Davos Adventures

(Overdue on posting. It's 3/29/09 and I found this in my draft box!)

Lila’s blog updates for work are here:

• Thoughts from Davos: Crisis creates opportunity
• More Thoughts from Davos - IT industry as Magnet and Catalyst

Karl’s update to his family and friends:

We just finished the trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos. What an incredible time to be with all the world leaders. The discussions were so global in scope: the current finance economy and what to do about the recession, the effects of the recession on: political stability, country protectionism, education, global warming, donations, the digital divide, developing nations, etc., and the overall globalization of everything we do. I only participated in two days of the conference, but watched all the major debates/discussions in the hotel room after my days on the slopes. The weather couldn’t have been better – it was uber perfect - sunny, wind still, and just around freezing.

Since all the hotel rooms were booked with world leaders and CEOs – the slopes were basically empty. No lift lines and very few people to have to ski around. Lila was extremely active in all the events and the evening networking & social events. I had my friend, David, visiting in from Boston so we skipped most of the conference events while he was there for four days. However on the two other days while David wasn’t there, I met many extremely cool people. I don’t do very well in the overcrowded, cocktail type, meet & greet engagements. These social buttery fly type introductions are just too much for me to handle for more than a few hours (I prefer the smaller, more intimate and focused discussions). However Lila was totally in her element, networking with all the worlds movers and shakers until the wee hours of the morning. Overall it was quite exciting to spend multiple days thinking about the global, macroeconomic environment we live in.

Before the WEF event – our trip to Sonoma County was wonderful. It was a great three days of Lila and I getting to spend some quality time together. The fresh area was a wonderful change from China & the Vegas conference settings. We enjoyed some great food and wonderful wine. The tours of the micro wineries was very special since we were 1:1 w/ the wine makers or overall vineyard manager. It provided great insights into the wine making business, as well as some great barrel samples of upcoming wines. We even had a nice stop with our personal sommelier at Ledson. He pulled out a $150 bottle of cab for us to try (probably the most expensive current vintage wine either of us has ever tried). We called just about 1 hour before we arrived, but everything for a private wine tour was setup perfectly -- > meat, cheese, chocolate tasting plate, a private room w/ every available wine available for our tasting, and our favorite wine buddy. They even printed a special welcome invitation/letter for us. It was just the cherry on top of the great overall weekend!

We are on the flight from Switzerland back to San Francisco now. We have a overnight layover, then back on a plane to China in the morning. Our total flight/transit time in airports is 35 hours! Overall, a great few weeks of travel for work and pleasure.

Karl’s Birthday

Karl’s bday marks the end of our 3 day weekend. We woke up to the last night at Duchamp B&B. The beds are comfortable but the concrete furniture and stainless steel is still a bit too post-modern for us. Our preferences are somewhere post-Victorian and pre-post-modern.
Nevertheless, a fabulous stay. We spent the day trying out Zinfandels at the top wineries in the region, including Rafanelli, Bella, and Mazacco. The tasting was fun – “sip & spit tour” as Karl calls it. However, it turned into more of a guzzle & gulp tour. Who can say no to high end wines!?! We continue to enjoy both the lighter, drink-now Zins from higher elevations and the intense jammy/peppery ones from the warmer climates. Apparently, we’re a couple of extremes. Lunch included a quick stop at a taqueria. No matter how great California Wine Country cusisine is, we still can’t say no to a good burrito!
It was so nice to drive thru beautiful Dry Creek Valley, and (somewhat jokingly) talked about trying to find a winery to buy. No luck yet – we’re debating whether to invest in a winery (=farming) or island (=lazy beach time). We haven’t talked to Dad yet, but think he’d be the perfect “winery manager” with his expert farming skills.
We ended the day at Ledson. We decided we couldn't be in the area without a slight detour to Ledson.This is where we were married in June 2007. We really enjoyed the 2.5 hours in the private tasting room, snacking on the complimentary cheese & fruit platter and wine tasting with our personal (and 1 of 4000 official worldwide) sommelier Chris. He pulled out a $130 bottle to top off the all the other incredible tastings from our visit. What a spectacular finish to the day!
Now on our way back to the Peninsula to prepare for tomorrow’s Swiss adventure.

Healdsburg Welcomes Karl & Lila

After our sales conference, we decided to take an early weekend. Afterall, we've lost most of our '09 weekends to work so far this year - including this Sunday which will be spent on yet another plane, going to yet another continent.
This morning we took a gentle cruise up Highway 1 to introduce Lila to Point Reyes and Bodega Bay. Sad that this has been in our backyard for so long, and she'd never been. Just north of San Francisco, we enjoyed the fresh ocean air with the windows down and heat turned up. We’re convinced the amount of fresh air from this 2 hour journey added days back to our life, after Shanghai-air.
The first stop of our 3 day weekend was Hoggs Island Oyster Company. This is where you shuck your own oysters right next to the mud flats, and enjoy the freshest oysters you’ll ever eat! We selected 3 types, our favorite was Kumamoto (or something like that), tiny oysters slightly larger than a man’s thumb. The highlight was Lila doning the shucking apparatus, proving that women can shuck oysters without chipping a nail. :) After a few, she let Karl finish the rest. After our aphrodisiac-inducing lunch, we continued on to Healdsburg for check-in at Duchamp, a 6 cottage post-modern B&B. Later in the afternoon, we visited Seghesio, Simi, and Wilson for some Zinfandel tasting. Made it back just in time for a refresh before dinner at Bistro Ralph. Dinner was lovely, and we finished with a walk around the old and charming town of Healdsburg.
Friday at 10am we were off in our own private tour of micro-wineries with Joe, our driver. This was the first wine tour we’ve ever done, and gave us a chance to not worry about where to go or about drinking & driving. Joe took us to 5 micro-wineries in 5 hours. The first stop was to visit Peter who owns Duchamp. His winery was the largest West Coast slaughterhouse in the 1800s. Today he runs art exhibition and wine tasting out of the very unique building. Next stop - Medlock-Ames, a bio-diverse winery that you won’t find on any map. The winery was 360 acres, planted with 100 acres of grapes. The 2 former college buddies have created a gravity-fed, spare no expense wine production facility. Ames spent quite a bit of time helping us barrel taste a few varietals. Then it was on to WF Wines, where Edith (a former HP exec), has a great taste for wines and a keen understanding of the wine business. We really enjoyed sitting around the dinner table with her & husband Tony discussing the pros/cons of asset-light wine production.
After just 3 stops, it was clear we were running behind. We were having such a wondeful time talking with the owners/wine makers. Joe finally fed us phenomenal sandwiches from Jimstown deli, while we drove to a few other wineries. We made the mistake of telling Joe we liked Zin’s, so we went off the planned tour in search of Zins. While the final 2 places were good, they were not as charming or memorable we where Joe took us at first. We’ve learned our lesson! The 5 hour private wine tour ended with a short rest before dinner.
For dinner, we went to Cyrus (Chef of Year '06). We sat at the bar area and ordered a la carte since we didn’t think we could manage a 5 or 8 course tasting menu! We stuck with 2 fantastic courses, including the best foie gras Lila has ever had (& she loves that stuff). Whether you’re a foodie or not, Cyrus’ mixologists have to be among the best! We ended the evening with a walk around the town searching for a low-cost dessert. We accidently got seduced by the Gratitude Café, with their fancy dessert names. Little did we know that it was vegan, a feel good hippy hang out. We tasted our vegan ice-cream while playing a self-discovery Gratitude game that had us in hysterics. When karl pulled the card, “What are you grateful for?” He immediately answered the “cashmere & silk sweater I’m wearing.” We soon questionned whether this was an ethical response at a vegan hang out while everyone else wore hemp & tie-dye. Needless to say, it was an offbeat & fun way to end the night.

Efficiency Redefined: 80 work hrs, 4 days, no sunlight since Sunday

It all started Saturday, when we flew from SFO to Vegas. One might have called it the “Intel Shuttle” given all the employees on this United Flight. We were all heading to the same destination: Intel’s International Sales & Marketing Conference. 3500 employees, countless countries, and an extremely intense schedule. Quite frankly, the conference is a blur. We do remember a few things…

• We returned jazzed - even with a down economy, teams were upbeat about the technology and positioning for ’09
• Homecoming --- we had a chance to catch up with former teams and folks we know from our cummulative 30 years (yikes!) at Intel
• We heard we got a new American President, but completely missed the innauguration. There were playback videos, but we were too focused on meetings at hand. Quite a shame, especially as Lila had an invite/tickets to the Huffington Ball. She sent her team & instead dedicated herself to ISMC (what the heck was she thinking?!)
• Supposedly, Vegas is full of wonderful things. We only saw the Venetian, occasionally the Palazzo. We didn’t have any fresh air, no sunlight, and little contact with non-Intel-ites during the 4 days. We'll be in counseling for a while. ;)
• We finally escaped the chaos thanks to Karl’s good friend’s extreme performance in ’08. It landed him (David) a limo ride to the airport. We were so excited to be treated like royalty and have a few extra breaths of fresh air. Thanks David!
• The night before ISMC, Lila got girl’s night in with Deanna, Lisa, Kathy, & Becky. It was a rare & much needed treat!

US Stop-Over

Greetings from the US! We arrived for a few days in California, on our way to Vegas. Karl was really popular because he brought special gifts from China, in the form of purses, pens, and watches. Based on reactions, we think we have potential for an import business! After the fun, it was all work. Lila’s team is restructuring and she has a new boss. Most of her time was with her team & new group in California and Oregon. Karl spent the days networking with former & current colleagues. All in all, an intense yet productive stop over from a work perspective.
The evenings were just as exciting as we caught up with colleagues/friends. Lila was able to catch up with Jean Ann & Gail for a much-needed relaxing night out. She saw Mel & Hai, who’s growing way too fast but still remembers Auntie Fishlips. we joined the Hockings, Navin, Chengs, & Derek for a new Palo Alto restaurant. Another night we went out with David, who graciously pulled out a ’00 Bordeaux with some of the best beef we’ve had in the past year! Wine & red meat -- ahhh! Things we miss about the US. Friday night was spent in San Francisco enjoying city life with Ahmad and Becky. The dinner at La Mar, a hot new Peruvian restaurant, was fabulous! We had a fun night out afterwards, dancing the night away. There never seems to be enough time, but we are thankful for the opportunity to reconnect with friends, colleagues, and share a few special memories. It’s what we miss the most about living so far away.

Welcome 2009: Red Lanterns Floating Over Huangpu River

Our first New Year's in China. You might think there are huge parties in a city of 25 million people. However, the start to the year has been pretty low key. It’s an official holiday from the 1st to the 3rd and the streets are empty. Yet last night wasn’t much of a party scene. Most Chinese spend new year's eve with family at home hanging out. Nothing special. The real celebration comes during the Chinese Lunar New Year later in January.
We followed our tradition of Japanese food for New Years Eve dinner, after a full day of work. It all started back in San Diego when we didn't make big plans, but rather went down to our favorite sushi restaurant. This year we selected “Sun over Aqua,” on Shanghai's riverfront/Bund area. The restaurant was relatively empty, and we were surprised by how few people seemed to be celebrating the holiday. The blue fin tuna was fabulous. In fact, we did a tuna sampling as part of our menu.
After dinner, we joined thousands of young Chinese friends/couples walking along the river front. Music played and trinkets were being sold. We’d share photos, but somehow Lila’s digital camera disappeared that night (pick-pocketed?!). What a lousy way to end 2008.
The real highlight was watching the red lanterns float away. Groups of people would light a candle-like base of a red-paper balloon. Think of a hot air balloon, fueled by its base. The kids would write on the lantern. Our Chinese is limited but we could tell a few of the “loves” and “luck” messages. The base would be lit, and the kids would release the float/lantern/balloon, and it would float up into the sky and down the river. Magical! (of course, not quite envioronmentally friendly!)
We got back home around 12:10. We were hitting our limit of staying out, so we spent the final minutes of '08 in the car with Peter the driver, counting down with the radio in Chinese. Once home, we watched fireworks surround our home from our balcony. Over here, private citizens can purchase fireworks – and not the whimpy American kind. One of our neighbors put on a full 15-minute pyrotechnic show. It was amazing, but we were happy to watch afar. Our apartment is on the 7th floor with low rise neighborhoods surrounding, so we had a lovely view across several small fireworks shows. Apparently Chinese New Years gets really crazy with firecrackers and fireworks.
Today has been running errands at the tailor and fabric market. The streets are empty. Western restaurants are closed. It’s a nice, slow way to start 2009. Here's to a fabulous year ahead!