Recent Posts
72 Hours in Rome
In January of 1999, I stood at Trevi Fountain, turned my back to the majestic pool and threw a U.S. quarter over my shoulder. I guess the tradition worked as I finally found myself standing at Rome’s Termini train station around 2pm on Thanksgiving Day. My parents and...
48 Hours in Siena, Italy
From the moment I started walking from the bus stop to the Hotel Duomo in Siena, Italy, I knew I was in love with this city. Walking along the vibrant Via Banchi di Sopra and Via di Città, past the Piazza del Campo, seeing so many people strolling the narrow,...
40 Hours in Dubai, UAE
I have a lot of friends that have told me so many wonderful things about Dubai. It's a very popular rest and recuperation (R&R) spot and transit hub for American contractors working in Afghanistan (and I have a lot of friends that are just that). I just finished...
Get Your Pumpkins — at Belvedere
There are plenty of places near Charlottesville where one can pick a pumpkin. Places such as Carter Mountain Orchard, where I took the kids last Friday for apple picking, Chiles Peach Orchard, Greenfield Fall Fest near Ruckersville, and Hess Greenhouse‘s Back Home on the Farm in Harrisonburg where my daughter’s kindergarten class went last year for a field trip. But based on a recommendation last year and a Groupon for $15 season passes, I decided to take a trip to Belvedere Plantation in Fredericksburg, VA.
Staunton’s Frontier Culture Museum
Staunton's Frontier Culture Museum is a tribute to the first colonial Virginia settlers and is organized on a circular trail with tiny houses / villages representing different colonial era settlers. In the words of the museum's website, "To tell the story of these...
Luray Caverns and Skyline Drive
Growing up in Northern VA, I have many memories of trips to Luray Caverns... I've probably been there between 7 to 10 times, but not since maybe 1990. I was really excited last weekend when my wife and I were trying to think of things to do and she mentioned Luray...
Cucumber Kimchi
The garden is kicking out the vegetables now and since we are not skilled at preserving any of it for later use, I had to come up with a way to use five aging cucumbers! I decided to work on perfecting one of my favorite Korean side dishes (or banchan 반찬), cucumber...
George Washington Birthplace
As I prepared to write this blog post, I realized that my father has pretty much lived and worked in all the same places as George Washington, only in opposite order. While a soldier stationed at Ft. Belvoir in the mid-1970s, he lived just a few miles from Mount...
Fall in Charlottesville
Everything seems better in the fall. The dreaded Virginia humidity and heat of summer gives way to cool breezes and beautiful temperatures. There's football. The leaves change. The kids go back to school. Coffee tastes more wonderful. In all of the places I've lived...
My Initial Thoughts on Being an EMBA Student
We are nearing the end of our first term of the MBA for Executives (EMBA) program at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business and it has been quite the ride already. Our cohort of 62 has finished a week-long leadership residency (LR1), two On-Grounds...
Considering a Tech Startup – My Conversation with WillowTree App’s Michael Prichard
Last week I continued my exploration for Darden's Professional Advancement Course by meeting with a local mobile app development company, WillowTree Apps. *Note: Some of the comments below are my interpretation and opinion from what I actually heard from Michael --...
Learning About Entrepreneurship with Hillary Lewis of Lumi Juice
For our Professional Advancement Course, we were asked to conduct an informational interview. I still don't know what my future after Darden looks like: it could be a promotion at work, or maybe it's a job in a new industry, or maybe I decide to start my own...
48 Hours in Ischia, Italy
On my return trip from Afghanistan this past June (yes this post is long overdue), I met up with my girlfriend Jocelyn for a week-long trip to Italy, including Ischia, Pompeii, Amalfi, Positano, Sorrento, and Capri. The first 48 hours, after not having seen each other...