Episode 69: January – March 2015
Highlights:
- World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland;
- Miami Food and Wine Festival;
- Weekends in Philadelphia, Houston, and Oklahoma.
Our year began on separate continents, with Neal spending the first
week of January in Oklahoma and me continuing on in Australia, each enjoying
the last week of vacation with family and friends. Once we returned to Michigan, we quickly
resumed busy work schedules. Both of us
took on exciting new jobs. I made a move
out of HR and into the world of business, becoming President of Dow USA. Neal was promoted out of his business finance
role and into Director of Corporate Strategy position, though he still kept
very busy in the quarter with an large divestiture project that he’s been
working on for the past year and a half.
In yet another first, we took a business trip together to Davos,
Switzerland, to attend the World Economic Forum. It was only the second time we had visited
Switzerland together since moving out of the country in 2006, and we very much enjoyed
the trip down memory lane. The World
Economic Forum was a tremendous experience.
Being among the world’s business, NGO, and political leaders made for
some fascinating people watching and incredible learning. In addition to the open sessions, I engaged
in many one-on-one business meetings with key customers and political leaders
which gave me a great head start on the new role. After the Forum, we returned to Zurich and
took the opportunity to reconnect with some of our friends, including Hubi,
Daphne, and Maria.
Back stateside, in February we embarked on an adventure that married
our loves of friends, food, and travel: the Miami Food and Wine Festival. Along with our friends, Paula and Cathy, we
attended the Burger Bash, hosted by Rachel Ray, and the Taste of Miami session,
where we got to nosh on delicious samplings of food from some of the nation’s
most recognized chefs, and even got the chance to meet some celebrity chefs.
Continuing with the food theme, later in the month we indulged in yet
another culinary weekend in Philadelphia where we tried out some new favorite
food spots – Sbraga, Barbuzzo, and Cheu Noodle Bar – and revisted a favorite, Ela. All four were amazing, but the favorite by
far was Sbraga – an unexpected tasting menu at a reasonable price and with
great ambience. We will definitely put all
of these on the repeat-list.
Other adventures included a trip I took to Houston to spend a weekend
with my girlfriend, Stephanie, and her mom.
Stephanie and I had a great food experience of our own at the new, hip Latin-fusion
restaurant, Uchi. We spent the rest of
the weekend hanging out and catching up on all that has been happening in our lives
since the last time we saw one another.
Late in the quarter, my friend, Michelle, and I enjoyed some quality
catch up time while rocking out at a Maroon 5 concert. Michelle’s husband, Ed, and Neal were
supposed to join us for the concert, but they got stuck in New York City,
working on some final details for the divestiture project.
Rounding out the travel calendar for the quarter, we spent a long
weekend in Oklahoma reconnecting with Neal’s mom and grandparents. We celebrated Ravi’s life – this being the
one-year anniversary of his passing – with a lovely memorial ceremony followed
by dinner at one of his favorite restaurants with his favorite friends.
We also spent a lot of time outside of Michigan this quarter for
work. Neal’s work schedule involved a
lot of travel to New York City to settle on details for the divestiture project
that he’s been working on for the past several months. My new role has so far involved a lot of
travel to visit our many sites and offices around the nation, as well as customer
visits and meetings with politicians in Washington D.C.
So as you can see, we are off to vigorous start to the year. As the weather gets warmer there are sure to
be many more adventures ahead. We hope
your year got off to a great start, too.
