I've spent the past week in the United States, at the Adobe Headquarters in San Jose. Having been appointed as NZ's first Adobe Higher Education Leader, it was great to be able to attend their Summer Institute for Education Leaders and meet some very talented people. It was also great to see the sharp and welcoming contrast I received from Adobe (spending 5 days in their building and meeting their staff) compared to my two attempts to visit Apple HQ in recent years...both as a writer for NZ Macguide and as the owner of this site....which has seen me do little more than stand outside and take photos.

I'm writing this at San Francisco Airport, having spent the day in San Francisco before I fly back to New Zealand. I'm pleased to report that despite any support from Apple, I've been to two separate Apple Stores on this one week trip, stood outside Mecca (Apple HQ) and purchased some goodies to give away on this site....but purchased nothing for myself.

The two stores that I visited are very different in layout and size. But at the same time, the atmosphere in both was impressive...as were the number of staff. I'm assuming these staff get paid little or that Apple makes a fortune, because at one point I actually started laughing with how often I was asked how I was doing by the same person.