Santa Clara, California

This week, my friends, I'm in lovely Santa Clara, California.  This is the first half of a very long business trip to California.  I spent the first week in the south part of the San Francisco Bay Area, with every single one of my employees from around the globe.  I had people here from China, India, Korea, Canada, Germany, UK and all across the U.S.  We met at our company headquarters in Sunnyvale, and had an amazing time.  I have to say that I have a truly amazing team.  They work hard and are quite dedicated to everything we do.  I love being their leader and enjoy each time that we bring everyone together.  I had one employee stand in front of the whole group and express that this is the best group meeting we've ever held.  There was a real buzz in the air...and they expressed gratitude for all the work that went into the meetings.

I try to do this sort of thing twice a year.  In the winter, I hold it in California - so everyone gets a chance to experience warmer weather.  In the fall, we will either hold it in Austin or Boston.  I'm looking forward to it.

For three solid (I'm talking 8am until 6pm) days, we hold presentations about a wide array of business topics.  Everything from technical details to marketing plans.  This helps align the group on priorities for the rest of 2012:

This was only part of the group in our auditorium

Jet lag hit some of the Europeans and Asians...at least it wasn't during my presentation...

Another presentation from yours truly

A technical debrief with one of the teams

At the end of each day, I would take the entire team to dinner - which would extend the day quite a bit. However, the social interaction between the employees (who don't get to see each other face-to-face very often) is critical to our success, as they must depend on one another.  The last night, after some had to catch plans to get home, I decided to go to a casual place.  This is a favorite of mine in Sunnyvale, CA - St. John's Bar & Grill:

Not my picture...it's usually WAY more crowded than this...

The burgers there are quite good.  Here's an "avacado burger" and one of their cheesesteaks:

The portions are pretty intense.  The Asians and Europeans always marvel at how much food is served at American restaurants.  Here's one of them trying to grapple with a "chili burger".

After everything was over, I had a chance to visit with my daughter, who just recently moved back to California from Switzerland.  It's always such a thrill to hang out with my kids and their spouses.  We attended church at their local Ward, and enjoyed some amazing sunshine:

At their temporary apartment, there was a croquet game set-up.  I decided to show my little girl how to play...but she still found a way to cheat ; )

We took a short drive to see the condominium that they're about to buy.  The crazy part is that it's located about 1 mile from where I used to work, in Redwood City.  The unit is absolutely gorgeous - I can't wait to visit after they move in.  The kitchen is beautiful...these crappy phone photos just don't do it justice:

To prove I was actually there...

While down in the South Bay, I happened to make a trip to the headquarters of Apple.  I remember that area quite well.  I stopped in at the Company Store, and saw this T-shirt - which I thought was pretty funn:

That's it for now.  I really great week at work, and with part of my family.  Next week - I stay in California and move up to San Francisco.  I'll be joining 40,000 other folks from the videogame industry ; )