Construction By Chopper

Usually when I hear the continuous sound of a helicopter nearby my house it is at night and there's a bright search light shining down on a nearby neighborhood. This morning when I heard the noise I couldn't at first find the chopper, until I started driving to work. Passing by the Westfield Valley Fair Mall I saw this helicopter with a rope dangling from it, probably for hoisting construction material onto a roof. Interesting way of doing construction.

Silicon Valley Window Washers

These guys are washing the 11 story tower across from the building I'm in. I never paid much attention to them before, but they've got a security mechanism that requires a manual action when the cart moves down, otherwise they will end up hanging on the safety line above the cart.

Snow Hides Yosemite Trails

This weekend I was supposed to be back paking in Yosemite with a few good friends. That fell through as a result of conflicts of schedule. Instead I headed to Yosemite for a day with my exercise friends and coach. It turned out to be a good thing that the back packing trip was canceled: the trails of Tioga Road were impossible to find. We intended to hike to North Dome from the Porcupine Creek trail head, but the trail was hidden by a thick pack of snow. Then we tried to hike to the top of Yosemite Falls from the Yosemite Creek trailhead, again no trail to be seen. Instead we did a few short treks, one to Lukens Lake while walking over snow, and a small group and I spent some time in the amazing (but crowded) Yosemite Valley. All in all, it was an awesome day, exhausting due to the 8 hours of driving and hiking, but awesome. I love California nature.

 

 

What Do PR People Do?

Recently a friend asked me: "What do PR people actually do?" The friend is a reporter, so he interacts with communications people on a daily basis. I won't write an essay on all the responsibilities PR people have and how the job changes nearly every day, but here's one project that I was closely involved in recently.

One of the things PR teams get engaged in is the development of messaging and branding for a company, working closely together with the brand and marketing teams. A few weeks ago we premiered a new McAfee "Anthem" video at our investor event in New York. The video is also viewable only. Check it out:

Boston, MA - Perfect in Spring

If I were to move to the East Coast of the U.S. I'd probably have Boston at the top of my list of cities to live in. Boston is a great "small" big city, much like San Francisco. It has great neighborhoods and parks and food and, sometimes (like today) great weather. This photo I took from my room at the Millennium Bostonian Hotel, a great location for visitors to this historic city.

Meat! - Parrillada!

In early May I visited Santiago, Chile, on a short trip to announce McAfee Labs' expansion into Latin America. While there the Labs team and I took the opportunity to sample the local food--I so wish I had Anthony Bourdain's job. Among the dishes we enjoyed is this parrillada at a place called Chilenazo, near our hotel in the Las Condes neighborhood. Yummie!