{"id":2537,"date":"2015-03-11T15:08:03","date_gmt":"2015-03-11T06:08:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2015-03-11\/2537"},"modified":"2015-03-11T15:08:03","modified_gmt":"2015-03-11T06:08:03","slug":"a-crazy-couple-of-days-in-silicon-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2015-03-11\/2537","title":{"rendered":"A Crazy Couple of Days in Silicon Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<div class='ic' itemscope itemtype='http:\/\/schema.org\/Photograph'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF_i4s_3498_sm.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"444\"\nalt=\"\"\nid=\"ii4s_3498\"\nitemprop=\"image\"\/>\n<br\/><span class=\"camera-info robots-nocontent\">iPhone 4S + iPhone 4S back camera 4.28mm f\/2.4 at an effective 35mm &mdash; <sup>1<\/sup><big>\/<\/big>40 sec, <span class='f'>f<\/span>\/2.4, ISO 50 &mdash;\n<a href='\/imageinfo.cgi?url=http%3A%2F%2Fregex.info%2Fi%2FJF_i4s_3498_sm.jpg'>map &amp; image data<\/a> &mdash; <a href='\/blog\/proximity\/i\/JF_i4s_3498_sm.jpg'>nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<br\/><span class='caption'><span class='QO'>&#8220;<\/span>Welcome to America<span class='QC'>&#8221;<\/span><\/span>\n<br\/>In-n-Out Burger\n<meta itemprop='url' content='http:\/\/regex.info\/i\/JF_i4s_3498_sm.jpg'\/>\n<meta itemprop='creator' content='Jeffrey Friedl'\/>\n<meta itemprop='copyrightHolder' content='Jeffrey Friedl'\/>\n<meta itemprop='dateCreated' content='2015-03-10'\/><\/div>\n\n<p>I've been in The States for two days now, getting read to start a <a\nhref='\/blog\/2015-01-06\/2511'>drive across America<\/a> in\nan RV. <span class='nobr'>In the two<\/span> days I've been here, I've gotten 5 days worth of stuff\ndone, and had to let another week's worth fall by the side for lack of\ntime. \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n\n<p>Still, I've done plenty.... Highlights, lowlights, and notable experiences so far include:<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n\n<li><p>Playing <i>Ultimate Frisbee<\/i> with old Yahoo friend <a\nhref='\/blog\/2014-02-20\/2391'>Brian<\/a>, and getting <span class='nobr'>a tour<\/span>\nof the <a href='http:\/\/www.whatsapp.com\/'>WhatsApp<\/a> offices and meeting\nsome other old Yahoo friends there, including <a\nhref='https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jan.koum'>Jan<\/a> (who used to play Ultimate\nwith us back in the day, but couldn't join us this time).\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nA few photos from Ultimate will appear in <span class='nobr'>a subsequent<\/span> post.\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nSadly I missed a chance to see <a\nhref='https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/patel.ash'>Ash Patel<\/a> from\nback-in-the-day Yahoo. <span class='nobr'>He holds<\/span> <span class='nobr'>a special<\/span> place in my Yahoo heart because\nhe gave me <span class='nobr'>a ride<\/span> to the airport after my initial interviews back toward\nthe end of 1996. <span class='nobr'>He was already<\/span> pretty high in the company at the time, but\nnot too high to give an interviewee <span class='nobr'>a ride<\/span> to the airport. Classy guy.\n\n<\/p><\/li>\n\n\n<li><p>\n\nWatching Fumie meet her first ballet instructor from 17+ years ago, who at\n82 is still teaching at <a href='http:\/\/santaclaraballet.com\/'>Santa Clara\nBallet<\/a>, and looks to be in her 60s. <span class='nobr'>It'd been more<\/span> than 12 years since Fumie took <span class='nobr'>a lesson<\/span> there, but\nMs. Reyes remembered her. <span class='nobr'>In the advanced<\/span> pointe class that Fumie joined in on,\nthe next oldest student wasn't even alive when Fumie started ballet. \ud83d\ude42\n<\/p><\/li>\n\n\n<li><p> Spending hour after hour after hour trying to get <span class='nobr'>a friggin<\/span>'\nVerizon WiFi hotspot and <span class='nobr'>a couple<\/span> of pre-paid phones set up for the trip. <span class='nobr'>How hard can<\/span> it be?! And it's pre-paid, so why do you need my\nsocial security number? <span class='nobr'>I wasted<\/span> so many hours on this that could have been\nbetter spent. \ud83d\ude41<\/p><\/li>\n\n\n<li><p>\n\nSpending $400 at an <a href='\/blog\/2014-09-27\/2462'>Under\nArmour<\/a> outlet. Even <span class='nobr'>a small<\/span> outlet store has more variety than <span class='nobr'>I can<\/span>\nfind in Japan, at much better prices.\n\n <\/p><\/li>\n\n<li><p>\n\nSpending about the same amount at Supercenter Walmart for stuff we'll need\nin the RV, like special TP, blankets, cups, shampoo, etc. etc. etc.\n\n<\/p><\/li>\n\n<li><p>\n\nNot thinking much of the road construction going on in front of the hotel, until\n<span class='nobr'>I realized<\/span> that it's part of the construction for <a href='http:\/\/www.digitaltrends.com\/apple\/the-spaceship-is-coming-apples-hq-plans-green-lighted\/'>Apple's spaceship<\/a>.  Our <a href='http:\/\/hiltongardeninn3.hilton.com\/en\/hotels\/california\/hilton-garden-inn-cupertino-SJCCHGI\/index.html'>overpriced hotel<\/a> is immediate across the street from the south-western corner of Apple's property. <span class='nobr'>I can only<\/span> imagine how high the prices will go once Apple moves in.\n\n<\/p><\/li>\n\n<li><p>\n\nChecking out a massive super-wide 30' (10m) RV that I'm supposed to drive across the country.\nInside is as big as <span class='nobr'>a house,<\/span> and the outside is even bigger. <span class='nobr'>I'm a bit<\/span> apprehensive. <span class='nobr'>I drive<\/span> it for the first time tomorrow.\n\n<\/p><\/li>\n\n<li><p>\n\nGetting over fairly quickly the cold that came on <span class='nobr'>a few<\/span> hours before leaving Kyoto. <span class='nobr'>The flight<\/span> was not fun,\nthough the double baggage allowance on American Airlines (compared the United flights <span class='nobr'>I normally<\/span> take) was\nmuch appreciated. <span class='nobr'>The seats<\/span> had much more leg space as well.\n\n<\/p><\/li>\n\n<li><p>\n\nHaving the easiest time with jetlag that I've had in years. <span class='nobr'>The flight<\/span> left\nOsaka at 8:30pm, for an hour's flight to Tokyo Haneda, and then the\ntranspacific flight left at midnight. <span class='nobr'>So I took<\/span> Ambien right away on the\nsecond flight and slept through most of it. <span class='nobr'>We arrived<\/span> to SFO at around\n6pm, in the hotel by 8pm, and asleep by 10pm. <span class='nobr'>I was woozy<\/span> the next morning\nduring the hours at the Verizon store, but otherwise jetlag has not been an\nissue. Woohoo!<\/p><\/li>\n\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>There a week's worth to do before we leave Silicon Valley in two more days...<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I've been in The States for two days now, getting read to start a drive across America in an RV. In the two days I've been here, I've gotten 5 days worth of stuff done, and had to let another week's worth fall by the side for lack of time. \ud83d\ude41<\/p> <p>Still, I've done plenty.... Highlights, lowlights, and notable experiences so far include:<\/p> <p>Playing Ultimate Frisbee with old Yahoo friend Brian, and getting a tour of the WhatsApp offices and meeting some other old Yahoo friends there, including Jan (who used to play Ultimate with us back in the day, [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2537"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2537\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}