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Genentech's 30thI may not have mentioned it before, but these days Debbi works for Genentech, a large (maybe the largest) biotech firm. She's been there a little over a year, and I think likes it a lot. Not too surprising, really, since it's considered by some to be the best company in the US to work at. Well, Genentech was founded around the same time as my own employer, so both companies turned 30 years old this year. Genentech, however, apparently is known for throwing absolutely boffo parties from time to time, so I was happy to take a day off to join Debbi for their 30th birthday party. I woke up at some god-free hour and drove up with Debbi, hanging out mostly in the break room on her floor reading while she and everyone else did their morning work. Then around 11:15 we went down to catch a shuttle to head to the main campus for the party. They'd roped off probably a square mile (maybe more) of their complex, which is located along San Francisco Bay, and turned a 7-story parking garage into the food-and-drink venue, with another parking lot set up as the entertainment arena, with more food stands around its edges. (They also had what I called the Rolls Royce of porta-potties. Good grief!) Someone guesstimated that there would be around 16,000 people there, since employees were allowed to bring one guest, and I guess kids, too. (I don't know what the official figure was.) The entertainment started around 1 pm with an historical video about the company, followed by some remarks by CEO Arthur Levinson, and then comments from a few honored guests, including four recipients of Genentech drug treatments, company co-founder Herb Boyer, and James Watson. Watson was especially interesting, as it's not often you see someone speak who's half of a scientific catch-phrase. Watson says he hopes he lives long enough that he'll know that we're going to beat cancer as a disease. The speeches were actually pretty moving. Apple and Google have both had a significant impact on the world, but Genentech's actually in the business of saving lives and giving ill people back their quality-of-life. That's really pretty humbling.
 The rest of the entertainment consisted of a literal all-star line-up of performers: Just seeing Bob Dylan at a corporate event was kind of amazing. I'm not a fan of his music, but I recognize the impact he's had on popular music. Having the Eagles up there as well (only a few years since they re-formed, something which I guess was unthinkable at one time) was just hard to believe. Truth to tell, though, I think I enjoyed the music of the Foo Fighters the best, just because it was the closest match-up to my own musical tastes. At the other end was the Black-Eyed Peas, who are rhythm-based dance music, which is just totally not my thing. I was a little disappointed because one of the rumors was that The Who might be one of the bands, and of course The Who are perhaps my favorite band. But, it wasn't to be. (At least I knew it was only a rumor, so I was prepared for it not to happen.) Despite that, we had a good time, seeing a few of Debbi's cow-orkers, eating some good food, and we did enjoy the music. We called it a day about mid-way through the Eagles set, by which point they'd played several of my favorite songs of theirs anyway, and I figured we should go before they did "Hotel California" anyway! It was a pretty amazing bash, with a good mix of stuff for old and young. Others have blogged about it, and you can also find photos if you search.
I'll close with a slightly off-color anecdote from the party:
Debbi: There are a lot of pregnant women here.Yeah, like that ever stops me...
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