So i Married a Pastry Chef

Stanford?

So I just had a great surprise. I had given up on a shot at my number one school, Stanford. But tonight I was invited to interview! I'll be setting up an interview this week and I am extremely excited. Please, if you don't mind, please keep us in your prayers. This has been a goal of mine for a long time and I can use all the help I can get. Like I've said before, an interview does not mean I'll be accepted-- at Stanford only about 1/3 of those they interview actually get in. But atleast my odds have gone from 8% to 33%! Final decisions for Wharton are on 3/22, Chicago on 3/28, and Stanford on 4/5. We'll see what happens.

iPOD DAD

Though I wouldn't consider myself a superhero, I am impressed with my new found abilities as a member of the iPOD community. No longer am I tied to the mundane day to day confines of CD's and Radio but I have found a new frontier with Playlists, Podcasts and Downloads. Now I listen to music that interests me on my daily commute. I even have a play list of "Songs to Learn". Acoustic Podcasts are a fun change as I have discovered new music resources. I even figured out that I can download General Conference talks which I can listen to as I drive. I currently have the talks from all of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve from October conference downloaded and I listen to one talk on my way to work and one on the way home. This is great. Thanks so much for your gift. It has been more fun than I even imagined.

Love you all.....DAD

The Day Superman Saved Me

For five weeks, I’ve been living with Superman. Fantastic as it sounds, I have to admit it’s not much different than living with someone normal. He eats and sleeps like the rest of us, fusses when upset. There is, of course, the continual display of amazing feats of strength, the aftermath that I always have to clean up (note: Superman isn’t the tidiest fellow). Throwing couch pillows like boulders across the living room, ripping used construction paper and other flotsam in a single tear, drinking from a sippy cup at unprecedented speeds.

Superman is a toddler. Don’t let this fool you into thinking that his being Superman is any less real.

We don’t question if, but when, Superman will appear each day, if he will need help tying his cape. When he wears his outfit, he is Superman. Otherwise, he is Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter, though he is unsure what a reporter even is. The reality has permeated all of us: I am not Mom, I am Lois, and I am beautiful and need saving. Dad is not Dad: he is suspect and a bad guy, often the victim of an impromptu punch from a walnut-sized fist. They are not carrots: they are super carrots. It is not bathtime: it is super bathtime. The hero tears through the house at a pace that, honestly, is no faster than an adult casually crossing the room. Blond hair unnaturally twisted with pomade into a curl over his forehead. Arms pumping. He glances over his shoulder to ensure that his cape is raised on the tuft of wind. The pretense is cute; we remember our own days of becoming something more than we are.

Then I lock my keys in the house. Supie and I are already running late. He’s in his car seat with his fruitsnacks and a drink. I’m momentarily stunned at what to do. Break a window? No, surely too dramatic. Call my husband at work? Too long to wait. Climb through the front window left open for evening air? No way I could hoist myself over the bushes, much less fit through so small a slot.

It hits me. I hurry to the car, waving my arms wildly. “Superman! I need help from Superman! You have to save the day.” I am serious. He can tell.

In a flash—box drink pushed aside, fruit snacks thrown down, spewed over the car floor—he is ready for action. Unbuckled, he runs as fast as he can to the house. I pull off the screen and he flies in, runs around the living room for effect, and unlocks the house door. This isn’t our much-played scenario where Superman saves Lois from the encroaching plastic dinosaur with scary red eyes. This is real. He has used the powers that only he possesses. He has saved the day.

Where is the line between pretend and real? Who cares? Superman is laying for himself the foundation of any dreamer: the belief, or at least the hope, that we possess a capacity for greatness and for . . . mattering, perhaps even so beyond natural ability. That we find something more possible than nondescript reality. That, in all the planning and dreaming, when the real chance for action comes along, we are ready.

Hero Worship

So, here is a quick little video for your enjoyment. We seem to have spawned a superhero fanatic who spends most of his time either flying around like Superman (as you will see) or running as fast as he can like Dash from the Incredibles. Enjoy!

Is It Okay To 'Hate' A Corporation?

After 1 month of waiting for an incompetent labor force to deliver their product... i am pleased to announce: Ksenia and I have rejoined the the 21st century technological community... we have high speed Internet in our apartment - FINALLY!

I could go on and on about how ridiculous the customer service is at Verizon, but it seems that everyone I tell my story to has a story of their own. So I will spare you the details, but just know that if you have been mistreated, ignored, misguided, or given false information by a cable/Internet provider, I too have felt your pain.

-Zach

The Deal Business

WARNING: IF BUSINESS JARGON AND TERMS OF A FINANCIAL NATURE BORE YOU TO TEARS, READ NO FURTHER!

For the rest of you, thought you might find this interesting. Sorenson Capital bought two aerospace parts manufacuters in Oct/Nov of 2005 (I was on the deal team for one of the transactions). We bought one for ~$27M and the other for ~$22M, so a total of $49M, about 4.0x EBITDA. To buy these companies, SCP wrote a check for ~$13M cash and covered the rest with debt (hence the term "leveraged buy out"). In the 16 months we've owned the companies, combined EBITDA went from ~$13M to ~$21M. Yesterday, we closed a deal to sell both companies for $190M (or about 9.5x EBITDA)-- after paying off debt and deal fees, SCP's share of the proceeds comes out to ~$100M-- about 7.7x our initial investment, and an IRR of ~360%.

Anyway, promise to blog something a little more general interest next time. Hope everyone traveled back from Nevada OK. T