So that little piece of advice my professor gave me:
Choose the next job to get the LAST job.
In true b-school form, this piece of advice was accompanied by a line graph where the X axis plotted time income and the y axis plotted income. The line moves fairly steadily along the horizontal axis until a point where it starts to shoot up dramatically at a faster rate. I'll let you marinate on that.
On another note, I'd been frequently asked by people wanting to know what was on my list of things to do in New York before I moved so by popular request I've written it below. Please feel free to comment on things I should have included. I didn't actually get to accomplish much due to the lightening speed at which moving materialized but the spirit was willing.
1- Olana and Storm King (I'd been fascinated by the Hudson River School of Painters for some reason. I think I read about it during a time I was fixated on Truman Capote)
2- River Cafe (I did go by it in a water taxi)
3- Rasputin (a vaudeville Russian dance hall in Brighton Beach, the stories about it keep the mystery alive)
4- Shalimar (This is a diner in the town where I grew up and I had to have one last cheeseburger there. The burger wasn't as good as I remembered but it was still a nice trip down memory lane.)
4- Eddie's Sweet Shop (A landmark ice cream shop where the boys from the catholic high school would work at the counter. It was in its own way, very Norman Rockwell)
5- Ellis Island (It was fascinating though you can't go up into the Statue of Liberty without a special ticket so I learned.)
6- A Greek restaurant in Astoria (I did get the name of a place to go from Greek foodies two days before leaving)
7- Empire State Building (I used to work in the area and thought that was enough)
8- The Cloisters (Been there and wanted to see if it was as beautiful as I remembered)
9- Peter Luger's (Been there but wanted a bloody steak)
10- Metropolitan Opera (Saw The Magic Flute and Faust)
11- Salisbury, CT (Went over Labor Day weekend)
12- Visit a friend in Westchester (She came to visit me)
13- Go ice skating (Decided this was too dangerous)
14- See a concert at Bowery Ballroom (Hadn't been in a while but love the venue)
15- Visit The Frick (One day hopefully, maybe over Christmas for a concert)
16- Visit my alma mater U Penn (Maybe for my 15th reunion)
17- Visit the Musuem of Television and Radio (I figured Youtube might solve this)
18- Have a Corona ice (it seemed so Queens, I need to check if they ship)
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Berkeley Hills, 94708
I think I put moving up with New Year's Eve and turning 30 (again and again). Things would monumentally change at this milestone of unprecedented import. Or not. It's all relative. I'm still unemployed so that can delay reality sinking in but as we get older, we grow farther apart. Literally and figuratively. Stuff gets in the way. I'm certain if one of the brat pack from Friends left New York, that would the equivalent of the character getting killed off. And isn't it funny how the series ended when they got married and started having kids?
I've discovered Berkeley to be a very accurate caricature of itself. A Prius in every driveway, active community members, people bicycling everywhere, diverse blended families and of course, a plethora of aging hippies. While it's almost unheard of not to have a car in Berkeley, it's still fairly easy to get around by public transportation or...by foot. For the gainfully employed, commuting by car is a given but the days start and end earlier. There isn't a cab to be seen or a siren to be heard and 9pm is LATE for a Saturday night. San Francisco is just a BART ride away for night owls.
Moving has reassured me of my priorities. One of them is being closer to nature. My friend picked me up on Tuesday to go for a run around a reservoir. Granted, there's a nice reservoir in Central Park but this reservoir had me saying to myself, "What were you waiting for Crespo?" Well now, I'm waiting for a job. It's tough because I don't want to have taken these steps forward only to take a step back. I took an executive education course at business school at Berkeley last week and the Professor shared some interesting career advice. Want to hear it?
Look out for my next post. For now check out the view of my back yard.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Harvest in Pictures
This is Abe of The Scholium Project.
The destemmer. Pretty Cool.
A result of walking into a fork lift on Day 1.
Oak kibble for the non purists at the Yeast Department Store.
Climbing into the bin for punch down
Punching away with the punch down tool.
Checking out the fruit at Hudson Vineyard.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
The Thirsty Caterpillar
I looked forward to Fridays when I was working at The Office. The weekend was always a welcome escape from my last job. Wine making is not a desk job. At least it isn’t at a smaller winery and definitely not during harvest. I had this realization my first day. There is always something to do even if there is some downtime in between. A day might start out unplanned, in the vines to check the fruit at the request of the grower, which we did on Friday. The work schedule is planned out week by week and can change on a daily basis. Working weekends is a given. Harvest also means working around the clock to keep the chemical reactions moving along.
I think one of the biggest adjustments I had, and this is more likely a function of being a newbie, was becoming accustomed to waiting to be told what to do. At The Office, I was in management so this was a role reversal for me. While I was eager to be helpful and make a contribution at the winery I couldn’t really be proactive about it. By the end of the week though, in the realm of responsibility that I was able to take on, I was able to anticipate what I could do next. Even if it was cleaning up. By Friday, I gained more confidence and knowledge than I thought was possible in a mere six days.
People who know me well have commented (and complained) that I’m fiercely protective of managing my time, on a professional and personal level. I don’t like long meetings or lingering at a restaurant once the bill has come. I don’t like talking on the phone except when it’s a catch up session with a long distance friend. I confirmed two things on this trip that I need to work on; the first is becoming a better listener and the second is being more present. While there were many moments this week where I was very much in the moment, these are stubborn blemishes on my consciousness.
At the beginning of the year, you might remember I resolved to simplify. I still have work to do because all too often my mind wanders to Stuff. The voice in my head that reminds me to update my resume, send my friend Liz a belated birthday gift, look up that article someone mentioned, download the African music that was playing on the crush pad. Does this sound familiar? I’ve started writing things down because I’d exhaust even more of my awareness trying to set a mental alarm clock to remind myself of all the things I wanted to remember.
Right now I’m entering a period of major transition, a metamorphosis of sorts, like a caterpillar. As I drove back to Oakland at the end of the day Friday, I felt an assemblage of nostalgia, sadness, relief, satisfaction and wonder; I know I’ll be back soon. It has been an adventure, which brings me to Helen, a petite blonde tornado also from NY who started her internship at the winery back in July. She left NY in June, just after her 30th birthday in pursuit of fabulous roman candles and farming experience stopping first along the way in the Midwest to assist a sustainable agriculture co-op. She talked about working harvest in New Zealand next. I admire her fearlessness and wish her speedy success in achieving her badge of honor at the winery: purple hands by the time she leaves California.
It really has been an adventure for me on so many levels and it best captured by a special experience I had one day. Early in the week, I wandered into the vines at the winery for a bit, looking at small, left over clusters of grapes when I came upon a little bird’s nest tucked away in the leaves. It was a sweet discovery and certainly a metaphor for things to come. I will drink it all in little sips.
I think one of the biggest adjustments I had, and this is more likely a function of being a newbie, was becoming accustomed to waiting to be told what to do. At The Office, I was in management so this was a role reversal for me. While I was eager to be helpful and make a contribution at the winery I couldn’t really be proactive about it. By the end of the week though, in the realm of responsibility that I was able to take on, I was able to anticipate what I could do next. Even if it was cleaning up. By Friday, I gained more confidence and knowledge than I thought was possible in a mere six days.
People who know me well have commented (and complained) that I’m fiercely protective of managing my time, on a professional and personal level. I don’t like long meetings or lingering at a restaurant once the bill has come. I don’t like talking on the phone except when it’s a catch up session with a long distance friend. I confirmed two things on this trip that I need to work on; the first is becoming a better listener and the second is being more present. While there were many moments this week where I was very much in the moment, these are stubborn blemishes on my consciousness.
At the beginning of the year, you might remember I resolved to simplify. I still have work to do because all too often my mind wanders to Stuff. The voice in my head that reminds me to update my resume, send my friend Liz a belated birthday gift, look up that article someone mentioned, download the African music that was playing on the crush pad. Does this sound familiar? I’ve started writing things down because I’d exhaust even more of my awareness trying to set a mental alarm clock to remind myself of all the things I wanted to remember.
Right now I’m entering a period of major transition, a metamorphosis of sorts, like a caterpillar. As I drove back to Oakland at the end of the day Friday, I felt an assemblage of nostalgia, sadness, relief, satisfaction and wonder; I know I’ll be back soon. It has been an adventure, which brings me to Helen, a petite blonde tornado also from NY who started her internship at the winery back in July. She left NY in June, just after her 30th birthday in pursuit of fabulous roman candles and farming experience stopping first along the way in the Midwest to assist a sustainable agriculture co-op. She talked about working harvest in New Zealand next. I admire her fearlessness and wish her speedy success in achieving her badge of honor at the winery: purple hands by the time she leaves California.
It really has been an adventure for me on so many levels and it best captured by a special experience I had one day. Early in the week, I wandered into the vines at the winery for a bit, looking at small, left over clusters of grapes when I came upon a little bird’s nest tucked away in the leaves. It was a sweet discovery and certainly a metaphor for things to come. I will drink it all in little sips.
Friday, October 16, 2009
The Ferm
There is the Ferm Bible. And there is the referm. The Ferm Bible is a marble notebook that I often heard referred to during the past week. Brix testing and temperature results are recorded in the book.
Fermentation is usually left to occur on its own with naturally occurring yeasts but when the little guys don't behave, store bought yeast is a last resort to reinvigorate the fermentation process. This is called referm.
There were two errands today: go to the yeast department store and go to the wine making hardware store where tanks of SO2 are sold in the same method you'd get a tank of butane for a grill.
Speaking of grills, lunch was at Dan's Giant Burgers. A greasy spoon icon in Fairfield where two young ladies flip and fry patties while chatting up customers. Abe, Graeme, Helen and myself sat at the counter next to a case where strawberry cream pie awaited should any of us have room for dessert.
Dan's Giant Burgers is a slice of Americana as big and bright as the quarter inch slabs of American cheese they use there. This week was as much about learning wine making as learning about the locals, and the people passing through, like Helen. I'll save my final post to talk more about Helen and some other of the characters of the cast who colored my week so vividly.
I can't believe tomorrow is my last day and it is bittersweet.
Fermentation is usually left to occur on its own with naturally occurring yeasts but when the little guys don't behave, store bought yeast is a last resort to reinvigorate the fermentation process. This is called referm.
There were two errands today: go to the yeast department store and go to the wine making hardware store where tanks of SO2 are sold in the same method you'd get a tank of butane for a grill.
Speaking of grills, lunch was at Dan's Giant Burgers. A greasy spoon icon in Fairfield where two young ladies flip and fry patties while chatting up customers. Abe, Graeme, Helen and myself sat at the counter next to a case where strawberry cream pie awaited should any of us have room for dessert.
Dan's Giant Burgers is a slice of Americana as big and bright as the quarter inch slabs of American cheese they use there. This week was as much about learning wine making as learning about the locals, and the people passing through, like Helen. I'll save my final post to talk more about Helen and some other of the characters of the cast who colored my week so vividly.
I can't believe tomorrow is my last day and it is bittersweet.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Feeling Punchy
I was in the Rhone Valley this past April and visited about 20 different wineries there during my trip. Some were small wineries, others were massive. I wish I could remember the production levels of some of the smaller wineries to benchmark how small Scholium actually is in comparison. I had no idea ALL the labeling was done by hand. Can you tell that was today’s main assignment? No complaints just amazement.
I got to spend a good amount of time with the wunderkind, Graeme today, Abe’s assistant. I just realized I am 11 years older than him but Graeme is an old soul. When I told him this he laughed and said people had been saying that to him since he was a baby. Graeme comes from a family of grape growers. He went to UC Davis for their viticulture program and had considered the grad route briefly. But it was clear to him he was overeducated between his undergrad and practical experience so he pursued internships instead. Working with Abe was his fourth internship.
The harvest from Saturday meant a schedule of pump overs and punch downs would occur over the next several days. This process needs to occur every six hours during fermentation. Pump overs are fairly intuitive; redistribute the juice that settles beneath the fruit in the tank with a pump. Punch downs are effectively the same thing except fermentation is occurring in a barrel. I had the night shift, which started at midnight and I was told to bring shorts. There is a tool that can be used for punch downs that penetrates the ‘cap’of Carbon Dioxide and fruit at the top of a barrel but the best way of doing punch downs is getting IN the barrel.
A picture says a thousand words but I forgot the cord to my camera, so I’ll have to save the images for post-harvest.
I got to spend a good amount of time with the wunderkind, Graeme today, Abe’s assistant. I just realized I am 11 years older than him but Graeme is an old soul. When I told him this he laughed and said people had been saying that to him since he was a baby. Graeme comes from a family of grape growers. He went to UC Davis for their viticulture program and had considered the grad route briefly. But it was clear to him he was overeducated between his undergrad and practical experience so he pursued internships instead. Working with Abe was his fourth internship.
The harvest from Saturday meant a schedule of pump overs and punch downs would occur over the next several days. This process needs to occur every six hours during fermentation. Pump overs are fairly intuitive; redistribute the juice that settles beneath the fruit in the tank with a pump. Punch downs are effectively the same thing except fermentation is occurring in a barrel. I had the night shift, which started at midnight and I was told to bring shorts. There is a tool that can be used for punch downs that penetrates the ‘cap’of Carbon Dioxide and fruit at the top of a barrel but the best way of doing punch downs is getting IN the barrel.
A picture says a thousand words but I forgot the cord to my camera, so I’ll have to save the images for post-harvest.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Oxbow Market
Driving today to Napa took an hour and a half in the rain. I overdosed on NPR.
We started at Oxbow Market (think Chelsea Market in NY or the Ferry Building in San Fran) which is the equivalent of Napa's town square. One of the many aspects of harvest that I wish a desk job shared is a shorter day or even more decadent, a day off for rain.
Since my post yesterday was longer than I promised, today I'll be brief:
1- More Brix testing
2- Relabeling bottles (you know why if you read yesterday's post)
We ended at about 3:00p and I was thankful. I realize that learning a new skill after reaching a certain point in life involves negotiating ego and is probably the most difficult piece of machinery I've had to learn to manage so far this week.
We started at Oxbow Market (think Chelsea Market in NY or the Ferry Building in San Fran) which is the equivalent of Napa's town square. One of the many aspects of harvest that I wish a desk job shared is a shorter day or even more decadent, a day off for rain.
Since my post yesterday was longer than I promised, today I'll be brief:
1- More Brix testing
2- Relabeling bottles (you know why if you read yesterday's post)
We ended at about 3:00p and I was thankful. I realize that learning a new skill after reaching a certain point in life involves negotiating ego and is probably the most difficult piece of machinery I've had to learn to manage so far this week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)