A trip to Alcatraz

I spent the pre-CNY week in San Francisco visiting some tech start ups in the Valley. It never cease to amaze me the start up scene in SFO where people wouldn’t blink an eye if you tried a few ventures and failed. In fact, failures are looked upon favorably - as long as you fail honorably and not be a fraudster.

My dad’s generation is the “stay loyal to your firm and never change job” kind. My generation is the “try to get headhunted and move a few times for different exposure (and hopefully higher pay)” kind. The next generation will be very very different and it can head in either a “self entitled” generation or “i want to change the world” generation. Hopefully, it is the latter and will spurn innovation, reduce wastage (sharing economy) and be kinder to the environment.

I am hopeful that the younger ones in Singapore will be more entrepreneurial than mine (X-generation) as well. I am in the midst of looking through the list of tech companies that i want to invest in for the next decade and put some money to work (part of Goal no. 3).

8 new experiences for 2020 - a short day trip to Alcatraz. I have been to SFO several times for work but never had the chance to visit the famous island. Here are some pictures for the trip.

This is the view of the island (on the left) with the city of San Francisco on the right far behind. 

This is where the prisoners are kept. Many have tried to escape but never succeeded. Those who managed to “escaped” the cells are probably drowned by the strong underwater currents.

This is the cell for the prisoners. 3 managed to dig a hole using a spoon behind the sink to escape. They were never found and rumored to be drown.

If you visit the island during evening time, you can have a nice evening view of the city from the island, as well as the sun setting over the Golden Gate Bridge over the Island. 

Here is experience no. 1 for 2020 (8 new experiences for the year).