The Plan

The plan is to document my experience working (volunteering) at O'Brien Estate Winery while living in a suburban bedroom with a married couple, their two children, and two yellow Labrador retrievers in North West Napa, California. I will also use this forum to keep track of all the other ways I decide to spend my time as I try to make the most out of a nearly ten week period of unemployment.

Today is July 5. Yesterday, on July 4, the Penn family hosted another excellent fourth of July party in Thousand Oaks, CA. Tomorrow, July 6, I will make the six or seven hour drive up US freeway 101 to Napa, CA, where I will meet my "host" family and try to get a good night sleep

before my first day of "work" on July 7. I met my host family on Craigslist. Their house, from which they are renting me a furnished room for $500, is just minutes away from O'Brien Estate Winery.

I will be in the Napa Valley until August 4.

My Objectives for the month include:

1) Learn as much about the wine industry, and wine production, as possible in this short time frame

O'Brien Estate Winery is a small family run operation where I should get good insight into all aspects of the business. While working in the cellar, and the vineyard, I will start working to build a financial operating and cash flow model for the entire operation. After this time working on production, I will switch to sales and marketing, finance and accounting, operations, and cash management. O'Brien will probably be undergoing a website redesign, a potential brand reinvigoration, and I may help analyze the implications of selling into new distribution channels or introducing new products. Finally, I will spend some time working in the tasting room, showing off my probably small knowledge base to thirsty travelers.

http://www.obrienestate.com/

2) Taste Wine

I plan to visit many wineries, both small and large operations, in Sonoma and Napa.

The goal is to visit at least one winery each day. I want to taste their wine and talk to the owners, winemakers, and salespeople. I am in the process of choosing among the thousands of wineries that are driving distance from where I am staying.

3) Stay in shape

I will be drinking and eating a lot. I have not even mentioned all the Michelin star restaurants, the innumerable more casual eateries, the bakeries, cafes, wine bars, farmers markets, and breweries. To counteract all of this, I will try to continue my longer term goal / guideline for health. Do more discrete active tasks in a week, for example a run, workout, yoga session, bike ride, long walk, basketball game, etc., than nights with at least one drink. The most likely scenario for this month then is 7 nights of drinking, with seven or more workouts to balance.

4) Round Out

I have a long summer reading list. These are the books I brought home with me from New York along with a few volumes I found at my parents house in Thousand Oaks (in no particular order).

ESV Study Bible (long story here: to augment our book club reading, a friend from work, AO, and I decided that we need to read the entire Bible (OT and NT), the foundation for so much of western literature, in one year. This is not as hard or as time consuming as it sounds. We began to follow a daily reading plan. The plan required probably 15 minutes of time every day. Somehow, sitting here in the beginning of July, I am more than four months behind. To catch up by the end of my stay in Napa, I need to read six days worth every day. The inability to keep up with this small goal has been a constant slap in the face over the last four months. I need to catch up. AO, please do the same).

The Science of Wine: From Vine To Glass by Jamie Goode

Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger

The Divine Comedy Volume II (Purgatorio) and Volume III (Paradiso) by Dante (Finished Inferno for book club. I need to see Dante making his way out of Hell)

Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche

The Berlitz Self-Teacher: French (This is another daily challenge: I plan to do one french lesson from this book every day starting today. This will hopefully give me enough of a background to be dangerous when I visit Burgundy in August)

Selected Fables: A Dual-Language Book--French by Stanley Appelbaum (same idea as above)

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values by Robert M. Pirsig (I have been halfway done with this book for too long)

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain

Garner's Modern American Usage: Third Edition (I am not planning to read this reference book in its entirety; however, I hope that I can learn, even just a little, to write better)

Cote D'Or: A Celebration of the Great Wines of Burgundy by Clive Coates (Also just a reference to help me plan the trip to Burgundy)

The Great Wines of America: The Top Forty Vintners, Vineyards, and Vintages by Paul Lukacs

5) Stay on top of the political, financial, and economic news that matters

To this end, I plan to read The Economist every week along with the weekend version of the Financial Times.

Pros: All of the above.

Cons: Home is New York now and Boston soon. Ashley is still in New York, in our apartment, working. It will be hard to be away for this long.