To celebrate Robert David’s 50th birthday I scheduled a short trip to California for the weekend of 2/26 – 2/28. After the “Summit at Tulalip” all-week off-site meeting at work I packed some socks, underware, and running shorts in a backpack and headed to the sunshine State.
The shared-van “Shuttle Express” service is less expensive and more convenient than parking at the airport. This time they were punctual, courteous, and efficient. One of the passengers on the van was chatting for about 40 minutes on his cell phone about the regulatory arbitrage in China right now. It turns out that the international “holding companies” that were created in the Cayman Islands, Isle of Man, Tonga, etc. for tax avoidance in the 1980s and 1990s are now flourishing by selling to the Chinese joint ventures. The person in the van was a greedy sleaze looking to abandon his company to go work for a different law firm that needed his quant skills. He was chatting with a head-hunter about an interview he just had. He was a definite “no hire” in my opinion – no ethics, integrity, moral compass, or semblance of loyalty, team-ability.
There were not many people at the airport on Friday afternoon (a sign that the economy is still pretty bad).
Oakland expanded into two terminals since the last time I was there but it is still very small, convenient, charming.
I hitched a ride from OAK to the hotel with David Goldberg (remember my Vegas trip with Robert and David in 2008?). He was arriving from Phoenix 10 minutes before me but his flight was delayed so he and his wife arrived 15 minutes later. They rented a car (I had planned to take BART and a taxi) so I rode with them from the airport to Pleasanton.
Tri-Valley Inn reception, complete with mini-fridge. . .
Robert signs in at the reception.
The Tri-Valley Inn motel in Pleasanton ($49 for bed, breakfast, swimming pool, free parking) is a block from Robert’s house and is surprisingly good for the price.
The rooms are cold and dusty (no heating) but otherwise clean and cozy. Robert stopped by to greet the out-of-towners as we arrived.
The sun-belt people thought it was cold but it was really not bad for mid-winter.
Swimming pool
I had packed a dinner and had eaten it on the plane so I went to my room and went to sleep. The others went out for a midnight dinner.
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