I addressed Danville’s CPC Job Connections group today. There were about 80 people in attendance.

Once again, as at Experience Unlimited in Lafayette CA, I was struck by the wealth of knowledge and skill in the room. I’ve never been in a position to need the services offered by these groups. They are both fine examples of community and business outreach.

The room was full of interesting people including Dean Guadagni, uber-blogger from Marin County, CA. Dean mentioned in his blog that I would be addressing this group and his post was picked up by FoxBusiness.com. A big thanks to Dean (under the arrow).

If you are having a hard time recognizing Dean, it’s because he’s slimmed down to his Philadelphia fighting weight – the Stallion is Back!

The gent in the wild shirt in the center of the picture above is Alex who is a pretty wild and funny guy. Behind him in black is Marisa who was ecstatic at having been to several successful interviews recently. It appears that PG&E may make her an offer she won’t be able to refuse. This on top of another offer. Multiple offers! We love those in real estate also. (We’ve written about PG&E’s upcoming expansion at Bishop Ranch.)

My presentation consisted of about 30 slides, that took me 35 to work through. There were a lot of good questions and comments. The topic was “A New Way of Strategic Thinking About Your Career.” Basically, what I have noticed is that few people are leveraging the power of the Internet to effectively influence the evolution of their careers in a positive way.

There were several people who had recently returned to the San Ramon Valley area and I was quick to mention that I am a real estate agent. Everyone got a chuckle of of my change in careers two years ago from the bankrupt airline to crashing real estate – kind of like out of the pot and into the fire.

A big thanks each to Don Smith for introducing me to Doug Neeper who invited me to speak. CPC Jobs Connection online at Yahoo Groups.

Hilary Toyryla has invited me back to Experience Unlimited in August. She says she is finally getting the significance and potential of blogging and would like me to focus more on it as a way to further one’s career.

To end, I mentioned my good friend Linda Strasburg author of Competency Based Resumes and talk show host veteran (14 years now). Linda loves to interview interesting people and she can help anyone create a fantastic resume.

Bishop Ranch in San Ramon California is on fire. At least that’s the report from the East Bay Business Times on the lease situation at Bishop Ranch.

As you recall, PG&E is moving 450 employees over to a new facility in San Ramon.

Robert Half International just announced that it will move into Bishop Ranch. The move will allow the company to have all of it’s Pleasanton, CA employees in one building. That’s another 1000 jobs moving into San Ramon.

In addition to PG&E and Robert Half, the following companies have announced plans to lease space at Bishop Ranch, CA:

• Del Monte Foods
• Chubb Insurance
• Edgewood Insurance
• U.C. Davis

Mayor Wilson must be grinning from ear to ear as these new tenants will mean a lot for the community and the success of the new City Center.

This a great time to be moving into San Ramon as there are some extremely good deals on real estate in the San Ramon Valley.

If you are thinking of relocating to San Ramon call Ginny, our domestic relocation expert at (925) 699–3328. If you are relocating internationally call Paul at (925) 963–4246.

One man almost lost his leg in this violent shark encounter. Fortunately it looks like Kurtis Foster may recover after a prolonged rehab.

Wednesday night my good friend, and die-hard San Jose Sharks fan, Rudi Lang and I went to see the Sharks play against the Minnesota Wild. It was a great game that went into overtime and was decided by a shoot out which was won by the Sharks.

HP Pavilion was sold out and the crowd was ecstatic to see their favorite team win again. Unfortunately Minnesota defenseman Kurtis Foster broke his left leg in the second period. Foster, a third-year pro, hit the boards violently after a collision with San Jose rookie Torrey Mitchell.

The San Jose Sharks are now in second place behind the Detroit Red Wings. With another 10 games to play, there are a couple of exciting weeks ahead of us. 

On the way back to Danville we drove passed the Sunset Business Park offices on Crow Canyon Road in San Ramon; close to midnight people were still hard at work to get the facility ready for PG&E’s upcoming move.

The relocation of hundreds of PG&E employees will be good for the local community and exciting for the people that are moving here. Rudi and I were talking about how lucky we are living in the East Bay with great schools, safe communities and close to San Francisco.

As big sports fans we both agreed that we are also very fortunate in the Bay Area with two great Major League baseball teams: the Oakland A’s and the San Francisco Giants (don’t forget about our Niner Training Camp), and two NFL teams: the Oakland Raiders and the San Francisco 49ers. In Oakland we have the Golden State Warriors who are on fire this year in the NBA and the San Jose Sharks are having their best year ever.

What else can we ask for?

The recent Greenbrook Elementary School Auction was a huge success; over $100,000 was raised for the children of this award winning school in the Greenbrook neighborhood.

One of the auction items was a 49er mini football camp for about 15-20 children. Former San Francisco 49ers Greg Clark and Tommy Vardell agreed to run the camp that will be held on May 18th on the grounds of Greenbrook Elementary School in Danville, CA. They will be taking the children through a typical NFL training and practice activities - minus the hitting of course. 

Greg and Tommy will bring all their gear so the boys can put it on and say they have worn an authentic 49er uniform.

Afterwards the children and their families are invited for a barbecue at the Greenbrook Home Owners Association pool. Yesterday Rudi and Lisa Lang, Kal and Sangita Majmundar, Paul and Ginny Mees got together at Vinay and Rita Patel’s beautiful home to discuss the details of the camp and the barbecue. This group has put a real fun afternoon and evening together for some lucky boys and their families.

When we were over at the Patel’s house we were also talking about how blessed we are living in the Greenbrook neighborhood and what a great area it is for people with school going children. I mentioned to my friends that PG&E is relocating many of their employees to their new facility on Crow Canyon Road in San Ramon.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see many of these families to end up in our Greenbrook neighborhood.

PG&E is making a major move into a new facility near Bishop Ranch in San Ramon, CA. PG&E has signed papers on a 135,000 square foot building in Bishop Ranch that they will renovate with state-of-the-art technology for their employees. The new building is adjacent to PG&E's San Ramon Valley conference center (Crow Canyon Road and Alcosta Boulevard), which hosts training sessions and meetings for the utility.

This announcement must have Mayor Wilson dancing in the street as it is just the kind of economic support he is seeking. PG&E’s move will provide a nice shot in the arm to the local economy and to the new City Center when it is completed.

Inside Bay Area – Pacific Gas & Electric Co. will move 550 employees to San Ramon — including 450 from San Francisco — in a quest to operate more efficiently and reduce its costs, the utility giant said Tuesday.

Besides the 450 employees who will move out of San Francisco, the San Ramon building PG&E will occupy in the Sunset Business Park will also house about 75 workers from Pleasant Hill and 25 from Danville, said David Eisenhauer, a PG&E spokesman. The relocation of hundreds of workers to San Ramon is likely to bolster the East Bay city and nearby communities.

East Bay Biz Times – PG&E consolidating Bay Area operations, leasing space in San Ramon

"The state-of-the-art amenities that will be installed and the fact that it is next door to our conference center are going to make this a great location for our folks to work," said Des Bell, vice president and chief procurement officer for PG&E. "In addition to serving our employees well, we will be able to save millions of dollars a year in operating costs, so this is truly a win-win."

The Harper–Mees Team would love to help anyone relocating to San Ramon or the San Ramon Valley as a result of PG&E’s relocation find their dream home. We also have several very qualified Realtors we have worked successfully with in San Francisco that we can refer you to.

If you are thinking of relocating to the San Ramon Valley, note that we know the area – our team members live in Danville, San Ramon and Walnut Creek. Tracey grew up in Pleasanton and knows every nook and cranny of the TriValley.

If you’re relocating and have school age children – we have two seasoned mothers that can help you with the schools!