Welcome to the hotel California...

It is cheesy, but I like this place actually. Next to the beach, I have to take the bus to go to work, but it is worth it.

Welcome !

It looks they have another place in San Francisco, unsurprisingly. It is simple and **relatively** cheap, clean and **relatively** silent for an hotel in Santa Monica.

Stepping out of my hotel

 This morning was gorgeous, sunny and clear, exceptional. Turned out there was a freezing north blowing wind that was certainly burning the smog and pushing it away. I remember that was the kind of days you could kite with North wind in San Francisco, usually symptomatic of a depression coming or leaving.

Boardwalk on a Saturday morning

I have started to run again in the mornings. If you check my Strava log (NO ? you should !) next to this blog, I am right now aiming roughly at one hour run every morning, i.e. coming back to a 30 miles / week mileage, which is decent, specially if you do not do long runs.

Rings and stuff for the apprentice gymnasts

I kick myself in the butt to get early and jog on those cold mornings, mostly because I needed this fresh daily start. I tried to blend in at Riot Games, this is your typical game company regarding hours of work, i.e. people come late (10am to 11am), leave late (deep into the night), you know the drill. I did this for a week, playing at night, getting up later and later, and I ended up tired, nervous and relatively unproductive. I guess I am over this phase in my life now. Since I picked up better hours and morning jog, I feel way better and enjoy the long work day at the office more easily.
Let's wait for the end of this stretch on site to draw any conclusion, but it seems that i am addicted to the remoting now, and I don't see myself working on site anymore in the near future.

I found it really hard to have a healthy lifestyle on the workplace.

Back on the road

Or should I say, back in the air.

The maui trip was pretty short, and now I am flying back to California to finish my ramp up. Didn't even have the time to go in the water !

Well, waves and wind are always blessing Maui, but a new job, it is only once in a while - still relatively often for me :)

It will be even better to be back in a month, you can only enjoy to be together if you are apart time to time.

Manifesto

I was thinking how I could summarize my orientation week at Riot. Except dodging people's colds - this is winter in California - to try to preserve my health for the incoming race, it was an eye-opening experience.

my new Cup.

In a nutshell, that is the first company that actually is structured around its principles. Usually, companies values are nice HR posts on the wall and that is all about it. Over there, they actually organize production around their values. They structures themselves around their values.

The Riot Manifesto

"Player First". Number one rule.
I am sure I will find plenty to complain about, I am french after all.
We do not need any good reason to complain. That is in our genes.
And nobody is perfect. Riot certainly isn't.
But so far, I am seduced.
At least, they are putting their money where their mouth is.
And I respect this.

It is offical

After almost 5 years rocking the world on Rocksmith for Ubisoft,
It was a great ride, but
I am now a Rioter.

New Badge

I have to say that I am used to meet passionate people in the game industry, it usually goes with the job.
Riot Games push it a little further. They are fans. It is rejuvenating to see so much commitment and dedication around a single game.
Not your common game, though, the most played PC game around the world with dozens of millions of hardcore-gamer playing the game every day.

For new company...

I feel lucky of joining this new tribe.
Exciting times !!!