So, yeah, I'm cheating.
That being recognized, let's discuss Awesome Day Twenty Six.
It involved two tours of two campuses: One in Menlo Park, and one in Palo Alto, both with my parents and my older bro.
First stop: Facebook. Facebook was a kind of pilgrimage of sorts. I love me some social media. Judge if you will, but at least I admit it. And even if you aren't as big of a fan of the social network, I'm sure you've wondered what it looks like from the inside. I have. Personally, I always pictured a bunch of people working inside a giant version of a desktop computer, hitting buttons and connecting cords like old telephone operators back in the day.
That's not really how it works though.
The thing with Facebook, though, is that they make you sign an NDA (a non-disclosure agreement) saying that you won't share or replicate or talk about or think about any potentially "ground-breaking" technological wonders you witness while on their campus. So. There's that. It's a little hard to write a descriptive blog post after signing something like that with a major entity. (As such, I could only take pictures of the outside of the campus--which is not exactly exciting. Enjoy!)
What I will tell you is that the campus is pretty Awesome. Basically a really nice college campus, the Facebook campus has the same laid back, do-work-but-still-enjoy-your-life feel. It's got big open spaces and about a dozen different places to eat (most free, if not subsidized). There's a barber shop and a dentist office and a gym and a clothing boutique. You don't need to leave (why would you?) for anything (well, maybe to see your family, I suppose).
There are a lot of companies with this approach to working, and as someone who basically faces the opposite every day (working in the restaurant industry under employers who can't even offer us 50% off employee meals anymore, much less health care or full-time employment), it was really interesting to see the other side of it all. Wouldn't that be nice, I kept thinking.
(On the flip side, I love that I can take weeks off work, have my days free, and am available to pursue a different career path on the side--all while still making a relatively decent living. Who's to say what's really better in the long run, I suppose. Ask me in ten years. I'll probably know then.)
But man, that campus is pretty damn cool. I would love to have a free salad bar at my disposal every day. And a juice bar. And free frozen yogurt. And health care (did I mention health care?). And to know that, in general, my creativity and ideas and intelligence were encouraged, fostered, and expected. That would be pretty cool. (Maybe I just miss college, now that I think about it...)
Anyway, I reveled in the meta idea that I was on Facebook while in Facebook (and, subsequently, Instagraming from inside Instagram too), ate some good food, and saw a lot of top secret things that I can never tell you about. (Not really, but maybe kinda, but no, I didn't, don't worry. I think.) Pretty Awesome.
Stop two was to Stanford University (a place that rejected me eight years ago, and because of that, I was somewhat bitter while stomping around the grounds). Not nearly as exciting as Facebook, Stanford was still really pretty. I'll give it that. Not a bad place to attain an education, I'm guessing.
We ended the day with tequila drinks and Sprinkles cupcakes (there was dinner in there somewhere too), and a rousing family game of Farkle (I rolled two Farkles in a row, which was kinda my Awesome highlight of the day).
Actually, being with my family was the real Awesome highlight of the day. Family is really Awesome. Really, really Awesome.
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