Sunday, September 30, 2018

Davis Ranch

Sunday afternoon, Sharon, Tiber and I made a pilgrimage to Davis Ranch to get fall decorations. We have gone there for a car load of stuff 13 of the last 15 years [2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015]. We didn't go to Davis Ranch in 2016 when the fall dinner party was held at Sea Ranch or in 2017 due to our fall trip to New England. One of my favorite pictures from those trips is here.

At Davis Ranch

Saturday, September 29, 2018

Catastrophe - Season One

Sharon and I finished watching season one of Catastrophe. Over the last year or two, Sharon has watched the first three seasons on her iPhone on planes as we were traveling. She enjoyed it and she wanted to go back and watch it on a bigger screen!

Catastrophe is a British sitcom first broadcast in January 2015 on Channel 4. It stars Sharon Horgan as Sharon Morris and Rob Delaney as Rob Norris. They become a couple after she get pregnant following a fling while he is visiting London on a business trip. Carrie Fisher, Ashley Jensen, and Mark Bonnar play supporting characters in the series.

The first season was six 24 minute episodes. I enjoyed it and recommend it as a adult comedy.

Friday, September 28, 2018

Del Paso Country Club

At Del Paso Country ClubFriday afternoon, Sam Samms, Larkin and I played eighteen holes at the Del Paso Country Club. I enjoyed the afternoon, but was wildly inconsistent. I struggled off the tee and with my new approach to chipping. Thankfully, I had my five wood working from the fairways and made a couple of nice saves out of the sand.

We played fast. I only took us about four and a half hours to play eighteen. I rode with Larkin on the front nine and with Sam on the back nine.

I struggled with the rough all day; I had a hard time getting a clean shot once I got in the rough. As Sam pointed out as we finished fourteen, the last four holes are very hard. I ended up shooting a liberally scored winter rules 117.

Thursday, September 27, 2018

The Fifth Season

My book for September is The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin. Looking for a science fiction novel to read, I kept coming across the Broken Earth trilogy. This is the first book in the series. It won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2016. It also won the Sputnik Award and was nominated for the Nebula Award and World Fantasy Award for Best Novel. The second and third books in the trilogy also won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2017 and 2018 respectively.

This is not a genre that I typically read. It is much more of a fantasy novel than a hard science fiction novel.

The Fifth Season takes place on a planet with a single supercontinent called the Stillness. Every few centuries, its inhabitants endure what they call a "Fifth Season" of catastrophic climate change. There are some hints in the story that this is earth in the future.

I enjoyed the book a lot more than I expected. I give it a B+. I recommend it. I will definitely read the next book in the trilogy.

Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Rugby World Cup Sevens rumbles into AT&T Park

THE PRESS DEMOCRAT | July 19, 2018, 9:59PM


One of the biggest sporting events in the world is coming to the Bay Area this weekend. It starts Friday and runs through Sunday. And no, it isn’t the Giants-A’s rematch at the Oakland Coliseum, though we’re all looking forward to seeing Lou Trivino and Alen Hanson face off in a pressure situation.

No, while the A’s are hosting the Bay Bridge Series, the Giants’ park will be reconfigured for a very different sport. A beefier sport. A rougher and more physical sport. And by the standards of the world stage, a more popular one.

Here come the Rugby World Cup Sevens.

“This is gonna be a huge weekend for rugby in America,” U.S. player Stephen Tomasin told me over the phone on Tuesday. “It’s gonna be on NBC Sports, so it’s gonna be nationally televised. And they’re expecting over 100,000 people through the gates over the three days.”

Rugby, like cricket and Formula 1 racing and even soccer to some extent, is one of those sports that exist on the other side of a cultural divide. While places like Fiji and New Zealand elevate rugby to a near-religious experience, Americans mostly arch an eyebrow and look on suspiciously.


I’m not here to talk you into following the Rugby World Cup. It’s probably too late for that and, anyway, I’m not so steeped in the game myself. But I think it’s cool when major sporting events come to Northern California, and this qualifies. Like the soccer World Cup, the rugby version occurs just once every four years, and this is the first time the United States has hosted. The top 24 men’s national teams and 16 women’s national teams will be here.

The selection of AT&T Park was not random. The Bay Area is a hotbed of rugby. Four of the 12 players on the Team USA roster are from within two or three hours of San Francisco. That includes Tomasin, who grew up in Santa Rosa and was a football star at Cardinal Newman High School.

Rugby is exotica, related just closely enough to American football to reveal its eccentricities — like the protracted pushing matches of the scrum and the airborne players of the line-outs. And even if you have watched some rugby, you may not have seen this version. The sport is generally divided into two forms, 15-a-side and seven-a-side.

Rugby 15s is the older, more revered version. But the biggest rugby event in the world, the competition at the Summer Olympics, is a seven-man event. And so is the second-biggest gig in the world: The World Cup.

With fewer players on the field, rugby sevens is a faster, more free-flowing and higher-scoring game. The games are crazy short, with seven-minute halves. “Which makes it very cutthroat. If you get down, it makes it hard to come back, and vice versa,” Tomasin said.

He noted that USA Rugby equipped its players with little square GPS units that they wear on their backs. Data generated by the technology shows that players run anywhere between 1,400 and 2,000 meters per game. That’s a lot in 14 minutes of action, especially when you consider that no one is moving much during the scrums. It’s a good fit for someone like Tomasin, whose 198 pounds of fast-twitch muscle do not make him one of the larger players in a sport dominated by the thick.

Tomasin took an interest in rugby in high school, gained some attention while playing at San Diego State, narrowly missed making the U.S. Olympic rugby squad two years ago at the tender age of 21 and has since become a mainstay of the Eagles, as the American team is known. He has never been a demonstrative athlete, but he’s pretty fired up for this World Cup.

“As soon as they announced (the venue), it became a big goal of mine to get to this point,” Tomasin said. “It’s hard to explain how much it means for it to be at home. I have so many people coming that wouldn’t be able to watch us play if it wasn’t. So it would be special if it was anywhere, but having it here, just an hour from my hometown, is about as good as it gets, really.”

The national team trains in San Diego. And yes, Tomasin can make a living at rugby. He isn’t getting rich, but the sport pays his bills.

Now 23, Tomasin remains the youngest player on the Eagles. But he isn’t the least experienced. He has played in 22 tournaments with Team USA, and has started many of those.

Tomasin tried out for the 2016 Olympic team as a halfback, but now plays hooker. It’s a forward position. He is responsible for a lot of cleanup tackling on defense. On the attack, he is involved in all the set pieces like scrums and line-outs.

“So my job is to kind of playmake within the forwards and let the other two, the big fellas, do the hard running and the line running,” Tomasin said. “Then I try to finish off what they start.”

If the United States isn’t considered a member of rugby royalty, the Eagles are nonetheless a highly competitive team. Perry Baker was the World Rugby Men’s Sevens Player of the Year in 2017, and fellow wing Carlin Isles was this season’s top try-scorer. Team USA enters the World Cup as the No. 5 seed. It will receive a first-round bye, then play the winner of Wales-Zimbabwe at about 9:30 p.m. Friday. The Americans got their first-ever world sevens win at Las Vegas in early March.

Tomasin did not play in that one. He was nursing a bone bruise that knocked him out of three tournaments after he banged knees with another player. He says he’ll be fully healthy for the games at AT&T.

Everyone talks about rugby’s growth in the U.S., but it has yet to break out as a viable professional sport. Those associated with the game are hoping that hosting the World Cup will rev up the momentum a little.

Guys like Tomasin are convinced that America can fall in love with rugby, just as he has since cutting his teeth in that 2016 Olympic camp.

“I’ve gotten to kind of be immersed in it since then, and it’s totally amped up my passion for the game,” he said. “Because now I’ve gotten to see every tournament in the world. I’ve gotten to play a lot of minutes with this team. So before, I liked it a lot, I guess I’d say. And now I love it a lot more than I did then.”

Tomasin has his sights set on the 2020 Olympics — and, before that, a big tournament on the banks of McCovey Cove.

Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Janie's Retirement Party

Tuesday afternoon, Sharon and I went to Janie's retirement party. We went first to her state office building. After a trivia contest about her life, three or four senior leaders give very nice speeches about her contribution to the department. Her brother and a friend (Ted) also got up. From there, the party moved to P.F Chang for drinks and dinner.

at Janie's Retirement Party

at Janie's Retirement Party

at Janie's Retirement Party

Monday, September 24, 2018

To Portland and back

Leaving the house before 8:00 am, I spent my day winding my way to Portland and back. I caught a 9:50 am Southwest flight. Boarding with A32, I was able to get the nice exit row aisle seat on an older 737. There were several other AH employees on the plane. The Clinical Engineering VP was sitting in the same row.

After a quick bite at the airport, I spent the rest of the day downtown working on a due diligence project. At one point, we walked through the downtown to another office. The area is very nice; Sharon and I need to come back for a long weekend.

At the end of the day, I caught an Uber back to the airport. I was shocked at the rush hour traffic.

Boarding with A18, I caught a 7:50 pm Southwest flight back to Sacramento. I was able to get the same exit row aisle seat... I was back home in Carmichael just before 10:00 pm. A long day... After not feeling well over the weekend, at least, I started to feel better.

Sunday, September 23, 2018

Catta Verdura Couples Guest Day Tournament

Sunday afternoon, Sharon and I played in the Couples Guest Day Tournament with the Sanborns at the Catta Verdura Country Club. The Sanborns are members. We played nine holes here last year right after the Sanborns moved into their new home.

The format was a couples shamble. Each couple played their ball from the best drive of the couple. The score for the hole was the resulting best individual ball. The tournament was really designed for players with an established handicap. Unfortunately, neither Sharon or I have an official handicap.

Feeling very under the weather, I really struggled to get going. The format also made it hard for me to settle into any kind of a rhythm. On a number of holes, Sharon and I were picking up our balls.

The Sanborns both played very well. They have been playing a lot of golf. Thanks largely to Marlene's handicap, we ended the day with a team score of 58. I think that we only ended up using Sharon or my ball on the par three 6th... Sharon was very strong off the tee. She ended up winning the closet to the pin on the Par 3 6th hole.

We finished the day with a buffet dinner and awards ceremony at the clubhouse. The Sanborns are taking off on Monday and Tuesday to play in two day tournament at Saddle Creek!?!

Saturday, September 22, 2018

Dinner with Erin and Cromac

Sharon's niece Erin brought a house in the Colonial Village area of Southeast Sacramento in the last two months. In the late afternoon, Sharon and I stopped by with a housewarming present. We visited and got a chance to see the house.

Afterwards, we took Erin and Cromac to dinner at Hot Italian in Midtown. This was the first time that either of us had been there; I didn't realize that it was essentially a pizza place or so causal... Sharon and I split a Fiori pizza [prosciutto parma, arugula, mushrooms, truffle oil, mozzarella, tomato sauce].

Thursday, September 20, 2018

Morgan and David are getting married in October

My daughter Morgan and her fiancé David are getting married in October.

Sharon and I visited them in New Hampshire last year. We toured their new home and took them to dinner. At the time, Morgan said “I hope that you can make it to the wedding.” We offered to pay for a significant portion of the wedding costs.

Unfortunately, the situation quickly turned ugly. My ex-wife Alison decreed that I would not be invited. I have been told that she threatened to have security guards to make sure that I don't attend.

Last November, when Wallen and I were in DC visiting Rob shortly after this started to unfold, I was angry and planning to go to war. Over the ensuing months, I have gotten lots of solicited and unsolicited advice. I have ended up in a very different place.

Although I have made mistakes, I have worked hard over the last thirty years to be a steady presence in Morgan and Drew’s lives and contribute to the best of my ability. I am profoundly sad that we have ended up at this place.

I wish Morgan and David a joyous and beautiful wedding day.

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Back from SoCal

Up at 5:00 am, I caught a 7:20 am Southwest Flight from Burbank to Sacramento. Boarding with A33 from the rear of the plane, I ended up with the aisle seat in the two seat exit row. Pulling away from the gate on time, the plane sat in line to take off on the runway for more than ten minutes. Landing in Sacramento about 8:45 am, I was back to work about 9:30 am.

Tuesday, September 18, 2018

to SoCal and Dinner with Drew

I caught a 9:00 am Southwest flight from Sacramento to Burbank. Boarding from the rear of the plane with A34, I was able to get the nice exit row aisle on an older 737. I continue to be fascinated with fact that people don't really seem focused on getting the exit rows...

Picking up a rental car, I headed to Glendale. I spent the day in meetings at hospital.

At the end of the day, I met Drew for dinner at Kabuso. It was great to see him and spend some time catching up!

Afterwards, I crashed for the night at the Marriott Burbank Airport. This is an older Marriott right next to the entrance to the airport. I haven't stayed here before.

Monday, September 17, 2018

In memoriam: ‘Polly’ Nooter Roberts, art historian and scholar of African art

Roberts’ legacy lives on in the lives she touched, her cultural contributions and how she shaped curriculum at UCLA

Roberts advocated for women’s health through her work in UCLA’s world arts and cultures/dance department and its commitment to arts activism and global health.

Mary “Polly” Nooter Roberts, UCLA professor of world arts and cultures/dance, died peacefully in her sleep at home on Tuesday, Sept. 11. She was 59, and had been living with stage four metastatic breast cancer for more than eight years.

Roberts was trained as an art historian and became one of the world’s foremost scholars of African arts. She focused her research in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where she undertook long-term dissertation research among Luba peoples, and in Senegal, where she conducted field research on the arts of a local Sufi movement called the Mouride Way.

Roberts studied the philosophical underpinnings of African visual and performance-based arts and was celebrated for her sensitive and innovative translation of cultural experience into museum exhibitions. She authored or co-authored 15 books; more than 100 scholarly articles published in noted books, academic journals, and online; countless brief entries in exhibition catalogues and encyclopedias. She also presented hundreds of keynotes, panel presentations and museum talks. Through courses like “Curating Cultures,” “World Arts/Local Lives,” and “Arts of Memory,” she brought her wealth of experience to UCLA undergraduate and graduate students.

Her influence was deeply felt in the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture. Roberts served as a mentor to a great many students interested in arts theories and practices, inspiring them to question their own identities even as they explored arts of diverse cultures throughout the world. Through her museum work Roberts also reached out to many communities, and in 2017, she was awarded the Dai Sensei/Master Teacher Award of the Ethnic Arts Council of Los Angeles. As the award statement read, through Roberts’ “remarkable teaching and speaking skills… the more we learn the more excited we become; the more we seek the more you give.”

These same abilities led to Roberts being awarded the lifetime Leadership Award of the Arts Council of the African Studies Association in 2017 as the most significant recognition in the academic field of African art studies. In 2007, she was decorated as a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters by the Republic of France for her promotion of French and Francophone cultures and arts.

“A brilliant scholar, beloved teacher, colleague, wife and mother, Polly brightened so many of our lives with her brilliant mind, luminous spirit, unyielding optimism and boundless generosity,” said Brett Steele, dean of the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture in an email to the school community.

“Polly exuded physical, intellectual and spiritual strength, both before and during her illness. In fact, she rejected the ‘battle’ metaphor for living with cancer,” said Dan Froot, chair of the world arts and cultures/dance department. “Instead, she insisted that it opened up unimagined perspectives for her, and new pathways for sharing her passions, inquiries and discoveries with students, audiences, readers, museum-goers, colleagues, friends and loved ones.”

Embodying the notion that knowledge and wisdom should be shared, Roberts was scheduled to be among the speakers for UCLA Arts’ “10 Questions” series — a hybrid academic course and public event series that brings together leading minds from across the university to discuss fundamental questions.

Though born in the United States, Roberts spent her childhood in Uruguay and Liberia as the family moved with her father’s posting in the foreign service. Roberts mother was a former artist and scholar of the arts of Africa, who worked at the National Museum of African Art.

After receiving her bachelor’s degree from Scripps College and her graduate degrees in art history from Columbia University, Roberts worked for a decade as senior curator at the Museum for African Art in New York City. Her major exhibitions included “Secrecy: African Art that Conceals and Reveals” and “Memory: Luba Art and the Making of History,” which was awarded the College Art Association’s Alfred Barr Award for Outstanding Museum Scholarship.

In summer 1999, Roberts moved to Los Angeles to serve as deputy director and chief curator of the Fowler Museum at UCLA, a position she held through 2008. She curated or oversaw many important exhibitions, including: “Body Politics: The Female Image in Luba Art and the Sculpture of Alison Saar”; “Inscribing Meaning: Writing and Graphic Systems in African Art”; and “Continental Rifts: Contemporary Time-Based Works of Africa.”

“A Saint in the City: Sufi Arts of Urban Senegal,” funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and co-curated with her spouse, Allen F. Roberts, also a professor of world arts and cultures/dance, opened at the Fowler in 2003 and traveled to five other American museums through 2008. The New York Times hailed the exhibition as one of the year’s 10 best on any theme in any U.S. museum, and the accompanying book won the two most prestigious prizes in African studies.

After shifting from her appointment at the Fowler to become a professor, Roberts was named consulting curator of African arts at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. She helped found a new gallery for African arts at LACMA, brought several immensely important African sculptures into LACMA’s collections, and she curated important exhibitions. These included “Shaping Power: Luba Masterworks from the Royal Museum for Central Africa,” “Senses of Time: Video and Film-Based Works from Africa,” which was seen at three museums, and “The Inner Eye: Vision and Transcendence in African Arts.” She was planning “Performing the Extraordinary: Monumental Masquerades of Africa” for a LACMA opening in 2020.

Over these last eight years, Roberts’ passions for learning and teaching were extended to living with metastatic breast cancer. As she often said, her new circumstances, as dire and daunting as they most certainly were, permitted her to gain new insights that she shared with her UCLA students. Roberts worked closely with other women living with metastatic breast cancer to create large seminars sponsored by the Komen Foundation, that disseminate information about health care resources and breakthroughs, while urging that — like her — they never lose hope.

Roberts is survived by her parents, her husband Al Roberts; and their three children: Avery, her husband James, and their sons Zane and Felix; Seth and his wife Molly; and Sid; and four siblings and their families.

Sunday, September 16, 2018

2018 Dallas Cowboy Over/Under Season Win Total

In seven of his last nine games, dating back to last season, Prescott has not thrown for 200 yards and he has not thrown a touchdown pass in six of his last nine games.
For more than 10 years, I have listened to Bill Simmons and Cousin Sal talk about sports betting on their podcasts. There were a couple of times that I was interested in making a bet just for fun. These opportunities were mostly season long bets rather than individual games.

After listening to their over/under podcast for the 2018/19 NFL season, I finally took the plunge and opened an account with an online sports book. In a series of podcasts over the last couple of seasons, Simmons has been really negative about the Dallas Cowboys and their head coach Jason Garret (first coach fired?).

I made a bet on the under for Cowboys season wins. It will be fun to follow this over the course of the season and poke at Rod Renteria online and at the annual fall dinner party!

Saturday, September 15, 2018

A Night Under the Stars

Night Under the StarsSharon and I went with Sanborns to A Night Under the Stars BBQ Gala at the California Aerospace Museum. The Sanborn's friend Dave and Beth also attended. We were all sitting at at the Placer Valley Sunrise Rotary table. This fundraising event supports the museum’s hands-on STEM educational programs and is their biggest fundraiser of the year.

Quest also had a table. Sam Samms was there. He said that this was their fifth STEM event.

Before dinner, we wandered through and into the planes and helicopters outside. After dinner, five awards were presented. Although Sharon and I didn't know it ahead of time, the second award--the Bob Hoover Dreams Take Flight Award--was to be given to Harrison Ford. When they got to his award, the emcee said "Harrison Ford couldn't make because he is too tired from working on his current movie." They showed a very short clip of him speaking and went on to the next award. I got the feeling that there were a number of people who felt that they had been bait and switched.

After the awards, there was a band playing outside. The night ended with a spectacular fireworks display.

Friday, September 14, 2018

Rey Azteca

Sharon and I finished the week with dinner at Rey Azteca. It has been a while since we have eaten there. We talked about the arc of the next four years and how I am thinking I will respond to a seminal event scheduled in October.

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

California Historical Landmark #313

With my job change in the fall of 2016, I haven't been traveling quite as much. Taking advantage of Sharon and Janie being in Wichita, I decided to spend the afternoon tracking down a number of historical markers. I ended up visiting eight markers, including: First Tehama County Courthouse [#183]; Hooker Oak [#313]; Old Suspension Bridge [#314]; Bidwell's Bar [#330]; Last Yahi Indian [#809]; Posted Water Notice Site [#831]; Chico Forestry Station and Nursery [#840.2], and; Mother Orange Tree of Butte County [#1043].

Hooker Oak
California State Historical Landmark #313

See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps

This landmark is located at 1928 Manzanita Avenue, Tidwell Park, Hooker Oak Recreation Area, Manzanita Ave between Vallombrosa and Hooker Oak Avenue, Chico in Butte County. There are 10 other California State Historical Landmarks in Butte County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 39° 45.591 W 121° 47.861.

California Historical Landmark #313

In 1887 Annie E. K. Bidwell named this huge oak after English botanist Sir Joseph Hooker. When it fell during a windstorm in 1977, it was estimated to be over a thousand years old - it was nearly a hundred feet tall and 29 feet in circumference eight feet from the ground. The largest branch measured 111 feet from trunk to tip - circumference of outside branches was nearly five hundred feet.

California Historical Landmark #313

California Historical Landmark #313

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Black Panther

Saturday night when Sharon was in Chicago, I watched Black Panther. The film is a 2018 superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the eighteenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The only other films that I have seen in series are Iron Man and Iron Man 2.

The film stars Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa/Black Panther, alongside Michael B. Jordan [Creed], Lupita Wyong'o [12 Years A Slave], Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya [Get Out], Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, and Andy Serkis. T'cholla is crowned king of Wakanda following his father's death, but his sovereignty is challenged by an adversary who plans to abandon the country's isolationist policies and begin a global revolution.

I am not a Marvel Comics fanboy. I don't have a particular passion for all of these interrelated super hero movies. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the movie and recommend it.

The main reason that I watched the movie is that there is a lot of buzz about Black Panther being nominated for an Oscar. I am starting my quest to watch potential Oscar nominated films early this year. Other films on my list for the next couple of months are BlacKkKlansman, First Man, Widows and A Star is Born.

Monday, September 10, 2018

Jack's 2018 Fall Semester Classes

ARTH 250 - Modern Architecture 1750-2000
This course surveys modern architecture in Europe and the United States from 1750-2000. Beginning in England, changes in architectural styles and the designs of key architects will be discussed within the framework of their cultural context. Visionary forms, urban plans, new technology and ornament will be analyzed. In addition, this course surveys the skyscraper's development, the Arts & Crafts movement, the International Style and later modern forms. Students will learn to recognize and describe the major characteristics of architectural movements in Europe and America during this time frame and become familiar with the ideas underlying these forms. Among the many architects and designers to be addressed are Jefferson, Morris, Gaudi, Wright, Le Corbusier and Graves.

We will visit Washington, D.C. architectural sites and/or relevant museum exhibitions as part of this course.

OPIM 230 - Operations Management
A firm has the opportunity to create competitive advantage through proficient management of its operations—manufacturing and services. To do so, the firm must first recognize and establish the strategic role of its operations within the organization. Then, at the more detailed operational level, the firm must execute effectively and efficiently. This course examines the strategic role that the operations function can play, and offers specific tools and techniques that the firm can use during implementation.

OPIM 257 - Develop/Managing Data Bases
The objective of this course is to introduce the student to the key principles and activities associated with the design, use and administration of business databases. The course will discuss important database design principles and sophisticated data retrieval and mining techniques. These principles and techniques will be demonstrated using various computerized database tools, including Oracle and Access. The course will cover critical issues related to database development and administration in the context of consumer-oriented, electronic commerce (Internet and World Wide Web) environments. Formerly offered as MGMT 257.

STRT 261 - International Business
A first course in the theory and practice of international business. After building a foundation of international trade, foreign direct investment, exchange rates, and government policy, the course emphasis is on the application of concepts to the solution of international business problems. It focuses on areas such as international market entry, the internationalization of the marketing, finance and management functions within the firm, and the development of global business strategies.

STRT 283 - Strategic Management
Strategic management deals fundamentally with the ways in which firms build and sustain superior competitive positions and profitability. Successful strategy design and implementation requires a holistic understanding of the firm’s external environment and its internal resources and capabilities. Although we will draw on your prior studies in finance, marketing, accounting, and operations for insights to analysis of firms and their environments, strategy is a stage-setting activity that should drive—rather than be driven by—functional area decisions and actions.

The primary objectives of the course are to improve your ability to:
  • Evaluate strategic opportunities in a firm’s external environment and assess the resources and capabilities that a firm can bring to taking advantage of opportunities.
  • Develop superior strategies that will promote sustainable profitability.
  • Determine the appropriate scope of a firm’s activities for expansion and growth.

Fall 2016 Semester
Spring 2017 Semester
Fall 2017 Semester
Spring 2018 Semester
Fall 2018 Semester
Spring 2019 Semester
Fall 2019 Semester
Spring 2020 Semester

Sunday, September 09, 2018

Sharon and Janie's Chicago Adventure - Day 5


Sharon and Janie spent the morning roaming Millennium Park.

After lunch on a rooftop, they walked along the river in the afternoon.

They caught 6:55 pm Southwest flight nonstop from Midway to Sacramento. Sharon was home in Carmichael about 10:30 pm.

Saturday, September 08, 2018

Sharon and Janie's Chicago Adventure - Day 4

Sharon and Janie's Saturday in Chicago focused on two tours. From 11 am to 2 pm, they did a food tour. They checked in to start the tour at Lou Malnati’s, a deep dish pizza restaurant.

In the evening, they did a Haunted Evening Chicago Pub Tour starting from the Red Loin Pub.

Friday, September 07, 2018

Sharon and Janie's Chicago Adventure - Day 3


Sharon and Janie did a Chicago Crime and Mob Tour in the morning.

They had lunch at RL Restaurant. This is one of the Ralph Lauren restaurants. We ate at another Ralph Lauren Restaurant--the Polo Bar--when we were in New York in March.

After lunch they jumped on the Hop On Hop Off Bus and headed to the Willis Tower. It is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. They visited the Skydeck. At 1,353 feet in the air, the ledge's glass boxes extend out 4.3 feet from the Skydeck.

They finished the night with a late dinner at Nellcote.

Sac Yard

After work, I met Snipes for a couple of beers at the Sac Yard.

Thursday, September 06, 2018

Sharon and Janie's Chicago Adventure - Day 2

Sharon and Janie's plan for the morning was to catch the Hop-On Hop-off Bus. Walking to the bus stop, it was pouring rain.

They took the bus to the Art Institute of Chicago. After spending some time at the museum, they had lunch at Luke's of Chicago.

Taking the Hop-On Hop-Off Bus back to the Miracle Mile, they shopped and walked back to the hotel. Sharon said that her feet were wet for most of the day.

In the early evening, they took a River Boat Architecture Cocktail Tour. They finished the day with cocktails and small plates at The Aviary. They were still hungry and ended up stopping for some bad nachos on the way back to the hotel...

VMWare Executive Briefing

I spent the day at the VMWare Executive Briefing Center in Palo Alto. The agenda included: VMWare and Innovation in Healthcare; VMWorld Recap; Security, NSX & SDN; VMWare Cloud Strategy; VMWare Digital Workspace, and; Global Premier Support - Business & Mission Critical Support.

We finished the night with dinner at Osteria Tosana in Palo Alto. I had LINGUINE TUTTO MARE [Manila clams, PEI mussels, salmon, scallops, prawns, fresh catch,tomato, white wine, olive oil].

I always try to walk away from an executive briefing with one or two nuggets of information. There was a lot of talk today about virtual desktops [Digital Workspace]. I continue to be skeptical that this is real solution of any of our current challenges...

Wednesday, September 05, 2018

Sharon and Janie's Chicago Adventure - Day 1

Working to take advantage of Janie's Southwest companion pass, Sharon and Janie took off for long weekend in Chicago.

They caught a 10:30 am Southwest flight from Sacramento to Denver and then on to Chicago. They didn't have to change planes. They had the two seat exit row the whole trip. They were on the ground at 5:50 pm local time about 5 minutes early.

Sharon and Janie are spending four nights at Chicago Marriott Autograph Collection.

They walked to the City Winery, but it was closing. They ended up having dinner at Smith & Wollensky.

To Sonora and then Palo Alto

After a stop at Creekside, I spent the morning winding my way to Sonora. I had lunch with the Site IT Director and the Site Services Administrative Director. After checking on the team measuring the EMR speed in the clinics and rounding with the Site IT Director, I headed across the Central Valley to Palo Alto. I spent the night at the Residence Inn Palo Alto Menlo Park.

Sunday, September 02, 2018

Labor Day Weekend Hike plus

The plan for the day was to head to the Napa Valley for a hike, lunch and a stop at a winery. Rolling from Carmichael about 8:15 am, we were in Skyline Park before 9:30 am.

We hiked up the Marie Lake Road to the Marie Creek Trail. Once we got to the lake, we hiked back on the Marie Lake Road. Moving steadily, we covered 4.80 miles in an hour and 52 minutes. I would definitely like to come back and hike the Skyline trail.
Labor Day Weekend HikeLabor Day Weekend HikeLabor Day Weekend HikeLabor Day Weekend HikeLabor Day Weekend Hike
After the hike, we headed to St. Helena for lunch. We had lunch at The Charter Oak. This restaurant is in the building where Tra Vigne was previously located. Sharon and Tom had lunch there in June. Sharon had the cheeseburger [pickled jalapeño relish, fries], while I had salad of chicken, almond, goat cheese and plum.

After a quick stop at the outlets in Napa, we headed to Bouchaine Vineyards. Sharon has been a wine club member here since 2010. I was shocked at how many people were there. We did a tasting and picked up the wine shipment.

It was a long day. We rolled back to the house after 6:30 pm. Thankfully, the traffic on the way home was light.

Saturday, September 01, 2018

I Feel Pretty

Saturday night, Sharon and I watched I Feel Pretty as a rental on the AppleTV. Playing the trailer on my phone while we were having hors d'oeuvres on the deck, Sharon latched onto the idea of watching the movie.

Released on April 20, 2018, the movie is an American comedy. The film stars Amy Schumer, Michelle Williams, Emily Ratajkowski, Rory Scovel, Aidy Bryant, Busy Philipps, Tom Hopper, Naomi Campbell, and Lauren Hutton. The plot involves an insecure woman who, after suffering a head injury, gains extreme self-confidence in her appearance.

The movie is mildly entertaining. Sharon enjoyed it more than I did. I don't recommend going out of your way to watch it...