Storm8

I've been busy, to say the least.

My first few days of work have gone more smoothly than I had expected. The people at this startup are smart, easy to work with, and pretty relaxed about everything. The clashing egos, preemptive criticism, cutting down of ideas, and overindulgence in minor details I encountered during my brief stint with academia have not materialized with this group. I like them.

I also like working in a team. This one, anyway. However, I'm sure that staying in an office 8-10 hours a day, 5 days a week, 330 odd days a year is untenable. I wake up, spend an hour on the train commuting from San Francisco to Redwood Shores, jog a mile to the office, do a day's work, jog back a mile, take the train back, and have 3 or so hours to decompress before going to bed and doing the same thing when morning comes.

This is not living.

Yet I really enjoy this company. And they're open to the idea of me telecommuting a couple days out of the week. I could be quite happy with that.

Anyway,

You can't throw a stone in Silicon Valley without hitting an executive, entrepreneur, or someone who's worked high up for a major corporation. I've already been offered a job, met the CEO of a PR firm, and the founder of a tech trade show, and that's in just 2 days. I keep a little bag of stones in my pocket at all times, now.

Tomorrow will be my first day off in San Francisco. Perhaps my opinion of this city will improve with the tour my lovely hostess has promised me. So far the people are very nice, but the city itself - aside from some breathtaking views - is, well, a city: rusted, washed out, and cluttered with towers of dirty brick, metal, and glass choked with blaring cars and throngs of people going out of their way to ignore each other.