It’s 10:28 p.m. and I am sitting in my café beginning to pull all my notes together from the past week. Yes, I’ve missed my deadline and it didn’t help that I ran into my publisher here tonight at the MIT Enterprise Forum event. Busted. Here I sit, exhausted after another sixteen hour day. But here I sit, in awe… as I recap the numerous events and people I’ve encountered in a mere 7 days (well, 8 days now, double busted) without even leaving the Mesa. Home, Leo’s school, YMCA, café, the shores, home, campus, café, Leo’s school, home… Kills me sometimes. I was once a world traveler. 25 countries by the age of 25. But now my mission is to stay put. My mission is to build a community right here and share these stories with you, and if it all goes according to plan, the world. Backpacking my way through Europe and living abroad has been on hold since opening the BellaV. Owning a business is a 24/7 responsibility. Owning a restaurant staples one’s “fins to the floor.” Yet, out of this self-inflicted house arrest, I have found staying put has its advantages. I may not be out there globetrotting like before, but I have built a community. I have built friendships. And as one friend put it, the world now comes to me. The Mesa is filled with international adventure and mystery. And so I give you… a week in the life…
Thursday
GPS hosted their USMC Pre-deployment Educational Briefing on site at the Sanford Consortium. GPS esteemed professors were honored to speak to Camp Pendleton’s Second Battalion First Marines top officers heading out on the West Pac about the current political climate. And I was equally honored to snap a shameless photo with all 120+ of our troops.
Meetings, meetings, meetings. But one of those meetings was a brainstorming session with the brilliant Ramesh Rao, Director of Calit2 and John Braggiotti, Software and Big Data Expert. Then off to the shores for a private event at Walter Munk’s house to learn more about our 2016 Kyoto Prize Laureates. Philanthropist Malin Burnham, Former CEO of the EDC and Executive Director of Kyoto Prize Organization Dick Davis, Queen Bee Mary Walshok, and Realtor, Serial Board Member and Community Activist Ed Mracek, were just a few of the movers and shakers who attended. Walter Munk, often referred to as the “Einstein of the Ocean,” was a gracious host and shared some of his most priceless pearls of wisdom dating back to the invasion of Normandy. This man was absolutely enchanting and the pure definition of charismatic. (More to come on Munk). I had to pull a Houdini and jet down to the La Jolla Shores Hotel to serve as a judge at one of the dinners during last week’s ITA Workshop. How I ended up at a dinner for the 2016 Information Theory and Applications Workshop? As a judge, I had to comment on the two dishes served and decipher which was a recipe created by a human being and which was the formulation of IBM’s Chef Watson.
Friday:
BellaV was the place to be Friday. There were some major pow-wows going on during the lunch hour. Peter Preuss, Director of Biz Development at Brain Corporation; Mark Cafferty, CEO of the EDC; Sandra Brown, Vice Chancellor for Research; Ed Holmes, el presidente and CEO of SCRM; Paul Roben, new Assoc VC of Innovation at UC San Diego; Greg Horowitz, Co-Founder of T2 Venture Creation and Global Connect UCSD… just a few movers and shakers. Whenever the brilliant Ed Holmes is at the table, you can bet Singapore has something to do with it.
Saturday:
Chancellor Pradeep Khosla; EVC Suresh Subramani; Alumnus and Managing Director of ICT 168 Capital, Jeffrey Belk; and Don Norman, Director of the Design Lab, were among many who came to celebrate UC San Diego’s newest incubator for undergraduates—The Basement. MC Ashley Van Zeeland, Head of Pediatric Business at Human Longevity, Inc., has to be one of the best MC’s out there. She crushed it. And the three young men on the panel? Adorbs… and so damn inspiring. “A Conversation with Innovators” highlighted these young innovators’s current projects and the resources they have tapped into in the SD community to help them on their journey to success.
Sunday:
Church and Confession. Ha!
Monday:
Ideation session with artist Ellen Salk and Choreographer/Artistic Director Jean Isaacs. Honored to bring these two women together, and simply amazed by their creativity and positive energy. We’ll be bringing you fantastic site-specific works in 2017.
Tuesday:
The Godfather of the Biotech scene in SD, Ivor Royston, made a cameo at lunch. Who was he huddled with at the far end of the terrace? Why, none other than the former Canadian Ambassador to Brasil and current President of the Institute of the Americas, Jamal Khokhar. Writer, producer, and entrepreneur Frank Braun was also in the mix. These three meeting? You can bet there is something major cooking south of the equator. Two words. Brazil. Biotech.
Wednesday:
You know it’s going to be a great day when the very person you are hoping to get a meeting with is sitting right inside your café. Top of the morning to you too, Mr. Linden Blue, CEO of General Atomics. And it just keeps getting better. Quick interview with Mark Bowles, founder of ecoATM. Got to play catch up with Eric Otterson, Director Silicon Valley Bank; Jim Fitzpatrick, CEO & Publisher of San Diego Magazine; Karen Winston VP Partnerships at Posiba; Big Cheese Mark Dilorio Magne Sensors Inc.; and the lovely and oh so inspiring Navrina Singh, head of Qualcomm Innovation Program.
Thursday:
Repeat offenders day. Spotted Jamal Khokhar, Mark Bowles, Paul Roben, Devang Thakkar, and the Analytics Ventures crew: Navid Alipour, Blaise Barrelet, Andreas Roell, and George Gould at the BellaV. Perhaps I should install mics? KIDDING!
And so, as I sit up here in my glass think tank by the sea, I must realize that the cup is really half full. This place is truly one of a kind. It’s an honor to be in the middle of all this creativity and talent. It’s an honor to share these stories that make up the Mesa.
Upcoming Events on the Mesa (I’ll be at the fun table…)
- Athenaeum Jazz Concert Series
February 13, TSRI
Jazz @ TSRI brings us the Gary Peacock trio. Jazz legend Peacock turns 80 this year (ooooh, can I pop out of a cake?), and is celebrating with a special tour and CD release. This cat has been playing for six decades and some of his most noteworthy collaborations include Bill Evans, Albert Ayler, Paul Bley, and Miles Davis! Pianist Marc Copland and drummer Joey Baron join him on stage. Gentlemen, need a last minute surprise this Valentine’s Day weekend for that special someone? Grab two tix and come hang on the Mesa, San Diego’s true Mecca of Music. You can thank me later.
- Global Shapers Launch
February 16, Bella Vista Café
Remember that list I threw out last December—people to look out for in 2016? Well, here’s your chance to meet three of them. I like to call them the Charlie’s Angels of SD Entrepreneurs. Young, sexy, and smart as hell, Lolita Taub, Lauren Avenis and Amber Brandner lead the SD Launch of Global Shapers this coming Tuesday at the BellaV. The Global Shapers Community is a World Economic Forum Initiative led by young leaders who are dedicated to making a contribution to their communities. San Diego is honored to join this global network, with 455 hubs worldwide. Another opportunity for us to shine on the world’s stage as innovators with not just passion, but also compassion. See you next Tuesday. And boys… photo ops with the Angels? I got you 😉
- UC San Diego Black History Month
Tuesday February 16 and 18, UC San Diego
Top picks for this coming week are Tuesday’s panel, “Achieving Judicial Diversity” and next Thursday’s Harlem Quartet at the Conrad Prebys Concert Hall. Tuesday’s panel celebrates the legacy of U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall and will feature three African-American judges. Thursday’s Quartet will feature Beethoven, and medleys from the Buena Vista Social Club. My two favorites on the same night? It doesn’t get any better! Be sure to look at their full calendar of events surrounding the month-long Black History Celebration. UC San Diego is on point bringing stellar Black History events to the public.
Tags: Blogs, Life on the Mesa
