Pixar Tour

So...my dream came true and we got a tour of Pixar!

Our sweet friend Sanjay was kind enough to give up his Sunday afternoon to show us around the office. Sanjay has been at Pixar for 15 years and has lots of great stories to share. He is a senior animator and has worked on Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc., A Bug's Life, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and more. The dude has talent to say the least.

The Boys (Brent, Sanjay, and our houseguest Ty)

Me making a scary face. What on Earth?!...I've got to work on my facial expressions!

Brent using his nerd skills to make fun of my scary facial expression.

I LOVE this Tokyo poster. If I could reach it I might try to take it home with me.

A few of our favorite characters...

We got to check out the Love Lounge. A secret space an employee found and created this...

Chillaxing inside the LL. This tiny crawl space is completely pimped out with leopard print walls and pillows, drinks and shot glasses...

...and video surveillance of the office.

You can sign the wall...Brent's signing next to the tush.

And, when I thought my day couldn't get any better, Sanjay & Emily invited us over for dinner at their awesome apartment. This is the apartment we ALMOST moved into but we didn't.

Love Sanjay, Love Pixar, wish I had mad drawing skills!

Facebook Tour

We had the opportunity to get an after hours tour of Facebook from Ben, a graphic designer at Facebook. And, I have to say, after checking out the place, I want to work at Facebook and more importantly I have to re-watch The Social Network.

I appreciated the openness of the company and the fact that Zuck's desk is out with the rest of the peeps.

Me at Zuck's desk.

Ben created a physical Facebook Wall. So, we got to write on it. Ty, our houseguest for the week (also a graphic designer), signing The Facebook Wall.

Brent signing the wall....

It was great to see the Facebook campus and learn a little about the company and how they do things. They are a very forward thinking company that values their employees and empowers all employees to have a voice. Which I personally think is something that employers need to do more often (and I could go on and on about employers shortcomings but I won't).

We LIKE Facebook!

These. Journals. Are. Hot!

Go get yourself some Brent's Notes! It will probably be the best 10£ you've ever spent!

Dad's Trip

After Dad recovered from hiking the appalachian trail, he made his first visit to SF since we had moved here. We did a great mix of eating, hiking, resting, activities, chocolate eating, and Dad couldn't resist fixing a few things around the apartment. Here's a few highlights:

We had ice cream at Bi-Rite EVERY day.

We went to Sausalito and had dinner at The Spinnaker where my parents celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary in 1995.

We did several hikes. This one is from our apartment to Crissy Field.

We went to a Giants game, mostly to check out the stadium and be in the sunshine. It was an added bonus that it was Star Wars day.

It was a fun and relaxing Labor Day weekend!

Mom's Trip

July and August were great months around here. Even though it was cold, all of our Texas visitors seemed to enjoy the break from the heat.

Mom came to visit while Dad was hiking the Appalachian trail. We relaxed and took it easy. Mom loved to visit the Rose Garden and Japanese Tea Garden in the Golden Gate Park. We walked through the park every day.

We did several hikes. This is such a bad quality of picture but it cracks me up because after we walked down to the beach Mom was brave enough to walk in the freezing cold water. I think it might have brought her back to her childhood days in Florida. She was like a kid running and playing in the water. I, on the other hand, ran back if the water got close to me.

I guess we didn't get a single picture together. Sorry Mom, we'll have to get a few on your next visit.

Dad arrived today!

He's loves having his picture taken....can you tell?