2010 Travel Summary

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January 2nd, 2011

After starting the year in exile, I was finally able to get a Swiss visa and officially move into Zurich.  Most of my travels this year were between Switzerland and the US of A, with a few vacations within Europe too. Here are the stats:

• Number of Countries Visited: 6
  • USA, Switzerland, France, Italy, Austria, Spain
• Number of US States Visited: 8
  • CA, WA, VA, NY, IN, IL, MA, OR
• Number of Trips: 13
• Number of Flight Segments: 31
• Number of Miles Flown: 60,883
• Number of Airlines Flown: 7
  • Air France, Continental, KLM, Lufthansa, Swiss, United, US Airways
• Number of Trans-Atlantic Flights: 9

Travel summaries from previous years: 2009, 2008, 2007

Follow-up on 2010 Goals

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January 2nd, 2011

Final Count: 9/14

1. Get married! – Emily and I were married on August 27th in San Francisco!
   
2. Project 365 – 1 photo everyday for a year - It was tough, but I made it the whole year.  It was definitely challenging at times, but it was a great experience.  I think my photography improved just by taking so many pictures and coming up with new photo ideas really forced me to use my creativity too.  The full set can be found on Flickr and on my Project365 blog.
   
3. Visit 1 new country – Weekend in Vienna, Austria
4. Read 36 books  – Only read 18 books this year…
5. Graduate from CLSC – Success!  I kept the family tradition alive by graduating from CLSC this year.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend the graduation ceremony in person though.
6. Read 3 programming books - Easily got this since I started grad school
7. Build and launch 1 new website – Launched Mini Motivation
8. Finish lifestream and webtemplategenerator.com (carried over from last year)  – Never started on these
9. Increase traffic on devcheatsheet.com 10x to 1k uniques/day – After a lot of work on adding content and SEO, I was able to get traffic up to around 1k unique visits/day
10. Max ROTH IRA contribution  – Not this year
11. Save $10k toward retirement  – Not this year
12. Improve eating habits – smaller portions, more fruits and veggies, daily vitamin, less fried foods, less pop – After reading In Defense of Food
    (which I highly recommend) and French Women Don’t Get Fat, I changed my eating habits and haven’t looked back since.  The main differences are smaller portions and lots more veggies.
    
13. Weigh 215 lbs or less – Thanks to my new eating habits, I was finally able to get my weight down and keep it there all year.
14. Improve flexibility – Still needs improvement.  I should stretch and/or do yoga more often…

Goals for 2011

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January 1st, 2011

It’s that time of year again.  As I’ve done for previous years (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010), here are my personal goals for this year:

1. Graduate from ETH (finish my masters in computer science)
2. Visit 1 new country
3. Develop and launch an Android app
4. Develop and launch at least one new website
5. Maintain and improve minimotivation.com
6. Maintain and improve DevCheatSheet.com
7. Weigh 210 lbs
8. Workout regularly all year-long (at least 2-3 times per week)

Project 365 Update: 50% Finished

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July 4th, 2010

It’s hard to believe that we are already over halfway through 2010.  The good news is that means that I am now past the halfway point for my Project 365!  184 days down, 181 days to go.

If anyone is interested in following along, here is the link to my Project 365 photoblog – http://timchurch-project365.tumblr.com/

Some recent photos:

After Just 1.5 Years, I Have My Visa

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June 18th, 2010

I’m very excited to announce that I finally have my Swiss visa!  It has been a long journey with many bumps in the road but it is finally over.  I will be attending ETH Zürich as a graduate student in Computer Science starting in the fall.

I am looking forward to being able to relax and settle down for a little while and no longer having to leave the Schengen area for 3 out of every 6 months!

80′s Party!

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May 8th, 2010

Emily and David Jaffe decided to have a joint birthday party this year.  The theme was the 80′s and costumes were required.  There were plenty of flourescent colors, Tom Selleck mustaches,  leg warmers, side-ponytails, retro sunglasses, scrunchies, and pegged jeans.  Oh and Back to the Future was playing on repeat on the TV.  Good times.

More 80′s Party photos on Flickr

Easter in Paris

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April 21st, 2010

Emily and I were lucky enough to spent a long weekend in Paris for Easter this year.  This was my third time in Paris and by far my favorite.  I’m think I’m starting to see what all the hype is about.  Here is a rundown of our trip:

Friday - We arrive in Paris in the evening (via plane).  We are staying at our friend Claire’s apartment, which is near the Jourdain metro stop.  Claire and her fiance are on vacation in the Dominican Republic and generously offered to let us use their apartment while they were away.  It is a great way for us to see a new part of Paris and get more of a local experience.  After we dropped off our bags at the apartment, we had an amazing dinner at Le Coude Fou (Thanks for the tip, Nikolai!).  After dinner we took a stroll around Notre Dame – a great start to the trip.

Saturday - We started the day with a run in the park by Claire’s apartment.  Then we went into the city to play tourist.  We started with a great lunch at a random brasserie; we had two French classics – les moules (mussels)  & french onion soup.  Delicious!  Then we went up to Sacré Cœur,  walked around Montmarte, and ended up by Moulin Rouge.  We bought some wine, cheese, and a baguette on the way back to the apartment.  After a little nap, we had a nice dinner at local place – L’Escargot.  We woke up at 3am to watch the big NCAA tournament game (online) – Duke vs. West Virginia.  Duke won (yes!) and, luckily, Emily is still speaking to me after the game.

Easter Sunday – We had a non-traditional Easter brunch of delicious pastries from a local boulangerie.  We spent the morning walking around the Left Bank to the Luxembourg Gardens.  Then we took a metro to the “chinatown” area where we got some Vietnamese food – pho, a vietnamese sandwich, and steamed bun (not exactly a standard Easter meal).  We passed the afternoon having a drink at one of the many outdoor cafes and then watched the sunset by the Louvre.  We finished the day by going back to Le Coude Fou for dinner again (try the goat cheese salad!) for yet another amazing meal.

Monday -  Claire returned from her vacation and we had breakfast with her before heading to our hotel.  After walking around so much the past few days and seeing all the tourist sights, we were ready for a day of relaxation.  Emily got some sushi then I tried to go to famous falafel place, L’As du Falafel,  but it unfortunately was closed.  I ended up getting a kebab instead.  We finished the day with a little picnic (a baguette and a beer) by the Pont Notre Dame.

Tuesday - Emily went to work in the Ebay Paris office.  I went for a run through Paris, past the Opera House and along the Seine, and then it was time for me to head back to the airport (Emily flew back the next day).  It was a great weekend, and I have to admit that Paris is definitely starting to grow on me.

See all our Paris pictures on Flickr

2009 Travel Summary

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February 17th, 2010

2009 was a record-breaking year for me travel-wise.  Besides moving to Switzerland, and partially due to my visa troubles there, I traveled more last year than ever before in my life (including the year that Emily and I did our around-the-world trip).  Here are the stats:

• Number of Countries Visited: 15
  • USA, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Norway, Czech Republic, France, Spain, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Denmark, UK, Qatar, Thailand, Laos
• Number of US States Visited: 9
  • CA, WA, VA, NY, NC, PA, WV, IN, IL
• Number of Trips: 21
• Number of Flight Segments: 46
• Number of Miles Flown: 71,359
  
• Number of Airlines Flown: 14
  
  • Aer Lingus, All Nippon Airways, American Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Continental, Czech Airlines, Delta, Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, SAS, Spanair, Swiss, United, US Airways
• Number of Trans-Atlantic Flights: 9
  
• Number of Trans-Pacific Flights: 1

Previous Years:  2008, 2007

Project 365

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January 26th, 2010

As one of my goals for the year, I have decided to attempt the massive undertaking that is known as “Project 365″.  If you are not familiar with this concept, Project 365 is a photography project where you take one photo everyday for one year.  The idea is to get lots and lots of practice which will hopefully improve my photography skills.  I also hope to learn some new techniques and figure out how to use the manual settings on my camera.

This is something that I have talked about doing since around 2007.  After finally buying a DSLR camera and following my friend Eric Wilfong’s Project 365 last year, I am finally ready to give it a shot myself.

I have created a new photoblog specifically for this project – http://timchurch-project365.tumblr.com.  The photos will also be posted to a set on Flickr.

Goals for 2010

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January 14th, 2010

Update: Follow-up on 2010 goals

Sticking with my annual tradition, here are my goals for the year:

1. Get married!
2. Project 365 – 1 photo everyday for a year  [photography]
3. Visit 1 new country  [travel]
4. Read 36 books  [reading]
5. Graduate from CLSC  [reading]
6. Read 3 programming books  [career]
7. Build and launch 1 new website  [career]
8. Finish lifestream and webtemplategenerator.com (carried over from last year)  [career]
9. Increase traffic on devcheatsheet.com 10x to 1k uniques/day  [career]
10. Max ROTH IRA contribution  [finance]
11. Save $10k toward retirement  [finance]
12. Improve eating habits – smaller portions, more fruits and veggies, daily vitamin, less fried foods, less pop  [health]
13. Weigh 215 lbs or less  [health]
14. Improve flexibility  [health]