**San Francisco details and pictures will be up soon! I promise, life has just been slightly on the hectic side :) **
This will probably the world's longest blog post ever. So buckle up and here we go!
Last Tuesday I headed to San Francisco. It was an amazing trip! I went with my work so everything was planned out and paid for.
However, the flight out was sort of an ordeal. There were some complications that made it so we had to readjust at the last minute so lots of scrambling and stress was involved.
We made it though and with time for me to spare so that I could finally fulfill my craving for Peach-Os.
Just some explanation, I work with foreign military leaders. They come from everywhere. I take care of all of their administrative needs. That being said, I got to sit next to the Colonel from Egypt for the entire plane ride.
Man, was it interesting. With all the recent activity in Egypt I had a lot of questions and he was so nice and intelligent that I really lucked out. I am so grateful that I had that opportunity to personally learn more about Egypt and their government.
We arrived in San Francisco and it was BEAUTIFUL weather. It was late though so we checked into our hotel and I passed out.
The next day was busy. We were out by 7 am and took a nice tour of San Francisco. For being such a metropolis and famous city, it didn't have the same feel as some of the other bigger cities such as New York or even DC. It was very urban and down to earth while staying contemporary and liberal.
Chinese people are a "majority minority" in San Francisco...whatever that means but Chinatown was awesome and pretty authentic.
(AT&T Ballpark)
Then we made our way to Google. Let me tell ya something, if you work for Google you are pretty much set for life.
The work environment there is so relaxed but educated. They have 43 buildings and call the area "campus". They have these "Google Bikes" that they provide so that the employees can ride from one building to another. They provide laundry and babysitting services. There are lounge areas in every building. They provide all three {or 4..or 5 it is all free, just depends how much you eat} meals at their various restaurants and cafes.
They will subsidize you for almost anything. Want to be environmentally friendly and buy a hybrid? They will subsidize you for it.
They have a 24 hr gym with professional trainers on staff in an state of the art facility. They have a pool that is only a couple feet long because you can adjust the wave and water pressure so you never "go" anywhere but can swim miles and improve your technique.
Anyways, we met with the Vice President of Development for Google and all I can say is that it is scary/cool/insane/mind blowing what technology and internet can do these days.
Then we headed to Silicon Valley. There is where anything that is technology is made or invented or thought of. We were able to go into "clean rooms" to see the process of making microchips. It was pretty intense, there was an air bath and lots of layers to wear. It was also fascinating to see how one little tiny chip made out of compressed and heated sand was able to hold and do so much.
The next day we headed to Stanford to have breakfast with some of the directors and Vice President. The campus is beautiful! It was so nice to be able to have some of the professors lecture us because they were amazing teachers. I am positive that they had photographic memory or something because they just knew everything about everything. But don't worry, it isn't like I almost spilled my orange juice on the Vice President of Stanford or anything...
After Stanford, we had the night off to do what we wanted. So I met up with an old family friend who lived in the area. John and I grew up together; his aunt and uncle are extremely close friends with my parents but he moved to San Francisco several years ago and I haven't seen him since. It was so great to see him after all those years!
He showed me around and even got us into this extremely nice night club. The parties in San Francisco are pretty legit!
The next morning we did a early morning "fun" run of the Golden Gate Bridge. I don't know how fun it can be since it was at 6 am but the bay area was really pretty during sunrise :)
We then headed to Napa Valley where we were hosted at a local family winery. They were so gracious to offer us a private tour and tasting. Napa valley is absolutely beautiful even in the dead of winter.
Also, the lunch was professional catered so it was probably some of the best food I have ever had. I guess I should mention that throughout this trip, we eat very well. There is never just a simple meal, it is always several courses.
Good thing I go to the gym or else I would be a million pounds heavier!
My favorite part of the entire trip comes next. We went to the Redwood Forest and did a simple hike through the forest. It was magical. The world's tallest and oldest tree lives here. The interesting thing about the Redwood trees is that there roots are actually very shallow for being such large trees. They gather most of the weather through their leaves. The fog/moisture comes up from the bay area and the tree gathers it and distributes it from there. Because of how much moisture they are able to retain, they are pretty resist to fire.
Due to some military flight complications we had to head home early so we were not able to visit Alcatraz but that is ok, it will give me another excuse to come back to San Francisco!
I arrived home and spent a quiet weekend in DC.
This past week was busier than busy. I have been averaging 4 hrs of sleep and my body is not happy with me for it.
I am really getting into my work; the more projects I am being assigned the happier I get. Also, I really love the people I work with. They are all just so friendly and happy that it is nice being around them for 10 hrs a day.
School has been somewhat a pain and nuisance though. I had to submit homework throughout my San Francisco trip so that was stressful. Classes are long but really intriguing so it isn't too bad.
For example, this week's lectures are awesome. We had a bunch of guests come and speak to us, some of them were Senators while some of them worked for the government or in non-profit organizations. The more people I meet in DC the more intimidating it is. It is like you thought you were doing so well, being so successful but...not really.
Today I met this women who looked like she was about 26ish. But she was most definitely not.
She served a mission in Brazil and graduated from BYU while working with some of the research professors there. She works for the campaign cause {which, before today, I knew nothing about but learned that it was fascinating! It might be something I could see myself doing.} and was so charming and eloquent. It didn't hurt that she was gorgeous.
Oh and did I mention she is married and has two kids?
Yah...that's intimidation right there.
I would give another example, which in my opinion is what I aspire/dream/wish/hope, to be. He is probably one of the most successful person I have ever met in my entire life. But I can't...but just know that practically perfect people exist and they can be found in DC.
This is enough for one post in one night.
Whew.
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