Tuesday Top Ten

I've been traveling quite a bit lately...you know that whole silly "find a job" thing. There are certain men in my life (ie Jay and my dad) who are very particular travelers and have little patience for those amateurs who slow them down in the airport. [Sidenote: They would have been so disappointed in me because I actually walked through the metal detector with my cell phone in my pocket on Sunday.] But there really are many annoying things about getting on a plane.

Top ten worse things about flying:

1. Getting to the airport too early - unlike Jay, I'd rather get to the gate right as I should be getting on the plane
2. Airplane smell - second only to charter bus smell
3. Inefficiencies in the security line - People who don't take their shoes off, don't take thier laptops out of their bags, don't know the liquid rules, etc. and hold up the line
4. Having to go to the bathroom on the plane when you're in the window seat
5. Being in the middle seat - there's nowhere to put your head for sleeping (I'm a big plane sleeper)
6. People you sit next to who talk the whole flight - I'm not there to make friends-I'm there to sleep
7. People who carry all their luggage on the plane - the ones who wheel around their over-the-shoulder bags on top of their rolly bags and usually have another purse or brief case in tow...they take forever in the aisles and take too much overhead bin space
8. Turbulence - logically, it makes no sense that a really heavy metal object should get up in the air just by going fast enough and then stay up there - turbulence reminds me of this
9. Paying $15 for a checked bag - not because I have to pay but because it encourages more of #7
10. Bad selection of airport food and beverage - seriously, what kind of airport doesn't have a Starbuck's?

Your Own Super Power?

I'm sure at one point when you were growing up you thought of the "super-power" you wanted most. I know I did. Especially watching superman, batman, spiderman, insert favorite superhero here, I'm sure we all had our favorite and wanted what they had.

I do remember however listening to my sister Leanne explain in detail what became known in the Snider family as "Leanne-Pan". Leanne-Pan was her fictitious alter-ego who could stop time. But, there was a catch. The catch was that she had to touch her index fingers (tip to tip mind you) together above her head without looking. (You should try it - it's not easy) At the time (I was probably somewhere between 12 and 13 I think?) I thought - "what a friggin' waste of a super power" - I thought being "invisible" or the obvious "flying" was the right choice, but being able to just stop time? Stupid... I thought.

Many years later after much thought and retrospect I believe my sister was on to something. Work, sleep, eating, working out, time with family, friends, time to hang out and just relax - we never have enough time! "If only I could stop time" - I thought that to myself one day and I had visions of Leanne-Pan touching her fingers together above her head flash before my eyes.

What would be your super power and why? I'm curious. Kuddos to Leanne-Pan she was on the right track.

Tuesday Top Ten

This week marks the end of the best class I've ever taken. It's a six-week class called "Critical Thought" taught by Leo Linbeck (if you're from Houston, he would be the CEO of the parent company of Linbeck Construction), a brilliant 40-something who teaches at Rice each Fall and at Stanford every Spring. My brother-in-law Chris actually took a class from him while at Stanford and luckily encouraged me to stay in the class despite the reading list we received over the summer with a dozen books on it. Books included everything from "War and Peace" to "An Inconvenient Truth" to "Blink."

These are my top ten favorite things from the class:

1. Uniqueness - The class is unique in both format and content. We go to school each Monday morning for a lecture on a given "theme" (for example, heresy versus genius), turn in a 3-page paper each Wednesday applying the theme to a given topic (for example, poverty), and then meet at his house on Thursday or Friday in small-group seminars to basically debate our stance on the topic. The following Monday, Linbeck applies everything that was discussed back to a business context and then presents the next theme.
2. "Reading" the classics - Though some of us technically "watched," I actually know the plot and could discuss "War and Peace," "Pride and Prejudice," "Othello," etc. and their major themes. Linbeck double-majored in undergrad in engineering and classic literature, so he incorporates these into a business course in a very odd but effective manner.
3. Al Gore lied - (well at least manipulated) "An Inconvenient Truth" is such a half-truth. There is no definitive scientific evidence that humans cause global warming or that it poses an imminent threat to our planet. I will scientifically karate-chop anything you have to say about that. (Global warming was my favorite topic.)
4. Eating dinner at Linbeck's house - Linbeck lives in an awesome house right by Rice that was built in the 1930s. Every week when we meet there, he feeds us. And this week, he's taking all of us plus guests (so literally 50 people) to the River Oak Country Club for a closing dinner. Very fancy.
5. The Mini-UN - Linbeck has 5 kids, 3 of which are adopted from Ethiopa, Guatemala, and Columbia. They range in age from 1.5 to 14, and we eat with them each week at their home.
6. The Ghost Map - This was my favorite read from the class (both for style and content...very interesting).
7. Weekly "Take-Aways" - Take-aways are such a Stanford B-school thing but really are so nice and efficient. One time Chris gave me, Lauren, and Kath take-aways in analyzing what we should get my mother for her birthday.
8. Linbeck drives a hybrid - And his wife drives a mini-van. His shoes look old and worn. I'm pretty sure he wears the same blazer to class every week. The man's got money, but he spends it giving an exuberant amount away to charity, not on anything he owns.
9. I might actually get an A+ - Somewhat shallow, but I still haven't gotten an A+ in grad school. Those are reserved for people like my little Jun who sit at home studying literally all the time. This might be my best chance...
10. Message of humility - Overall, this class was not just about problem-solving but leading an organization with humility.

Dad's TV

I recently visited my family in Little Rock during the second half of our week without power. The first part of the week was spent in Dallas at my wife's sister (Lauren's) house (very cool house I might add).

But, Lindsay was scheduled to attend a conference in Washington D.C. the following weekend to scout companies and look for a job so I decided to go home to Little Rock and see my family in lieu of staying home at our powerless apartment in the heat.

While I was home I played golf and saw one of my sisters and her husband Matt (very cool guy). I arrived in Little Rock on a Wednesday, played golf on the following Thursday and hung out with my mother on friday.

Now friday is the day I am getting around to talking about. A long story short - I had been sarcastically teasing my parents about the horrible television they've had since before I was playing varsity golf. About 6 months ago they called me while they went looking for T.V.'s asking me questions trying to figure out what they wanted. After some suggestions they were bombarded by all of the horrible sales people at Circuit City and of course they gave up their search (way to go electronic store chains!). But, being at home with my newly retired mother with nothing to do gave way to small talk about T.V.'s which then gave way to searching the web, which gave way to talking about purchasing, which gave way to purchasing and picking up.


We started our conversation about T.V.'s around 11am and by 4:30p.m. we had purchased a Panasonic 50" Plasma Flat-screen, Panasonic Blue-Ray 5.1 Digital Surround Sound System, and gotten the HD Cable upgraded along with a properly functioning DVR. My dad left home that morning with a 36" humongous projection RCA black box that even I at 25 with good eye sight had to squint at in order to see clearly - and came home to college football in full HD (broadcast) - we also purchased one of his favorite movies on Blu-Ray (Patriot Games) which of course we watched some of in full 1080P. Amazing.

Way to go Mom and Dad - thanksgiving TV watching just rocketed to a whole new level at the Snider House! Kick ASS!

I think Leanne said it best after seeing that second picture... "D & P are Ballers. Nice set up."

My TV is pretty awesome and their's puts mine to shame.

Mine is below.

Who Says It Takes 21 Days to Establish a New Habit?

Jay and I are not coffee drinkers. I'm the Starbuck's fanatic, and it's for my short non-fat, no-water chai. Not coffee. But a few days ago, I came home from school to this:


This is the espresso machine we got for our wedding sitting in a very prominent location in our kitchen. For those of you who are apartment dwellers, you understand that prominent counter space is reserved for those important appliances that are used on a regular basis. Everything else is stowed away wherever you can make it fit. Jay had rearranged several things in the kitchen so that the espresso machine could be more accessible. He had decided he was now going to be an espresso drinker.

Well today, he was explaining to me that when we move to a "real house and not this fake house," he'd like an area in the kitchen for all his espresso materials to be together. Because right now, he's got the machine in one area, and then across the kitchen (so like 3 feet away) is his "grinding station" (I'm not lying - he really called it that):


If you can't tell, to the left of the stove are four canisters filled with random things (which were previously located where the espresso machine now is) and a little coffee grinder.

And when I refused to try his espresso (because I really despise the taste of coffee), he tells me that we're missing out on a marriage experience because we should wake up every morning and drink coffee together - that's what married people do.

So at this point I say, "Jay...you're telling me that we're going to have a designated area to be a coffee bar wherever we move next and that I'm missing out on our marriage because I won't drink coffee... because you've been drinking coffee now for TWO DAYS?" To which he responds, "No it's espresso, not coffee." Oh, of course.