Back in Lausanne

After a HOT week in Houston (albeit one that was bookended by gorgeous weather in Minnesota and Virginia), it feels great to be back in Lausanne. It is also very nice to be reunited with my team at Poken, although half the team is in San Francisco right now so I won't catch up with them until next week.

My time in the US was very productive. Although I spent all of my days working for Poken, I also managed to catch up with family/friends in the evenings and coordinate some major renovations to my house. I'm very excited about these renovations as they are expected to reduce my energy consumption by almost 50%. This includes installation of a solar-powered attic fan, creating a better, insulated seal between the attic and the rest of the house, sealing all of the house's air leaks (around doors, windows, and exterior wall power outlets, for example), servicing the HVAC system, solar film on all the windows, installation of switches to shut off power to standby equipment "vampires," and replacement of all light bulbs with low-energy CFLs. This is a full-system approach that addresses not just the efficiency of equipment itself but also the efficiency of the way that air moves throughout the house and reduces the load on that equipment. In fact, when I replace my A/C unit next year, instead of just getting a more efficient version of the same cooling power, I should actually get a lower-power version--although still more efficient too!

Even with the rising cost of energy in the US, these renovations aren't likely to pay for themselves for several years. However, as most of you know, I try to live my life with at least a double bottom line and I believe the cost of energy inefficiency is much greater than just the price I pay per kilowatt-hour on my monthly electric bill.

My flight trip back to Lausanne was good for a couple of reasons. First, I achieved Gold Elite status on Continental. This is the first time I have broken the gold barrier and, with only 20k more miles this year, I may even arrive at Platinum. Hooray! Also, Matthew McConaughey was on my flight from Newark to Geneva, two seats in front of me. He was coming in to support Lance Armstrong at the end of the Tour de France. He seemed really laid back (as one would expect) and pleasant to everyone who came up to talk with him. I also give him major props for being so ripped at 39--almost 40.

Since I've been back I've been filling my non-Poken time with catching up with those whom I've missed--both IMD classmates and Poken coworkers. Friday night I went to see Bruno with some friends--outrageous as expected. Tonight I will attend my first Swiss music festival at Paleo, which I'm looking forward to. It probably won't be the typical massive-crowd-drunk-mosh-pit scene during Beethoven's 5th Piano Conerto, which is just fine by me. :-)

New Year's Luck Continues

After my last post I was upgraded to first class for the Newark-Geneva flight as well--what a great day! Hopefully my luck will continue throughout 2009.

I've just wrapped up my first day back in Lausanne. It is cold and gray here but I am enjoying living in the corporate apartment until my new place is available. Tomorrow I will have my first workout in my new gym, conveniently right across the street from our office and the apartment where I am staying. A year after my original arrival in Lausanne, the adventure continues!

New Year

Exactly one year ago Katie and I missed our flight from Houston to Newark and had to re-route through Zurich the following day. Today, not only did I not miss my flight from Houston to Newark, I miraculously received a first class upgrade even though I didn't earn enough elite miles last year  to maintain my Continental elite status. 2009 is starting off right! During the flight I watched City of Ember and the beginning of The Rocker, neither of which I recommend.

Now I'm hanging out in Newark airport waiting on my flight to Geneva. There are a couple of total frat boys sitting by me talking about all the "crazy" places in Europe they're "totally gonna do." If this guy butchers "Cinque Terre" one more time, I may stand up and punch him in the face. And it's a wonder that American tourists have such a poor reputation abroad . . . Oh well, at least they're from the University of Delaware, home of the mighty Wing-T offense!

I wish everyone the very best for 2009. I think it's going to be a good one!

Back in the USA!

I just spent 10.5 hours on the flight from Paris to Houston. Continental, which has always had a great product, has upgraded its 777s with power plugs at each seat—very helpful for laptop-minded travelers such as myself. However, I really didn’t take advantage of the new feature as I was distracted by the entertainment system, which had been upgraded as well.

With a selection of 300+ movies to start, stop, pause, and fast forward as I please, I had the chance to catch up on American movies that had been released while I was abroad. I saw The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Iron Man, Leatherheads, and, running out of new movies I wanted to see, Rear Window. It made for a very pleasant flight and now it’s good to be back in the US of A for the first time since early January!