Okay so let me start at the begining, I had just got back from SA and on my 6 month anniversary with the company, my boss who I have never met in person said to me that everone including our new QA person from Toronto was going to be in Pleasanton the following week. So I went on line and found a good air deal, so I told her and she told me to book - within 5 days of booking I was on the plane.
Sunday 09/26
We had a braai the night before with good friends, who left round 9pm, so I had to madly rush and finish packing - I was then up at 3:30 a.m. so D could take me to the airport for my flight to Paris, then an hour wait and the flight to SFO. Wow, it was long - luckily I sat upstairs where there weren't that many people and I had two empty seats next to me for most of the flight. Well with an additional 8 hours daylight by the time I arrived in SFO, I had been awake for like 20 hours.
Monday 09/27 (HOT)
My dear collegue T who came over to Ireland for 3 months to mentor me came to fetch me in the morning, it was so cool to see her again so soon and I met my boss for the first time and the new guy from Toronto - Monday was a short day as we left the office at midday for a team outing at Wente Vineyards in Livermore, it was loads of fun and great way to meet all the people from my team. Ended up playing pictionary with the guys what a laugh.
After T dropped me back at the hotel, I was chatting to the rest of the guys who were here from Dubln, so we ended up going out for dinner to the Cheese Cake Factory at Stoneridge Mall - it was great to have other people from the Dublin office here else I would have been all on my own.
Tuesday 09/28
A busy day at work and uneventful, then ended up going out with the gang again, this time we went downtown pleasanton and had dinner at a mexican restaurant called Blue Algarve Club I can't find a website but there is a link to facebook, we then had a night cap back at the Marriott.
Wednesday 09/29
Well today was another busy day and a last minute invitation to a team dinner at the Cheese Cake Factory at 5:30 - at 3:15 the alarm goes off in the building and we have to evacuate, well it took them at least 20 minutes to evacuate the building, by which time we could have all been burnt to death - I still had time to go back and get my sun glasses and a visit to the rest room and I was still in the same queue.
Dinner at the cheescake factory was nice and it was nice to be out with all the team, reminded me of my days in SA when we used to go out for lunch / dinner.
Thursday 09/30 (HOT)
Well Thursday was another short day at the office, it was the company meeting out at the Marriot in San Ramon seems like a good place to stay to explore the Napa valley wine region. Anyway the meeting was good, I couldn't believe how much people in America drink and drive though, reminded me of days back in SA.
After the meeting and getting our T-shirts we all headed over to The Firehouse No. 37 in San Ramon which was a great night, but I wasn't in the mood to drink, so couldn't wait to get back to the hotel.
Friday 09/31 (COOL very COOL)
Another busy day in the office, T came back to the hotel with me to unload the Computer and stuff, we then walked over to the Marriott to wait for Stu and then got our favourite driver from the hotel to take us to downtown Pleasanton, once there we got some wine from the wine shop and went to Strizzi's for dinner which was good, then we had to wait for our driver, but it was great we had a good view of the "Blue Moon". Once back at the hotel, I said my goodbye's to Stu who was heading off the next morning to the Yosemite (which looks absolutely awesome) and T who was going off to Oregon, I was still going to see Mustafa in the morning before he headed off to Vegas - I was being left in Pleasanton all on my own.
Sunday 09/26
We had a braai the night before with good friends, who left round 9pm, so I had to madly rush and finish packing - I was then up at 3:30 a.m. so D could take me to the airport for my flight to Paris, then an hour wait and the flight to SFO. Wow, it was long - luckily I sat upstairs where there weren't that many people and I had two empty seats next to me for most of the flight. Well with an additional 8 hours daylight by the time I arrived in SFO, I had been awake for like 20 hours.
Monday 09/27 (HOT)
My dear collegue T who came over to Ireland for 3 months to mentor me came to fetch me in the morning, it was so cool to see her again so soon and I met my boss for the first time and the new guy from Toronto - Monday was a short day as we left the office at midday for a team outing at Wente Vineyards in Livermore, it was loads of fun and great way to meet all the people from my team. Ended up playing pictionary with the guys what a laugh.
After T dropped me back at the hotel, I was chatting to the rest of the guys who were here from Dubln, so we ended up going out for dinner to the Cheese Cake Factory at Stoneridge Mall - it was great to have other people from the Dublin office here else I would have been all on my own.
Tuesday 09/28
A busy day at work and uneventful, then ended up going out with the gang again, this time we went downtown pleasanton and had dinner at a mexican restaurant called Blue Algarve Club I can't find a website but there is a link to facebook, we then had a night cap back at the Marriott.
Wednesday 09/29
Well today was another busy day and a last minute invitation to a team dinner at the Cheese Cake Factory at 5:30 - at 3:15 the alarm goes off in the building and we have to evacuate, well it took them at least 20 minutes to evacuate the building, by which time we could have all been burnt to death - I still had time to go back and get my sun glasses and a visit to the rest room and I was still in the same queue.
Dinner at the cheescake factory was nice and it was nice to be out with all the team, reminded me of my days in SA when we used to go out for lunch / dinner.
Thursday 09/30 (HOT)
Well Thursday was another short day at the office, it was the company meeting out at the Marriot in San Ramon seems like a good place to stay to explore the Napa valley wine region. Anyway the meeting was good, I couldn't believe how much people in America drink and drive though, reminded me of days back in SA.
After the meeting and getting our T-shirts we all headed over to The Firehouse No. 37 in San Ramon which was a great night, but I wasn't in the mood to drink, so couldn't wait to get back to the hotel.
Friday 09/31 (COOL very COOL)
Another busy day in the office, T came back to the hotel with me to unload the Computer and stuff, we then walked over to the Marriott to wait for Stu and then got our favourite driver from the hotel to take us to downtown Pleasanton, once there we got some wine from the wine shop and went to Strizzi's for dinner which was good, then we had to wait for our driver, but it was great we had a good view of the "Blue Moon". Once back at the hotel, I said my goodbye's to Stu who was heading off the next morning to the Yosemite (which looks absolutely awesome) and T who was going off to Oregon, I was still going to see Mustafa in the morning before he headed off to Vegas - I was being left in Pleasanton all on my own.
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