On the surface, it was a trip to attend a wedding.But below, it was a celebration of friendship and an 2 day intensive investigation into themes as diverse as the multi-cultural make-up of America, Globalization, engineering, religion, and the oil-based economy.
My good friend from my days of study in Japan, Jesse Szeto (a Chinese-American) was married to Nikki Toyama (a Japanese-American). The make-up of the 250 in attendance was approximately 80% Asian-American. In and of itself, this was a unique experience for me, given that most of the weddings I attend are with other Jews.
But, there was an interesting twist...of the Asian-Americans, another, say 80% were Christians. Now, normally, when I think "Asian," I don't think "Christian," so this was an eye-opener in that respect.
The service was unique and very engaging. There was a Christian rock group there that played some "worship songs" that were lively and quite spiritual. The homily was first-rate (as were all the speeches at the reception) because they followed the best strategy...tell us a story that paints a picture of the individual characters of the bride and groom. Don't bore us with "inside jokes" that you think are funny, but no one else does. Save that for a late night over a beer with a few people.
After the service, we drove from Oakland to Redwood City via the Oakland Bay Bridge and got to experience some US 101 traffic. This may be a uniquely Californian thing to drive 40 minutes from wedding to reception.
The Reception offered another first...the tables were not of uniform size. As I was seated with friends from IUJ, we were at a table of 4. There were tables of 6, 8, 10, and 12. Brilliant! Put the groups that are naturally inclined to celebrate mini-reunions and let the table sizes go from there. (The one downside might be a lack of interaction between various social groups, but when you haven't seen your friends for 4-5 years, as was my case, having 3 hours of concentrated time at dinner was fabulous.)
I departed via the San Mateo Bridge and headed back to Oakland, where I was able to overnight at the Zielinziger/Abt (see her art here and his book here) home, arguably one of the most beautifully located homes I have ever visited. It sits in the hills above Oakland and when the fog clears in the morning, you can see straight across to San Francisco. I met Michael and Diane during my Japan days and they have done Japan justice in their home decor. My room felt like a Ryokan (traditional Japanese inn), no shoes in the house (yes!), and an evening dip in the ofuro (hot tub) which was a great way to end a day of jet lag and long hours. Their hospitality was unparalleled as the beauty of the environment of their home.
There was a time in preparing for this "Remember the Maine" trip where I considered not renting a car. That would have been an error of colossal proportions. It'd been 5 years since I was on the West Coast and I guess I forgot how dependent the area is on the car.
Michael shed some light on an industry that I knew was being affected by the Internet, only not to the extent that it is.
For years, he had been a foreign correspondent and intimately familiar with the newspaper business. Now, there are no foreign bureaus and with newspapers losing classified and other ads to the Internet, the companies are laying people off.
Michael raised the question of "who will do the people's work?" i.e. the hard analysis and investigation of the issues that can ultimately affect social justice, equality, integrity, ethics, etc. A very valid point and an interesting insight from a white-collar professional who certainly never expected his industry to be "outsourced" or disappear.
Speaking of outsourcing, I had the pleasure of visiting with Hale Foote and his family who live in Alameda (see Colby here). His company, Scandic, makes industrial springs that goes in anything from infant car seats to cell phones to cars. It's an impressive operation and employs 35 people in Silicon Valley. A great feeling to help feed/clothe these people and their families. Hale shared with me, however, that "all of the easy stuff is gone to China." For a few years, he faced a number of challenges as the outsourcing wave grew. They've learned to compete even more on quality of product and fervent customer service, but an interesting insight into a frontline experience in Globalization.
Went over the San Rafael bridge to visit Mark Dantche, a former client from the Snickelways days who is one of the foremost experts in America on the subject of Content Delivery Networks. These are the massive set of computers that make sure that when you go to a given website that you get the information you want quickly and the site doesn't crash. In his spare time, he's a tres impressive handyman who has rebuilt a 1920's garden in what was once the hunting lodge of a rich patrician.
Went back to Oakland and met up with an elementary school classmate of mine, Naomi Sunshine, who just had an adorable baby 10 months ago, Eva. You forget how small they are when they can't walk. Naomi's partner, Jill, works for Google, which of course made me cringe, but I kept it civil. It was at the coffee shop where Naomi and I were approached by a ran
dom stranger who clearly had something a bit off and said to me, "did you hear that Bill Walsh died?" Just out of the blue. Reinforces that California image a bit.
I hadn't seen Naomi in 5 years and we caught each other up on mutual friends, compared notes on parenthood, and she updated me on her passion regarding social justice and immigrants' rights.
After dinner with the Foote's (and an intense rowing session thanks to Colby, the 17 year old crew phenom), I was ready to redeem 15,000 of my United miles for a 1st class upgrade and get home to my glorious family.
What this trip, like almost every other since I began my serious traveling days reinforced is that, once again, it's not the places you visit, it's the people who live there.
I got an appreciation for the lifestyle (a lot of bridges, needs for cars), their outlook, the reason why people move to California (damn, the weather IS GREAT) and even though someone threw an egg at my rear window while I was driving (not sure if it was modified road rage or some kids on an overpass), it was a wonderful, memorable experience and one that, I might add, wouldn't have been possible w/o Google Maps (yes, I get the joke).
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