Week 8 update

It's now the end of Michaelmas term (Wk 8) and we have one week off before exams commence. Given that they will be the first exams that I have sat since 1997, I am somewhat apprehensive. Nonetheless, despite the demands of study and the obvious joy of Ava's arrival, since my last post, I managed to fit in some other extracurricular pursuits:

- I played for the Greyhounds (Oxford Uni 2nd XV) against Exeter Uni and was warmly congratulated by the coach afterwards for my game. Unfortunately I proceeded to try and jump a fence to get home quickly to save time and ended up spending 4 hours in the emergency department to have 20 stitches inserted into the palm of my right hand;
- Claudia and I attended the Pembroke black tie MCR dinner (held once every term). It was a great evening which started with pre-dinner drinks in a lovely formal hall, proceeded to a 3-course dinner and then rounded out the evening at the Living room into the wee hours. It was yet another quintessential Oxford experience;


Pre-dinner drinks in Broadgates Hall

Pre-dinner drinks with Jenny, Caio, John and Simon

At dinner with John Stanton

A view of the Dining Hall from the rear

Tass Hongskrai enjoying wine with Caio Buzzolini


Faryal Sadiq and Ashton Lee enjoying their evening

- I managed to pre-empt Ava's birth with my own medical crisis and was duly admitted to emergency and operated on as I had an umbilical hernia! The day afterwards, Claudia was admitted to hospital and Ava was born;

- Attended the business school's SAS distinguished speaker's series and was interested to learn of the Private Equity sector from Damon Buffini, Managing Director of Permira Private Equity which was extremely interesting given that I only had assumptions as to what PE firms did (buy underperforming companies, change management, institute structural changes and sell at a profit). Although my assumption was quite simplistic, the nature of the business, albeit far more complex, is not too dissimilar in terms of its profit generating modus operandi;

- Attending my 1st Bacchus (Oxford Wine Society wine tasting). I had attended a wine tasting course earlier this term which was highly informative and we had tasted some great wines. On this occasion we tasted Firesteed wines and those of Fess Parker. All of the wines that we tastes were Pinot Noir but it was amazing to see the differences between the two producers - Firesteed from Washington State (Nth West USA) and Fess Parker from California. We were given the opportunity to taste their standard gear as well as their premium ranges (selling at up to £50 per bottle) and I can tell you it was some great tasting wine, particularly the Firesteed Citation Pinot Noir which was my pick of the night;

- Claudia went into labour on the day of Silican Valley comes to Oxford, which is when high profile speakers from companies such as Google, Facebook, Linkedin etc come and run workshops and plenary sessions, so unfortunately I was unable to attend but from all accounts it was a great day;

- The School and my College were fantastically supportive during the week following Ava's birth. Fortunately, I was able to attend two dinners at the college in the two weeks following her birth to thank personally my college advisor and the college master. The first of these dinners was with Owen Darbishire, a lecturer in Management studies who also doubles as my college advisor. Each student is afforded the opportunity once a year (or more if they're lucky) to dine with faculty at the high table in the Dining Hall. What does this entail you might ask? Firstly, sherry in Broadgates Hall followed by a 3-course meal at the high table (whilst everyone else has one course), accompanied by generally very good wines (I noticed a Houghton Cabernet Sauvignon 1996) and then adjourning after dessert to the Senior Common room and engaging in an Oxford tradition of 3 rounds of port, madeira or sticky wine with dried apricots and nuts and also a mandatory inhaling of snuff. It really was one of those occasions when you pinch yourself, particularly as I was seated with Biologists, Zoologists and a couple of PHD students! The second of these dinners I plan to descrive separately as it relates to a potential summer consulting project that I may embark on;