Arts & Sciences

I was captivated by this photo of strawberry DNA on Steve Jurvetson's feed a couple weeks ago. Home DNA experiments – how cool is that? Today, I came across a company, Carolina Biological, that will sell you kits that allow you to do this sort of thing at home.

Great article in the Sunday times about Condoleeza Rice's piano playing. She studied music for a while in college, before taking up political science. Now she plays with a chamber group with several other serious amateurs, and gives an occaisonal concert (including one with Yo-Yo Ma!). And I thought I didn't have the time…

I saw a mind-boggling article in the times a couple days ago on how McDonald's is experimenting with using call centers to take drive-through orders. Apparently this helps improve quality, as well as efficiency, as one operator can serve several restaraunts.

Umair commented that this is an example of the trend towards unbundling the corporation. Since our IT department couldn't set up a FTP service for me this morning, I am all for it!

Travel writer Rick Steves once described Zurich as a “pleasant place on a lake,” like Buffalo, or Cleveland. Well, hello Cleveland! Recently, I had the opportunity to spend a weekend in Zurich after finishing a business trip in Germany, and I came away completely charmed by the style and setting of this small, pleasant city on a lake.

Saturday began with brunch at Sprungli, the famous bakery / chocolatier located at on ParadePlatz in the center of the city. Sprungli has a large, almost overwhelming, array of treats for sale on the ground floor, and a dining room on the second floor. The brunch was pretty good, although the setting was perhaps more memorable than the food. Sprungli has been in business at the same location since 1859, giving the dining room, a dignified, “special-occasion” atmosphere. Unlike most brunch spots that I frequent, the room was filled with families and old timers, instead of hung-over twentysomethings.

Fortified with coffee and pastries, we walked around the downtown a bit, saw Marc Chagall’s stained glass at the Fraumunster, and then climbed the tower of the GrossMunster and took in some views of the city, lake, and the Alps. It was a nice day for late March, with warm sunshine and cool breezes, and we had a pretty good view of the mountains, despite some clouds. Afterwards, we strolled through the student section of town, and made our way up to see the main building of the ETH. On the way, I discovered that Starbucks has made its way to Switzerland, which was a little disappointing.

After picking up some groceries for Sunday, we walked along the lake, and then to the Gates Exihition, which was held in a temporary building along the river in Seefeld. This traveling exhibition documented the making of Christo’s famous work in Manhattan. I had no idea about the thought and planning that went into the work, so I came away quite impressed.

Saturday night we spent at Mascotte, a club near Seefeld. I didn’t expect Zurich nightlife to rock so hard! The club was packed, extremely loud, and the DJ played nothing but “hip-hop and old school” (all the hits from the classic period in early 90s). I was in heaven. I completely lost it when they played some classic tracks, like fight the power, de la, tribe, and monie love, and showed the accompanying music videos on a huge projection screen.

Sunday we got off to a late start, but still wanted to do something outdoors, so we took a 20 minute ride on a commuter train to Uetiliberg, a ridge running along the west side of the lake. Uetiliberg offers a great set of views, including from its observation tower, and also is a popular spot for mountain bikers. We just took an hour long walk along the ridge, to Felsenegg, where we took a cable car down to the lake shore.

I had a great time in Zurich – I wish I could have stayed longer and done more activities in the lake or the surrounding countryside.