California Tour 3

1. A Guided Tour Welcome to California !

2. Arrival! It’s 8:45 am and you arrive for orientation at the Deer Creek building. It is a secondary building, a couple of kilometers from the main campus. This is where Human Resources, Finances, and Legal are located. It’s a nice day! You get out of your car, and proceed.

3. Look! Plants! On your way to the building you stop by an interesting-looking set of plants. There is lots of greenery around the building, and lots of greenery pretty much everywhere. It’s California after all! But, alas, after some time enjoying the scenery it’s time to proceed to the New Hire Orientation.

4. Phew! That took a while! After 5.5 gruelling hours of orientation where you have been bombarded with tons upon tons of information, you are finally free to leave and go to your office. It’s a nice day, so you decide to walk. You could have taken the shuttle bus, but other people are coming out and the shuttle bus would have been crowded.

5. Surprisingly rural! You walk for a while, turning left, proceeding to an intersection, turning left again, and walking onwards. After some time you look back at the progress you’ve made. It’s amazing how simple and how rural everything looks! Who would have guessed this is the heart of the Software Industry?!

6. Small break You lean on the old, wooden railing to rest a little. It’s really quite hot here!

7. Look! Stanford! It’s not quite Stanford, but it’s a building that belongs to the university. You remember that all this land actually belongs to Stanford, and all the companies are leasing the land to use for their buildings. You also notice that they’re growing something in front of the building. Could it be grapes? You’re not sure.

8. Really high-tech Look in the right direction, and you feel like you’re in a field in the middle of some forest. It’s a very interesting environment to be a part of!

9. Wildlife spotted! And look! There’s even wildlife here! What looks like… a hippo! And look behind the hippo on the road. It looks like the hippo has recently gone to the bathroom. No wonder the hippo looks so fatigued!

10. Valuable land! It’s not certain what they’re hiding in here, but you know for sure you’re not meant to find out. The sign makes that perfectly clear! Keep walking.

11. Another intersection You come to another intersection, cross it, turn left, and walk up before taking a look back. A car is coming from the same direction you were coming from, and turning left as well! It looks like a Mini Cooper. Good car, you think to yourself.

12. Yellow pickup truck? Seriously? Another car comes from the direction you were going from. This one goes straight though. This one is also a lame, yellow pickup truck. Disgusted, you turn around and keep walking.

13. This is more like it… Still a little green for the technology capital of the world, but this is looking better. You see a “SAP” sign. That’s not “Sociology, Anthropology, and Psychology.” That’s… well… you don’t know what it stands for, but you know they make software for business management and are a huge company! Lots of trees, too, and plants. And it’s hot! You’re getting sweaty!

14. SAP’s pretty big! You see another SAP building on your left, and an approaching car. You realize you’re walking on the wrong side of the road – there’s no pedestrian walkway here! But you’re too lazy to go across, so you keep walking. That’s 35 MILES per hour, by the way. Just so you don’t think people in California drive super-slow!

15. Interesting contrast On your left is yet another SAP building. Or maybe it was the one the driveway was leading towards… you’re not sure. What you’re looking at is the interesting contrast between greenery and plants and what looks like… some sort of giant… industrial… runoff… things… or something. In the rocks to boot!

16. A broader view People must have gone through great lengths to keep this stuff looking so good, you think to yourself.

17. Pretty flowers Turning away from your left, you look to your right. You see some flowers growing under the trees. You come up to take a closer look. The flowers are beautiful, you think to yourself. You’re beautiful too , hippo voice sounds in your head.

18. Another flower! You see another flower. It’s pretty, and it probably smells nice. You wish hippo was here to enjoy it with you. You know hippo is far away across the ocean, but you also know he loves you and is with you in spirit. That’s encouraging. Time to walk on!

19. Some other company… You pass by an exit, this time to the right, leading to some other company. You’re not sure what this company does or what they’re called, but that sure is an impressive driveway!

20. ANOTHER SAP building?! This company is huge! And the plants they have around their building are interesting too. You look at the purple bushes for a little while, and a car buzzes by you. Not a great colour, but looks fairly new. You turn away and keep going.

21. The first glimpse! On your right, there is a small hill. You get to the top of it and are rewarded with the first glimpse of your company’s main campus! This is just a parking lot, barely visible through the trees, but it’s good to know you’re almost there!

22. The second glimpse! You walk further along the hill, and now you can see some buildings in the distance! Almost there!

23. Finally! You’re finally there! VMware is the name of the company, and you’re in their driveway. Time to walk on the main campus! You wonder how it will compare to SAP. Only one way to find out!

24. This would have been so much easier… As you walk in and turn right, you see the shuttle standing there, mocking your decision. It would have been faster to take the shuttle… but then again, you would have missed all the sights!

25. A closer look… You hide behind a tree and watch as people load on the shuttle. You notice it’s a Ford truck. Pshh, American cars. You’re on campus, and now it’s time to go to your office!

26. Is this a company, or a jungle? You reach a point overlooking the heart of the campus. There are four buildings, all visible. Two more are away to the right. You enjoy the greenery which is pretty much all over the place. It’s pretty!

27. More flowers! There are more flower-bushes planted along the road. You see people getting on the shuttle bus, and VMware banners hanging on streetlights.

28. Another look down From a different angle, it doesn’t look like there’s THAT much greenery. But there’s still quite a bit, and it could be called pretty. You wonder how it looks up close…

29. Quite a few cars To your left is the campus. To your right is the parking lot. It’s mid-day. All those who are coming to work have come, and all those who are leaving early haven’t left yet. This is about as full as it gets, and it’s pretty full!

30. And it goes on! You walk onwards until you branch off from the road along the parking lot to get down to all the greenery. However, you don’t fail to notice that the parking lot extends into the distance. The clear-glass building to the right is the gym, you remember. Hopefully you’ll get to visit, but you need a membership and you don’t have that yet.