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22Jul
One Market

Here’s a photo from the inside of One Market — at the bay end of Market Street — which is a full-city-block complex of three office buildings across from the SF ferry building and the Embarcadero Center. The buildings are Spear and Steuart (modern office buildings) and ‘Landmark’ — the former Southern Pacific railroad headquarters.

I worked at One Market for two different tech companies (Autodesk and Salesforce), so it was interesting to continue to see my old Autodesk colleagues when taking the elevator to Salesforce. Also, it was fun to have office celebrations on the various roof terraces — including watching the Blue Angels practice for the annual airshow.

One Market has good shops and restaurants — some of the restaurants are fancy, some are great for office worker lunch. The complex has a nice courtyard for eating — which includes a fountain with a ‘shower’ falling from the ceiling maybe 100 feet above (pictured here). Unfortunately, the covid pandemic caused many of the restaurants to close.

Two more pics — from One Market windows:
20Jul
Kona at Night

Downtown Kona. Pretty happening — relatively speaking. Places to eat, and have a drink afterwards. Plus there’s a shuttle that runs to/from making getting there and back straightforward.
20Jul
Breathtaking View

We looked at a house in the Santa Cruz mountains uphill from Woodside — back when I was working a lot in Palo Alto. The house itself was pretty unexciting and far from civilization — but the view from the back deck was amazing. Could you image morning coffee or evening cocktails looking at this? (while the evil forest goblin waits for nightfall to make his move…)
18Jul
My Pearl

We’re close enough to the coast that we duck out for oysters pretty often. The ocean cools our summers but warms our winters. Here’s a mid-winter oyster run with my lovely wife.
18Jul
Waikoloa Resort

Photos of the Hilton Waikoloa resort on the big island of Hawaii. It is massive, and beautiful — they have a train and a boat to get you from place to place.

Kathleen on a paddle board in the middle of the photo
Kathleen and Ann
18Jul
What is Art?

(baby don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me, no more… never mind)

Legit question, though — What is art? If someone has an art website, what should they post on it? Interestingly, it’s a slippery slope…

✔︎ Original artwork – Of course. Digital or physical, any artwork created by the poster is acceptable to post.

~ Photos – Generally, but it depends on what the photo is of:

  • ✔︎ Nature – Yes. What’s artsy is — seeing something attractive in nature, framing the image, and capturing it well. It’s not as if you’re taking credit for what nature produced.
  • ✔︎ Architecture – Yes. Similar to nature. Again, you’re not taking credit for the building, etc.
  • ✘ Someone Else’s Artwork – No, or maybe… Are you artsy if you look at 100 works of art, find 5 that are amazing, and share those 5? Isn’t it sort of like finding something beautiful in nature…? This is the grouping that troubles me. If I share someone else’s art that resonates with me, then it says something about me. It seems kind of OK — as long as I don’t take credit for the item itself. In a way, it’s like sharing architecture — someone else made it, but I think it’s really nice…

Anyway, I’ll keep posting stuff — and may better solidify the line around what is/isn’t proper to post.

NEW QUESTION — What about being inspired by someone else’s art?

  • If I did my own version of the Mona Lisa, that would probably be OK because it’s a generally-recognized piece of artwork.
  • But what if I did my own version of an unknown piece of art? Seems a little less OK if no one knows the original — unless maybe I link to the original. (I have a lot of inspirational artwork that I’ve bookmarked.)
  • What if I copy/pasted the Mona Lisa and briefly changed something minor about it? (Today’s modern digital tools easily allow copy/paste/tweak.) Seems less OK, because my contribution/addition may not add meaningful artistic value. Almost as if there is a minimum number of hours you need to invest to call it ‘your artwork’…?
18Jul
Fireworks

With the recent fires (and now covid) a long-standing Petaluma tradition has ended. It used to be that the city allowed everyone to set off low-end fireworks, the sale of which benefitted local sports teams, clubs, organizations, etc. For example, Will’s soccer team used to man a booth where we would buy ours.

We’d have a party in the court every year — it was a lot of fun.
18Jul
Holiday Party

Some photos from the Salesforce end-of-year holiday party. It’s a fun, over-the-top event. They rent a large, warehouse-like building in SF on the water (Pier 48) across from the baseball park, have a live band, dancing, games, tons of food and drink — a great time. The bands are usually someone you’ve heard of — last time it was The English Beat. I’ve included a photo of Ann with the band. (Once, I almost got into a fight with the Salesforce co-founder and CTO — but that’s a story for another time.)

We go to this party every time (didn’t happen end of 2020 because of the pandemic), and we hotel in SF to make it easier. Looking forward to the next one.
18Jul
Color Contrast

Good lighting is important. A late morning walk — with good sun and shadows — can really emphasize colors. This is a plant along the path near my house.