In the mid
1980s, I worked in the building on Elko directly across the
street from the cache (and later at one of the buildings
further north along Reamwood ("1282" to be exact) on the east
side of the street) during what would become my last years as
a machine designer.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Dysan had several buildings
in this area for research and development, manufacturing,
warehousing, and in-house production equipment assembly. In 1985
financially failing Dysan was acquired by Xidex, a company that
ultimately would be acquired itself as it fell into financial
woes.
These were very chaotic times. The failing financial fortunes of
Dysan and then those of Xidex would result in a blur of seemingly
ceaseless layoffs and reorganizations over a period of time that
would last for over two years. During one 12-month period I would
report to 6 different supervisors or managers. Twice during that
time I wrote my own performance reviews since nobody else was
qualified to. (And it seems to me that I gave myself good reviews,
too! 
) But somehow this 30sumtin machine
designer always managed to miss the "downsizing" axe.
But there were plenty of good friends and good memories. One of my
favorite memories is the compliment a young mechanical engineering
student paid me when she told me that she thought that I was a
"good role model" for her! 
By now I was living in Scotts Valley and commuting to Santa
Clara, having been transferred back to the Santa Clara area by
Dysan during their desperate downsizing efforts. Unforeseen by me
at the time, the commute from the Santa Cruz coast to the Silicon
Valley would become a fixture of my life that would continue almost
unbroken from October 1984 through today.
Now for the cache. Not an ivy hide, there is no evil camo
involved, or clever cache placement. Maybe the next hide in the
series ...
Moving forward, this "Been Here" series will probably grow to
include (in autobiographical chronological order):
Been Here: Walsh
Been Here: Elko and Reamwood
Been Here: Patrick Henry
Been Here: Pastoria
Been Here: East Java
Been Here: Osgood
(My Scotts Valley cache Benchmark Q 1455 fits in between Walsh and
Elko/Reamwood.)
Enjoy! And happy caching!
50sumtin
Congratulations to Motorbug who was FTF just 14 minutes after this
was published!