddah airport. That’s not it. We turned around, going slowly over the speed bumps, and got back on the highway. The next exit was marked for the Hajj terminal. Because the signage was similar to the previous, wrong, place, I vehemently argued against taking said exit. We continued on, pulling off at the next chance we could. The exit went left when we knew we had to go right. Dangit. By this point, we were close to giving up. My buddy had left his phone so couldn’t call anyone; I added Google Maps to my Blackberry as we wandered, which helped us identify where we were, but not exactly where we needed to be. Desert Lakes Golf Course Jeddah returned no map results, so we were left trying to find a golf course based on which areas looked most suitable for such a course. We turned around and got back on the highway heading towards the airport. We missed the exit to get off going towards Hajj (the exit may not even have existed), then we tried to turn around at the other airport exit we had erroneously visited before. Leave it to Saudi engineering to require us to again drive all the way along the long stretch of highway to the dead end in the airport. Frustration palpably coursing through my veins, we turned around and put all of our hopes on the Hajj exit. Just after we took it, we passed a Yukon with some recognizable faces—some of the Raytheon leadership team on their way back from their Friday morning round. Excellent. We’re on the right track. Now we just need to find it.

We traveled along the highway going away from the Hajj terminal, occasionally seeing buses that are used to transport Muslim pilgrims to the holy site of Makkah. We approached a turnaround point, where we stopped. Do we turn around? If we kept going, we ran into another highway. The course isn’t very far from the airport. We must be close. “Is that it?” he asked. We looked—not a hundred yards away, back from whence we came, a metal green gate sat open. There’s no way that’s it. I had seen this gate, and figured it was the entrance to maybe a dump or just patch of empty land. Well, it turned out to be the second, only some folks had gone to the trouble of adding a golf course to the dry, sparse landscape. Even after entering the gate, we did not see any signs of a golf course for quite a bit. We did find a small hut sponsored by Raytheon—it was at that point that we knew we were on the right track. Raytheon doesn’t sponsor too much around here, and this was certainly no Patriot installation or Hawk station. Now we just had to follow the sand/dirt/rock road to the “Clubhouse,” a shack-like looking building a few hundred yards away. Golf carts! We had arrived.

We signed in, got some frozen waters and two golf carts, and were on our way. The first hole was somewhat of an omen for what was to come. My first two shots were truly deserving of mulligans. My two playing partners were not much better. We were all fairly atrocious. Finding your ball on a desert course turns out to be fairly easy, although establishing landmarks of sorts not so much. Everything looks the same. Sandy fairways, sandy “roughs,” sandy “browns.” Piles of rocks acting as distractions. Rocky areas in other places. Poles of various colors to distinguish “hazards” such as “water.” Putting is easier on the browns than on greens in some respects—there are no soft spots, slow areas, or unexpected contours. It’s just a tar-injected mound of tightly packed sand. Hitting the browns is tough without the skilled use of backspin or exceptional distance of control. Putting the ball on horizontally is very tough. After putting, a gentleman takes the brooms to the brown to smooth out any footprints. Every step, every movement of the ball, leaves a mark on the brown that is easily erased by pulling said broom behind you as you walk around.

We played a few holes before realizing that to finish even nine holes would take time and patience that we simply didn’t have. So instead of driving golf balls around the course, we drove the golf carts around the course. Holes are less defined by their greens, hazards, and angles here in the desert. To my admittedly untrained eye, the only differentiator between holes on this course is the distance.

After we had given up, it was time for a Pepsi and chilled Twix bar, then a ride back rocking out to a mix of Middle Eastern and American tunes blaring in our late-model white Honda. We again passed the Hajj terminal, where millions of pilgrims come to observe one of Islam’s five pillars, that of performing religious duties in Makkah.

We got back just in time to go to lunch with the U.S. members of the finance team. We went to the Jeddah Westin for a very good buffet-style Friday lunch overlooking the Red Sea. We reminisced on the short time we all had to work together. It was a very good meal. I will miss these folks a lot.

We did a quick turnaround once reaching the compound. We left with a Saudi national in his Toyota Prado SUV, driving south for an hour or so towards Makkah to the sand dunes for which this region is so well-known. Getting off the highway, I didn’t feel like we had come to the right place. Although there was sand everywhere, it wasn’t the soft sand I imagined. It was sand any car could drive on comfortably. But we hadn’t gotten to the real stuff yet. We parked the car before we proceeded any further. We had to let some air out of our tires to give ourselves any sort of chance against the sands. I looked around, at the highway heading to Makkah, at the hundreds of other people coming in their own SUVs for the same adventure, as the tires providing a soundtrack of hissing air. After the pressure went from 30 to 15 units of pressure on each of the four tires, it was on. Our driver, a quiet-by-nature guy, knew exactly what he was doing on these sands, which was reassuring, considering some of the lunatics we were encountering.

Just as we started to get into the “real” sand, the kind you imagine, a bottleneck. Before we could get to the dunes, we had to pass between two massive rocky hills that want to be called small mountains. Stuck SUVs blocked our way for a minute, but we created another path and soon enough we were out in the open watching daredevils racing up.

The dunes are hillier than I imagined. In fact, there are quite a few steep drops and climbs that the SUVs navigate with care, speed, and a well-trained rubber mastery. We got out of the Prado for a few pictures at the top of one of the slopes. They came out as keepers. My colleague's camera is huge, and capable of taking just massive pictures (12 megapixels I think). It was then down the hill and back up a bit, around some bends, and again a climb until we were perched above the dunes, overlooking the SUVS, mere toys in the desert landscape. Out on the horizon, the sun was setting quickly. Here in Saudi Arabia, the sun sets a few degrees above the horizon, disappearing into a thick layer of haze well before you expect it to leave you. We all took advantage of the setting sun to get some choice pictures. All of us walked through the sand barefoot, the sand soft as silk under our feet. It’s without question the finest sand that I’ve encountered, and moves as one massive unit on millipiece at a time. I did a few jumps and surfing attempts down some of the steep hills, thoroughly enjoying the chance to behave like a ten-year-old. There were plenty of ten-year-olds with similar dispositions. In fact, it’s clear that driving through the dunes is a national pastime. We saw probably hundreds of cars and thousands of people out there in the vast dunes. Although we did see the occasional family, this particular pastime appears to be almost exclusively reserved for men and boys. We saw one family driving with all the kids hanging off on the runners, their dad cleverly turning so as to cover them in fine sand, which of course ended up all over the inside of their car and likely house.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

I dare you to bring me back to Southgate dormitory in Durham, NC circa 2003 and tell me I'd be watching a Duke football win with my dorm neighbor thousands of miles away in a villa in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Oh, and then mention that one of the other six guys is a huge Mizzou fan from St. Louis who grew up in a neighborhood built by my great-(great?)-grandfather and who was an interview away from being the voice of the Cardinals only to lose out to Joe Buck. Then I might agree that it's a small world after all. Oh, then mention that two days before I ran into a guy by the Red Sea who had taken pictures of a stained glass window of mine I made in high school who is now taking his trade to KSA's most famous university, which, oh by the way, was designed by the same firm that designed the Priory chapel in St. Louis. And then I'd almost definitely believe you. Sheesh doubled.

I’m out of here. Sitting in economy class of Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) Flight 35, I’m on my return trip to the United States. It was a wonderful last two months. At the same time, I don’t think I’ve ever been so desirous of American freedoms, of American norms, of American culture, of Americanness. I cannot wait to land in Washington, D.C., and simply observe the looks of ease that come with a degree of freedom foreign to the lands I’m in the process of leaving now. It’s like an invisible burden has already been lifted, one whose mere existence I hadn’t entirely appreciated.

Yesterday, our security manager had a few folks over for a kind of “going-away” dinner for me. He got some steaks from Tony G’s, a relatively new grade-A American beef shop down near the Saudia Compound; I brought a salad, someone brought some sharp cheddar cheese, another some ice cream, and still another the shisha. A Duke friend also joined us from KAUST. Conversation wandered between the usual topics as conversation does. Saudi Arabia, the Middle East, travels, royalty and its privileges, billionaires proposing to one of our member’s daughters, whether or not the Heat will make anything of the Big Three or if they’ll be incapable of tying together their egos into a productive basketball team. Our host recently bought a 50-inch TV, which made Saturday night football that much the more enjoyable. We skipped back and forth between a few less-than-exciting games for the first set. By about 10:30PM, the second round of games were starting. We had a couple favorites in that round: first, Missouri was playing Nebraska. Both teams have had a good year; Missouri undefeated going into the game had climbed into the top ten. Much to Mizzou grad's chagrin, the game quickly became a blow-out in the wrong direction, and my Mizzou friend could bear no more. So we got to watch the Duke-Navy game, which to our delight was lopsided in Duke’s favor.

We took a short break from football to watch Carlos Mencia stand-up, which was unfortunately a bit more objectionable than it was funny. Shock value only gets comedians so far in my book. So it was back to Duke-Navy. Soon enough, everyone but the Duke fans had gone off to bed. My Duke friend and I, former Southgate neighbors and all, stayed up until maybe 2:00AM to watch the exciting close of the game, which saw Duke eke out the win, 34-31 after a furious comeback attempt on the part of the Midshipmen.

We had some good discussions about the American educational establishment and where we need to be as a country in educating our kids. Talking about it made me miss my students quite a bit. If I won the lottery, I’d be back in the classroom the next day. I’d probably own a few schools after a week.

Even the flight attendants on this flight are much more relaxed, less reserved on this flight towards the Land of the Free. I just saw a female attendant bump a sleeping man’s foot with the cart. On another flight, I would have seen an awkward exchange that might have resulted in indignance on the part of the aggrieved and shame on the part of the driver. Instead, a very friendly, almost flirtatious, glance was exchanged, and some harmless joke passed between them. That’s what America needs to export more of. Lots more of that stuff.

I loved my time in Saudi Arabia. However, I’m ready for fewer Nos. I’m ready to give up no alcohol, no mixing with women, no music in public, no movie theatres, no freedom of the press, religion, and assembly, no women behind the wheel, no eating with your left hand, no pork, no holidays, no lines. You truly don’t appreciate what you have until it’s gone. I miss having access to all of the above. I just would rather not have a Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. I’d prefer to monitor my own moral choices within a framework I define myself, based on inputs from family, religious institutions, friends, and the interaction of the above.

Many marriages in KSA (I need to get used to not writing “here”) are between cousins—first cousins. I found that piece of news a bit jarring. I’m pretty sure that isn’t the ideal gene mixing arrangement. It’s another of the social, psychological, cultural issues that this country is not prepared to tackle, and which I fear will have dramatic consequences into the future. Major consequences.

Top memories from my time working in the Middle East?

1) Camel ride outside the Pyramids of Giza in Cairo with my tour guide

2) The ascent to the top of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai

3) The sand dunes outside Makkah

4) KAUST visit and seeing an old Duke friend and St. Louis photographer

5) Creatively getting into the pool and beach area at the Atlantis in Dubai

6) Dinners and OSN Comedy—steaks, Indian food, chicken, fish, vegetables, eggplant!

7) Being escorted between security and Consulate events by heavily-armed guard forces

8) Iftar dinner on the Red Sea on the last day of Ramadan

9) Staring into the eyes of King Tut’s mask at the Egyptian Museum

10) Skiing at Ski Dubai

11) Saudia Airlines

12) Magic potion at the Mexican dinner at Casa Swoboda and the intense conversations that followed

13) Playing Rockband

14) Saturday night football. Watching Duke beat Navy

15) Volleyball on Sundays and Tuesdays—women!

16) American Business Group of Jeddah meeting

17) BBB

18) Tom Kennedy, Sanjay Kapoor, Tom Vecchiolla visit to Jeddah and dinner on compound

19) My weekly status updates and phone calls to the U.S. program office

20) Going to the petty cash window to get cash for all of my expenses

21) Trying to hit a huge shot in the gym after the Halloween party

22) Playing desert golf

23) Locking all four locks on my door

24) Deciding the floor is a better place for my clothes post-dryer than the dresser drawers

25) The ever-present prayer call; arranging your schedule around it every day

26) Painfully slow internet

27) Google Voice and the occasional Skype call to the U.S. or Chile

28) Impassioned discussions with teachers about, well, whatever

29) Going away dinner at the Jeddah Westin overlooking the Red Sea

30) The beach club; snorkeling there

First impressions of Beantown

2010-11-07T15:51:00.000-08:00

Really liking Boston so far.

Had my interview on Thursday morning. That evening I hung out with my new roommates for awhile at the new apartamente. My room was an absolute complete disastrous mess, but that's ok. Boxes and boxes and boxes.

I worked on Friday at the office at Andover. After work, I went up to New Hampshire to take advantage of the lack of taxes in that state. It was going to be a big spend. Initially, I planned on buying a TV and laptop. I put the TV, an Insignia 32 inch LCD TV, on a cart and headed over to the computer section. I looked over all that they had to offer: Dells, HPs, Compaqs, Gateways, Sonys, and others. I was hoping to keep it under about $600. That goal quickly became unreasonable as soon as I walked by the Apple table. Those MacBooks just looked too good. I bit the bullet. I am now a Mac owner. And I'm really happy about it now. Glad to have saved the tax moolah. After considering the mess in my apartment and the cost of the laptop, I decided not to go with the TV.

I went out to dinner at Christopher's on Friday night; a bar right across the street, Christopher's has a number of good inexpensive dinners. I had a chicken burger. Delicious. I snuck out a bit early to meeting a Raytheon friend and a couple others in the Porter Square T stop. We went out in the Back Bay to Clery's. I didn't stay very long, though. I wanted to catch the T back home, and apparently Boston closes early. Perhaps the only disappointing aspect of this city so far.

It was interesting being around women out at the bar. After two months of life under Shariah law, it was a little overstimulating.

I spent a decent chunk of my yesterday unpacking. I may have made 10% progress.

Saturday dinner at Central Kitchen with a Dukie, then out to the Thirsty Scholar. I went there to meet up with a TFA buddy, but ended up hanging out with a number of St. Louis and other Dukies. At one point, we had a contingent of six St. Louisans around the table, including four Burroughs kids.

I walked home from the bar; it took about 20 minutes or so.

This morning I joined the neighborhood gym, Planet Fitness, and got a little workout in. Got some Anna's Taqueria post-workout (veggie grill burrito), then back to the place.

Did a Duke interview at Starbucks. Packed there.

Sold my table for $20. Wish they'd also taken the benches and chairs.

Boston is awesome. It rivals Chicago.

2010-11-05T04:13:00.000-07:00

Phew. Glad that’s finally over. I’ve been preparing my business school application to Harvard for the last six months or so, and today I completed the final task within my control—the interview.

I had heard back about getting an interview on October 22nd, while I was still over in Saudi Arabia. Although they allowed for a phone interview given my location, I knew that I would be in Boston in early November, so instead opted to do an in-person interview on campus. At the time I signed up, I wasn’t sure whether or not I’d be heading back to Saudi Arabia for the duration of my current six-month rotation, so I needed to schedule it in the first week or two that I was back. As it turned out, one of the only days available in that time horizon was today, my first day back in Boston. That’s how I ended up sleeping on a bare mattress, tearing open a tall box to find an umbrella this morning, and scrounging through various bags I had left behind for a bar of soap and towel for the morning shower.

I flew back to the U.S. this past Sunday, taking a direct flight from Jeddah to Washingon, D.C. Being on a plane for 14 consecutive hours was not exactly what I had in mind for my 2010 Halloween, but it’s very much what I did. That Halloween also ended up being the longest day of my life, since our entire travel time was within the “24-hour” period of Halloween. Traveling back seven hours, my October 31st, 2010 ended up being 31 hours long. Nice!

New York was a blast. On Sunday night, I went up to the Upper East Side for a couple cold Coors Lights and some World Series baseball. Monday allowed me to sleep in a little bit, but did require a stroll to the nearby Pick A Bagel for a morning pick-me-up. I stayed at the Embassy Suites downtown, just off the site of the World Trade Center’s rising 1,776-foot tall skyscraper. After a little bit of interview preparation and HBS research, I took the Subway to Grand Central Station, where I boarded a Metro North train towards Harlem to visit my brother Alex at Fordham. We had pizza at an Italian place on/off Arthur Avenue, and I had a chance to meet his roommate and some buddies, and to see his dorm room. (Which is not clean, but not a pig sty. Good job Alex.) I showed him my pictures from my time abroad, and enjoyed my reintroduction to American music coming in over the speakers at the restaurant. We also took a stroll around the Bronx. I noticed something very interesting: I felt totally and completely save walking those streets. Why? I wouldn’t have felt that way on a visit to New York in high school or college? Is it the fact that I spent two years commuting to Chicago’s South Side to teach fifth grade? Or perhaps it was my very recent memories of constantly being on edge while traveling around Saudi Arabia, constantly vigilant and ever-aware of exactly what was going on around me. In any case, it was quite an interesting self-revelation, and one that Alex found amusing.

After leaving the Bronx, I made my way to the MOMA for some art gazing. I thought that this was my first time going, but I realized almost immediately that in fact I had been here at some point in the past, possibly when I spent a summer on Wall Street (except I didn't really do anything but work that summer...).

After MoMA, we went to Saks Fifth Avenue (on Fifth Avenue) and Rockefeller center to get me some necessities: new black dress shoes and a navy J. Crew cashmere sweater. We ran into a few buddies from the FLDP near the ice rink at Rockefeller. I've become so accustomed to strange coincidences that this didn't faze me in the least.

Dinner was at Sofia Wine Bar around 50th and 3rd. Tasty and a nice reminder that New York is not particularly cheap.

On Tuesday, we all went down to the New York Stock Exchange for the FLDPs' bi-annual trip to Wall Street. It was a neat experience. We heard from a sell-side analyst from Credit Suisse, a buy-side guy from a fund, and some specialists from a market making firm at the Exchange. We also got a chance to walk down and through the floor of the Exchange. Although I was happy to do this, I was a bit surprised by how quiet it was compared to my expectations. The internet does seem to be hurting these guys. (And they are almost exclusively guys, and white guys at that--the NYSE doesn't do a very good job bringing in a diverse work force, which is disappointing.)

On Wednesday, we got the results of the Bar-On Emotional Intelligence Test. For whatever it's worth, I ended up with a 119. I'm not sure how reliable the test is, although it did seem to represent my abilities with people within each subcategory. It told me I need to strengthen my impulse control (true) and that I was highly flexible (also true).

My flight on Wednesday was at 7:40PM. Since we were finished around noontime, I figured I'd try to hop on an earlier flight. Little did I know that American Airlines doesn't do stand-by anymore. Frustrating. They also charged me $125 for excess baggage, which is funny, since that's about twice as much as my actual ticket cost.

With my four plus hours at the airport, I did a little reading, working through Sleeping with the Devil, and a little preparation for my interview at HBS, which was to come the following day.

The flight went off without a hitch, and I was back at my apartment by 10:00 or 10:30PM. My only goals: get some sleep for my interview tomorrow and make sure I physically have everything I will need for the interview. To my surprise, there were some challenges on both fronts. First of all, sleep wasn't going to be easy to come by, as my bed was stacked a mile high with unpacked boxes from my move from Los Angeles. I would end up rearranging them just so in order to create a small aisle of bare mattress on which to rest my head. Oh, and no blankets or pillows. I snagged one of each from upstairs.

What about a shower? I knew I needed one of those too. I had worn my suit on my flight in case I lost my luggage, so wasn't worried about that. But then I realized that I didn't have a towel with me, or soap. I had shampoo and facewash, and plenty of dental hygiene props, but no soap! Luckily, my tendency to hoard hotel giveaways came in handy. I dug through one of my bags to find a bar of soap from the Residence Inn that I had stayed in before leaving for the Middle East. Nice. And in that same bag was a towel. Perfect.

I barely slept the night before my interview, such were my nerves. I woke up several hours earlier than required; my mind knew not to allow the body to miss its wake-up call. Around 6:30 or so, I decided to just get up. I showered and dressed. I walked over to the Brueger's Bagels near Porter Square T stop for some breakfast, downing a bagel with cream cheese and some very good coffee. I considered walking down to campus for the class I was to attend, but instead opted to take the T. It was rainy, and my umbrella wasn't as effective as I might have hoped.

I met a Duke friend for a morning accounting class. As I expected, I was incredibly impressed with the students I had the privilege of joining for 80 minutes for their accounting course. The first person to speak during class, the one who was "cold-called" to give the five-minute opener, turned out to be a Teach For America graduate, and I ended up sitting next to another Dukie during the case discussion.

My interview was at 11:00AM. Impossible to say how it went. My interviewer was very friendly, but it's just too hard to know if it went well or not.

I visited a buddy at the Kennedy School after getting some lunch at the HBS Grille with another former Duke classmate. On my way to and from Kennedy, my suit became absolutely drenched with the rain, so much so that I was forced to hail a cab back to Harvard Square T station to return home for a change of clothes.

Luckily, the apartment is just a few minutes from campus, so I was able to return home, shower, change, and get back with plenty of time to spare. The information session was, as might be expected, informative, although much of what I heard I have been reading a lot about on HBS' website.

Now it's hurry up and wait. If I get in, wonderful. Not much I've hoped for more. If not, ok. But keep fingers crossed.

Dallas for Session B

2010-08-20T11:57:00.000-07:00

Heading to Hurricane Harbor today!

NYTimes: Secret Assault on Terrorism Widens on Two Continents

2010-08-14T20:33:00.001-07:00

From The New York Times:

Secret Assault on Terrorism Widens on Two Continents

In a dozen countries — including in North Africa, Pakistan and former Soviet republics — the United States has significantly increased military and intelligence operations.

http://nyti.ms/aexfej

Get The New York Times on your iPhone for free by visiting http://itunes.com/apps/nytimes

Sent on an iPhone

I used Shazam to discover Gold Guns Girls by Metric

2010-08-14T17:39:00.001-07:00

	Hi, I just used Shazam to discover Gold Guns Girls by Metric and thought I'd share it with you.
Shazam users on iPhone and iPod touch, tap here to add this to your Tag List.

Sent on an iPhone

Lowell, the Cape, and Cambridge

2010-08-08T19:06:00.000-07:00

Finally getting around to exploring the parts of Boston I've been meaning to see.

On Friday night, I was really fun and went into the little town of Lowell for some pizza by myself. I decided to spend the night at the hotel in order to get some work finished. I have an FLDP session coming up next week in Dallas, and also needed to write an essay, so I kicked it here in Tewksbury.

I woke up early yesterday morning though to head to the Cape with a couple relatives/friends. The drive from my hotel was about 100 miles one-way, but with good company the time passes quite quickly. We encountered the well-known snarled traffic approaching the Sagamore Bridge heading over the Canal to the Cape proper, but I don't think it was as bad as it could have been.

Our first stop was Sandwich. We didn't have much of a plan, and Sandwich was the first stop off Highway 6, so to Sandwich we went. After a brief stop at the Welcome Center for the Cape Cod Canal, we made our way along the Canal to the (very rocky) beach, where we laid out for a couple hours under the fussy, indecisive sun. My cousin and I had some rock-throwing contests; it's hard to say who won, although I was surprised by the accuracy of our arms. Lunch was taken at Hemispheres, a nice spot right overlooking Cape Cod Bay. The water was calm and colored beautifully, with various shades of green and blue complementing the white sailboats, blue sky, and variously tinted clouds.

After lunch, we decided to drive to the other side of the peninsula, making our way to Hyannis Port. We wandered around the streets in the hybrid, at one point driving into a private country club with what must be the best view on the entire Cape, overlooking a marshy-looking golf course that abuts the ocean, facing, as I recall, west. We also drove directly by the Kennedy Compound, although were warned off by an unambiguous "DO NOT ENTER" sign before we actually drove down their driveway. A massive American flag flew behind the main house, and we caught sight of video cameras peeking out across the property, a tell-tale sign that the compound belongs to someone concerned with security.

I was supposed to go on a run with a group from one Lululemon to another this morning. However, I was unable to find the group; I am either a total idiot or the store does not actually exist at the address I had committed to memory. In any case, I made it down to the Boston Public Library via the T (with a bus detour caused by construction), and wound up running home from around there, taking Boylston to Mass Ave and then following that road north to Porter Square, running along the way over Commonwealth Avenue, through Central and Harvard Squares, and through a bustling Harvard Yard. Harvard's campus has an almost mythical feel to me; running through it is highly enjoyable.

I hung out tonight with a few old Southgate Dukies who are taking Harvard graduate schools by storm. We ate at Grafton, downing oysters, beer samplers, and other various foodstuffs before mosying into the Harvard Book Store, where I attempted and failed to find a book about Saudi Arabia to prove to my disbelieving friends some of the facts about the country that I had relayed to them at dinner.

Started reading The Innovator's Dilemma this week. Probably won't dive into it until after my training session in Dallas next week as I have reading for that to do, but from what I've seen so far I like it.

Boston is a good place to be in the summer. I am hopeful the winter won't be too bad. I have plenty of winter gear from my time in Chicago. May need to break it out here in New England.

Cape Cod

2010-08-07T07:47:00.000-07:00

Spending the day on the beach near Sandwich on the Cape.

Hitting All the Time Zones

2010-08-02T16:43:00.000-07:00

Well doggone it--I live on the East Coast now!

Two weeks ago, it was out to Wyoming to the A Bar A with most of my family for the usual perfect week in the Wyoming wilderness (tamed of course by the staff of 100 or so charming Southern college kids, including three of my own relatives).

I caught a fish--a 16-incher, I'll say--in the river. I shot .20 and .12-gauge shotguns at the trap and sporting clays ranges. I got to know all three of this year's hazers, who are continuing the proud tradition of hazing of which I am a part (hazing does not involve hazing). I delighted in the reasonably-apportioned meals prepared by a master chef. I enjoyed riding in the ranch's "new" Pinzgauer, '55 Dodge, and age-old black rubber inner tubes. I ran with my brother through the dry air and by a caravan of 100 men riding through the west as part of the Round-up Riders of the Rockies (or something). I ascended to the cross with some family, and gazed over the special place we call home for a week every July. And I spent time with wonderful folks out there, old friends and new.

But I returned to reality on Sunday, June 25th. The reality that I was about to leave Los Angeles, the beach, and some good friendships, behind. And the reality that I was going to have to start packing! I only had one full day of time to prepare before my movers came. I took care of some basics, including laundry and sending a hand-written letter to a far-off place, and enjoyed a muffin at Jitter's. I wandered around a bit, and tried to soak in the California sun as much as my skin could handle. On Tuesday, my movers came bright and early. After a few hours of packing and many many boxes, most of my physical belongings were off on a truck, leaving an empty room and suitcases I packed to last me through a month or so.

I had some pizza at Paisano's before heading to a final California dental appointment. My last Hermosa Beach dinner was Chipotle on our roof-top deck overlooking a casually setting sun, the last of which I distinctly remember escaping behind the mountains in Malibu much more suddenly than I would have liked. We snapped some final pictures, and my roommate and I jut kind of hung out in our place that last night. I slept on a couch (there were multiple in our apartment at this point, as his girlfriend moved hers into our place), and said goodbye to my roommate in the morning as if I would see him again that night.

I didn't see him again that night. In fact, I flew to Boston that day. But before I left, I went swimming--with dolphins no less--in the Pacific Ocean. Upon my arrival to Boston, I hopped in a cab up to Marblehead to visit my cousins, and promptly donned my swimming trunks to dive into our nation's other, smaller, ocean--the Atlantic. Thus, in the span of a day, I swam in two oceans. I doubt that I will accomplish such a feat again any time soon.

Slept at the Boston Yacht Club on Wednesday night. Woke up the next morning looking out over the Atlantic; the day before my first view upon awakening was--the Pacific.

Spent last weekend mostly in North Hampton, New Hampshire, with my family. A good family friend was married at Wentworth by the Sea in Rye, NH, and I was privileged to have been there for all the fun festivities. I think I'm falling in love--with New England. Its sunsets, believe it or not, just may top those of California (although the ocean does make the sun's retreat breathtaking on occasion in LA).

Yesterday, I fully moved into a hotel near work, and today, I reported to work for my first day on International Patriot Programs at the Integrated Air and Defense Center in Andover, Massachusetts.

The facility here (proper name for it is "center") is nothing short of impressive. I was told today that you'd walk a mile if you made your way around one loop of the building. I don't disagree with that estimate. The building is enormous (and is actually several buildings attached with climate-controlled walkways). It's a manufacturing facility, which means I get to actually see hardware on site, connecting me ever more powerfully to the products which I will be supporting for at least the next six months.

My life is in quite a bit of flux right now, with my move, vacations, and living situation. And I don't mind at all. Gag me with the cliches, but frankly I'm finding that the one thing in my life that I want constant is change. I thrive on seeing new places, engaging new people, and learning all about new mini-cultures. Boston will be quite the playground for me. I'm looking forward to recess.

Atlantic Ocean

2010-07-29T05:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I woke up and looked out over the Pacific. Today, my first view was of the Atlantic.

Never thought a boy from St. Louis would swim in two oceans in one day.

The air is a lot thicker here in New England. I wasn't even remotely cold going into or coming out of the water last night. It's nice not to have to wear a sweatshirt around dinner time.

The night before I left, I had Chipotle on our deck. We had to go inside after the sun set because it was far too cold to be out there, even in a sweatshirt.

Someday I'll Be Back!

2010-07-28T10:26:00.000-07:00

Manhattan and Sixth. Quite the home base. Will miss it to be certain.

My Entrance to the Sea

2010-07-28T10:25:00.000-07:00

A Funny-Looking Lifeguard Hut

2010-07-28T10:24:00.000-07:00

View East from the Pier

2010-07-28T10:23:00.001-07:00

Back at the sun-drenched sand.

View South from the Pier

2010-07-28T10:23:00.000-07:00

Towards Palos Verdes, a place I never visited while living here!

View North from the Pier

2010-07-28T10:21:00.001-07:00

Casting away.

View West from the Pier

2010-07-28T10:21:00.000-07:00

Wish I were a seagull sometimes.

Look for the Standing Surfer

2010-07-28T10:20:00.000-07:00

Palm Trees along Hermosa Pier

2010-07-28T10:19:00.000-07:00

Bye to the Pier

2010-07-28T10:18:00.000-07:00

Where I've enjoyed many an adult beverage among many an amigo.

Breakfast at Java Man Coffee House

2010-07-28T08:35:00.000-07:00

Hours are becoming minutes.

Morning: into the Pacific

2010-07-28T07:29:00.000-07:00

Went for a quick swim this morning in the ocean.

Closes my apartment door at 7:14am

Onto the beach at 7:17am

Under water by 7:20am

Got a random guy who was surveying the waves to snap a couple pictures of me.

As we were doing our photo shoot, at least threw dolphins swam by. Can't tell you how gorgeous of a sight that was. Didn't get any pictures of the swimmers unfortunately.

Two surfers were on the water near me. Not the best of waves.

Flying out of LAX in a few short
hours.

Merica. Blank blank.

2010-07-04T18:40:00.001-07:00

Santa Monica Pier ferris wheel!

2010-07-03T23:18:00.000-07:00

Some seriously stomach-sickening situations.

Dinner at the Lobster

2010-07-03T20:24:00.001-07:00

In Santa Monica. Good views.

First Fridays

2010-07-02T20:29:00.000-07:00

In Venice. Never seen so many food trucks--Korean, sushi, Mexican,
Ramon!, muffins, mambo juice, weiners, they've got it all here and more.

Equally diverse set of stores, all open late for today's festivities.

Bought shirts from Topo Ranch and a small Japanese store on Abbot
Kinney.

Droves of beautiful ladies wandering up and down the main drag.
Harmonica-wielding free spirits apparently on mind-altering
substances. This is a must-do for every Angelino.

The store pictured sells surf-style comfortable clothes. Think super-
soft sweats with Hawaii and other beach-themed patterns selling for
$80 or more. Wanted to buy some shorts. Might have if I we're about to
move to Boston.

Hollywood Sign, Getty, Arclight Theatre

2010-06-20T21:32:00.000-07:00

Knocked quite a few off the bucket list this weekend.

On Friday, I went to see The Lottery, a new film directed by Duke alumna Madeleine Sackler, with a buddy of mine from Duke. We had dinner beforehand at a restaurant with a hard-to-remember name in Beverly Hills, then took our seats at Laemmle Music Hall 3 at 9036 Wilshire, also in Beverly Hills. The movie is absolutely a must-see for anyone interested in the future of American education. Madeleine was at the screening, and joined a panel of education leaders afterwards to answer questions about the subject of the movie, charter schools.

Go see the movie. Not writing a review here. Just go see it if possible. (It's only showing in LA for the next week--not sure if it will be around after that.)

I went to the after-party for the premiere. We all drove a few blocks to the Avalon Hotel, where we sipped on beers and other drinks in their outdoor bar talking about the movie. Turns out I knew the producer's sister back at Duke. One of the guys I ended up talking to had also run the Agoura Hills Great Race; we shared a moment commiserating re: the massive mountain we both had to climb during the race.

On Saturday, I hiked up to the iconic Hollywood sign with some friends from Teach For America Los Angeles. We parked at the base and had about an hour? hike up to the top, from which we had panoramic views of Los Angeles, from downtown to Hollywood to Santa Monica. It was a great workout. Afterwards, we had a quick bite at Trails, a little cafe in Griffith Park.

Saturday evening, I finally took advantage of the free Saturday night parking at the Getty Center. I went with Liz S.; she drove, and I paid for parking. We had some great sandwiches from Togo's. We sat on the pristine, "sexy" grass overlooking the funky bushes, then checked out the stunning views of greater L.A. We could see as far as Palos Verdes. The city looks positively sprawling from up there. However, the blue of the ocean to the west lends an air of calm against the never-ending string of man-madeness.

I picked up a really neat coffee-table book about Los Angeles in the museum store before we boarded the tram back down to the parking garage. Looking forward to reading about everything I didn't do while I was here in Southern California.

Liz and I met another friend at Arclight movie theaters in Sherman Oaks for Toy Story 3, which we watched in 3 dimensions. It was my first experience wearing 3D glasses. They were awkwardly heavy and clunky. Looking at the crowd as I ascended to my (assigned) seat, I was a little creeped out.

Good movie though.

Jay Leno at the Comedy and Magic Club

2010-06-20T21:20:00.001-07:00

I wish I could have taken a picture to show you how close I was sitting tonight to Mr. Jay Leno at the Comedy and Magic Club.

He does a show there every Sunday night. I'm not sure how the tradition started, but Hermosa Beach is lucky to welcome one of entertainment's funniest icons to its quiet beaches so often. I had been meaning to get to a show every since I first walked by the place and saw promotions for his show.

I bought tickets a few weeks ago (they generally sell out well in advance). I went with a friend of mine from Duke/TFA/Los Angeles. She and I walked the two blocks to the theatre around 6:00PM to try to get a decent seat. When we entered, the place was about half-way full, so I was extremely pleasantly surprised when our usher asked us if we wanted to sit in the front, and then led us, literally, to the very front, and seated us stage right, front row. We were close enough to be under the stage lights, and definitely close enough to see every drop of saliva that left the comics' mouths as they spat jokes from 7 to 9.

Neither of us recognized the opening acts, but they were definitely talented. Leno came on around 8 I want to say, and his set lasted a good 45 minutes to an hour. There are plenty of people who find Leno to be underwhelming as a comic. Whatever they say, he had me laughing hysterically throughout the entire set.

After his stand-up routine, he usually runs through a list of jokes, material to be possibly used on his show. He set up a recorder (about 5 feet from where I was sitting), then shuffled through a few dozen notecards, reading jokes and gauging the audience response. He said afterwards that he thought there were about seven good ones in the mix. I set my DVR to record the Tonight Show tomorrow so that I can see which ones he ends up actually using.

The Getty!

2010-06-19T18:59:00.000-07:00

Hey Moms!

Check out this shot of Liz and me at the Getty.

Patrick

Loving Beverly Hills

2010-06-19T01:16:00.001-07:00

Last night it was the Beverly Hilton. Tonight a movie premiere and
then the Avalon. I sort of like this part of town.

Avalon

2010-06-18T23:38:00.000-07:00

Post party for The Lottery Film. Awesome movie. Gotta see it.

To the nines

2010-06-13T10:03:00.001-07:00

Cardinals-Dodgers, the Queen Mary, and Hollywood

2010-06-13T09:59:00.000-07:00

I saw the Cardinals lose to Los Dodgers on Monday, June 7th. An embarrassing effort by our squad, which lose 12-4. I did get to the game in an H3 though, so at least I was riding in style.

Cards dropped the next two as well, getting swept for the first time out here since the Dodgers' 1988 season.

Vin Scully is the man. If we find a way to extend life, I want him taking the first pill. His voice is truly like no other. No one tells better stories than he. I'll miss him dearly.

I went down to the Queen Mary on Friday night. I got dressed up for the occasion, wearing white linen pants and a pink bowtie (see accompanying entry). When our group of five arrived, we were told that the boat was having a private event. Some kind of tattoo festival was happening, rendering my normally germane get-up completely irrelevant. I was able to sweet-talk the security guard into letting us board the ship, telling him (truthfully) that I'd be moving to Boston soon and just wanted to see the boat.

I truly have never felt more out of place in my entire life. Rather than a mohawk, I had carefully coiffed business professional hair. Instead of leather, I was wrapped by a lavendar United Colors of Benetton sweater. Most people were kicking around in boots; I chose $300 white leather loafers. And rather than displaying a body covered in tattoo art, I showed off my ability to neatly tie a pink Brooks Brothers bowtie.

Needless to say, it was comical. We got some good pictures. I wandered around the deck of the boat, peering into the radio room, walking under the lifeboats, and gazing in true wonder at the monstrosity that is that (formerly) mobile world unto-itself.

Yesterday I checked another one off the bucket list, seeing a movie at Graumann's Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Of course I first walked around the foot- and handprints of various Hollywood stars. Saw Michael Jackson's star on the Walk of Fame. It was here that many gathered after his passing to pay tribute to the King of Pop.

The movie showing in the Chinese Theater was Splice. It was highly disturbing. Keep children and psychologically fragile people away. I did enjoy it overall.

I got a ticket! And ran a marathon.

2010-06-13T08:59:00.000-07:00

Bummer. I was wearing my over-ear large-size music headphones while driving home on Friday and was pulled over by a Redondo Beach policeman. Although I was actually talking on the phone (and not listening to music), I obviously deserved the ticket. Dangit.

Apparently the law states that one cannot wear headphones over both ears. IPhone earbud wearers beware--you need to take one of your buds out when listening to music or talking on the phone in your car!

They won't be sending me my ticket until late August. I won't know until then what the damage was.

Since the last time I wrote, the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup, the Lakers and Celtics have been battling it out for ultimate NBA supremacy, the World Cup has started in South Africa, and I ran a marathon in San Diego.

On that last note: finishing that 26.2-mile race has to go down as one of the most thrilling emotional moments of the last year.

The initial idea for a marathon had come soon after I finished running a half-marathon here in Los Angeles on January 10th of this year. Although that race took seven of my toenails, it hooked me on this sport. I quickly signed up for the marathon, found a training schedule online, and entered four months of daily workouts in green ink in my Moleskine.

February and March were some of the most shapely months I've had since high school. I missed very few runs as I worked my way up from short 3-milers to hitting 13 and 14 on long weekend adventures. To the best of my memory, every non-competitive run I did was north along the Strand. I developed a familiarity with natural mile-markers that made keeping track of my progress easy.

On March 27th, I ran in the Agoura Hills Great Race half-marathon with a friend from Raytheon. The race itself was hilly and picturesque. I finished in under two hours, which was exciting. However, I suspect that something happened in that race, because over the next couple weeks I noticed a pain in my right groin. Because I'm an idiot, I decided to run through it. I was egged on by the fact that for awhile, the pain would go away while I was actually out on the pavement, and would only come when I returned.

But by April 8, I was no longer able to run, such was the extent of the groin pain. I was just getting to the point where my weekend runs were getting longer--I was supposed to run 15 that weekend and 16 the next. How would I possibly be ready for a marathon if I didn't do the long runs?

I was signed up for the Orange County Half Marathon on May 2nd. I planned on going to test my groin. But waking up well before the crack of dawn to drive all the way to the OC only to possibly make things worse didn't seem like a great idea. It turned out to be a good thing I didn't run--I would have been turned away, since I need to have picked up my race packet the day before. That would have been quite unfortunate.

I had also already signed up for a half-marathon in Chicago for May 16th. I decided to make this my final test run before the marathon to see just how out of shape my inactivity had made me. I ran the Chicago Spring Half Marathon in just under two hours, an acceptable pace, especially for someone who hadn't run in more than a month. My groin, however, was not happy with me by any means. Ouch it hurt. At least the views along Lake Michigan were pretty--twice (it was a looped course--bah humbug those loop courses...).

I went on a three-mile run on May 23rd, then did 5 miles on May 29th. (Three point one of those five on the 29th were barefoot on the sand for the Manhattan Beach 5K.) Other than that, I did no running before I stepped to the start line for the marathon on June 6th in San Diego, California.

I stayed with a buddy of mine in San Diego. I tried to get some sleep on the night before the race. Woke up about 3:50AM, left shortly after 4:00AM, drove to Qualcomm Stadium, parked my car (in the dark) and walked to a bus. Sat with a cute Canadian gal on the bus. She gave me some food.

Got there around 5:15AM, checked my bag in, got some bananas, bagels, water, etc. I actually got in line around 5:30AM for a massage/rub down. There were maybe 15-20 masseuses there from a local school. Stood with a guy who's run a number of marathons and halves. I got a 15-minute massage from one, then two gals. They focused on my legs for obvious reasons.

Before the race started, I decided to take a leak. In line at the Johnny on the Spot, realized I could go for a number 2. Going into the outhouse, I almost puked at the smell and sight. But I took care of business and went to my corral. I was supposed to be in corral 10, for those with a goal finish time of 4 hours. I ended up in corral 21.

Got off the start line just before 6:40AM. Race started near and went through the San Diego Zoo, then Balboa Park, then onto a freeway for what seemed like many miles. I ran hard through mile ten, then started walking some. A lot of people around me were doing this run-walk-stretch routine. From mile ten to the end of the race, this was my standard.

Got through the first half in 2:20, a pace of a little over 11 minutes. I had been told that I needed to go slow to start considering my recent injury. Mile 15 to 16, things started to get tough. A fe things kept me going. First, the Cytoplex (sp?), water, "Gu," orange slices, pretzels, and other random foodstuffs kept my energy up. Second, the fans were incredible. Lining the race, cheering us on, the fans kept me going. As the Rock N Roll marathon, there were bands placed every few miles. In retrospect, I wish I'd worn my headphones so that I had constant music for the duration of the race, rather than 30 seconds every couple miles.

Towards the end of the race, we had a four-mile (?) loop around an island/peninsula. There were not many fans out there because it was inaccessible. There seemed to be fewer water stations too. This was a tough stretch. When I got to mile 24, I decided to push through for the last two miles. I realized I wasn't going to hit my goal of 5 hours, but wanted to finish strong.

When you're about a half-mile to go, there are fans constantly along the race. I'm slightly embarrassed to say that when I got to this point I started crying. Seeing all these people cheering you on, the camaraderie that existed between strangers, it was an emotional experience. Closing in on the finish after having been unsure if I'd be able to complete it at all, I couldn't hold back the tears of joy.

Finished in 5:12:16. That's a long time to be exercising. Sheesh. I am very appreciative of my own health and ability to use my body. Many runners had names of loved ones who had been affected by cancer or other illnesses; this was quite inspirational.

Like I said, after the race, I was bawling. I got a cold towel for my face and got in line to get a picture. Stood with a 70-year-old who just finished her fifth marathon, all of which she has run since her 65th birthday. Wow.

Got lots of food and drinks after the race. Race finished at Sea World, which was neat. Got my bag and called home to tell my folks I had finished. Talked to my brother, a runner himself, about it. Also called my parents and grandparents to share the news. (Grandparents were in New York for a graduation.)

Getting home after the race was a pain. The bag check was super-efficient: UPS trucks organized by last name that drive from the start to finish. Good. Bag-check tag on your bib. But then had to get in a mile-long line to get on a bus that took you to a line for a trolley, which took you to Qualcomm, where I had to descend far too many stairs and walk across an ocean of a parking lot.

Pain.

Drove home shortly after the race. They say sitting around doing nothing is the worst thing you can do. That's what I did.

I got a professional massage the day after the race. It seems to have done the trick, as by Tuesday I was walking almost completely normally.

Haven't gone for a run yet. May do that today?

Memorial Day

2010-05-31T19:32:00.000-07:00

First, a sincere thanks to all veterans and active-duty soldiers who have served and continue to serve. They protect the freedoms we take for granted. Their sacrifice must never go unnoticed. Thank you.

Thanks to our warfighters' work, I was able to enjoy a relaxing weekend in Los Angeles. My cousin Julia is in town; two of her friends from occupational therapy school at WashU also essentially moved into Playas Plazas this weekend to join in the festivities.

A few of us sipped white and black Russians at the Mermaid on Thursday night, conversing with an adopted South Bay lifer who told us he hadn't been on a freeway in "five years." Apparently his brother offered to fly him out to Los Angeles from the Boston area seven years ago, promising that he would pay for his return flight back if he didn't like it. He liked it enough to remain for the last seven years. He now works as a welder at the oil refinery up in El Segundo, and apparently has no need to ever leave the South Bay. He did admit, however, to having sat on the freeway sometime last year when he chose to go hiking up in Malibu on the day of the Los Angeles Marathon (he was met with some gnarly traffic).

He left us to wander alone to Sharkeez. I wonder how his night ended up.

The Mermaid has become one of my favorite Hermosa spots. It's never too crowded; the bartender know what he's doing (ask for a Singapore Sling); it's steps from the water; it has plenty of seating; and there is no obnoxious music playing.

We spent a lot of the daylight hours outside this weekend. Can you blame us? We had absolutely perfect weather. On Saturday we walked around Fiesta Hermosa for a decent chunk of the day. I picked up a panoramic framed picture of a sunset over the Hermosa Pier. If I end up moving to Boston (which is looking more and more likely), this picture will definitely find its place in a prominent place in my new room.

The fair is quite impressive; dozens of vendors hawking items as diverse as artwork, trips to Vegas, rubber-band guns, swimwear, and jewelry. Those vendors were complemented by the food vendors serving everthing from Hawaiian BBQ to Gilroy garlic fries to Dippin Dots to big yellow cups of flavored lemonade. The streets never get more crowded than during Fiesta Hermosa, and with good reason. Perhaps most exciting of all are the cover bands that play all day. The Beatles, Van Morrison, Pearl Jam, the Black-Eyed Peas--all were among the huge number of talented bands playing on one of two stages at the fair. Oh, and if you're a kid, you're in luck. Pony-rides, slides, arcade-type games for prizes too big to hold. Hermosa Avenue was closed off for blocks to allow for the sea of humanity to roam freely.

Yesterday was a beach day. We parked ourselves just north of the Pier for hours of suntanning, reading, and (for a short time) swimming. The water was freeeezing; it was cold enough that my chest was actually in slight pain following my short dip in the water.

Congrats to the Duke Men's Lacrosse team, which won its first National Championship today in Baltimore. After four consecutive losses in the Final Four (two in the championship game), the Devils finally erased memories of the fateful 2006 non-season in taking home the program's first title. We lost to Hopkins in the finals in 2005 and 2007, as well as in the semi-finals in 2008. Last year we lost to Syracuse in the semis by a bunch of goals. This year we went into the tournament as a five-seed, and had to get through rivals UNC and UVa to face unranked Notre Dame in the finals. The Irish were also in their first title game ever. But they simply didn't deserve this game like we did.

I almost bet the next month's rent on the game with my Irish roommate Paul. Instead, I'll have to settle with a case of Smirnoff Ice. We made this bet in honor of the recently discovered "Bros Icing Bros" tradition. Hmm.

I'm really happy for those guys. I lived in the same dorm as several of the men's lacrosse players my freshman year. One of them, Tony McDevitt, lived a couple doors down. He's one of the nicest guys I met at Duke, and it was really hard to see him and the team go through what they had to go through when we were juniors at Duke. Apparently Tony made the New York Times for crying at mid-field after today's win with a couple other former players, including Matt Danowski, our current coach's son.

Here's to hoping Duke can get back in the championship next year.

Crazy few months for sports.

Review:

April: Duke men's basketball win National Championship
May: Duke men's `lacrosse win National Championship; Cardinals jump out to a fast start, hopefully presaging a great season
June: Lakers play the Celtics in NBA Finals; might this series determine where I live next year?; World Cup is about to start; Chicago Blackhawks are in the Stanley Cup and look likely to win their first title since 1961.

It's a good time to be a sports fan from St. Louis who went to Duke, lived in Chicago for a couple years, is now living in Los Angeles, and might soon move to Boston.

Still trying to finish
Three Cups of Tea.. It's a great book. Is, rightfully, required reading for lots of military folk.

Ah. Also went out in Venice Beach last night. First had dinner at Wirin Thai food up at Lincoln and Venice, then went to a party in Marina Del Rey that was over, then went to Nikki's in Venice, but couldn't go in because one of our group forgot her ID, then went to another nearby bar but left soon thereafter.

Had a "dodge the bullet" champagne toast on the deck today. Perfect.

Hi Grandma!

2010-05-29T14:28:00.000-07:00

I spoke with my grandma yesterday. She said I need to post on my blog. When you're getting called out by an octogenarian to update your blog, you know it's time.

It was hard to chat with my folks yesterday, as they were all eating dinner from the Pasta House in St. Louis by the grandparents' pool. Wish I could have been there.

Busy last week. Went on the Society of Aerospace Professionals (SOAP) annual "Nerd Crawl" through Hermosa Beach last weekend with my roommate and some friends in the biz. We moved our way through some of Hermosa's classic spots: Patrick Molloy's, FFFF's, the Poop Deck, Sharkeez, Barnacle's, and the Underground. There were drink and/or food specials at each of the bars, which the crowds took full advantage of. Lots of very sloppy behavior. Flip-cup at the Poop Deck, shark attacks at Sharkeez, some interesting conversations at Barnacles, and finally some heroic comeback action at the Underground.

Watched the finale of ABC's Lost on Sunday evening. My group dressed up in costumes for the historic event; I was Jacob, wearing white linen pants.

Started the interview process for my third rotation last week, speaking with a number of assignment managers, mostly in the Boston region. It's looking more and more likely that I will end up there. I was hoping to get to the D.C. area if I moved at all, but there are no rotations available this time around, eliminating that option unfortunately.

I got a chance to hear from Duke professor and dean of Sanford, Bruce Kuniholn, on Tuesday evening at Napa Valley Grill in Westwood. I had been in Westwood the week before for dinner at Yamato. I like the area. Kuniholm spoke to our group about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and the comparison between them and Vietnam. His Democratic bias shone through, but it was good to hear from a man so experienced in the area. I brought my cousin Julia with me, having picked her up right before the event at LAX. She's in town visiting, primarily to help a fellow OT student who is doing the same thing Julia did last summer.

Watched Iron Man 2 on Thursday evening. Liked it. Didn't love it. Cool to see so much footage of Malibu and other parts of Los Angeles. Made me feel connected to the actors. Awesomeness. Went out with Julia and her replacement in Hermosa Beach afterwards, heading first to a new sushi place, Rok, for some sake. We had a 300ml bottle between the three of us. As it was the first night of the restaurant, we were the first ones to have the kind of sake we had.

Volleyball without your hands

2010-05-22T14:04:00.001-07:00

This is a crazy sport. You're not allowed to use your hands.

It's like volleyball, soccer, and hacky-sack. But more challenging
than each. And played on sand.

Wonderland

2010-05-21T02:07:00.001-07:00

Good night at Wonderland, a club in Hollywood.

Event put on by Pondigo for singles from top schools.

Strong Duke presence. A lot of familiar faces.

Met my colleagues from UVa and WashU. May try to set something up with
those schools for young alumni.

Stayed at club until about midnight.

Had coffee next door afterwards. I'd been to this coffee shop before
as it's close to a St. Louis friend of mine's place up there.

Didn't get home til after 1:30am

Interview tmw!

Sent on an iPhone

The Untouchables

2010-05-02T18:07:00.000-07:00

For someone who loves writing, I clearly am not holding to my personal commitment to spend a few moments every few days to sit down and reflect, in writing, on the world and my place in it. (I almost wrote my life and the world around it; interesting, both in that my first thought was to put myself in the center, and in that I felt it necessary to change it.)

April was a very good month. But now it's over. That's sad.

April kicked off with one of my two favorite sports teams, the Duke men's basketball team, winning the NCAA championship for the first time since 2001. They've now won championships in three consecutive decades; two each in Minneapolis and Indianapolis. Next time we'll win one in Greece. Or two. I had the fortune of watching most of the Tournament games in Santa Monica at the Parlor with dozens of other Dukies. I made some excellent new friends, and kept up with some old ones. I discovered a few old Dukies who had been hiding somewhere in Los Angeles. Welcome.

Sadly, right around the time of our run to the title, I hurt myself running. It's hard to say exactly when it happened. All I know is that the last few times I ran, in late March/early April, my right groin bothered me as I started, then loosened up and felt fine during my runs, then got worse before my next run. Finally, after running seven miles on the injured groin on April 7th, the pain became too much to bear, and I decided to take a break. That break has now lasted almost a month, and I only have about a month until I'm scheduled to run a marathon on June 6 in San Diego. Still planning on trying to fight through it and run, but things aren't looking very good as of now.

Duke activities haven't been limited only to championships though. I've been helping to plan alumni events through my involvement on the Duke SoCal Alumni Club out here. It's been a lot of fun working with other active alumni in the area. On April 10th I went to a local school to participate in "Reading to Kids," a Los Angeles non-profit that places volunteers in area schools to read to grade school kids. I read with two other volunteers to a small group of fifth graders. We had all boys. The kids were all of Hispanic origin. Their age and background put them in the direct company of my old students in Chicago. Reading to them was, as a result, both a total joy and a difficult reminder of how much I miss being in the classroom sometimes.

We read The Lightning Thief, a sort of modern-day Greek mythology story. The kids, who admittedly are self-selecting Saturday reading club participants, were totally into the book, and all fully engaged in both the reading and discussion of the book. One kid, Jorge, seemed to know as much about basic Greek mythology as I do. I should find his teacher and make sure that he or she is pushing him as much as possible. Jorge reminded me of a few of my students in his zeal for reading. From the little I gathered from him in our short conversations, he spends a lot of his free time reading.

Another recent event reminded me of how special teaching is. This event, however, involved sipping Manhattans and mint julips and wandering around downtown Los Angeles looking for a bar to cozy up to. I went to a Teach For America networking social downtown this past Friday evening after work. In fact, I was technically a "host" of the event, which in my opinion was a big success. I had the pleasure of meeting many Los Angeles corps members and alumni, as well as TFA staff. I also was very lucky to see two former Dukies and LA alumni who I clearly need to hang out with a lot more.

I spoke at length with one of those Dukies throughout the evening. One of the topics we covered was the overall quality of people who choose to spend two years or more in the classroom through Teach For America. It is truly a privilege to be counted among the thousands of (com)passionate, ambitious, and intellectual folks who forego other possible careers to work towards the elimination of one of America's most shameful injustices. To know that I can go to almost any big city in the United States and find a similar cadre of people gives me chills.

If I had a choice in the matter, I would marry a TFA alum. But I guess I don't have much of a choice in whom I end up falling in love with. Or do I?

What else has been going on recently? Well, some pretty wild stuff is happening in our country. But that isn't anything new now, is it?

I spent a few days in Tucson, Arizona, this month for finance training with the Financial Leadership Development Program at Raytheon. The training itself was very useful. We completed a case study related to Tucson-based Missile Systems' international prospects. Can't go into details here, but can say that the discussions were lively and recommendations thoughtful and, in my humble opinion, worth consideration. We had the chance to tour some of the Company's factories, goin onto the floor where missiles are assembled. Being in the presence of such powerful machines was, for me, a deeply emotion experience. Again, can't say much about it except that I thoroughly enjoyed being there and hope to return some day.

We stayed at the J.W. Marriott, which was a treat. The hotel has both a lazy river and complimentary daily afternoon tequila shot. I waded into both once. While I was in Arizona, there was much talk about a soon-to-be-passed immigration law that would make it a state crime to be an illegal immigrant in AZ, and obligate police officers to question individuals whom they believe with reasonable justification, are illegals. I'm not entirely sure where I fall on this issue. On the one hand, the law seems merely to be enforcing current law. On the other, who is to stop renegade or even mildly racist police officers from abusing their new "responsibilities" and engaging in inappropriate and embarrassing racial profiling? AZ recent clarified the bill, ensuring its critics that racial profiling would not be ok in the state, but who knows. Arizona also apparently made it legal for anyone to carry a concealed weapon without a permit. And I believe it's legal to carry weapons into bars (as long as the armed is not drinking). So my confidence in the lawmakers in Arizona isn't exactly sky-high.

I've watched a lot of good movies recently. Ratatouille, The Count of Monte-Cristo, The Prestige, and, most recently, a very short part of The Untouchables. I hear the latter has the best ending, but I'm not sure. Will try not to go to bed before it ends next time.

In less than two weeks' time, I will be in Chicago with my old students. Can't wait.

View

2010-05-02T15:13:00.001-07:00

Getty. Santa Monica. Pacific.

Taiwanese Boy Lin Yu Chun Sings Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" LIVE

2010-04-08T21:12:00.001-07:00

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA-tOsM6F4Y&feature=youtube_gdata

Sent on an iPhone

Earthquake in Los Angeles

2010-04-04T15:53:00.000-07:00

I just felt my first earthquake here in Southern California.

It was certainly unlike anything I've felt. Well actually, it was kind of like being on a boat being rocked gently to and fro by waves.

I was about to sit down to read more of Dreams from My Father when I started feeling a little dizzy. It felt a bit like I was intoxicated. But having drunk only water, coffee, and Coke today, I ruled that out quickly. Maybe I was just a little dizzy from getting up too quickly? In any case, I thought nothing of it. But then my roommate came out of his room, having been woken up by the quake, to casually inform me that an earthquake was ongoing.

We stood in our living room, feeling the continued motions emanating from the earth's crust. I grabbed ahold of our kitchen counter, a precautionary move. The quake continued for what seemed like a couple minutes, but was likely less than a minute. Nothing was falling out of place; the one framed piece of artwork on our wall remained there undisturbed. The only real physical manifestation of the shaking, beyond the strange feelings in our stomachs, was the synchronized swaying of our blinds, which swung back and forth throughout the duration of the rumblings.

I naturally called my family immediately to tell them of my experience.

Curious about what had happened, I turned to Google News. Nothing. So I went to Twitter, and immediately found dozens of tweets about the earthquake, including preliminary estimates of the quake's 6.9 magnitude strength.

Hope there are some peaceful and non-damage-causing aftershocks.

Week in Rearview

2010-04-04T14:58:00.000-07:00

Today is Easter Sunday. Happy Easter to all who celebrate Easter. I wore seersucker pants and an Easter pastel yellow sweater to commemorate the occasion.

Interesting that so many people go to Mass on Easter. My thoughts: cafeteria Catholicism isn't the ideal arrangement. Just a thought. I wonder how many sermons this weekend included a discussion of the Church's recent scandals. I know the Pope has downplayed it in his own homilies. Such an approach is unbelievably shameful, in my view. For once, I'm fully aligned with Maureen Dowd in her sincere challenges to the Church to own up to its shameful past and do its best to make things better for the people who have been hurt. To protect people who have violated the trust of the most innocent isn't just shameful; it's criminal. The members of the Catholic Church may do more good than any other organization in the world (I can't think of any other organization with the same power and extensive social reach whose goal is, broadly speaking, to better the lives of others.) But the rotten apples should be exposed and dealt with as harshly as the church deals with politicians who support abortion rights.

I went to dinner at Beach Mex on Friday night. I got off work early Friday (yeah!). I ventured out for a nice four-miler in the sun, donning, for the first time, my new lightweight runners' shades and my long-sleeve technical shirt from the Agoura half. I also wore the new pair of shorts I had bought the day before after having forgotten to bring shorts to play tennis after work Thursday. (A side note: there's nothing quite like wearing new clothes for the first, and even second, time.)

After dinner there, we went to a friend's place in Manhattan Beach for some adult beverages before continuing our night at Pancho's on Highland (at Rosecrans maybe?). The cover band there was exceptionally talented. They also played a medley of my favorite songs of all time, from "In the Air Tonight" to "With or Without You" to "Creep" to "Everlong." I will be going back to that bar, to listen to that band, as soon as possible.

I spent much of yesterday up at the Parlor for basketball. Paul and I got up there before the first game, anticipating a big crowd and desiring the comfort of a seat for the Duke game. We watched Butler improbably beat Michigan State, and drank the winnings of a bet Paul had with a neighboring Michigan State alum. (Insult to injury...)

We then watched the main event, as Duke handled West Virginia. The game, which started relatively close, quickly became a blow-out. I made quite a few new Duke friends. So the night was a success. We had dinner at Houston's afterwards. A cook there whom I met last week was working last night. I had eaten some chicken wings at the Parlor, so opted to go with a dessert. I had the five-nut warm brownie a la mode. Let me tell you something: this is the best restaurant dessert I've had since I've been in Los Angeles. Houston's has a very homey atmosphere, with chairs that--oh goodness!--recline. The wait staff is very professional (and, it seemed to me, entirely female), and our food came out almost immediately. When I return, I will most definitely have a baked potato. Our table got one after seeing a couple at an adjacent table. I had some of the skin. Muy delicioso.

Gorgeous day today. It's funny how Easter always seems to be nice.

Shots! Shots! Shots! Shots! Shots! Shots!

Everyone Has Hobbies

2010-04-04T14:32:00.000-07:00

Sorry. But I can't get over the song "Year of the Cat" by Al Stewart. The intro is particularly great. It's a great song to listen to with headphones, as it starts in just the left ear, then expands to both. Throughout the song, the left ear gets different treatment than the right. But you need both ears to fully appreciate the song. I also love the fact that pianos and strings make the song, but the guitar (a string instrument? No...) keeps it rockin'.

Speaking of headphones: I've noticed that as I've gotten older, I've started accumulating various hobby supplies. Everyone who had reasonable parents remembers being told at some point or another that "you can't buy those until you're older and won't grow out of them." I always found such rationale troubling; why can't I get new baseball cleats every year? Can't I have new rollerblades? And my bike is too small! If I were a polo player, things would have been even more awkward: this pony just isn't fast enough anymore; my horse isn't tall enough; my mallet (?) isn't fiberglass, mom!

Now that I'm an adult (recently self-ordained), and gainfully employed, I feel able and, to a certain extent, entitled to indulge in random hobby shopping sprees. I don't have kids, so I naturally should spend my yearly toy allocation on adult diversions of various kinds.

What's frustrating is that Los Angeles offers all kinds of possibilities. I could choose to race motorcycles on dirt. Or I could invest in a kite-surfing kit (which would put me back almost a grand). Or I could buy a surfboard and some wetsuits and spend my Saturday morning on the Hermosa surf. Or, perhaps, I could take trips up to Palos Verdes to ride horses. (I think they have horses in Palos Verdes.) Golf would be an obvious, although less creative, way to waste my discretionary income. Maybe i could buy some really nice kites and go fly them on the beach. Or, alternatively, I could buy a bunch of painting supplies and set up shop on my roof deck to articulate my ocean view.

I haven't really jumped into any of the above hobbies. But instead, I certainly have been slowly stockpiling the necessary equipment for a number of recreational activities. I own actual tennis shoes (and a couple racquets.) I have racquetball goggles, racquet, and balls. I have a regular baseball mitt, a first basemen's glove, and a softball glove (bigger pocket), as well as a major stash of balls. I also, as my roommates from Chicago well remember, have a wooden baseball bat, as well as boxing gloves and a blue punching bag. I have a yoga mat (not because I do yoga or anything...). I now have "running" sunglasses. And shoes! Running shoes, softball cleats, soccer cleats (somewhere!), and of course water-type shoes. I've been spending all of my hard-earned cash moolah recently on entrance fees for running races. Four half-marathons, a fullsie, and a couple side races along the way really starts to add up.

Duke Back in the Final Four!

2010-03-28T21:03:00.000-07:00

Congrats to the Duke Blue Devils, who beat Baylor today to advance to their first Final Four since 2004. (That was my freshman year, for those who are counting; I vividly recall watching us lose to eventual champion UConn on a screen in Cameron. Foul trouble doomed our team, who, for the second time since 1999, lost to UConn in one of their championship seasons. Boohoo.)

For the fourth time since the ACC Tournament, I took in the game at the Parlor in Santa Monica at 1519 Wilshire. The Duke SoCal alumni group has established a good rapport with the management there. We promise to provide the people; they promise to provide space for our fans. We've had varying degrees of crowds; they were thin for the ACC tourney, exploded for Friday night's Sweet Sixteen match-up against Purdue, and remained strong, albeit less populous, for today's game. While Friday night's crowd included a good number of non-Duke affiliated Friday night revelers, today's group was almost entirely partisan, making unified cheering easier. (There were a couple obnoxious people rooting against Duke (rather than for Baylor) but luckily they had much less to cheer than did we.)

This morning I took a bike ride with a couple friends down along the Strand through Redondo Beach and up into Palos Verdes. None of us had worn helmets, anticipating a casual beach cruise; when we got up into the roads of PV, we realized we shouldn't try to compete with the fast-moving cars and eager real-deal bicyclists, and turned around fairly soon after we had gone up. The descent from the hill we'd climbed was exceptionally speedy, as you might imagine, and I was able to coast for what seemed like miles, my view up the coastline becoming less and less aerial as I glided down on my (currently non-functioning) electric bike. I need to take that bad boy into the shop soon. The motor isn't working. Darn.

Did some laundry this evening. I put too much soap in one of the washers, which meant that I had to run it a second time. I should have paid heed to the glaring warnings not to overload on soap. (Who believes those anyway? Can a quarter of a cup really clean two loads? Come on now...) It was a very productive laundry session. First of all, I cleaned my clothes and my new beach towels. Second, I managed to make a grocery run while the machines did their work.

And speaking of machines, I watched The Machinist last night. I was expecting an action movie, based on Christian B's casting and the name. What I got was a disturbing psychological thriller about guilt, mental illness, and the weakness of humanity. Bale delivers an excellent performance in this movie. His abilities are enhanced by his grotesque appearance. He lost a ton of weight for the movie, and shows up in this film truly an emaciated man.

Thesauruses are evil. Don't ever use them, unless you're completely desperate. I almost consider using them cheating. Maybe not.

Scotch scotch scotch.

LA lifestyle

2010-03-28T11:24:00.000-07:00

I had a conversation with a friend recently about the overall Los Angeles, and Southern California, lifestyle. I've been thinking a lot about what people are like here in this almost make-believe place. It's such an aesthetically perfect place, you wonder how much of an influence that has on its residents.

Although at times I've questioned how easy it is to find happiness in a place like LA, I'm starting to think it's not quite as hard as you might think. There are a lot of jobs out here that depend on one's physical features. But I'm beginning to realize that in fact most jobs are like that to a certain extent. Youth is generally an asset in any job. And the ability to handle the stresses of an occupation that requires you to be in top shape physically and mentally is one few people have. If you're able to remain true to yourself while under tremendous pressure to align to other's expectations of you, that is a true accomplishment. I think I underestimated just how hard it is for actors, models, etc., to stay level-headed and perform their jobs. Arguably, those jobs are more stressful than most. People tend to think otherwise because of what the final product looks like, but clearly such a job requires tremendous determination and grit.

Palos Verdes bike ride

2010-03-28T09:37:00.001-07:00

A view.

Chesebro Half Marathon

2010-03-27T19:48:00.000-07:00

Ran my second half marathon today. Ended up finishing in 1:55:55, that is, one hour, fifty-five minutes and fifty-five seconds (results. That's an 8:51 per mile pace. I'm happy with the overall result, for two reasons: first, I beat my first half marathon time of 1:56:40, and second, I did so on a course that was legions more difficult that the Santa Monica course I ran in January.

This race was part of the "Great Race of Agoura Hills"; it was the Chesebro half-marathon, one of five? events, including two half-marathons, for the day. (There was also a 5- and 10-k, as well as a kids' 1-miler.) Our course had to have been one of the most picturesque half-marathons in the country. The course wound us through trails into the Cheeseboro (I know: the spelling is different. Not sure why. But the race spelled it Chesebro, and the signs in the canyon spelled it Cheeseboro.) Canyon, which carves its way in the gently sloping mountains. Most of our run was on dirt and rock trails, and was exceptionally hilly. There was one monster climb at about mile 8. Imagine you're running along, just a little more than halfway done, admiring the beauty of the surrounding mountains, when all of a sudden you look up and see specks of white rising on one of those mountains. As you get closer, you realize that those specks are moving. As you get even closer, your worst fears materialze: those specks are indeed people, and those people are indeed part of the same race you're running, and indeed you will soon enough suffer the pain they are now enduring.

I refused to allow myself to walk at any point during the race (with the exception of the couple minutes I took for a "biological break" about halfway through), but I'd be lying if I said I made it up those hills at too speedy a clip. The best part about the hill was that, like all objects tossed in the air, while it once went up, it eventually came down. And the downslope seemed much more gradual than the ascent, which made for a good long coast back down the hill.

I ran in the race with a few friends from Raytheon: Alison Sullivan, who clobbered me and finished in just over 1:50, and Matt and Marbelio, who both did the 10k. Alison drove us up to Agoura Hills; we left Hermosa at about 5:15AM. (Ugh.) Thankfully, we didn't hit any traffic on the way up, so made it in about 45 minutes.

We arrived before the sun had swept into view in the canyon, and all remarked on the chill in the air, which was mysteriously and periodically invaded by inexplicable gusts of warm air. We were told that these bursts of warmth were the famed "Santa Ana" winds. Not sure I buy it, but it does sound very Californian. It was insane though. One minute, we were shivering, and the next, we were comfortably warm. Ca-razy.

The sun did rise though, and the race did start. Again, I can't tell you how pretty the route was. We ran by horses, near sagebrush, along a variety of plants and fauna I won't pretend to know anything about, and up and down peaceful hills. Running through a canyon, or in the "wilderness" in general, is undeniably soothing and peaceful. Although we were only minutes off the 101, and only miles from the hustle and bustle of Hollywood, we had miles and miles of trails, and acres and acres of land, to ourselves for the morning. Off on the dirt, it's a little harder to keep up the pace, considering the distractions.

I had decided earlier in the morning not to run with music in this race. I won't be running the marathon in June with headphones, so I thought it made sense to start getting used to running without them. I also thought it would be nice not to have the extra weight of an iPhone strapped to my shoulder.

While I had predecided to forego the music, I inadvertently also forwent my watch by leaving it in the car when we parked at the race. Perhaps a bit delerious in the early morning hour, I left it in my bag, and didn't recognize its absence until we were quite far away from it. So I ran without a watch. That, to anyone who is reading this, is not a great idea. To make matters all the more confusing for me, this course only had sporatic mile markers. There were markers at 1, 2, and 3, but then not another one until 6. After 6, we had to wait until 12 for another sign of how far we had travelled. It turns out it's a lot harder to stay motivated when you have no idea how far you've gone. I had to keep asking nearby runners how much time had elapsed to get any kind of gauge on how far I'd gone and, more importantly, how much was left.

After the race, we enjoyed a world-class post-race festival, replete with various athletic drinks and foods, sports gear hawkers, and plenty of companies and organizations promoting their offerings to a tired but friendly crowd.

Alison and I both bought some good-lookin' runners' sunglasses: extremely lightweight and maybe slightly stylish. But mostly just super light.

We spent the rest of the morning and afternoon on the Hermosa beaches. It was, truly, a miraculous day in Hermosa. We took a quick swim when we first arrived, then quickly realized how cold the water was, and returned to our towels to dry.

I started reading Dreams from My Father, Obama's book, today. I'm a little embarrassed to say I haven't read it yet. It's excellent so far.

Gotta go watch The Machinist. Will write again soooooon.

I used Shazam to discover Can't Take My Eyes Off You by Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons

2010-03-26T11:12:00.001-07:00

	Hi, I just used Shazam to discover Can't Take My Eyes Off You by Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons and thought I'd share it with you.
Shazam users on iPhone and iPod touch, tap here to add this to your Tag List.

Sent on an iPhone

I used Shazam to discover Year Of The Cat by Al Stewart

2010-03-24T18:11:00.001-07:00

	Hi, I just used Shazam to discover Year Of The Cat by Al Stewart and thought I'd share it with you.
Shazam users on iPhone and iPod touch, tap here to add this to your Tag List.

Love the piano!
Sent on an iPhone

Runners' High

2010-03-20T20:42:00.000-07:00

Could also write it runner's high. But it's more of a shared experience I think.

In any case, I had an extreme case of it today. This afternoon, I ran farther than I've ever run, topping 14 miles. The run took more than two hours start to finish. As often happens on my Saturday runs, eventually I reached a point where I felt like I could go forever. I hadn't eaten much, having had some Cheerios in the morning and some trail mix just before taking the jog. I did manage to drink a lot of water along the route. This actually became a bit of a problem, as I became a bit bloated and weighted down. At a few points along the run, I felt like I might vomit, but managed to keep the little food I had in my stomach in my stomach. At one point, when I was approaching the Manhattan Pier, a teenage boy handed me a water bottle. It looked like a Glacier bottle, but was smaller, and had an advert for some Kirsten Alley TV show. (?) It's funny--it was exactly what I needed. I had been thinking about how I would pause for some hydration at the water fountain there at the pier. Instead, I did a little walking to shoot a text and down the 16-or-so-ounce bottle. It was a bit much. But crazily, although in addition to that water I chugged down gobs of water at several fountains along the route, I seemed to sweat it all off. I had no need to use the lavatory after the run. Nuts. It was pretty hot and sunny during the run, explaining some of the perspiration. Soon after I completed the journey, a pretty insane fog invaded Hermosa, obscuring even the closest buildings. I went on a walk with a friend after my run to get some coffee; we weren't able to see the water from the Strand, such was the density of the fog. My favorite part of foggy weather, of course, is the sound of foghorns.

I went up the Strand past LAX. What's perhaps most remarkable about the run is the scenery, both natural, manmade, and human itself. There perhaps is no stretch of beach in the world with so many beautiful women, sunbathing, playing on the beach, running, roller-blading, etc. It's really quite impressive actually.

As I ran, I did a lot of thinking. I thought mostly about what running does for me. Running truly is like a drug for my mind. It clears it even as it forces me to think about that which I'd rather not think about. Running is to a broken heart as Neosporin is to an open wound. It won't heal it, but it reduces the scarring. It's like sunscreen: it protects you but not completely. And it's definitely like a drug: it alters your mind and does crazy things to your body. I feel so much better after I run. There is perhaps not better time during my week than when I am running.

I go back and forth when trying to decide if running alone is better than running with others. I prefer to set my own pace; but time seems to pass more quickly when I run with others. Running alone is good think-time, but running with others can enable you to get to know others in a unique way.

Celebrities and Anomolies

2010-03-20T08:22:00.000-07:00

My brothers leave today. :(

I already drove Andrew to the airport, and will ferry Alex to the same destination later this morning. Getting up at 5:15AM on a Saturday morning is surprisingly awesome. It's not even 8:30AM and I feel like I've already gotten a lot accomplished. Of course, I haven't really; other than some Facebooking, reading, and blogging, I haven't really accomplished anything of note.

Having my brothers in town was a real treat. I miss seeing them every day (which I haven't experienced really since 2003/2004).

On Thursday night, we had dinner at Big Wok, a Mongolian BBQ place on Sepulveda. We were joined by a good friend from Kansas City who is out here working as a volunteer at a school in East Los Angeles. The food was good. At one point mid-way through our meal, my brother Andrew excitedly interrupted the conversation to inform us that we were in the presence of a celebrity. "Don't look now, but I think that's Maria Sharapova." Naturally, all of us immediately looked over to verify Andrew's eye. Although the woman very much looked like an athlete, tall, slender, and very well-dressed, I found it hard to believe that it was actually Sharapova herself. Andrew was adamant that it was she. The argument went on for some time, and was not resolved before she left with the three others (one woman and two apparent dates, also tall athletic-looking people). When we got home, I looked her up to see if there was any chance she was indeed at the Big Wok. It looks very likely that it was her. She apparently does live in Manhattan Beach, which is where the restaurant is, and she also is currently injured so not traveling to play. The fact that they took their food to go, while by no means proof of her celebrity status, does perhaps suggest that she had reason to avoid the crowd.

Alex had seen Bear Grylls on his flight to Los Angeles from New York; Andrew flew with footballer Jerry Rice from St. Louis to San Francisco. No trip is complete without such sightings, so I'm glad they happened.

Thursday was indeed spent at the beach. We got somewhat of a slow start, taking in the start of the NCAA tournament before finally heading down. Andrew and I went to two surf shops to buy some beach towels. I actually somehow didn't have nice beach towels, so was happy to pick some up. Andrew bought a pretty nifty wind-breaker.

We grabbed some Froyolife (Andrew again refusing to partake in this Californian tradition) and made our way to the beach. Alex and his recently arrived buddy met us there not long after. I dragged Andrew along with me on a barefoot 5k+ soft-sand/hard-sand/concrete pier-to-pier jaunt. It was a lot harder than you might imagine; finishing the run felt very good.

Thursday was the first time I got back into the ocean since Thanksgiving. It is very cold now, but one does quickly adjust to the temperature. There were a lot of people on the beach. Alex and his friend rented some surfing gear and went out on the waves for awhile. I was content reading the Economist under the sun.

We watched a little bball that evening, and video-chatted with all four of our sisters before dinner.

After eating at the Big Wok, we watched Fight Club at my apartment. Quite a movie; gutsy performance by Edward Norton.

Friday was another good, lazy, beach city day. Alex and his friend from Tufts surfed for much of the day while Andrew and I went on some college tours. We visited Loyola Marymount University and Pepperdine University, both beautiful campuses. Pepperdine's campus is stunningly breathtaking. Just as we arrived on site, the sun came out, making the views of the Pacific from the giant hills upon which the campus lies truly spectacular. Andrew and I spoke briefly with a woman whose son is currently at Pepperdine about their experience with the school. The son loves it there, mostly on account of the scenery. He does say that it's sometimes hard to get work done. My biggest concern about the school, in terms of it being a place for my brother, is its well-known conservative and religious bent. Any school that forces, by way of rules etc., certain behaviors, may not be the best place to spend four years questioning one's upbringing and formulating one's own views of the world.

I do know some folks who went to Pepperdine for undergrad and turned out a-ok; it's definitely the right place for a lot of people. I'm just not sure it's the most welcoming place in the world for everyone. (Note: the same could be said for Notre Dame, where I almost went, or even for Duke, although in Duke's case, there is much less, if any, of a religious component to its reputation/facade).

College is generally far too expensive these days. Pepperdine costs something like $54k/year. Considering that very few of its graduates make that in a year upon graduation, you have to wonder if it's worth going. I occasionally ask myself the same question about Duke, but then realize that it's made me who I am today in a very powerful way, and that there isn't a price tag on that. Plus, Duke seems to have provided the necessary future earnings power that at least comes close to matching its price.

It's when thinking about universities and their costs that I am forced to consider my own long-term financial ambitions. Do I want to be a millionaire? Do I need to have enough money to be able to shell out $250k on a single degree without going into debt? Is that what my kids deserve? If I was able to go to such a school, why shouldn't my kids be able to? Oughtn't I do everything in my power to ensure that nothing gets in the way of my kids doing whatever they want with their lives? Is it worth sacrificing ideals, if need be, for the sake of a future generation? Tough questions, I suppose. Questions that I'm being forced to consider now as I begin the process of applying to business school.

What I know is that if I do what I'm passionate about, and truly try to make my country a better place for my family and others, the rest should take care of itself. If must believe that. And I do.

Mid-to-End-Week Update on Brothers' Visit

2010-03-18T10:41:00.000-07:00

Well, my brothers have had a pretty eventful week here in Los Angeles. They've swam with dolphins, hiked with models, slept through an earthquake, visited a lot, driven hundreds of miles around town, and downed In N Out burgers. They've also managed to stand up on a surfboard, drive through Watts, and driven through the mountains.

On Monday, Andrew drove me to work so that the boys could have my car for the day. Because of Adam and Eve's mistakes and my lack of a $billion trust fund, I had to go to work all day. I did indeed work, but all morning was looking forward to lunch at In N Out. They picked me up and we all drove under the runways at LAX to my favorite work lunch spot. As usual, I marveled at the proximity of the jets flying overhead. My brothers shared my admiration for this neat experience. We all had burgers, of course. Alex got his fries "animal style," another way of saying "nasty." He didn't eat them. Andrew wasn't very impressed with the potatoes. Alex liked the regular ones. I was just happy to be eating. Throwing away our food, Andrew somehow tossed ketchup all over my pants, hitting me in the frontal region and down my left leg. Pretty gross. I surmounted the deepest patience genes inside of me to laugh it off and pretend like I didn't have to go back to work with massive ketchup stains. I didn't get any comments about it the rest of the day, but I'm sure a few people now think slightly less of me.

While I was at work, Alex and Andrew were at the beach surfing. They saw dolphins as well as a seal while there, which was pretty neat. They had great weather--up towards and possibly above 80. I went up to Brentwood for the usual Monday routine, bringing Alex and Andrew with me. We all enjoyed dinner at the Daily Grill in Brentwood afterwards, sharing memories of our childhood and talking about California. Being out here has made Andrew add this state to his list of possible college locations to be sure.

I had to work all day Tuesday. Kind of a bummer. Again, while I was toiling away at my desk, my brothers were surfing with dolphins and lounging on the sands of Hermosa. Andrew literally was feet away from a school of dolphins; Alex got some neat video of Andrew out there. We later told our father that Andrew had hit a shark in the face while surfing; we're not sure if he believed us or not.

It was Monday night that the 4.4 earthquake hit. None of us were shaken enough to wake up though. On Tuesday night, we went over to some friends' house to watch Lost.

Wednesday was a good day too. Better, perhaps, for me, than Monday and Tuesday. For starters, I got in a six-mile run before work, heading out with Alison Sullivan (one of my few trusty blog followers--thanks Alison!). She had run nine miles the night before--quite impressive. We kept a relaxed pace, running without headphones and instead to the beats of the waves. We started the run in the dark, under the stars, and ended in the day, under the very calm light of early morning. Both of us couldn't help but constantly verbally express our immense appreciation of the beauty of our surroundings. We--are--lucky--to--live--here.

The bros picked me up around lunch time. We had lunch at Astro Burger on Melrose (note: do not eat here), then met a buddy at Paramount Studios at 5555 Melrose. We got a little tour of the facilities, posing with some Oscars (from the Godfather and Titanic), walking around the New York set (where they're currently filming The Last Godfather or something), and picking up a postcard for my fifth graders.

We spent the afternoon exploring. A drive down the 101 and along the 10 brought us to Exposition Boulevard and USC for a quick college visit. Andrew was impressed with the school, but declined our offers to walk around. Shortly thereafter, we visited our sister Sarah's old haunts near USC, where she lived with her Jesuit Volunteer Corps compatriots. Continuing to follow in Sarah's last year's footsteps, we took a journey to Watts to see Verbum Dei High School, where Urban Compass holds its offices. We met Sarah's competent and friendly replacement, and saw her old boss. We snapped a few pics, chatted with some of Sarah's old students, and basked in the warmth of the day. We then drove through some of the nearby "projects" (I don't like using the word for its demeaning connotations, but that's what most people know them as) so my brothers could see where many of Sarah's old students live.

It was then back to beautiful Hermosa. Dinner was at some Mexican place along PCH down in Redondo. Good meal; had it with my roommate and his family, who is visiting this week as well. Thanks to them for dinner!

The roommate and I had some folks over Wednesday night for some St. Patrick's Day festivities. Mostly they involved playing Rock Band and drinking variously Irish beverages. Oh, and Budweiser too.

Today (Thursday), we're planning on hitting up the beach again. Naturally.

I missed my chance to fill out brackets this year. Terribility. Now I have no reason to follow the tournament. Go Duke.

Some New Pictures

2010-03-17T19:41:00.000-07:00

Broooooos visiting Los Angeles (and a few random other shots)

I used Shazam to discover Armada Latina by Cypress Hill Feat. Marc Anthony & Pitbull

2010-03-15T06:12:00.001-07:00

	Hi, I just used Shazam to discover Armada Latina by Cypress Hill Feat. Marc Anthony & Pitbull and thought I'd share it with you.
Shazam users on iPhone and iPod touch, tap here to add this to your Tag List.

This has quickly become the cut of the Erker brothers in Los Angeles.

Eeeeeeeee!

Sent on an iPhone

The brosefs hit Los Angeles

2010-03-14T20:39:00.001-07:00

Brothers in town.

After a long day of doing mindless yet important tasks such as laundry and getting a car wash, I attended a Happy Hour with the Society of Aerospace Professionals (SOAP) at Sharkeez Manhattan Beach on Friday night. I rode my bike there; I regretted this decision soon after I realized just how far Sharkeez is up Highland. My decision was even worst when I found that my electric motor was sputtering, then non-functional. Long ride.

The male-female ratio at the primarily engineers event was, not surprisingly, far too high. After chatting it up with a few folks, I decided to head back to the Mosa to rest before picking up my brother Alex.

Alex's flight from New York was delayed--then again-and then again. He didn't end up landing until almost 3:00AM on Friday night/Saturday madrugada. Being a committed brohan though, I made the trek up to LAX to pick him up.

On Saturday, I made my tired brother wake up and dragged him up to the Parlor in Santa Monica to watch the Blue Devils dispatch with the Miami Hurricanes in the ACC semi-final. After the game, we met a friend in Brentwood off of Mandeville Canyon Road to help her move a couch to her new apartment in West Hollywood. My brother enjoyed the ride along Sunset, seeing Michael Jackson's old pad and much of Beverly Hills. After checking out the gal's new pad, Alex and I drove back to the Mosa to take a bit of a rest on the beach. We napped for awhile on the sand. It was slightly cold, but still very peaceful and worth it.

A couple friends came down from Studio City/Hollywood for a glass of wine over the sunset, then we all went down to Shark's Cove for some food and Guinness. One of the gals is a model here in Los Angeles, and has had quite an interesting path, having spent time all over Asia. I quizzed her on the ins and outs of modeling, finding her to be remarkably more human than I anticipated. I do wonder how much models can truly see the world in a "normal" way, and how much they project their own high expectations of themselves on the world around them. Interesting stuff.

Alex and I picked up my youngest brother Andrew from LAX at about midnight on Saturday night. We gave him a quick tour of my place, planned the next day, and hit the sack.

Today was a great day. We started it the same way we started yesterday: a quick trip to Starbucks, then a drive up to Santa Monica to the Parlor to watch Duke beat a hapless ACC opponent. Today's game against Georgia Tech was far too close for comfort, but we came out victorious in the end, which is all that matters.

After the game, we met up with our new model-friends to go for a hike up in Griffith Park. We climbed up to the Observatory, taking in the panoramic views of this vast metropolis.

Our group had lunch at Aroma Cafe in Studio City; I had a tasty burger with curly fries. My brothers and I then spent the afternoon driving around town. We drove down Hollywood, past all of the tourists huddled around costumed folks at the Kodak theatre, then up Laurel Canyon Road to Mulholland Drive. Our plan to take that route to the ocean was scuttled by a closed road not far from Laurel Canyon. Undeterred, we instead took the 101 to Topanga Canyon Road. We had quite a good soundtrack, from radio tunes to Girl Talk to some cuts off Robbie Wohanka's album. Topanga was a beautiful drive, but not uneventful. Just a few miles away from Highway 1, traffic came to a complete halt. We ended up waiting for maybe 45 minutes while police cars passed, folks started throwing footballs, and everyone postulated on what might lay ahead.

Finally, the police let us through. We drove by the cause of the congestion: a nasty three-car wreck. It appeared that at least two of the cars had struck each other head-on. All three cars had deployed airbags, and it's unlikely that any of them will be back in commission soon. I hope that the passengers are ok. I think they are.

We stopped in Venice on the way home to watch the sunset along the beach. After that, we walked along the strip, eventually meandering over to the skatepark, where we marvelled at the bravery of the variously sized skaters. We were especially impressed with one kid, who couldn't have been more than seven years old, who rode fearlessly along with the rest. Presumably, his folks were somewhere around--probably down in the hills or whatever you call them.

Before making it back to Playaz Playas, I exposed my brothers to the beauty of Pinkberry. Andrew, after tasting some, declined a full serving. Alex, on the other hand, seems to have liked it. I told them that it is somewhat of an acquired taste. I myself wasn't crazy about the yogurty taste at first, but have grown to really like it over time. My new favorite topping is mochi. God knows what it is. But I kind of want to bring a bag of them to work to snack on during the day. Someone please arrange for that to happen.

What Moves Me

2010-03-12T13:15:00.000-08:00

I was speaking with my sister last night on the phone. She and I were discussing how one should go about setting long and short term goals. Is there a structure or format for such an exercise? I'm sure many people would say that there is an organized way to set goals.

She pointed out that as you move forward in your career, goals shift. If you aren't doing exactly what you expected to be doing, then perhaps determining your goals becomes more difficult. Most of us expect our lives to be somewhat linear. Every step of our lives is supposed to lead to a logical next step; through this simple logic, we progress through our lives in a way that is predictable, desirable, and disciplined.

Sadly, life isn't nearly as organized: our expectations are often shot, our predictions implode. We have to adjust on the fly to new information and data points. Maybe we thought we would make a team, or go to a certain college, or be with a certain person. We arrange our hopes and our dreams around meeting those goals. When we miss, we have to recalibrate. Doing so isn't always easy, especially when it involves a fundamental change in direction. Such changes, however, no doubt make us more interesting and dynamic people.

Not long ago, I set about the small task of defining who I am as a person right now. I've lived a quarter of a century (almost 26 years old now, sadly). I think it makes sense to take stock of what is important to me in my life. I must do so in order to assess my current lot in life. Am I in the right place? Am I doing what I should be doing? What changes must I make in how I treat other people? Is my sense of morality where it should be?

I wrote down a few things.

The most important things in my life are 1. My family and 2. My country

I arrange my life around goals, short- and long-term

I am very fortuante for what I have been given and did nothing to earn my place in society

I seek to leave the world a happier and safer place

I believe passionately in the power of education to advance society

I aspire to lead in our country

I know that levers of power are controlled by a privileged but meritocratic "elite" establishment

For the benefit of others, I hope to engrain myself in this establishment and power structure

I am passionate but even-keeled; teaching in Chicago made me highly patient yet relentlessly demanding of others

I do not accept failure on my own account

I celebrate shortcomings as educational experiences; I have a framed college rejection letter prominently displayed in my room

I try to treat people the way I want to be treated, and to be at my best when no one is watching

I love other countries but am sure my own is the "best" in the history of the world

I practice extreme pragmatism but believe most things are possible with a little hard work and lots of luck

I make girls laugh. Guys not so much

I don't get drunk; but I enjoy watching others do so

I am very concerned for humanity's future this century

I enjoy coffee and Dr. Pepper

My two favorite female columnists are Maureen Dowd and Peggy Noonan

I would like to be governor of Missouri (or another state) some day

I do not tolerate vigilante justice in my nation, but believe good people occasionally must break "laws" of other countries or even of our own for the betterment of mankind

I am a multi-tasker

I love to floss my teeth

I have many heroes

I am aware of the privileges I have as a white heterosexual financially stable male. However, I make no apologies for this luck, but do my best to share the spoils with others

My favorite place in the world is the A Bar A Ranch in southern Wyoming

I studied at the University College of London in the fall of 2005. I visited many countries while across the pond; Sweden was probably my favorite

I approach mental challenges like Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind

I would like to take an MBA at a top business school

I like looking at old pictures, especially if they're printed out

I know how to spell, and rarely misspell when I write in any format

I like to write things down and keep records of my life

In the span of one 12-month period, I lived in the U.S.'s three biggest cities: New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles

I became an adult sometime in 2009

I think women are magic, and prefer them not to use their powers against me in a mean way

I am self-assured

I network

I desperately wish I believed

I would love to serve my country as an ambassador with the State Department

I always support my President, regardless of his party or policies. I can always vote for someone else next time

I think it would be neat to publish a book

I derive tremendous pleasure from throwing wet pasta against the wall to gauge its readiness

I cried when I heard my grandfather was dying; I did not cry while I watched him peacefully leave, nor during his funeral. I think this is odd

I remember dreams almost nightly

In the past, I haven't liked staying in one place for too long. I know that I may need to pick a spot soon

I would like a big family. Money and hips are the only limiting factors

I believe the U.S. deserves a lot more respect

I subscribe to the Word and Quotes of the day and read both religiously

I like getting to know the top leadership of any organizations I'm involved with

The Economist is the closest thing I have to a political and economic bible. It is weekly required reading

I hate losing, especially in any kind of board game

If I could be any super-hero, I'd be Bruce Wayne

If I could trade places with another human being for a year, I'd switch with Bono

I'd rather give $1M to my high school than to my university. My high school needs it more

I pride myself on my ability to be comfortable in almost any social setting, and being able to talk to almost any human being

I know it's possible to fall in love with someone, but I've never really gotten to enjoy the benefits of mutual love for more than a few fleeting moments

I love to run, especially along the beach

I wish I didn't chew ice, but I do

Music has an exceptional power over me

I used to believe most things people told me; now I have a better appreciation for humanity's deep flaws and lack of trustworthiness

Whenever I've done something I knew I shouldn't have done, bad things have happened; therefore, I know that I must always do what I feel is right, no matter what

I would prefer to have no enemies; to anyone who considers me an enemy, I challenge you to come to the table to work out whatever differences we have

I really like coincidences

I always wear my seatbelt, although not wearing one does feel pretty exciting

I love scotch

I have never been good at video games

Laundromats are special places

I have trouble deciding which is more beautiful: a sunset over the Pacific or a view of the Chicago skyline from out on Lake Michigan

I wish I could help homeless people more

Bud Heavies

2010-03-10T20:50:00.000-08:00

If you're going to drink beer, drink heavy beer.

I have been trying to memorize a poem this week, "Ozymandias," by Percy Bysshe Shelley. It's a good one. And memorizing is much more fun than I remember from high school. Except this one is kind of hard to learn because of its structure. Written back in the early 19th century, it doesn't flow quite like the 21st century man's consciousness. Sentences cross into lines, word order is inconsistent, and pauses come at will--in other words, it's a poem.

Work has been very stressful recently. I've been place on the F-15 international programs, and am the financial analyst for some of our work in Korea and some of our work in Japan. Without going into details, I can say that both responsibilities come with a big time commitment. I definitely have a lot to learn, and am glad to be surrounded my an extremely competent team.

There has been a lot in the news recently about the Air Force's tanker deal. This is a deal that has been long in the making. We've been using the same tankers (big huge planes that transport big heavy things and also refuel fighter jets) since Eisenhower's days, and are due for a major upgrade. Such an upgrade will bring a windfall to whomever can get a piece of the deal. I think I read somewhere recently that the deal is worth something like $40 billion. That's a lot of money.

What makes this contract crazy is that it was already bid competitively, won by a team led by Northrop Grumman and EADS, and then rebid after the Air Force decided (following a lot of noise from Boeing) to change some things in their request.

Northorp and EADS claim that the terms of the revised request heavily favors Boeing's planes, and have subsequently dropped out of the race, leaving the contract to Boeing. Some are grumbling that well-placed members of congress have had too much of an influence on the process; others suspect that EADS' foreign ownership played a role. (Americans generally prefer to build their own military equipment. It's a pride issue.) In any case, now the bid isn't competitive, and taxpayers may pay a premium. Lots of people are really angry. Others are happy. And life goes on.

I wonder if there will ever be a day when kids ask "what's email?" I hope not. God only knows how we'll be communicating when such a day arrives.

We truly live in the jet age. A friend of mine pointed this out to me. If you want, you can get in a machine and end up a thousand miles away, just in a few short hours. Pretty neat. What's also neat is that you can drop a piece of paper into a blue box and expect that piece of paper to arrive somewhere 3,000 miles away in a just a few days, all for a few pieces of change.

Sometimes I have strange memories from my childhood. Like I recently have been thinking about how I used to crawl into the top shelf of my closet in Kansas City and try to fall asleep. It was just barely big enough for me to fit in comfortably, with some blanketage to keep me warm and comfortable. I would hang out there, feeling completely safe, hidden, and powerful. No one could touch me. I remember the cold feel of the white wood, and the closeness of the loft. I bet the spot is a lot smaller than I remember it.

I went on a five-mile run this morning before work. I figured out that I need to get up to 24th street in Manhattan Beach to do a 5-mile loop. Running in the early AM is less bad than it used to be, for a couple reasons. First of all, it's getting lighter earlier out here. Second, for the last two days, I've run without headphones. Instead, my soundtrack has been the calm, repetitive waves. (If there's a third constant in life I'd add to death and taxes, it's waves...) There have been a lot of folks out there too recently, making me feel less alone. Today, in fact, there was an old man in an eletric scooter/wheelchair. He apparently left the house on half a battery, as I found him stuck in some accumulated sand near the Manhattan Pier. Another runner and I helped drag him out of the small dunes while another woman called the police to come give him a charge slash lift to wherever he needed to go. I felt a few emotions during that situation. One: pity for an old man stuck in the sand, totally dependent on others' good will; two: frustration that I will some day also be old and dependent; three: disbelief that such a device doesn't have a manual slash powerless mode for sitations like these.

Stay busy, someone told me. It's the surest way to staying happy in tough situations. I think that might be true. When one's mind is racing, the best thing to do is change the route as much as possible. Maybe I should consider switching up my own jogging route? I take the same one every time I run. I like the consistency. I like knowing exactly (more or less) how far I've gone; I enjoy the scenery; I recognize the homes; I know the shops; I run into the same homeless men at the same places. No, can't alter that up.

Words With Friends. With shouldn't be capitalized, but it is. That's ok. I'll still beat anyone I play. Except when I lose. Which happens all-too-frequently.

At some point I will need to put serious thought into where I will be living next year. Do I stay in Los Angeles for another year? Or do I try my hand elsewhere? It's an important decision. I've obviously made a decision spreadsheet with a weighted list of factors to help guide me in the right direction. But in the end, it will be a gut choice. If I had to bet money on where I'll end up, and I had to put that money down now, I would give my cash to the house--it's just too early to call.

Scott Director

2010-03-10T20:44:00.000-08:00

I went to a southern school mixer at (fittingly) South in Santa Monica yesterday evening.

I met a guy named Scott Director there who, among other things, writes music.

Here's a link to one of his songs. It has flavors of Zimmer, Williams, and Horner. Very soundtracky, which I generally like. Strong horns. Maybe a touch stereotypical, and could maybe use a more distinct climax, but a good listen anyway.

http://www.scottdirector.com/comp_glaciers_listen.html

Fwd: Duke WBB Alumni

2010-03-08T06:45:00.001-08:00

Your Duke Blue Devils won the ACC Title yesterday in Greensboro!! Joy Cheek & Karima Christmas were named 1st Team All-Tournament and Jasmine Thomas was named the Most Outstanding Player. It was a great weekend in Greensboro as Duke has now won 6 ACC Championship Titles!

http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4200&ATCLID=204903357

We now await our seeding for the NCAA Tournament which will be held on Monday, March 15th.

GO DUKE!

Mixed Tapes and Water Breaks

2010-03-06T12:50:00.001-08:00

I need to commit myself to writing more. Sometimes I forget how comforting it can be to put words on a page. May be a bit repetitive today; I'm getting a little lazy and am not going to go back and review too closely what I've written recently.

I went to Orlando, Florida on Valentine's Day this year. Travelling on Valentine's Day is always fun. I saw fewer pink and red shirts that day that I expected. (Actually I wasn't looking for pink and red shirts. But I don't remember seeing a lot. Which probably means that I saw fewer than I expected. Because I would probably have noticed.)

Florida was great; cold by my new and unfairly tropical standards, but a very good time. I got to go to Disney World! (By the way, here's how to remember which is where between Disney Land and World. Land has the letters "la" in it. Therefore it is in Los Angeles. World has the letters "orld" in it. There for it is in "orlANdO.")

We got to check out the Sum of All Thrills, Raytheon's super-sciency new ride at Epcot. I designed a "ride" with a friend of mine. We picked how fast we went, how many flips and turns we'd make, and how high we'd go. All of these inputs were entered into a computer system, which then ran various complicated math things around lots of wires (and maybe not wires). My buddy and I then got into a simulator, which took us through our ride. It was sweet. We even did some flips. I had just eaten, so was happen not to lose my dinner all over the screen.

We also got to take in a delightful fireworks show. Somehow, we ended up with prime seating.

The night I returned from Orlando, I went to a Duke professional networking mixer up at some swanky bar in Century City (I think?). It was nice; I ran into some old friends and made some new ones too.

I've been very fortunate to have gotten involved in some great community service opportunities lately. I spent a Saturday morning proctoring a math contest, MathCOUNTS, at Northrop Grumman. The week before, I went to a singles-type mixer at the Food Bank. Peculiar idea, but people seemed to like it. More recently, I spoke at a career day at Dana Middle School near Raytheon. The kids loved hearing from the three Raytheon employees who were there to talk to them about our jobs. I got some letters back from them on Thursday. The letters really made me smile, first because of how much their writing reminds me of my old students' and second because it seems like we really reached them. We spoke with middle school kids, and the response was universally positive. Kids wrote about wanting to go to college (Duke particularly), get good jobs, and work hard.

In a very big way, spending time tutoring kids every week at Dana makes me miss my students. I'm planning on going back to Chicago sometime in May to visit them.

I got their ISAT results back not too long ago, and discovered that I had failed them in writing. It was hard to take. But I know that they can recover. Hopefully I can help somehow.

I just finished Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains. I highly recommend it. Very inspirational. Dr. Paul Farmer is a personal hero, someone I'd like to be like. I'm certainly not as smart as he is. But maybe I can work something out.

Review: Mountains Beyond Mountains

2010-03-06T12:43:00.000-08:00

http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A32KC17WS4E76S/ref=cm_pdp_rev_title_1?ie=UTF8&sort_by=MostRecentReview#R2G89FTLX3FMQV

Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World
by Tracy Kidder

One should not pick up Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains unless one is ready to question one’s moral worldview and value system. One shouldn’t start reading this book unless one is comfortable admitting to not doing enough to make the world a better place for others. And one especially should not digest this work unless one is prepared to feel inadequate and inspired at the same time.

Kidder introduces us to the book’s protagonist, Paul Farmer, and takes us through Farmer’s remarkable life, from his childhood living in a bus to his ascension to the very peak of academia and health care. In chronicling Farmer’s path from childhood through high school, college, Haiti, and other countries, Kidder provides a deep and at times disturbing state of man.

Many have heard Farmer’s story. He grew up in a low-income household, but through a love of learning and his inherent brilliance got into Duke University, where he thrived academically, if not socially. Inspired by a number of factors, Farmer began working in health facilities in Haiti. He gained entrance into Harvard Medical School after having established himself working in Haiti. Soon, his organization, Partners in Health, was training dozens of health care personnel in Haiti and around the world and providing much-needed healthcare to those who needed it most but could afford it least.

Farmer’s accomplishments are shockingly moving. What may be more interesting to the reader who seeks a little bit of Farmer’s magic potion is just how all of this happened. Kidder spends enough time with Farmer over the years that he becomes to truly know Farmer the doctor, Farmer the motivator, Farmer the leader, Farmer the firebrand, and Farmer the man. Not surprisingly, Kidder grows increasingly affectionate towards Farmer. There are points in the book where Kidder seems to have finally found a kink in Farmer’s armor. One such situation involved Farmer’s decision to fly a sick child to Boston for treatment. It turned out that the great expense did not save the child, who appeared to have had little chance to begin with.

But as always, Farmer has an answer to Kidder’s challenges. Everyone, regardless of birth, deserves to be cared for. Each of us make decisions daily in which we justify why we don’t spend our lives helping others, our money building that which is broken. What makes Farmer’s idealism and optimism believable, against all odds, is complicated. Farmer was gifted with an intellect that knows few peers. He attended universities that have provided him with the requisite connections and resources to turn his ideas into hospitals. He was very fortunate to have a funder, Tom White, who opened his checkbook to bail Farmer out whenever necessary.

Regardless of the perfect circumstances, it took one man to make it all happen. For those who say it’s impossible to lead a meaningful, full life doing something you love, while also accumulating immense global power and stature, may I recommend this book. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you. It may just make you want to quit your job and instead use your skills for the betterment of mankind.

Fwd: Help restore and increase Teach For America's federal funding

2010-03-03T15:06:00.001-08:00

See below.

Sent on an iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Wendy Kopp" <federalfunding@teachforamerica.org>
Date: March 3, 2010 12:40:45 PST
To: <patrick.erker@gmail.com>
Subject: Help restore and increase Teach For America's federal funding

To view this email as a web page, go here.

Dear Charles,

I write to you today to make you aware of a challenge facing Teach For America and to ask for your help reaching out to Congress.

As you may know, Teach For America relies on annual federal funding to support our program. This year, we received $21 million through Congressional appropriations, and we have requested $50 million for the 2011 fiscal year. This funding is critical as we continue our efforts to enhance training and support for corps members and to expand our work to serve more students.

However, the funding-and by extension, our ability to expand our impact on students in low-income communities-is now at risk. Congress is currently considering a budget proposal that eliminates Teach For America's direct funding in favor of a system of competitive grants. Unfortunately, this proposal would force Teach For America to cut our corps size by 30 percent versus our 2011 plan because of the timing and administration of the proposed grants. Therefore, I'm asking you to join us in an urgent campaign to restore and increase our federal funding for the 2011 fiscal year.

We are asking all Members of Congress to sign letters, sponsored by Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) in the House and Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) in the Senate, calling on Congress to restore Teach For America's funding and increase it to $50 million in the 2011 fiscal year. With this funding, Teach For America would be able to continue to expand our impact while funding enhancements to our training and support, placing us on a trajectory to reach over one million students each day by 2015.

Commitments to sign the letter must be received by Friday, March 12, so time is of the essence. Here's how you can help:

1. Using your mobile phone, text "TFA" to 30644 to join our campaign. Once you join, you'll be asked to provide your e-mail address and ZIP code. You'll then receive alerts that enable you to automatically get in touch with your member of Congress to deliver the message in support of Teach For America's federal funding.

2. Let us know if you have any direct connections with Members of Congress, governors, mayors, and school superintendents. E-mail us at federalfunding@teachforamerica.org with tips or questions if you are able to help with any direct outreach.

3. Forward this email to family, friends, and others who support Teach For America's efforts to grow our impact and enhance our program.

While our challenge is a daunting one, I am confident that with your support and that of others in our broader movement, we can persuade Congress to restore and increase Teach For America's funding. Many thanks for all you can do to help!

Best,

Wendy

P.S. For more information on the campaign and how you can help, please visit www.teachforamerica.org/federalfunding.

Click here to unsubscribe or modify your email profile.
We respect your right to privacy - click here to view our policy.

This email was sent by: Teach For America
315 West 36th Street, 6th Floor , New York , NY, 10018

I used Shazam to discover All I Need by Mat Kearney

2010-03-01T17:43:00.001-08:00

	Hi, I just used Shazam to discover All I Need by Mat Kearney and thought I'd share it with you.
Shazam users on iPhone and iPod touch, tap here to add this to your Tag List.

Sent on an iPhone

I used Shazam to discover Fade Into You by Mazzy Star

2010-02-23T07:22:00.001-08:00

	Hi, I just used Shazam to discover Fade Into You by Mazzy Star and thought I'd share it with you.
Shazam users on iPhone and iPod touch, tap here to add this to your Tag List.

Sent on an iPhone

Beautiful

2010-02-21T14:55:00.001-08:00

Run.

I used Shazam to discover Fire On High by Electric Light Orchestra

2010-02-20T18:36:00.001-08:00

	Hi, I just used Shazam to discover Fire On High by Electric Light Orchestra and thought I'd share it with you.
Shazam users on iPhone and iPod touch, tap here to add this to your Tag List.

Sent on an iPhone

Fwd: We're going for the gold! Vote for Teach For America!

2010-02-19T07:00:00.001-08:00

Please vote for TFA.

Sent on an iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Arsenault, Bree" <bree.arsenault@teachforamerica.org>
Date: February 19, 2010 6:25:55 PST
To: "Arsenault, Bree" <bree.arsenault@teachforamerica.org>
Subject: We're going for the gold! Vote for Teach For America!

10 days and counting… We're in the home stretch and we need everyone's help for this last push!

1. Cast your vote for Teach For America: www.refresheverything.com/TFA.

Note: Make sure you hit the "Vote for this Idea" button AFTER you have logged in. Merely logging in while you are on the Teach For America page doesn't count as a vote. J

2. Please send this link on to 3 friends, colleagues or family members today. Every vote is important!

Have a great Friday!

____________________________________________
This communication and any file transmitted with it may contain information that is confidential, privileged and exempt from disclosure under applicable law. It is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, dissemination or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender. Thank you for your cooperation.

Beautiful Scenery

2010-02-13T17:58:00.001-08:00

My dad hates bananas

2010-02-13T16:39:00.000-08:00

Went for 80 min on the Strand this afternoon. Not sure why, but I was
feeling like Forrest Gump out there-I could have kept running forever.

Think it relates to how perfect my weekend has been so far.

Might also be a result of the workouts I forced myself to do this
week. In any case, I'm looking forward to staying on pace to prepare
my body for the pain it will endure on June 6 in San Diego.

It's another perfect day here in paradise. High 60s, a warm blanket of
sun, and hundreds of outdoor types out and about.

Probably going to head up to Hollywood tonight to watch some Olympics
action with a buddy. Go Ohno!

Meandering Musings

Hot in Dallas

Seeing the Old Students, Hitting Up D.C.

Steal This Book!

Various Updates

Back in Hermosa

Waltham

D.C., Tucson, Boston, L.A. (March)

Tucson is good-looking

Basically driving the tram at Dulles

Eating and Drinking

Wendy Kopp Is My Hero

Planet Fitness: Out of Shape

Cairo Protests (verb)

Give me a quarter. I'm cold!

Looks like people will be working from home today

Sunday Funday

No, I'm not walking right now thank you

Duke Interviews

The "West Point of Capitalism"

It's really cold on my floor in Boston.

Ides of January

2010 recap

Skiing at Loon Mountain

Getting Used to Boston

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and related travel musings

First impressions of Beantown

More Posts Soon Enough

Dallas for Session B

NYTimes: Secret Assault on Terrorism Widens on Two Continents

I used Shazam to discover Gold Guns Girls by Metric

Lowell, the Cape, and Cambridge

Cape Cod

Hitting All the Time Zones

Atlantic Ocean

Someday I'll Be Back!

My Entrance to the Sea

A Funny-Looking Lifeguard Hut

View East from the Pier

View South from the Pier

View North from the Pier

View West from the Pier

Look for the Standing Surfer

Palm Trees along Hermosa Pier

Bye to the Pier

Breakfast at Java Man Coffee House

Morning: into the Pacific

Merica. Blank blank.

Santa Monica Pier ferris wheel!

Dinner at the Lobster

First Fridays

Hollywood Sign, Getty, Arclight Theatre

Jay Leno at the Comedy and Magic Club

The Getty!

Loving Beverly Hills

Avalon

To the nines

Cardinals-Dodgers, the Queen Mary, and Hollywood

I got a ticket! And ran a marathon.

Memorial Day

Hi Grandma!

Volleyball without your hands

Wonderland

The Untouchables

View

Taiwanese Boy Lin Yu Chun Sings Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" LIVE

Earthquake in Los Angeles

Week in Rearview

Everyone Has Hobbies

Duke Back in the Final Four!

LA lifestyle

Palos Verdes bike ride

Chesebro Half Marathon

I used Shazam to discover Can't Take My Eyes Off You by Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons

I used Shazam to discover Year Of The Cat by Al Stewart

Runners' High

Celebrities and Anomolies

Mid-to-End-Week Update on Brothers' Visit

Some New Pictures

I used Shazam to discover Armada Latina by Cypress Hill Feat. Marc Anthony & Pitbull