From ronks@well.com: Today's NY Times has a full-page summary of the demographics of Silicon Valley, which they define as "a 1,500-square mile region that embraces Santa Clara County and parts of Santa Cruz ... San Mateo and Alameda counties." They even have a map showing among other things where Dennis Barnhart rolled his Ferrari the day his Eagle Computer company went public in 1983. I think some of their claims are wrong, like saying the Winchester, named after the rifle, was "the first computer hard disk drive", but it's a fun read. Some figures: The Valley got 30% of US venture capital in 1997: $2.7B of $9.1 billion. Most of it went to software companies (40.5%), then communications (23%), biotech (14%), computers (12%), and semiconductors (6%). Employment there is up 120,000 in four years, to 1.138 million jobs. In 1995-1996, 9000 jobs were added in "software" but 22,100 in "professional services"; possibly shrinks and outcall masseuses for stressed geeks, who make $62,800 a year compared to the US employee average of $27,800 but have to shell out $272K for a house compared to the US average of $123K. The "average daily hours lost by drivers in freeway delays in Santa Clara County" was 20,500 in 1996, up from 8,800 in 1994, while the commercial vacancy rate went down to 5% from 13% in that time.

Happy New Year! I have recently returned to the Central Texas Area, and I'm networking for a job in the high-tech field. I'd appreciate receiving information about high tech job possibilities in the Austin, San Marcos & Wimberley areas. My New Year's resolution is to focus on career and find my niche in the Central Texas job market, and your help would be a welcome and valuable addition to that process. Warm regards, Ariana ======================================== Ariana Vincent Post Office Box 1705 Wimberley, Texas 78676 Telephone: (512) 847-1408 E-Mail: ariana@wimberley-tx.com CAREER OBJECTIVES: Technical Writer Technical Production Assistant Technical Copy Editor EDUCATION 1988 - 1989 Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas Graduate studies, psychology 1985 - 1986 John F. Kennedy University, Orinda, California Graduate studies, psychology 1975 - 1980 The University of Texas, Austin, Texas, B. A. & B.F. A. (Major: Fine Art, Minor: Psychology) SUPPLEMENTAL EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE 1996 - 1997 Laure-Conan School and Durocher School - Quebec - French language courses 1990 Austin Writers� League, Austin, Texas - Seminars for Authors and Journalists 1992 Austin Community College, Austin, Texas - Seminars for Technical Writers EXPERIENCE Optimum Translations, Inc., New Brunswick Technical Copy Editor, 1997 Municipality of St-Ambroise, Quebec Teacher (English as a Second Language), 1996 Ariana Vincent, Photographer Professional Photographer, (contractual), 1980 - Present Whitehurst, Harkness & Watson, Austin, Texas Legal Secretary, 1991 - 1993 Griggs & Harrison, Attorneys, Austin, Texas Legal Secretary, 1990 Ticor Title Insurance Company, San Francisco, California Administrative Secretary 1988 - 1989 LEGAL SECRETARY & ADMINISTRATIVE SECRETARY Provided administrative support for attorneys and executives and utilized a wide variety of word processing systems including IBM and Macintosh. Interacted with attorneys, clients, doctors, and court personnel. Scheduled meetings & conferences. Trained and supervised other employees. (1988 - 1993) TEACHER (ESL) Teacher of English as a Second Language in Quebec Founder and Administrator of Le Centre de Langue Anglais (1996 - 1997) PHOTOGRAPHER Photographic specialization include photographs of conferences, workshops and sports events, portraits, weddings, landscapes, works of art, photography for cinematographers, photojournalism. Experience as a free-lance photographer, photojournalist, darkroom technician, and as an assistant to a photohistorian. (1980 to Present) Photographs Published Inside Iowa State University, Austin American Statesman, Daily Texan, Arriba, Para La Gente, Austin Skiers, Images, and State of the Arts, The Ford Foundation Brochure of the School of Art of the University of Texas at Austin, Southwest Athletics, Networking Magazine, and Inside Texas Running EXHIBITIONS 50th Exhibition of Photography of the Club Photo JAK, Quebec 30th Annual Exhibition of the Club Photo Chicoutimi, Quebec Texas Photographic Society Exhibition, Wunderlich Gallery, Austin Personal Retrospective, The Purple Plum, Austin Sacred Sites and Sanctuaries, Martin Brothers, Austin Hot Air Balloons - Austin to Albuquerque, Wylie's, Austin Waterscapes, Whole Foods, Austin Ariana�s Madonnas, Cafezino, Austin University Art Students Exhibition, Huntington Gallery, Austin San Antonio Is..., The Witte Museum, San Antonio Third Sunday Show, Allen St. Gallery, Dallas An Exhibition of Friends, Bois d'Arc Gallery, Austin First Annual Color Photography Exhibit, North Texas University, Denton Austin Contemporary Artists Exhibition, St. Edward's University, Austin The Faces of France, University of Texas, Austin WRITER Articles have been published in the ASMP News, the American Society of Media Photographers Journal, The Contact Sheet, and the Journal of the Texas Photographic Society (1977 - present) TECHNICAL COPY EDITOR Hispanic Magazine, Austin, Texas Journal, The Autobiography of Dennis Hill, by Dennis Hill, Austin, Texas John F. Kennedy University Course Catalogue (First Edition), California Flying Boy, Healing the Wounded Man by John Lee, Austin, Texas Agatha Christie Trivia Book by Kathleen Kaska, Austin, Texas Formation and Development Organization, Inc. (FDO), Quebec Optimum Translation, Inc., Fredericton, New Brunswick (editing of technical, scientific, and educational documents) (1985 - present)

It's Official: Silicon Valley Overpriced A report by consultants A T Kearney for a sort of Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce called Joint Venture is available at . It says the very success of Valley firms is fostering growth in seven other areas: San Francisco, LA, Seattle, Austin (Texas, not Powers), Boston, New York, and even Washington DC. The Valley itself is said to suffer from an acute shortage of skilled people (~160,000, a third of the regional demand) plus a deteriorating quality of life and rapidly rising home prices. Another determinant sited is that outside of hardware manufacturing, much of the work can be done just about anywhere with electricity and a phone link. - ronks@well.com