We were so excited to get there that we left on Sat. the 12th in the afternoon. We went from Dewey, AZ. down to I-10 and through LA., we hit there at 11:00 PM so the traffic was very light.
We arrived at the hotel at 9:00 AM Sun. morning and crashed. I was worn out. We had a very large room, had a couch, computer desk with hook-up, huge bathroom that I could roll right in with my chair. Alice loved the whirlpool bath. We met a few of our friends (Pinks) at a restaruant just around the corner from our room. We had met all but two of them at eBay Live 2002. We were happy to meet those two for the first time. We talk to them quite often.
Monday morning we met many of our friends at breakfast just off of the lobby (continental breakfast). Then they went to work and we relaxed for a while. Then we went looking for eBay and when we saw eBay Park for the first time, we were amazed. I guess that we were expecting a tall building with lots of offices but to our surprise, here was a beautiful campus with eight three story buildings spread out like a college campus. It is landscaped like a picture in a magazine, just gorgeous.
We went into the main building and in the lobby, we were greeted by many as they recognised Alice and I. We saw the eBay Cafe Quilt made by eBay members from the eBay Cafe, that is now displayed in the lobby enclosed in it's own case and is so pretty. They did an outstanding job. Our t-shirt will also be displayed in the lobby for all to see, we are so proud and happy that Meg accepted it.
Scooch (Mike) came down and took us on a tour through the campus, even saw the small office building where eBay first started, such a pleasure to view from the beginning to the present. Now they have run out of space to be able to expand at this location so they have options on a new sister site soon to be started, April 23, 2003 Press Release
After the outside tour, we had a bite to eat at the on campus snack bar. We sat outside in the sunshine and I now have a sunburn to prove it.
Off we went back to the hotel to get some rest. I forgot to mention that we stayed at the Pruneyard Inn, a buisness hotel. No bar or restauraunt, no children running around, just a great place to have peace and quiet. The Pinks were invited to a private party from someone they knew so Alice and I went to the Outback. We fell in luv with their Cream of Onion Soup.
Tuesday was to be the big day. Ratchel and Brian came to our hotel at 11:30 to take us all to a cafe where all of the "Gang" were to meet for Pizza that Scooch had ordered already. It was very good, nice to be with lots of friends, then off to Paramount's Great America Park for the meeting.
When we arrived there and were walking (every one but me, LOL) in, here comes two more Pink friends that we had met before. We were taken into this big auditorium and down a steep decline to about one section back from the stage, on the far left, they had a place all set for my wheelchair with Alice at my side.
There was a curtain to our left that covered a hallway that went back to the "Green Room". Ratchel was in charge of making sure that things went as planned and she did a terrific job. She guided us back to the green room where there were some long tables along the wall covered pizza boxes, some full, some empty and three couches in a group on the left wall. Meg Whitman, president and CEO was on one, Jeff Jordan, Senior Vice President, U.S. Business on one, and to our great surprise, the other held Pierre Omidyar, founder and chairman of the board at eBay, we both were in awe. I headed towards him and he came to meet me. he seemed to be as happy to meet me as I was him, a great pleasure indeed. We talked to Meg and Pierre for a bit, then off to see where we would be on stage.
Back to our seats with the two other eBayers that had been invited to be there to speak also, viewmasterlady (Mary Ann) who was there for the buyers, collectors part of eBay.
reliableendmill (Mariano) was there for the sellers, to share a story on how members can create a full time business and expand it.
Meg came on stage and as always gave a great presentation on what and how eBay is doing. There are now 69,200,000 registered users and growing at a fantastic rate. One of the goals is to be able to shop antwhere on the planet in your own language, a true international shopping spree.
Please don't ask for any more information because I won't say, it was privledged to me.
Then it was our turn to get ready so back stage we went again and as soon as meg finished, Mary Ann went on, spoke and showed a video , then Mariano spoke and also had a video to show.
Then alice and I went to the podium and I gave My Speech and then Alice presented the t-shirt to Meg. She thanked us and as I backed away from the podium, I received a standing ovation that seem to go on & on. Then Meg asked me to go center stage where a spotlight was shining because they wanted to take pictures, the standing ovation was almost deafening, I had such big tears that I couldn't even see the audience, it was so overwhelming.
Then back to our seats while Meg and Pierre were having a great convesation on stage. They told stories about each other, how Pierre started eBay and how Meg was hired. It was very interesting and lasted about an hour. Then it was over.
We had a Fenton Basket for Meg as a thank you gift. We went back to the Green room again and gave the gift to her. She sat it down and she, Pierre, and I went back on stage to have photos taken. Do you have any idea what it is like to be center stage with Meg holding my hand on one side and Pierre with his arm around me on the other side feels, WOW!!!! Then Alice joined us, she didn't see us go on stage. Meg then went back to the green room to open her gift while Alice, Pierre, and I talked for quite a bit before joining the rest. Meg was very pleased with the basket and said that she would keep it in her cubical. Then she asked if we had see her cubical and we said no, we were not shown upstairs at all so she asked if we would be there on Wed, we responded yes. She then made arrangements to have Scooch give us a grand tour of the "third Floor", a privilege in it's own right. Pierre and Meg are two of the most down to earth people that you would ever want to meet, our pleasure indeed. This is one trip that will live on forever.
I had to stay back stage to have a breathing treatment so by the time that we were ready to go outside to join the crowds, twenty minutes had passed and we had bags to take to the van but the crowds had different ideas, they surrounded us and wanted to congratulate us. We met some friends that we had delt with for years. Some from the old New Live Board, oh how time flies. We finally got to the van, deposited our bags and headed back to join the crowds again. We ate hotdogs and talked to countless people from all over the world, all friends that we haden't met before. Then the wind started blowing so strong and it began to rain, so we all called it quits.
We were so tired by now so we went to our room and slept. We didn't even go out for supper, we just wanted to get caught up on our rest. We had snacks and fruit with us so we were fine.
We arrived at eBay before Meg did so we went to the snack bar to have some coffee and a danish. As we sat outside, it seemed like everyone would change directions just to come over and congratulate us and tell how moving my speech was to them. Scooch came out to guide us to the third floor. ( no visitor goes anywhere without an escourt, understanable).
When we arrived at the third floor, Meg was on the phone so we toured the rest of the floor. if there was a room, it had a glass window as a wall, nothing hidden at ebay. The whole floor is made up of cublicals. We saw so many employees, all working hard at their computers. Just a handful of Pinks. I wish that some of you could see how hard these people work, you would have more respect for them and the work that they do.
Then we came to an old friends nich, Uncle Griff. We have so much respect for each other, we have very similiar backgrounds and eBay saved his life too. He has been working on his own time to write his first book, The Official eBay Bible due outin june, look for it. He received the first copy with a note from the printer and he signed his very first on over to me along with the note. Then to top that, he gave us the advanced uncorrected proofs copy. I am still in shock for what Griff did, it takes a great friend to do that and again, we thank him from the bottom of our hearts. There will be a picture section at the end.
Now it is time to go to see Meg's home, one corner of the four-plex cublical. She shares one with the top three excutives of ebay. She, like others have many personel items surrounding her work space. Just so you know, she drives her own Jeep to work too!!.
Then for our last surprise, Scooch was asked to take us to the "Control Room" They were busy so we hadan hour to kill so back to the snack bar-deli where they had now heard who we were and they bought our lunch, such great people. Again, we were slow to eat because of people stopping by to chat. Then it was time to see the "Room" that as I understand, not many get to see inside. It was amazing, walls of huge monitors, all with data of every movement of eBay, the Heart of eBay. It was amazing to see it all, and again, I cannot comment on things that we saw except maybe the amount of data being processed , four (4) gigabytes per second, now folks, that is one big chunk of data. Then it was time to say our good byes, as sadly as it made us feel. It was like having a party at Mom's house and having to go home.
We headed home at 4;30 AM Thurs. and arrived home at 4:30 PM, picked up our Sassy from the Vets and went to bed as soon as I could get there, worn out but worth every minute of it.
We want to thank Meg for asking us to come to San Jose, a special Lady. Thanks to Pierre for starting ebay so that all of this can happen. A special thenks to Rachel and Scooch for making all of the arrangements and for taking the time to make sure that we were treated like VIP's.
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