See what Chris has been up to...

Chris at Alcatraz


View of the Golden Gate Bridge


Chris' apartment--2nd floor furthest to the left/his office building





Chris and friend from Provo/Alcatraz Island





Since Chris has retired from blogging (he IS a big-time executive now), I asked him if I could publish this email I got from him which is just as good aa a blog. He said yes--so here it is. I'll add some pics too.

So, things here are going well. My roommates Mike and Ed are pretty
cool guys, and we live in a nice place right next to the Golden Gate
bridge in a neighborhood called the Presidio. I live just a few
hundred yards from a great beach called Baker Beach, and there are
fantastic running trails all throughout the neighborhood. I live in a
quiet, clean area, and there are a few other apartments close by with
LDS guys and girls.

I spent my first few days here before I started work just checking out
the peninsula, including finding a new bank, grocery stores (they've
got a Costco!), the church where I've been attending Sunday meetings,
FHE, and weekly institute, and a few other sites like Golden Gate park
and the downtown area. The distance from one side of the peninsula to
the other really isn't very much at all (like 6 or 7 miles), so
getting around with a car is great. The public transportation is
decent, but it's much quicker to have my own car. I'll have to start
shopping around since I have to give the Corolla I'm using back to my
dad around Christmas time.

As far as work goes, I did a lot of training last week and have just
recently started working on some small client engagements. I don't
know everyone in the office yet, but for the most part people seem
very friendly and willing to help me in my transition. I still
haven't been paid yet (hopefully I will be this Friday), so sometimes
I forget why I'm there, but I feel pretty good about it all. Also,
two people I work with are BYU grads, and one, a guy named Matt, lives
in my neighborhood. We've become pretty good friends, and it's nice
to have someone to be able to go to with questions. You asked how
long it takes me to get to work... From my bedroom to my cubicle it
takes almost exactly 45 minutes. I drive to a bus stop about 2 miles
away, and then I take a free bus that goes to downtown. It drops me
off right next to where I work, which is a big blessing. The commute
is a little long (especially during rush hour), but I feel lucky to
have a free way to get there each day.

I've been to two different wards since I've been here, one about 3 or
4 miles from where I live, and the other in Palo Alto (nearly an hour
drive). Both had a lot of fun people in them (along with a few weird
people, but they are single's wards so I expected that). I will
probably end up attending the ward closest to where I live despite the
fact that the majority of the people attending it are older than me.

As far as fun things I've done since I got here, I spent Saturday with
a friend who was here visiting from Provo, and we went and saw
Alcatraz island. It was a lot of fun, and I especially liked the
audio tour they gave on the island. It was put together by ex-prison
guards and ex-convicts who had actually been on the island during its
use as a federal prison, and they had some amazing stories to share.
A midnight tour is also available, but we decided to see it during the
day instead so we could see the great views of the city from the water.

That same weekend my friend and I ate sushi at Fisherman's Wharf too
(which was delicious), and we even went down Lombard St. (the world's
most windy road). It was a fun weekend.