As a 16 year old I took my first job at a Bay Area computer firm--and remember trekking throughout the Bay in my '77 Dodge Aspen making deliveries. Along the way I saw names like Oracle and Yahoo and Excite (@ Home, for a short while) and Apple. The names were on buildings instead of websites and I was fascinated to connect the dots between a real workplace with real people and the virtual experiences with the same brands.
Yesterday I gave my kids their first taste at the same experience thanks to a long time school friend. We got a tour of an environmental testing facility that had ovens, freezers, corrosive chambers, drop testing and other simulated torture chambers. The kids had a great time with the tour demystifying a small bit of technology magic, seeing Brian and taking the Caltrain twice.
