First Semester Summary

First Semester (in a Nut Shell)

I realize I've been a bit MIA, so I thought I'd post a smattering of pictures from the semester before I head up to Seattle for Christmas and then to Argentina! :)

NAPA

The year started off with the Annual Women in Leadership trip to Napa. Good wine, great friends and sunshine resulted in a fabulous time had by all.

A Picture of some of the fabulous ladies at Haas.

CAL Football

View from the student section. Gotta love college football, especially in front of a packed house.

The Haas experience would not be complete with a little Cal football and more importantly tailgating...good times had by all...If only Cal could put together a consistent season life would be great! :)

Birthdays!

The Annual Ken Wallace Birthday Beer Mile!

Pumpkin Carving for Christy's Birthday

Kayela and Paul fight over the Halloween candy as James is hard at work.

Redwoods-Wine Club Bike Trip in Sonoma

Warren Buffet and Omaha, Nebraska

I never thought I'd find myself in Omaha, but low and behold I stumbled upon the opportunity to meet Warren Buffet. A mere 24 hours in the state of Nebraska was enough for me, but the visit was well worth the round about trek. I have to admit I was most surprised about how humble and down to earth Buffet was...I would be a bit overwhelmed with hundreds of students coming to see me.

Haas Holiday Party at the Wax Museum
A few pics from dinner and the party

Stinson Beach

Stinson Beach

A weekend with mom was just what the doctor ordered. Saturday we spent the day playing in San Francisco. After a little shopping and some fun on the waterfront we had a fabulous dinner before heading back to Berkeley.

Sunday, we headed out to Mt. Tam and hiked all the way down to Stinson Beach. Check out some of the pictures below. To the right is a shot of Stinson Beach from the hike. The weather couldn't have been any better!

More gorgeous scenery from the hike.

Goodbye Oulu, hello Safeway

My three weeks have come and gone and I am now back home in Berkeley. Oulu is a distant memory...well not exactly. Though I may be back in Berkeley, it certainly felt like I was on another planet for a few days. Hopefully I managed to fool a few people at work. Jet lag gone, I've now re-joined the working world, atleast temporarily.

Though my travels home were fairly uneventful, there was one interesting twist. I arrived at the Oulu airport expecting to board the 7:45am flight to Helsinki only to be told that I was booked for the 6am flight, which had left an hour before I got there. Long story short, I took the last seat on the flight. Just to set the record straight, my flight itinerary did have me flying on the 7:45 flight. :)

Now with that behind me I can focus on enjoying the summer!

More to come soon!

Even though I had to work on the plane flight home I did manage to take a few pictures of the great views. Check out the shots of Greenland and Iceland.










<- Greenland
Iceland ->















Mike, Myah and I celebrating a great 3 weeks.




Team Oulu with Heikki and Vuokko













The park by the hotel

Finnish Sauna

Finnish Sauna Experience

One of the most well known past times in Finland is the sauna. In fact there are two saunas for every five people in Finland. Our team was lucky enough to be hosted by the city of Oulu at the city's sauna, Pehkolanlampi. The night began with smoozing and cocktails (a tar liqueur), followed by the sauna. After the sauna we all convened in the main lodge again for wine and dinner. Dinner consisted of the famous salmon soup...Apparently the record is 14 bowls. I was full after a bowl and a half.


Below are pictures of the surrounding scenery, sauna and main lodge.

Picture of the Women's Sauna

In Front of the Main Lodge

More Oulu Updates

More IBD Pictures

Myah, me & Tanya in Helsinki

Inside the hockey team locker room

Ship at the Port of Oulu

One of the 5 Technopolis locations

Oulu at its best

Printing machine at Kaleva newspaper

Finnish baseball Field (in Oulu)

Nao & Jun in Helsinki

Crane at the Port