Once upon a time, there was a guy named Andreas, and he got a wonderful job at IBM Almaden Research in San Jose, CA. So our hero set out, mounted his trusty airplane and gallopped from Uppsala, Sweden (with a detour over Vienna, Austria and Atlanta, GA) all the way to the far far west, where the silicone trees grow, and the IPO's bloom and where the local peasants harvest chips and other stuff right out of the silicone rich soil... And because of it's peculiar botanics, this region is also known as "silicon valley".
This story is set in AD 2000, but the story is still unfolding, and we have spring 2001 already...
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A place for our hero was soon found (on the very first day). A very nice apartment, if maybe on the large side. Rent in Silicon Valley is nothing to sneer at. I'd better not tell you how much I pay. Anyway. This is what the place looked like right when I moved it... These big windows in the living room were one of THE selling points!
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In the meantime this place looks slightly different. After all, it wouldn't be an Andreas apartment without juggling props all over the place, inflatable dinosaur wearing Santa cap, pink flamingo, tons of CDs and books etc... By the way: the ceilings are 11ft. Triple spins with the clubs are easily possible. Just don't hit that sprinkler, please!!!
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Here another view -- same room. Yes, there are several other rooms in my apartment. I just like this one so much that I always photograph it... Did I mention that the place is actually way too big for me? |
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But it's in a nice apartment complex. This is the 'courtyard' outside my apartment. The complex has two parts. In my part there is grass in this spot (good for juggling). In the other part of the complex... |
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... you find the pool in the same spot. Downside: you have to walk across a street to get from one part to the other. It's just a two minute walk, but the street is a downer :( |
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One of the views of my apartment (towards the north). Yes, this does not
only look like water. It's sort of a lake. I say "sort of", because...
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... the real lake is on the other side -- towards the south. In the summer they let people swim in there, but I wouldn't really recommend it. There are signs everywhere warning you that if you catch fish you shouldn't eat them, because the lake is polluted. Would you want to bathe in it then? The reason for the pollution is probably the mercury rich soil in this area. There were some of the richest mercury mines in the world around here at the turn of the century. In the Almaden Quicksilver Park, just in those hills you see here, you can still find some traces of these mining activities. |
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About the general area... Silicon valley certainly is very developed, but I live at the southern tip of San Jose, where it goes over into rural areas. And Almaden Research is even further south.Till not too long ago, plum orchards were one of the main sights in silicon valley. Nowadays it's more .com companies that grow here... The valley is a pretty flat area, ideal for biking to work. My bike commute is about 4.5 miles on flat ground,... |
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...but then there are 1.5 miles of steep mountain, because the research center is ON these hills. It's pretty well hidden up there. From the bottom of the hill you don't see a thing. |
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Did I mention this is a steep road? Here I am, on my way to work, taking a short break in the middle of that hill. Yes, there are tougher hills to ride around here, as all my other bike-commuting colleages keep pointing out. But for me as a flat-land rider, this hill is as close to a "killer hill" as I want to get. Hey, it's tough to *walk* or drive up that hill! |
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But once you are up there you have a great view. Practically no other building in sight! Yes, that's the view from the entrance of our lab. |
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This is the lab itself. You might wonder about the green tint of this image (compared to the others). Well, in Spring there is a short, rainy period. Within 1-2 weeks everything turns green. Then the rains stop (end of March). Within 5-6 weeks everything turns brown again (or as we call it here 'golden'). This is semi-desert climate! It's very dry. So this photo was taken in early April. The one before was taken in early February, and now (May) it pretty much looks like that again. |
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But when it's Spring here, it really IS Spring. Well, it's not the Georgia "explosion of colors" -- this is semi-desert climate after all. Still, you see lots of very nice flowers all over the place at that time... |
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Silicon Valley is a high stress area to live. Everything has to go fast fast fast. So I'll be very busy here. Please don't be annoyed if I don't always reply to email right away. I'm probably just very busy. But maybe natural remedies like this computer de-stress tea can help... I especially like the "ancient healing formula" part ;) |
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Or if it doesn't... a good nights sleep might do the trick too. How could you not sleep well, after sunsets like this one... (the photo doesn't really do it justice) |