Circle the Bay: Day 29: Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge to Mud Slough

Mud Slough

Day 29: Don Edwards
San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge to Mud Slough
(Newark to Fremont)

Circle The Bay Part 3

December 1st 2018

8.9 miles in 1 hrs 2 mins

(Total: 314.6 miles in 72 hrs 11 mins)

I had a friend who worked for Cargill as a software developer, at one time the largest private corporation in the USA. They still own and manage a lot of the bay's wetlands, but they did work out a deal with the federal government to restore a lot of their previous evaporation ponds as well.

He's probably retired by now. His work for Cargill was very process driven business software development, the kind I got a minor in (systems analysis), but then avoided completely by the scientific programming career I bootstrapped at Honeywell.

It's not that I don't like business, I do. I even like doing my own double-entry bookkeeping in a spreadsheet of my own design. I guess the difference is that if I'm programming for someone else I'd rather do the science and engineering part of making money. If I'm programming to count the money I'd rather it be my own money.

My mind is turning to Silicon Valley as I approach the southern end of the bay. This section ended right on the bayshore side of I-880, right across the freeway from the huge Tesla factory. I will try to keep my eye on the wonder of the bay and not get too distracted by the castles built on silicon off to my left.