Oh, what could have been

In November of 2005, early in the second of my three years in the dual design/construction program at UW, I flew to San Jose to interview with a large west coast homebuilder.  I left the three-day event thoroughly unimpressed with the organization and its representatives (I even managed to noticeably incense - with a few of my responses - one of the executives sent to interview me...always a fond memory).

Further, though, I left unimpressed with California.  The interview sessions were conducted at a hotel just outside of San Jose, in close proximity to many of the big-time players in Silicon Valley.  From my hotel window, the landscape was a thirsty brown plateau spotted with uninspired glass mid-rises.  After being born in Fresno, I hadn't visited the Golden State in 20 years, and this was hardly the imagery I was hoping to see upon my return.  

One of the last things I saw as my cab left the hotel was Yahoo's corporate headquarters, perched along Highway 101.

Fast forward to today: I was driving north on 101 from my company's Santa Clara office, where I have a desk once a week now (in an extension of my role in San Francisco), when I noticed Yahoo's campus once again.  

It's funny how life can put us on a course where things that ended up so different can, at times, seem so much the same.