Category Archives: travel

warren buffett…the man

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A candid shot…captured by one of my classmates.


Oh my gosh! I am going to do my best to describe what this experience was like, but there’s no way I will be able to do it justice. Somehow I got lucky enough to be able to go on this trip with about 20 other students from my school.


See that first row of seats in the picture? Yeah, that’s THE first row.

It was a Q&A with Warren Buffett at Berkshire-Hathaway. In searching the Internet (the source of all truth) I was unable to determine exactly who is the richest man on earth, but Buffett is definitely in the top three and I got to sit in a room with him for 2.5 hours listening to him answer a bunch of college kids’ questions, followed by lunch and individual pictures with all of us (six schools in total).

Warren and Julianne…I just wanted to show you his personality. So not full of himself.

So, I won’t bore you with all of the details, but let me just say, Warren Buffett is both brilliant and hilarious.

A few of my favorite tidbits:

In speaking about Wall Street, he joked about those who are currently there:

They couldn’t pull off the Manhattan Christmas Pageant this year because they couldn’t find any wise men.
He loves his Cherry Coke…he knows that Coke is better than Pepsi.

In speaking about failure:

Striking out occasionally is part of the game and it’s a lot more fun to play the game that wait on the side too scared to bat.

One of my favorites, in reference to how lucky he has been in his life:

I won what I call the Ovarian Lottery.

Seriously, he was one of the most humble people I’ve ever met, which is just incredible. Connie and I kept commenting on how he just reminded us of a grandfather. Sure, he’s loaded and brilliant, but other than that, he really is just a jolly old man.

Me and Connie in the big room at Berkshire where the Q&A was held.

However, he did have one moment where he, in a very understated way, showed that he knows just how good he is at what he does. Someone asked him about predicting the market and this is what he said:

I can’t and I like to think that because I can’t, no one else can.
All of my school peeps with Mr. Buffett

The number of stories he has locked away in his mind and the detail with which he can remember them is amazing. Amazing. I feel like I got a semester’s worth of education in 2.5 hours. And what’s fascinating is that I didn’t walk away from it thinking, “I want to be as rich as Warren Buffett.” I walked away from it thinking, “I want to be like him when I’m 78. I want to have stories to share and a life full of amazing experiences. I want to not have regrets.”

Really, I keep reading over my notes in awe, both of how brilliant he is and how lucky I was to be there and have had this experience.

Warren and me. Crazy!!!

Another couple of great quotes…needing no explanation.

Leverage is what gets smart people in trouble.
Work around people that bring out the best in you.
The price of the stock doesn’t tell me if I’m right or wrong. It’s the performance of the company.
There are a few more things I’d like to share, but they deserve their own posts, so I will share them later.

The restaurant where we had lunch. Warren takes everyone here.

My table at lunch. Omaha steaks!

And my favorite picture!

chicago…the details

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I was so excited to get back to Chicago. It had been almost a year since I’d been there. I was so excited to see Kelly and Sarah and spend a fabulous weekend with those girls.

So, here’s how it went down. And yes…pretty much what I do on vacation in big cities is eat and shop. Don’t judge me!

Kelly’s boyfriend picked me up from the airport and we headed to Uncle Julio’s for dinner. Think Chevy’s…only better. We shared the most delicious fajitas I’ve ever had; lobster, shrimp, and steak. After we headed to Kelly and Kevin’s apartment (new since the last time I was in town) and hung out waiting for Sarah’s flight to get in.

Side note: While waiting, we watched this 20/20 report about people in eastern Kentucky. So disturbing. It seriously broke my heart.

Anyway, Sarah got in and the rest of the weekend included Rockit Bar and Grill for Valentine’s, where I got to meet Kelly and Sarah’s friend, Liz. We went to see He’s Just Not That Into You. It was the second time for me. I think it’s pretty dang funny…because it’s so true.

Sunday morning we went to Hot Chocolate for brunch. There was quite the way, but it was delicious! Seriously. So good. I love yummy breakfast.

We then headed downtown to see this amazing photography exhibit featuring the photograph’s of Yousuf Karsh. So amazing. I’m so glad we went. We also saw a number of other great paintings, like Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatter. I love this painting.

And onto some serious shopping. Seriously. We hit the jackpot at Steve Madden. I bought these three pairs of shoes for under $100. How rad is that! (And yes, two pairs are the same, just different colors).

After shopping, we headed out for cupcakes at Sweet Mandy B’s. Delicious. Oh, and don’t worry, we got cupcakes the day before…I just can’t remember the name of the place where we got them.

Of course it wouldn’t be a trip to Chicago without Chicago style pizza. (Or I guess it would be a trip, just not a complete trip.) So Sunday night we went to Giordano’s. This is the place where I had my first Chicago style pizza. So, so good.And then we went to see a movie that could be my own biography; Confessions of a Shopaholic”. Very cute.

We finished off our weekend of food, fun, and fabulousness at Southport Grocery. While the service was less than stellar, the food was absolutely amazing; the most unique French Toast I’ve ever had. It was delicious. Sorry, no pictures.

It’s amazing how much we packed in to 2.5 days. I have got to stop traveling if I’m ever going to get this weight off, but at least I enjoy myself, right?

oh…chicago with kp and sare

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One of my favorite things about my fabulous friends is their willingness to just make things happen (i.e., go on random trips at the drop of hat).

Here is how it went down. One afternoon in January I was bored with my studying and decided to look at ticket prices to Chicago (it had been a year since I saw the fabulous KP). Well, tickets were cheap, so I purchased one…after quickly checking to make sure that weekend worked. I then sent my itinerary to both KP and Sarah, knowing that Sarah had been wanting to go out to Chicago, too. Ten minutes later, I had an itinerary for Sarah’s flight. And this is how it’s done. It’s how I live my life. As a boy from my past always used to say, “Never invited. Always welcome.”

These are the types of friendships that I just love.

The photos are how that love manifested itself Saturday morning (aka Valentine’s Day); KP, Sarah, and me in the photo booth. Who doesn’t love a photo booth?

And yes, there is more to come; movies, restaurants, and lots of cupcakes.

travel time

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I spent my weekend (five days long…love having random school breaks) in Las Vegas. I had a fabulous time and didn’t want to ever leave (read: Chloe hates living in the snow, especially when all of her darling nieces and nephews live in warm, sunny, happy places). However, flying is one of my favorite things to do, so I at least welcomed the trip back to Utah.

I have flown often enough throughout my life, and especially over the last two years, that I have it down. I know which shoes I can and should wear. I know how to pack so that my liquids and laptop are at the ready when I need to remove them for security. I know what to pack on the plane (if I’m checking things) so that I have what I need for the flight. I’ve learned to not cut it so close that I end up annoyed by everyone who doesn’t know how to travel well. I don’t even mind turbulence (okay…I actually enjoy it sometimes). Basically, I have this flying stuff down (minus that one time when I left my passport in a German taxi). All of these things contribute to the reasons why I don’t dislike flying. But the reason I like flying is that I am completely disconnected for anywhere from an hour to eight, depending on the flight.

I don’t know if you know this about me, but I have a somewhat addictive personality (read: if I have tried something and like it, I’m pretty much addicted to it). This holds true of being technologically connected at all times. I honestly get depressed sometimes if I haven’t received enough emails or phone calls throughout the day. I am constantly checking to see if I have text messages. With my fabulous iPhone, I am connected 24/7 (and I don’t really get people who aren’t). But when I’m on a plane, I’m totally free…once the door closes and I have to turn off my phone. (Tonight, I was talking to my sister right until the point that the flight attendant walked by glaring at me.)

And during this disconnected time, I get to connect with myself; my thoughts, my feelings, my plans for the future. I get to have a deep conversation with me. (This is also why I love the gym…I refuse to take my phone in with me, however, the swearing that is often happening internally…and sometimes externally…often gets in the way of deep, meaningful internal dialogue.) Could I feasibly do this at home, without having to fly somewhere? Sure. Do I? Nope. Not ever. I don’t have that kind of discipline.

So, tonight, as I flew from Vegas to Salt Lake, I had some time to just think. It was fantastic. And what did I think about…besides the guy snoring loudly next to me? Decisions and sacrifices.

Rather than share with you the details of this internal dialogue, I think for now I will just leave you with that. Decisions and sacrifices. Some food for thought.

As a parting side note (although I think it much more focal than peripheral), I’m going to go ahead and share with you the etymology of the words sacrifice and decide (I love etymology):

Decide: From French décider or Latin decidere ‘cut off, decide’, from de- + caedere ‘cut’.

Sacrifice: From Latin sacrificium, the noun sacrifice, from the verb sacrificare, from sacer, sacred, + -ficium, deed, from the verb facere, do or make.

*I’ll share the minutiae of my inner dialogue tomorrow…for my own sake, although feel free to read all about it.

dale chihuly

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San Francisco, in typical big city fashion, has a number of museums. When Sarah was in town, we went to the SFMOMA and I got to see the art of Frida Kahlo which was incredible. It was really fun with Sarah because she, as the artist type, knew the back story of the artist, making the art that much more interesting.

Well, there was another exhibit I really wanted to see at another museum that didn’t seem to make it into the “tourist” weekend, so on Friday, I had some time to kill in the city before dinner (Erika and I went to Boulevard…which should get its own post, but probably won’t, as my sister says I’m “not allowed” to take pictures in uber nice restaurants), so I decided to head over to the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park to see Dale Chihuly’s temporary exhibit.

For those of you familiar with the Bellagio in Las Vegas, he is the artist who did all of the glass work on the ceilings. Amazing, but nothing compared to his chandeliers…holy cow! It was absolutely incredible. And sometimes it’s really nice to be at a museum on my own, so I can just sit and stare for as long as I want.

After I saw the exhibit, I watched a film about him that the museum had on a loop. Glass blowing is absolutely incredible. I would seriously love to see his team of glass blowers in person. I ended up buying the DVD because it was so amazing.

Here are some of my favorite pieces. (Sorry the pics aren’t great…low light, no tripod, not happy).







This last piece was for sale…$5000. Oh, to be rich. And totally without a conscience for what that money could do, besides purchase a piece of art. Maybe if I was rich enough to feed a village country in Africa for a year and purchase the piece? Maybe?
And (I think) this one is permanent…this is a view from the observation deck of the museum.