Sun On Clouds

I haven’t traveled on biz for over two years. That trip was to Osaka, then a bullet train to Tokyo. Nowhere since. But today I got up at five and drove down to take the shuttle from Mather to the San Jose Jet Center (what, no link?). Always a fun trip. I mean for a twenty-five minute plane ride. No matter how depressed blah blah blah, planes are fun. Planes lift me, arr.

The bus is an Embraer 135 and doesn’t have to go very high. So I had outstanding views of the Delta, of the San Joaquin Valley’s rich farmland, of the Coast Range and of the Lick Observatory. A spring morning sun reflected off the waters. Tiny toy trains snaked along. Highways flowed. San Jose rose beneath us, and though I couldn’t find San Jose State, where we visited last week and where my son will study engineering next year, I did see the Boeing 707 or whatever it is that the school keeps at the airport. He is interested in aeronautics as a specialty within mechanical engineering. I think he’ll be happy there. (Hope so.)

Now I’m in the cafeteria in the corporation’s global headquarters building in Santa Clara, biding my time, sucking down a mocha. Yes, I cop to drinking flavored coffee, disgusting, I know. Not like they don’t have a huge selection of Tazo. But hey. Indulgence. Pretty soon I’ll go off and do this and that, and then catch a flight back. Man. They make it too easy. Despite everything, it’s apparently more cost-effective to keep a small fleet of leased jets flying around between the sites in four western states than to pay for commercial flights and mileage. Even if it isn’t, I’m sure the decision-makers and their accountants make sure it looks like it is. It’s just too cool not to have to deal with crowds and security and rental cars.

Right. Well. Emails and IMs 'n' shit are lighting up the switchboard here and "breakfast" is making a fast trip down the turnpike so I'm off. Nice day.