Episode 51: January, February, March 2010
Highlights of the quarter:
• Deb travels to Houston, New Jersey, Switzerland, and Brazil;
• Our adventures in Midland;
• Deb and Daphne have a girls weekend in Houston;
• Spring break in Puerto Rico.
The first quarter of the year was a busy one for both of us. The winter weather meant not a lot of outdoor time, but in typical Shorg style, we managed to make the most of the cold months with snowshoe walks and plenty of indoor dinners and activities with friends.
I had a few chances to escape the winter weather with some business trips to warmer places. In January, I spent a week in Houston for a senior leaders meeting where we rolled out a new change management program to the top 200 leaders of Dow. I got to reconnect with many friends and colleagues that I had not seen in a long time, which was great. A few weeks later, I headed to New Jersey to speak at a talent management conference. The conference went well, though I really had to turn it up to engage the crowd as I was the final speaker of the two-day event.
My friend, Stephanie, and I had a belated birthday celebration for her in February where we spoiled ourselves by heading to the newest and most impressive restaurant in town – The Table – followed by the local theater production of The Vagina Monologues, which was an interesting – and rather taboo – play for Midland. Later in the month, Neal and I celebrated Midland’s newly-acquired status of “Best Tennis Town in the U.S.”, which was awarded to the city during last year’s U.S. Open by the U.S. Tennis Association. We celebrated Midland’s tennis prowess by attending a night of matches at the annual women’s tournament held here, cheering on some very talented young players.
With winter in full swing, the nearby town of Frankenmuth held their annual celebration of winter: an ice sculpture competition. We visited during the competition and were once again blown away with what people can create with just snow and ice. We also visited our local gardens, which featured an outdoor glass sculpture exhibition nestled in the snow-filled trees. Also in February, Neal and I also headed to the theater to see a production of Cats, one of the few Broadway plays we had not seen. We typically enjoy Andrew Lloyd Weber shows, but we have to admit that Cats was not our cup of tea – a little too whimsical for our taste.
Later in the month, I headed to Zurich for a week for work. Although the weather was no better there, I got the chance to catch up with many of my friends and Dad and Julie, which is always the best part of going to Zurich. My friend, Maria, has moved into an apartment in downtown Zurich, very close to where Neal and I used to live, so it was great to be back in the old neighborhood and to revisit some of my favorite places.
The month of March was much like the previous two months – lots of indoor activities and plenty of things going on at work to keep us busy. I managed to escape the cold with a week-long trip to Sao Paulo, Brazil. Upon arriving there, I spent an afternoon with my friend and colleague, Lulu, and her husband, Carlos, who turned up the hospitality with some amazing home-style cooking followed by a few hours of shoe shopping. (Can a day be more perfect than that?) The remainder of the week was great. There were 300 people from around the region attending a meeting, so I got the chance to meet with all our young talent, new hires, high potentials, and senior leaders from the region. The evenings were a tremendous amount of fun, with entertainment, recognition events, magic shows, and of course, dancing!
On the way home from Brazil, I stopped in Houston, Texas, where I spent a weekend with my friend from Zurich, Daphne. Daphne was in Austin for a week for her MBA program, so we were able to coordinate in advance to spend a three-day weekend together. We spent a day at the famous Houston Rodeo, which was a cultural experience for both of us to say the least. The rodeo itself was really fun, a great day of entertainment. The funniest sight by far was an activity where 5 and 6 year-old kids wearing helmets had to hold on to a sheep for dear life while the sheep took off after a target. The kid that got the farthest before falling off his/her sheep won. It was the funniest thing I have seen in a long time. After the rodeo, I learned that Daphne has a fear of carnival rides – only after dragging her onto a roller coaster! For the rest of the weekend, we shopped, ate great food, and talked non-stop, catching each other up on all the details of our lives. Daphne became a mother 18 months ago and is half-way done with her MBA, so her life has gone through some significant changes since we left Zurich.
In the U.S., most schools have a week-long break in the winter term called Spring Break. The kids get a week off from school, and the parents take it as their opportunity to vacation with the entire family. Given we do not have kids, we have never really concerned ourselves with Spring Break, but this year, the timing fell during the week of Easter and right in between some key deadlines for both Neal and I. So we also took our own Spring Break and headed to Puerto Rico. More about that in the next edition of the Shorg Files.
Until then, take care.
