Sibling Bonding in Chicago

Katie and I have traveled each of the last two weekends to spend time with her sister in Chicago and my brother in Austin respectively.

It was only my second time in Chicago but the city struck me with some of its similarities to and differences from Houston. The two cities are around the same size in terms of population but have very different profiles. Chicago feels like a much "older" city than Houston, which is both good and bad. Some of the "old" feels dingy/grimy, but some of it is charming - e.g. many of the skyscrapers in downtown Chicago are much more interesting architecturally than are those of similar size in Houston. Chicago's wide availability of public transportation is also a significant differentiator; we traveled all over the metro area and never had need of a car. Chicago and Houston both have huge medical centers, significant academic institutions (both private and public), and major international airports - but very different economies. Perhaps most important for our trip, we were pleased to discover that Chicago, like Houston, has a vibrant, thriving restaurant scene!

The trip was short but we packed in a lot of fun (and a little business too, of course!). We stayed at a hotel downtown - where it turned out that Dan Akroyd was staying as well! Much of Friday was spent dodging torrential downpours as we walked around the Navy Pier or entertained ourselves indoors. Friday night we met up with some of Katie's sister's friends at India House, which provided not only dinner but enough leftovers for breakfast for the rest of the trip!

Saturday we made our way out to Wrigley Field for a Cubs game and, wow, I was really impressed by the team spirit on show! Everyone for miles around was in Cubs gear and the stadium was rocking as everyone cheered or boo'ed for even the smallest events. Fan spirit is clearly another area of differentiation from Houston!

Before the game we brunched at Uncommon Ground, which featured delicious, natural food and inventive drinks. Afterward we bar hopped a little in Wrigleyville, returned downtown, and readied ourselves for another night out. Instead of Indian we opted for Italian at Quartino, which was unfortunately unremarkable. We made up for it afterward, though, at Eno, a wine bar that offered flights of wine, cheese, and chocolate! One of my buddies from Rice football and his wife joined us too, which only enhanced the experience.

Sunday morning we returned to Houston but soon we would be on the road again to Austin!

The Big Lebowski

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

The next weekend was a beach volleyball tournament in Galveston. My favorite men's 2s partner and I reunited for the first time in three years and had a great time. We lost two games by a little and won two games by a lot but that wasn't enough to advance to the playoffs. We played well, though, and one of our wins handed the top team in our bracket their only loss so we felt good about the day. Leaving early afforded us the opportunity to listen to Rice baseball win on the way back from Galveston, take a nap, and then Katie and I enjoyed dinner and a movie in the evening.

Rice baseball unfortunately did not advance out of the regional tournament hosted by UT. It was a really weird year for Rice; we lost many more games than usual and just didn't seem to have the dominant pitching for which we are known. The upside is that our offense was pretty awesome this season. Led by player of the year Anthony Rendon, we won several games by mercy rule. Offense comes and goes, though, so you can't rely on it alone in the post season. Oh well, at least football season is now right around the corner!

The following weekend Katie and I went to St. Louis for the first time for the wedding of a middle/high school classmate of mine. He had been another captain on the football team so many of our old teammates were there for the occasion. It was great fun to catch up with all the old guys; we tried not to spend too much time reliving the glory days and Katie was a great sport about it.

Last week I was up in Chicago (also for the first time) on business, which presented a great chance to catch up with some Rice folks I hadn't seen in some time. I made it back on Saturday, just in time to prep for The Dude Imbibes, a Big Lebowski trivia night. Katie's sister, Kelly, was in town with her boyfriend, Mike, who had never seen The Big Lebowski before. So, in order to prepare our team, we watched the movie with some white russians. Watching it again reminded me why it is still my favorite movie; every time I watch it I notice some new, subtle nuance.

The pub quiz was held at Little Woodrow's in the Rice Village. Although there were only nine teams (many fewer than we had had for the Seinfeld pub quiz a few months ago), the competition was spirited and we had a great time. Geeks Who Drink, the organizers, put on a really good event.

We aced most of the rounds of questions, although we fared poorly in the audio round, in which we had to identify obscure artists of music heard throughout the movie. Fortunately, everyone else fared poorly on that round too so we spent most of the event in second place. Some rounds featured bonus questions for which free beers were awarded to the individual who presented the first correct answer. We won all but one of those and the team next to us insisted that my speedy writing be tested for doping. :-)

We outperformed the top team in the final round to secure a tie for first place. This meant we had to settle it with sudden death overtime. The DJ played "The Final Countdown" to get us in the spirit and then we won by correctly answering the next question while the other team did not--amateurs! The DJ played "You're The Best" and the Quiz Master gave us our winnings. It was a good night! We paid $20 to enter, $20 for beer, and $40 for food. We won $70 plus four free beers so I think it worked out pretty well. To celebrate, we went home and watched Tombstone, which also features Sam Elliott.

Sunday we arose early and traveled out to JD Organic Farms to pick blueberries. If you're a blueberry lover (I add them to my cereal whenever possible.), it's a great deal. You pay $2.50/lb for whatever you pick. They're organic, local, cheap, not wastefully packaged, and easily frozen for future use. Between the four of us we picked 17 lbs in about an hour--AND the proprietors had a six-week-old golden lab puppy who was worth the price of admission all by herself.

After blueberry pie, scones, and pancakes, we froze the rest and participated in a vegan cooking class at Indika. As always, the results were delicious and it was so cool to cook in the kitchen of a major restaurant with the chef and sous chefs flitting about to help and advise.

It was a great weekend and a great month! Now I need to buckle down before heading off to Switzerland!

Sports Season Transition

There were two reasons to be depressed following the Super Bowl this year. The first was that Peyton Manning failed to win a second league championship. Colts special teams were poor and Manning couldn't get any help at all from his receivers. Kudos to New Orleans, which played a great game of ballsy calls and good execution.

The second reason to be depressed is simply that the football season is now over. Sure there will be some buzz around scouting combines, spring training, and the NFL draft, but things really won't pick back up again until August. This makes Bryan sad--probably more productive, but sad.

Fortunately there are some silver linings. For instance, the end of football always marks the beginning of college baseball. The mighty Rice Owls opened the season poorly, being swept this weekend by Stanford, but it's better to stumble at this point of the season than in the post-season!

Another silver lining is the start of the beach volleyball season. In colder climates, beach volleyball might not be possible for months, but here in Houston this weekend offered the perfect opportunity for it. Saturday was sunny with a high in the low 70s. Several of us met early in the morning and played for hours. Some rust had to be shaken off--and it didn't help that some of us had been out until 4 AM the night before--but it was a lot of fun. Welcome back, Spring weather!

In the meantime I'm continuing to enjoy the Winter Olympics. I've never cheered so hard for sports I understand so little! Saturday night, at a friend's birthday party, we all found ourself huddled around the TV and cheering on the US Curling team, not to mention our speed skaters. The USA is still in first place according to my weighted medal scoring system, with a score of 66, but Germany is breathing down our neck with 56. Here's hoping for an exciting final week!

It Finally Happened

This weekend has been remarkable for several reasons. Chronologically:

1. On Friday it was announced that Jimmy Buffett will be performing not one but two shows in Europe this year, both in small venues. July 5th he will be in London in a theater that seats ~2,000 and September 26th he will be in Paris in a jazz lounge that seats ~900. Last year's show in a jazz lounge in Paris was UNBEATABLE. If you really consider yourself a parrothead, come join me one of these shows!

2. On Friday I finished J.R.R. Tolkien's Book of Lost Tales. It was very long and slow going but it provided amazing insight into how Tolkien arrived at the stories that were ultimately published in The Silmarillion and laid the foundation for The Lord of the Rings. It's not for the faint of heart but I recommend it for any die-hard Tolkien fans.

3. Many of you know that I have never been shat upon by a bird before in my entire life. Walking to and from IMD every day last year, I always had this fear that my streak would be broken as the paths through the woods around campus were coated with bird poop. Miraculously, however, I made it through unscathed and reached my 30th birthday still unsoiled.

Saturday morning, one of my coworkers, Bogdan, and I went to IMD to play ping pong. Bogdan is a good athlete; he was a soccer star in Romania and he has picked up beach volleyball very quickly, providing me with a much-needed partner who is consistently available. It turns out that he is pretty good at ping pong too; he beat me 5 games to 3, but most of our games were settled by 2-3 points and a few of them went to deuce.

During one game, as I was winding up for a forehand smash, I felt something on my shoulder. After putting the smash away for a winner, I looked back and was surprised to see what was obviously bird poop. On May 23rd, 2009, at approximately 11:30 AM, 30 years and 2 months to the day after I entered this world, my great streak was finally broken! It's actually kind of a relief. Bogdan and I already share a special bond because we went into the cold, cold lake together after beach volleyball earlier this year. Now we shall truly be united forever--thebrotherhood of Poken sports and bird poop!

4. After ping pong we went to play some beach volleyball and then met up with another coworker, Dave, for a late lunch. Dave and his family had arrived in their boat so they took us out for a quick tour of the lake. I'm embarrassed to say it but, after almost 18 months in Lausanne, this was my first time actually out on Lake Geneva. Crazy! Better late than never, though. It was fun looking at Lausanne from the outside in. We traced all the paths I usually run along and it felt like I was looking at them from the other side of a mirror.

5. I beat Military Madness and am now starting over, playing as the bad guys. I really don't have any time to play video games, but it really is therapeutic to devote brain cycles to strategy in a context other than Poken.

6. Rice baseball is undefeated in the C-USA tournament and will play in the championship game tonight. Go Owls!

Bogdan and I are off for some more ping pong and volleyball then this evening I'll work on a presentation for a talk I am giving on Tuesday. If anyone will be in Geneva on Tuesday, come by for the panel on new media and the future of social networking.

Pics of the above are in my facebook album.

Happy 1/23/45!

To all of my readers who understand what I mean, happy 1/23/45! Although I spent most of the day working, I did manage to sneak outside for an hour to play catch with a former professional baseball player in sunny, 75-degree weather. I also had a nice dinner with my favorite dining companion (Happy birthday to you too!) so all-in-all it was a great day.

Sigh

Just when it seemed that we were back in the CWS tournament, up 5-0 in the top of the 7th with our ace closer on the mound, it all came crashing down. 1 run in the bottom of the 7th, another in the 8th, and then four in the 9th to lose to LSU. Oh well, as the old saying goes, "I may not have been at the College World Series this year . . . but neither was the University of Texas!"

Now it's time to look ahead to better times--and Rice football begins in just over two months!

Rice Not Representin'

Ouch. Rice's debut game in this year's College World Series was abysmal: a 17-5 loss to Fresno State. We went through seven pitchers and gave up three home runs. Only late in the game did we mount any offense at all and, by then, it was too little too late. Oh well, as one announcer put it, perhaps Rice was trying to get all of its bad play out of the way in the opening game--this way we'll play top-notch baseball all the way through the finals. I hope that's the case!

It was a good weekend for Bulldogs as Georgia upset the #1 Miami Hurricanes. I'm sure my brother, who played baseball at Trinity University and is finishing his PhD in marine biology at the University of Miami, is hurting now as much as I am. For both of our sakes I wish both the 'Canes and the Owls good luck in their losers bracket games this Monday and Tuesday respectively. Go Rice!

Africa

Another day with no homework, another day of watching movies about Africa. This time I watched Shooting Dogs and Hotel Rwanda, both about the genocide of Tutsi Rwandans in 1994. It's amazing the hurt sub-Saharan Africa has endured, and not just by the evil white oppressors, but by their own countrymen. I suppose that's part of the issue; the countries are arbitrary boundaries that cramp warring tribes together. Whenever one tribe is in power, it commits atrocities against the others. When the others are in power, they want revenge. The tit-for-tat cycle continues indefinitely and I have no idea how it could be broken. Our Discovery Expedition to Kenya in two weeks will be very interesting and I look forward to it.

In more upbeat news, Rice earned its spot in this year's College World Series with a win over Texas A&M tonight. Go Rice!

Movie Night (and Day)

What a day, yesterday. I didn't leave my apartment at all but not because I was studying. I spent most of the day watching movies, one of my favorite pastimes.

In preparation for our Discovery Expedition to Kenya I watched two assigned films: Darwin's Nightmare and The Last King of Scotland. Darwin's Nightmare is a documentary about the fishing industry in Tanzania, where foreigners smuggle arms in and export fish out while the locals starve. Not pleasant.

No less pleasant were some of the scenes in The Last King of Scotland, in which Forest Whitaker brilliantly plays brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. The plot was very similar to that of Playing God, which I regard as one of the worst movies ever made. The two movies have another connection: Playing God stars David Duchovny while The Last King of Scotland stars his x-files costar Gillian Anderson. Gillian wins this round; hers was a good movie and I'm glad I finally saw it.

To lighten things up I also watched Dan in Real Life. There wasn't much to this romantic comedy, but it was a refreshing way to wrap up the movie day. Then it was on to more important things, like watching Rice beat Texas A&M 9 - 6. Another victory today will secure the Owls' third consecutive trip to the CWS. I wish I could be there for the games, but, since I can't, thank goodness for the Internet!

Recovery

"My head hurts, my feet stink, and I don't love Jesus" -Jimmy Buffett

That's about how I feel right now after last night's festa Brasiliera, organized and hosted by our four Brazilian students. We had dinner at a churrascaria and then moved next door to the adjoining club. I only stayed out until 2 or so (Many of my classmates saw the sun come up, I'm sure.) but I packed a lot of festa into that time. I'm not sure how many caipirinhas I had but, well, it was obviously enough. :-) What a blast, though; I needed that release after the exams!

Now what am I going to do today? Work out, sure, but after that? I don'thave anything to study for and Rice baseball doesn't start its domination of the Aggies until 9 PM (Lausanne time) tonight. Without anyone telling me what to do, I'm almost at a loss--what a great problem to have!

Bring on the Exams!

This weekend was pleasant and relaxing. I took care of many chores, wrote some papers, and, most importantly, played some beach volleyball. On Saturday our play was cut short by a scary storm that rolled in out of nowhere: very low, very dark clouds, high winds, and lots of lightning. No problem, though; we ran and took refuge in a nearby sailing club, where we had drinks and waited out the storm. The sunset after the storm was brilliant; pictures are in my facebook album. Sunday there weren't many people at the courts, which was no problem for me and Tomas. We were able to play for about two hours straight before returning to our studies.

On another, extremely positive note, the mighty Rice Owls baseball team defeated Sam Houston State, St. John's, and UT (the most gratifying) to advance to the Super Regional tournament of the College World Series. To see what a blast we had at last year's Super Regional and why I miss Rice baseball so much, check out my album. Looking at those pictures again brings a smile to my face.

We have today off to prepare for our four days of exams: Accounting, Finance, Strategy, and IPE. Today will mostly focus on Accounting preparation with some Finance mixed in as well. Strategy will be a case-based exam so not much preparation is possible until Wednesday evening, when we receive the case. The IPE exam will involve taking and defending a stance on a major world issue, citing evidence from disparate regions. It is open book/notes/Internet so, again, there isn't much preparation I can do in advance.

The weather looks great today--not bad for beach volleyball! No, bad Bryan! Focus, focus . . .

The Oracle of Omaha

When I first heard that Buffett would be coming to IMD, I was ecstatic. When I learned that it was Warren Buffett, not Jimmy, I was disappointed but still pretty excited. We prepared and analyzed a case involving Berkshire Hathaway's first international acquisition, Iscar, and were joined by Buffett and Icsar's CEO, Eitan Wertheimer. Although we only had an hour with them, they covered a lot of ground ranging from investment strategy to operations policies. However, as is usually the case when we have the case protagonists in class, most of our questions were about softer issues: leadership, culture, and values.

Buffett impressed me as being very . . . real. His personal presentation was exactly in line with the writing style of his letters to shareholders and books: simple, modest, and sprinkled with stories from his entire career. His ability to remember elaborate details from decades ago is amazing. It was also great to have a prominent American here representing good values and responsibility. Moreover, I felt very much at home as he described his love of American football and steak.

Perhaps most important, however, is that I let the Oracle know that I had a prediction of my own: the Rice Owls will win the College World Series of Baseball in his hometown of Omaha this year. I will send him a Rice baseball cap so that he can show his support in June!

Yay, Sports!

Although I should really be studying for Finance, I must pause and say a few words about my favorite sports teams. Today I wore an old Washington Redskins t-shirt, which reminded me that I still haven't posted about Art Monk. Monk was an amazing possession receiver for the late-80's/early 90's Redskins dynasty. He wasn't the fastest receiver in the NFL, but he was the guy you wanted on your side of the ball when it was third down. Besides, the Skins had Gary Clark and Ricky Sanders, the rest of "the Posse," for speed.

What impressed me most about Monk wasn't his playing ability; it was his class. On and off the field he was a stand-up guy in every respect. I had the opportunity to spend a little time with him at his football camps when I was growing up and I can't think of a better role model for young athletes.

Earlier this year, Art Monk was elected into the NFL Football Hall of Fame. Darrell Green, another Redskin, spent nearly two decades as the NFL's fastest man and was elected into the shrine this year as well. Although IMD is very different from the NFL Hall of Fame, I'm proud that come December I will share the distinction of "Class of 2008" with them. Congratulations, Art and Darrell and HAIL TO THE REDSKINS!

Now, on to matters of more immediate importance: Rice Baseball! My poor Owls have been struggling this season. Last weekend they broke their 40-series home win streak and this week their ranking fell to #12. That's OK, though; I'm sure they're just working the kinks out early in the season. And as you will recall from my earlier post, I'm happy as long as we beat Texas. Still, I wore a Rice Baseball National Championship t-shirt on Monday as a long-distance show of support. It worked; last night Rice beat UT in front of an Austin crowd of 6,511. I wish I could have been there--and on 6th Street afterward! Stand, cheer, DRINK MORE BEER! Go, go, GOOOOOOOO Rice!

I am a Tug of Warrior!

As predicted, the mighty Rice Owls have retaken the national #4 ranking on their path to an inevitable #1 seed and College World Series championship. In honor of this ascent, I hereby devote my second consecutive post to sports. This time, instead of focusing on NCAA sports, I am focusing on the annual MBA Tournament, a multi-sport competition between European MBA schools. As we are the the smallest program by far, IMD is to the MBAT as Rice is to the NCAA. Hence, I expect no less from IMD than total victory.

I will be coaching the three volleyball events (indoor 6s, beach 2s, and beach 4s) and the tug of war. Recruiting for volleyball was no problem but the tug of war required some extra effort. Following is an excerpt from the email I sent to our class:

"In the interest of full disclosure, you should know that this won’t be a cake walk recreational event. Other teams with larger student pools from which to choose will likely be bigger and stronger than our team. But I’ve never lost in Tug of War and I don’t intend to start this May.

We will tug smarter, not harder, than our opposition. We will destroy them through use of the IMD secret double palm rope technique. We will fortify ourselves every day with bananas, apples, and glorious, glorious desserts. Well, weekdays at least. We will fortify ourselves with [fighting] spirits as well. We will unleash a furious rope tuggery the likes of which the MBAT has never seen and will never see again. We will rain down victory after victory upon our opponents until they beg for our sweet, terrible mercy. The futility of their struggle will sustain us as the fly sustains the spider.

This is not for the faint of heart, but join me and together we will attain the highest glory in the history of the universe . . . MBAT Tug of War Champions."

It had the desired effect. We now have more than enough for a team. Some select responses:

From Bevan, New Zealander:

"My Lord and Master.
I will tug with the fury of a thousand sheep.
With feet rooted like the mighty Kauri tree.
With hair flowing in the vigorous breeze like a B-movie actor.
Oh, I will tug like my very Economics grade depends on it."

From Memed, Turk:

"Convinced! I’m in, sign me up!
Ask the French why they have a saying in French “Fort comme un Turc”
I’m ready to unleash some Ottoman explosive fury that Euros seem to have forgotten a bit too quick.
Anybody got some face paint? "

This sounds like too much fun. Now if only we didn't have all this work to distract us from training!

Rice Baseball Rules!

After dropping two to nationally ranked, perennial powerhouse Long Beach State, Rice baseball has won five in a row and is back on track. While I am always excited for Rice to make a trip to the College World Series (six times in the last nine years) those who know me are aware that I hold our team accountable to a slightly different metric of success: how many times we beat UT each year! Last night our boys did exactly that with a 10-4 trouncing of the Longhorns at Minute Maid Park. Coming into the game UT was ranked #4 while Rice had slipped to #6; I'll hope to see those rankings reversed when the new poll results are released on Monday.

As a former Rice student-athlete myself, obviously I'm biased in supporting Rice, and it's certainly easy to hop on the band wagon and support a team that wins most of its games every year. However, I will argue that there are a few things that truly do set Rice apart. First and foremost is the quality of our student-athletes. Having roomed with one of Rice's best pitchers of all time my freshman year (4-1-3), I have witnessed first hand the well rounded, intelligent, high-caliber individuals Rice puts on its roster.

Second, Rice baseball is an inspirational story. 15 years ago, we had nothing; we were a no-name program in the middle of a region already crowded with talent (UT, UH, A&M, Baylor, LSU, etc.). As the smallest school in the NCAA, we would never have athletic funding pouring in from alumni and supporters. Then came head coach Wayne Graham, who propeled us to the national scene with incredible recruiting and a winning vision. It has been amazing to watch Rice move from an off-the-radar team to a Cinderella story to a David that is always counted among the Goliaths of college baseball.

It will be tough this year to be so far away from the action--especially as I follow Rice's CWS progress from our Discovery Trip in Tanzania. However, it will take much more than several hours time difference and several thousand miles to prevent me from supporting the Owls. To Rice Be True!