Netflix 100M Party

The Netflix 100M party in 2017 was held regionally, with the bulk of the attendees traveling in buses from all over the Bay Area to San Francisco’s Bill Graham Civic Auditorium (because the majority of the employees work in Los Gatos).

Guests were encouraged to dress to reflect Netflix’s expanded worldwide market – a relatively easy assignment for Brendan and me as we are both comfortable in Indian clothing and had some formalwear from our trips to India together. Many of the Indian women wore saris, and their consorts, seeing Brendan, regretted that they had dressed in western suits instead of churidar-kurta!

There was big-name entertainment again, but this time it was comedians rather than musicians. And there were themed areas dedicated to popular shows where you could get special effects photos and videos done:

^ Now I know how these whirling romantic shots are done: we were standing on a circular pedestal with a camera mounted near the floor spinning around us very fast!

^ Narcos-style celebration

…and you can see the video clips here.

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Netflix 50M Party

Some of the most fun tech events I have attended were two epic parties thrown by Netflix for its employees, to celebrate hitting the 50 million (in 2014) and 100 million (in 2017) customers marks. Netflix now has over 200 million customers, but alas there have been no further parties Brendan reminds me that there was a 200M party, virtually, in 2021.

The 50M party involved EVERY Netflix employee (and a date) worldwide being flown to LA for an evening themed around its then-current hits (yes, House of Cards was the biggie – another thing that has changed), featuring the stars of said shows plus a bunch of other notables.

We were not hobbing and nobbing with the balcony people, but nevertheless had fun. Just having an occasion to dress up and admire others dressed up is always fun!

You can see the video clips here.

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Problematic employers in tech

Once upon a time, a company that many – especially those who worked there – felt to be nice, good, and generally on the right side of tech history was acquired by a company that many – including some who worked there – felt to be evil, rapacious, soulless, and in other ways reflective of its founder. 

Yes, I’m talking about the acquisition of Sun Microsystems by Oracle.

Many stories could be told about this acquisition, but for the purposes of this piece I will focus on the schism between those who left Oracle immediately, and those who did not.

Continue reading Problematic employers in tech

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One year in Australia

One year ago today we arrived in Australia. We had been planning and preparing for this for years. Moving countries is not a new experience for me: the move to Australia was the seventh intercontinental transfer of my life to date. I know how to do it and pretty much what to expect in creating a new life in a new place.

Except… pandemic. Not much went as expected. We packed up our entire household ourselves, and Brendan moved it all into the garage for the movers to take, to minimize potential exposure. We flew to Australia with relatively little bother, counting ourselves very fortunate because many others were having a much harder time getting home. Upon arrival, we were quarantined for two weeks in a downtown apartment hotel – again, we had a far nicer time of it than many, and after the preceding extremely stressful months I was happy enough to pass two weeks with nothing to decide, no meals to procure, and not much I had to do.

Continue reading One year in Australia

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Native Flora, Royal National Park

Yesterday we went for a walk in the nearby Royal National Park. This is my first springtime in Australia, and I’m fascinated with the native plants. One species of tree looks like it sheds its skin at this time of year – all of them are bursting out of their outer layer of bark. Many of the flowers are strange, complicated things that appear to have inspired some of Chihuly‘s works. Time for a trip to the Botanical Garden and/or to buy a book – I want to know more!

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