I Love You, California!

We were busy in the morning with errands so we didn't feel like packing up to go to the beach. We wanted ultimate relaxation, so hanging by the pool at our house sounded like the thing to do. I don't know why we haven't been using it more often!

Remember I said I'd tell you how the finals went for Will's pitch competition?! Well, he was a big hit and won the show! He was tied with another company, each receiving two votes from the judges, but a person from GoogleX (their innovations department) thinks that TerViva is going to change the world. I couldn't agree more, and I am so proud of Will for this accomplishment! Here's what he won: *$1,000 toward travel expenses to work out of a Silicon Valley office for a week *One month rent at a snazzy office downtown *Bragging rights of course *Great connections and potential investment by companies who were in attendance at the pitch competition *A kite board! I guess the MaiTai community (Silicon Valley investors and executives) gathers in Maui every year for a kiteboarding retreat so they partner with a kiteboarding company to give the winner a kiteboarding kit. Pretty cool but now I'm worried I'll have to go pick Will up in Tahiti or something! haha ...

Will has gone out on several occasions to pitch Terviva to various audiences from investors to energy companies and anything in between. I often get to hear him practice at home, or he'll tell me about what he's going to feature on his "deck" (i.e. his presentation), but I've never actually had the opportunity to see him "perform," if you will. So when Will was accepted into a local pitch competition for tech startups in Hawaii, I was excited to find out that it was a venue where it was acceptable to have your wife in the audience : ) Over thirty companies applied (by invitation) and only ten were accepted to pitch in the competition. From there, the top five companies will be going to Maui for the finals. There are various small prizes being awarded, but most important are bragging rights! Will did an awesome job on his three minute timed pitch, and, not surprisingly, was selected as a top five company and will be going to Maui next week for the final...

It's been raining like crazy for over a month now. I frequently see at least two rainbows on my way to work, and then more throughout the day. Here's a pretty one from this morning! View from KES campus toward the Waianaes.