New Wii Games

Santa was good to us this year and brought us many new Wii games:

Beatles Rock Band - words really can't describe how awesome this game is. Those already tiring of the rhythm game genre might not be as impressed with it as I am but this is our first such game and wow, what a way to start! Katie sings beautifully while I strum along on the guitar parts. Like so we're making our way (chronologically, of course!) through the entire Beatles repertoire. Very few things feel as awesome as getting a 100% score on the guitar part of While My Guitar Gently Weeps--hours and hours of endless fun and great music!

Wii Fit Plus - This is an example of evolution-not-revolution as there really isn't that much different from the original Wii Fit. However, I love the original game so the addition of 15 new mini-games was very welcome. I'm not sure how long it will take me to master all the new features but I do know that I'll have a lot of fun and burn a lot of low-impact calories while I'm trying.

Gold's Gym Cardio Workout - This should really be titled "Gold's Gym Cardio Kickboxing" as it is exclusively kickboxing content, no other cardio. Actually, so far it seems really to be only boxing, not even kickboxing. The jury is still out on it as I have only been through one session so far, but it seems like a good way to work up a sweat without leaving my living room.

Big Beach Sports - I wished for this aggregation of beach-based mini-games because it is one of the very few Wii titles to feature beach volleyball. The game on the whole is really weak, maybe even weaker than Deca Sports. However, the beach volleyball is this game's best feature and is definitely better than the Deca version. It's certainly not great, but it could be fun for groups.

Wii Motion Plus - This new technology makes the Wiimote controller infinitely more interesting. Instead of just detecting movement, the Wii can now tell the exact angle at which your Wiimote is being held and moving with great precision. Although there are still only ~10 games available for it, I see this as opening new doors for Wii possibilities--finally we can have a Star Wars game with real light saber action!

Wii Sports Resort - This was one of the very first games available to take advantage of the Wii Motion Plus. It is essentially a sequel to Wii Sports and is a lot of fun. The highlight for most people will be sword fighting, which allows much higher fidelity blocking, parrying, and striking than anything to date. However, the highlight for me by far is . . . TABLE TENNIS! Finally I can virtually return to my IMD days and get back to work on my smashes. It's not quite the same, of course, but it's a much, much more decent proxy than it could have been. I miss the fitness and training modes from the original Wii Sports but I guess you can't have everything.

We're awaiting the arrival of not one, not two, but three tennis games that use the Motion Plus so I'll review them once I've had a chance to form an adequate opinion!

2010

Having looked back at 2009 in my last post, now it is time to look ahead to 2010. Following are my New Year's resolutions laid out by category. I would like to publish these online and report on regular progress to maintain accountability. Can anyone recommend any good tools for this?

Relationships

1. Weekly date night with Katie--now that we're not on separate continents, I'll have to keep things interesting so she doesn't tire of me and kick me out!

2. Weekly personal contact with family/friends--even though I'm very, very extroverted and a very, very social creature, I tend to "turtle in" during times of stress or great work load (pretty much all the time these days!). This is exactly the opposite of what I should do since I draw my strength from my personal relationships. As much of a technologist as I am, I also can't let myself fall into the trap of believing that tweeting, blogging, and emailing are a substitute for real, in-person human contact. Therefore I resolve to reach out to my friends and family for in-person meet-ups at least once a week. This begins this weekend when my brother and favorite nephew are in town.

Health

Nutrition

1. Daily caloric intake under 3,250 calories--in 2008 I ingested ~3700 calories/day, 3500 in 2009. This year I'm going for a bigger jump. This will be tough now that I am back in the US--and Texas specifically--where portion sizes are crazy. I'll need strength of will to avoid my natural instinct of eating things just because they're there, even when I'm no longer hungry. I'll also focus on chewing slowly and staying hydrated.

2. Consume 60% of calories from carbs, 15% from protein and, at most, 25% from fat--2010 will not just be about how much I eat, but also what I eat. In Switzerland it was so easy to eat well with the farmer's market just below my window, fresh, healthy foods at restaurants, and plenty of support from like-minded peers. It will be harder to meet this goal now that I'm back in the land of Food, Inc. but I'm fortunate to have a tremendous asset in Katie. Her commitment to inventive and delicious cooking with fresh, natural foods may well be my saving grace; here again I'll just need to play my cards right so that she'll share with me.

Flexibility

1. Weekly yoga--The first half of 2009 saw my flexibility increase for the first time since . . . well, maybe ever . . . largely due to my weekly 1.5-hour sessions of ashtanga yoga. I got away from that commitment in the second half of the year and I can feel it. 2010 must see a return to yoga throughout the year. This starts tonight.

Cardiovascular Fitness

1. Daily caloric expenditure of at least 3,500 calories--this will put me on pace to reduce bodyfat by ~10 pounds this year. Sitting at my desk all day and in front of the computer or a football game on TV all evening will leave me with only 2,800 calories burned each day. I must find a way to burn an additional 700 calories each day, whether through more activity at the office, intentional exercise, or both. This should be achievable as last year I averaged 3,750 calories burned each day--but I was also walking around mountainous Switzerland much of the time so I'll need to step it up here in Houston.

2. Maintain lean muscle mass--Although I've been working toward "getting huge" for practically two decades now with, in all modesty, significant success, I am plenty strong and don't really need to be stronger. Although I will still be going all out in the gym, my priorities for 2010 are clearly focused on reducing bodyfat and that will take precedence over gaining strength--no more gorging myself after workouts in the name of protein!

3. Weekly Wii workouts--I'm really impressed with the Nintendo Wii and its ability to provide fun activities that elevate heart rate, burn calories, and improve neuromechanics. This year I will regularly involve the Wii in my workouts and track my progress using Wii Fit.

Sports

1. Win a men's doubles tournament at the A level--although my favorite partner is currently based in the UK, I'd really like to take my play up a notch this year.

2. Run at least three races

3. Run a 5k race in under 22 minutes--current PR is 23:45

4. Run a 10k race in under 55 minutes--I've never run a 10k race before but, when I run 10k as an aerobic jog, keeping my heart rate below 160, I currently finish in ~60 minutes.

5. Swim 2k--this weekend I swam 500m contiguously for the first time ever so this should be very feasible. Those who know me are aware that I sink like a rock in water so I've traditionally had to sprint to stay afloat--not very conducive to swimming long distances! However, after recent modifications to my freestyle mechanics, I've found a way to swim ~indefinitely, subject to my fitness level.

Professional

Relationships

1. Help/mentor a peer or colleague at least weekly--as it will be some time before Smart Office Energy Solutions has grown to the point of having many employees and business partners, I really need to be proactive in the early parts of 2010 to reach out to others who could benefit from any expertise, experience, or even just sounding board ability I can provide.

2. Touch base with one of my own mentors at least once weekly--I'm blessed to have some great, talented, brilliant, resourceful, high integrity mentors in my life and I need be proactive about keeping them abreast of how their influence is helping me along.

Time Management

1. Daily tweets of my goals and accomplishments--When you're the general manager of a start-up that faces a laundry list of to-dos in every business area every day, it is a real challenge to stay focused on the most urgent, critical issues. Therefore I am experimenting with using new media to create some accountability for myself. I will begin each day by tweeting my top few goals to accomplish before I hit the sack (One of today's was to write this blog entry!) and I will finish each day by reporting in on how I fared. 140 characters isn't enough to make excuses so the [peer] pressure will be on to nail them. This creates a virtual board of sorts to whom I am accountable and I certainly hope my followers will chide me when I fail. Perhaps they will also offer helpful suggestions when they see a goal that resonates with them. Each goal tweet will use the #dailygoal tag and my progress can be viewed at TrackDailyGoals. Hopefully this will also create a cool record of Smart OES's entrepreneurial journey.

Smart Office Energy Solutions

1. Close seed friends and family funding round by the end of March--I have $20k already committed and it's time to shake the trees for the remaining $80k.

2. Close first private placement round of funding by July--This will either be $500k of angel money or $3m+ from a VC, depending on a few factors. Either way, I need to begin laying the groundwork for it now.

3. Break even with $1.3m revenue for FY 2010--The clock is ticking and I need to close some more sales myself before we're able to hire up business development staff.

4. Reduce client energy bills by $500k--it will take some time for their savings to accrue but half a million is achievable if we begin installing this month.

5. Reduce US CO2 production by 300 tons--this will occur in the first year if we reach our sales targets. This is the double bottom line that attracted me to this business in the first place: the better we do, the better it is for the environment--and for our clients!

The Bryan Guido Hassin Professional Brand

1. Present original research/thought leadership at least once via conference presentation or article publication--I found the experience at the AAS's imagine09 conference to be very rewarding so I'll need to identify another such opportunity in 2010.

2. Earn 300 total twitter followers--I currently have over 100 after my first year of tweeting and I am very careful about pruning out the spammers. Doubling my growth rate would show increasing professional brand awareness. Here again I am eager to experiment with social media tools to see how they might benefit a a green technology executive in a new decade.

3. 5 daily LinkedIn profile views--this is currently 2-3 views daily. My LinkedIn profile is a good representation of my experience, accomplishments, skills, and recommendations, a great tool for making potential business partners, employees, investors, and others aware of what I offer. I'm not sure what a reasonable target is here as I have only my own historical data to go on--any suggestions?

There you have it, many personal and professional goals for 2010. I really would love to maintain a management-style dashboard for these so that I can map out intermediate progress and publish it. I can use a spreadsheet, of course, but a Web 2.0 tool would really be more appropriate. Suggestions welcome!

Happy 2010 everyone! May we all accomplish all our goals and more this year!

2009

Katie and I spent New Year's Eve with friends at two separate house parties, both of which were a lot of fun. There was a "black" theme at one of the parties to represent the "laying to rest" of 2009. Not one to settle for just black tie, I also donned a head band and katana to be a black tie ninja. Not exactly funeral attire, but much more fun!

At both parties many people seemed very excited for 2009 to be over; it wasn't a great year for most. For me, though, it was pretty awesome. In this post I'll take a look at my journey through this roller coaster of a year.

Of course the story of the first half of 2009 for me was Poken. I came on board five days before product launch as employee #7 and manager #2, originally in charge of Product. As our first product took off, it became apparent that our major challenges weren't in product--they were in delivery. So I shifted in March to become Head of Global Operations, tasked with building the team, systems, and processes to enable our little company (headcount 11 by that point) to grow to the next level. By July we had sold hundreds of thousands of pokens in 30 countries, grown to a staff of 20 in two locations, won major awards, introduced a second product, and my Poken-related travels had taken me across three continents. What a whirlwind! The best thing that came out of it by far, though, was working with such a great team--talented, passionate, and of high integrity.

This made it very difficult for me to decide to leave Poken at the end of August. Everything was going so well and, moreover, I was loving living in Switzerland. However, as most readers know, I am committed to working toward a better energy future and Poken simply didn't match up with that goal. What's more, living so far from Katie was great for our frequent flier miles, but not so great for our goals of being together (She's sitting here next to me on the couch as I type and this is exactly what we were missing.).

So, I made a decision for my career, my relationship, and my ethic of what is right--and I made this decision with my heart instead of with my head, which is something on which I worked a great deal in . . . business school, of all places. But then IMD was hardly a typical business school!

After taking September off to travel around Europe visiting fantastic wineries and even more fantastic friends, I returned to my home in Houston and began work on the next chapter. For the last quarter of 2009 I divided my time between getting settled back into American life and laying the foundation for pursuit of my career dream in 2010.

My quest to find something that marries my skills in leadership, experience in IT entrepreneurship, and passion for green energy culminated by the end of the year in being given the opportunity to join the senior management team of a UK-based cleantech company to help them scale up globally--with particular focus on the American market.

It took us a while to structure the deal and, as expected, the real work to getting the deal done wasn't financial or strategic; it was rooted in personal dynamics. Again, I felt the benefit of IMD preparation throughout the process. Now at the cusp of 2010, we have created a subsidiary company in the US (Smart Office Energy Solutions), raised a modicum of seed capital, imported products from the UK, begun the electrical certification process, and secured our first clients and resellers. There is still a long, long way to go before we've empowered businesses worldwide to reduce their office energy consumption 30%, but the momentum is so exciting!

As many readers also know, fitness is a major part of my life and the end of the year offers a good time to pause, reflect, evaluate how things went, and adjust the future course. In terms of meeting fitness goals, 2009 was really a Tale of Two Halves. In the first six months of the year I shed ~5 lbs of bodyfat while adding 4 of lean muscle mass--both good trends! But, here at the end of the year, I'm only ~2 lbs of bodyfat down with no real change in lean muscle mass. Most men in their 30s add fat and lose muscle each year, so I can't really complain about staying relatively even. However, this is a major disappointment to someone who seeks constant improvement--especially given how well the year began. The second half of the year was filled with travel, change, and adaptation to a new fitness regime back in the States. As I look toward 2010, I believe I have a solid base under me on which to get back on track.

Well there you have it: 2009, not a bad year all-in-all and one filled with great opportunities to be realized in 2010. In my next post I'll discuss plans for 2010 and . . . new year's resolutions!

Christmas

Katie and I had a really, really nice Christmas week. It began with seeing Avatar in IMAX 3D here in Houston. I didn't know much about the film going into it, except that it had been very hyped. All I hoped for was more Terminator and less Titanic. Although the plot wasn't terribly novel, I certainly identified with the eco-friendly themes and, hey, I can always get behind an underdog in a good fight. Besides, the film was visually pretty spectacular and I strongly encourage people to see it in IMAX 3D if available. Overall I'd give it a 4.5 out of 6.

We then attended the annual holiday dinner of the Houston chapter of the Accademia Italiana della Cucina, a lovely affair in the private room at Tony's. We were thrilled to see that, during my two-year hiatus, the organization took on many new Rice alumni members so we had many friends at the dinner.

Wednesday we hopped on a flight to DC, where Mom picked us up from the airport. It was a real Winter Wonderland there after 20+ inches of snow! Boy it was great to be back, though. This was a very lazy trip in stark contrast to my usual pack-as-much-in-as-possible-and-try-to-see-everyone-in-just-a-few-days-which-basically-means-spending-all-my-time-stuck-in-DC-traffic. Maybe this was Katie's influence on me? Or maybe I'm just getting old? Either way, I could get used to the R&R!

Christmas Eve our dear, dear friends who have been like parents to me came over for dinner. Mom and Katie put together a veritable feast for us--with healthy, natural ingredients, of course. I tried to help out where I could but I spent most of the day reconnecting with my 8-year-old self and reading through all my old Calvin & Hobbes books. What a blast! Two decades later they are still a delight.

After dinner we exchanged gifts and then dove into the piece de resistance, a homemade Italian cream cake our guests had brought. When we finished it and loosened our belts a little, we were all surprised to realize that it was well past 1 AM--time flies when you are reconnecting with friends who are so close they really are family! We therefore had to call it a night to ensure that Santa would come.

Christmas Day was just as leisurely as we opened more presents and sipped on mimosas. A Christmas Story was watched, delicious leftovers were consumed, and naps were taken. Awesome.

The day after Christmas we hosted a small open house, which was a wonderful opportunity to catch up with friends and neighbors. Of course it featured even more great food. I did manage to squeeze some cardio in on this trip but that could hardly compete with the onslaught of delectables with which I was confronted every day. I'm not losing any sleep over it, though; the whole trip felt really, really good.

Now we're back in Houston and gathering ourselves for the New Year. We both received some truly outstanding gifts for Christmas but the greatest were the opportunities to spend time with the ones we love. What more can one really ask? I mean, other than wishing for Bill Watterson to come out of retirement to write more Calvin & Hobbes strips! And for Art Monk to come out of retirement to fix the Redskins. It was a very merry Christmas for me, for us, and I hope for everyone else out there as well. Here's to you all!

The United Kingdom

I spent the last week in the UK on business with meetings in Oxford and Cambridge. Katie had never been to London so we flew over for the preceding weekend just to soak it up a bit. In the security line at the Houston airport we bumped into Mike Unton, another Lovett alum, which was a good way to kick off our trip.

The flight from IAH to LHR was a significant one: for the first time in my life I attained Continental Platinum Elite status! I'm not sure it will change my life much but I have already been upgraded for this week's flight to DC so I'm excited about it. En route I watched Up and GI Joe. The former was pretty good while the latter was about as expected.

We arrived early Saturday morning and met up immediately with Mike Cox, another Rice alum who's currently working on a project in the UK. All last year while I was in Switzerland, Cox and I schemed about what we would do when this project started and we were finally on the same side of the Atlantic again. However, his project was delayed and delayed until it finally started shortly after I returned to the States--doh!

Cox was still recovering from a Christmas party the night before but he rallied quickly and we struck out together for the Texas Embassy. At the Embassy we met up with several IMD alumni, a few of whom are in green businesses--very cool! After lunch we donated a large Rice banner to add to the UT, Texas Tech, TCU, UH, and Baylor banners already present in the Embassy's upstairs bar. The manager humored us with a formal unveiling ceremony--go Rice!

Then we walked around London and Pub crawled a bit. Lisa Piguet, IMD's MBA admissions director, was in town so it was a thrill when she joined us too. Cox, Katie, and I had to duck out early, though, for dinner at a little French restaurant in the theater district. Dinner was delicious and full of fall/winter fare, such as pumpkin risotto, which paired well with the cold London weather.

Such a meal required that we walk around a bit afterward, which was basically an excuse to pub crawl some more. First we set our sights on a place with warm drinks and we found one quickly. There we also bumped into George DeMontrond, another Rice alum, whom I last bumped into at the Jimmy Buffett concert in Paris. Small world!

After our hot drinks it was time to take advantage of our proximity to Ireland so we migrated to an Irish pub for some Guinness. We also tried Guinness Red but quickly returned to our pure roots. Finally the pub closed up so we wound down with cocktails back at our hotel.

Sunday we walked around seeing London's historic sites during the day and then caught up with my IMD classmates, Randy and Ijeoma, for Indian food in the evening. It was great to see those two with whom I shared so much last year and, although they are both facing their own challenges now, it was gratifying to see that they are doing so well.

Katie caught an early Monday morning flight back to the US while I journeyed out to Oxford, where I spent Monday and Tuesday. Our principal supplier is headquartered there and it gave me a great chance to spend time with their CEO. By the end of the trip it was clear that personal relationships matter so much more than spreadsheets, contracts, or technology. We've been working on a deal with this company for months and the in-person time to solidify it was well worth the expense of the trip. Also in Oxford I found something that pairs very well with Guinness: steak, mushroom, and Guinness pie!

Wednesday I departed Oxford early for Cambridge, where I had never been before. One of the world's largest consumer electronics manufacturers was conducting a day-long meeting to determine how best to enter the home energy management market and they asked me to help craft their strategy. I was honored to be invited and excited to participate. After a full day of reviewing data from focus groups, evaluating the existing competitive landscape, and positing possible entry paths, I left feeling extremely energized by the process and excited about their direction. If they can succeed in this market it will do a lot of good--for them, for their consumers, and for the world at large--so I wish them the best with it.

Wednesday evening I returned to London to meet with a new VC--headed by a Rice alum. It was a great meeting and I'm excited about his firm--for entrepreneurs by entrepreneurs. This was followed by dinner with Cox and Scotch back at the hotel--where we were joined by another Rice alum living in the area.

At the end of five days I was exhausted and very satisfied with both the professional and personal aspects of this UK trip. What struck me most was that I met up with seven IMD alumni and four Rice alumni during the brief stay. Although the schools are small, I was impressed with the global distribution of their alumni. Next time I'll make sure to hook up with a TJ alum or two as well!

Pics are in my facebook album.

Poken One-Year Anniversary

December 8th was the one-year anniversary of my start with Poken. I can't believe it, that really seems lifetimes ago. What a roller coaster ride it was: arriving just as we launched the product commercially, working feverishly to update the product to meet the massive surge of initial demand, building a team quickly to keep up with the scale of growth, and--ultimately--making the heart-wrenching decision to leave Poken to lead a company that is working toward a better energy future. Poken is still doing well, growing and expanding every day. I wish the team all the best there and I look forward to the day when everyone else has a Poken!

Also in the news recently, my high school was selected as the top public school in the nation for the third year in a row. Once again I am humbled by the company I am in and can only strive to live up to such a standard. I feel very, very fortunate to have had the opportunity to attend TJ and I must make the most of it!

Arizona

Christmas season has officially begun! Last weekend Katie, my mom, and I flew to Arizona for a "pre-Christmas" celebration with Katie's family. I had never been to Arizona before and found it to be pretty nice. The trip started off on a strange note, though: as we left Houston on Friday, it was actually SNOWING! This was the earliest snow on record in Houston and, frankly, I didn't believe that it EVER snowed here until I saw it with my own eyes and felt it on my own eyelashes. Wild! I'm glad we got out of there because I wouldn't trust Houston drivers on snowy roads. I suspect that people would be overconfident in their huge trucks and SUVs and not drive more cautiously.

We arrived in Phoenix in time to meet Katie's family and my mom for dinner. The weather was cold but very dry. Then we all caravaned to the houses we had rented for the weekend in Sedona. Sedona was really beautiful, with big red rock formations in every direction. The terrain was so foreign to that of places I've lived and been before that it seemed almost other-worldly.

Saturday we mostly putzed around Sedona, walking around and seeing the town. While the ladies shopped for arts and crafts, Katie's father and I snuck away to a microbrewery to sample their wares and watch the SEC Championship game. It ended well (Roll Tide!) so I'd call the day a success. In the evening, Katie's sister orchestrated a wonderful vegan dinner for us all and we exchanged gifts.

Sunday morning began with stockings--Santa somehow managed to find us three weeks early in Arizona! Then we drove up to the Grand Canyon, which none of us had visited before. Wow, was it ever impressive! It was very cold and windy, though, so most of our peeks at the Canyon consisted of parking the car as close as possible, sprinting to the overlook, taking pictures, and then sprinting back to the car. One of the overlooks was significantly below the parking area so we had do sprint down to it, then sprint back up afterward. I was excited about the sprint back up as it was a clear Rocky opportunity. However, I found myself completely unable to yell "Adrian!" at the top since the 7,000 feet above sea level rendered me totally breathless.

Monday we returned to the airport but stopped in Phoenix first so I could meet with an IMD alum who is commercializing a really cool wind energy technology for the developing world. Although networking was not a driving factor in my decision to attend IMD, it has been great to see that it really is a significant benefit.

It was a short weekend but a very good one. Getting to know Arizona was interesting, seeing the Grand Canyon was inspiring but, most of all, it was just wonderful to celebrate Christmas in such a warm family environment. Happy Early Holidays to all!