Wednesday, August 17, 2005

The Office

I've been meaning to post these for a couple weeks, but with one thing and another, haven't gotten to it until now.

For those who have been hanging about the site, you know I have picked up a contract gig with Pokemon-USA, situated in one of the skyscrapers that now dominate the Bellevue Skyline. The company moved in after the dot-coms went casters up. and there were a lot of empty buildings at that time in this neck of the woods.

Here's what the building looks like. It used to be called the Rainier Plaza but has been renamed for its new major tenant.

Building

Nice looking digs, you have to admit. Here is the recently-redone lobby. The marble is imported from Italy and what looks like artpieces at the left-hand side are really a trio of flatscreen plasma TVs running a continual loop of scenes.

Lobby

Now, I am in a very professional but very casual office - you can show up in sandals and a Hawai'ian shirt and there is little cause for comment. However, I often feel I am underdressed for the elevators, since we share the building with a number of high-powered law firms, management firms, and accounting offices. But the occasional stare is worth it, since once you get up to the office, you get this:

view

This is the view from our conference room, looking west. The big tall structure is another major skyscraper under construction (hotel on the lower floors, luxury condos on the upper ones). The big flat structure behind it is the Bellevue Square Mall. The big blue thing behind THAT is Lake Washington. And those buildings far in the background? Downtown Seattle. And on the horizon, the Olympic Range across the sound.

Yeah, its a heckuva view. But I'm thinking of wearing a tie, just to avoid stares on the elevators.

More later,