Bye-Bye, Old Office...

One of my colleagues took the snap at right, showing the office where I've worked for the past couple of years.  That office was in the building we called the “wooden spaceship” because of its resemblance to the disc-shaped part of Star Trek's USS Enterprise.  We're all going to miss that old building: lots of character, and right on the beach.  Also termites, roaches, rats, and cranky heating and air conditioning, but that's all just part of the character...

Now we're in a sleek new building, albeit far more conventional.  We've leased the entire building, and the amount of space inside is breathtakingly huge compared to our old building.  It's located at 12225 El Camino Real, San Diego.  The photo below is a Google Maps view; my team's office is on the second floor where the orange arrow is pointing, facing south.  One side of our office is open (i.e., there are only three walls) and facing tall windows looking across Carmel Valley – a pleasant, sunny view with lots of greenery, but not quite like the ocean views of our old building.

I went in to the new building on Saturday to unpack and troubleshoot any problems – but also just to see what the new place was like once everything was installed.  Many of my colleagues were there as well.

There were lots of reactions to various things.  Probably the most interesting reactions were related to the kitchens – there's one on each floor, and they are stunningly well-equipped compared to our old place.  The second-floor kitchen (which my team will use) has two enormous industrial-strength refrigerators, three microwave ovens, enough storage for an army regiment, sinks, an ice machine, coffee machines, and a soda fountain.  It looks like a facility you'd find in a restaurant, except there's no range or oven.