certainly not one and only

Exploding Plant

2010-06-28T10:39:00.001-07:00

For the past 3 nights, a plant in my living room (which belongs to Jack) has been EXPLODING.

Yes, that's right - we have an exploding plant. We go to sleep and when we come downstairs in the morning, there is a hole in the dirt of the plant's pot, and the dirt is strewn about in chaos and destruction.

We have absolutely no idea what's going on, but we even stationed a guard next to the plant last night, and he wasn't able to help (thanks for trying, Luke :) )

So far we have the following theories:

There is a critter living in/around the pot.

There is a ghost.

There is a demon in our house, and is acting out his aggressions against the plant.

Jack is actually sleep walking.

I'll keep this post up-to-date with any new information.

EMEA trip: Day 1

2010-06-13T09:37:00.000-07:00

Keeping very short notes about my trip here. Also keeping more "work" appropriate notes for my team, but this is for all the other stuff.

Got in today, my flight was super on time, which I was very pleasantly surprised about! The cab drive was pretty expensive (70 francs) but I got to the office alright. That's right, the office. In order to get my keys for corporate housing, I needed to drop by the office first.

So I puttzed around the office for a while and then walked to the apartment. In the rain. Argh!

The apartment is pretty sweet though, it's 3-br 2-bth with 2 living rooms, and it's totally Ikea'd out. So far I have the place to myself, waiting for other Googlers to check in...maybe.

It's currently only about 7pm here, but it's raining so hard outside I don't want to walk around. Which means I can't even find food right now! So that's why I'm typing in this blog that I haven't touched in months.

Oh well, at least my 2 readers will be able to hear about my travels.

Now, off to wait out the rain, and try to stay up so I'm not jet-lagged in the morning.

Lots of traveling

2010-03-19T19:06:00.000-07:00

Not for me, but I have noticed that this weekend everyone and their mother is traveling across the state. I and a bunch of my friends are going to SoCal, while a handful of my other friends are coming up to be in SF for the weekend. That's really weird that we all picked this weekend to make our treks.

While I'm thinking about it, let me mention the update to my phone situation which I wrote about a while ago. Yes, my G1 was cracked and broken :( I contemplated leaving T-Mobile for Verizon's Droid, but then I received my Nexus One. Let me just say that this is the BEST phone ever! Super fast, super slim and super light. I am completely happy with everything about my new phone, and I'm really glad that I waited before jumping over to Verizon's Droid.

Anyway, I'm at the airport, and I'm listening to these 2 weird girls behind me. They complained about a 1 page paper, and then are talking about hospital bills totaling $90k - what the fuck? These girls are crazy. Unless they had a kidney removed and then replaced with gold, they have no idea what they're talking about. Gah, annoying people.

My phone...

2009-11-08T22:18:00.001-08:00

Last week something terrible happened. I was @ a Sharks game, pulling my phone out of my pocket to look up a good food place for post-game. I ended up losing grip on my phone and it tumble to the floor! The screen is now cracked in the upper right corner, but otherwise is fine.

The cosmetic blemish has got me to thinking that I need a new phone though...what to buy, what to buy...

The impulsive nature in me wants to go out and buy any android phone - it's shiny, new and has no crack in the screen. The more rational side of me wants to wait until the holidays to buy a phone, because there will be new and better phones out there, and it's only about a month away.

I really hope my willpower stays strong, but if and when I get a new phone, I'll let you all know!

Korea 2009

2009-08-25T16:54:00.001-07:00

This past week I went on my first true vacation since starting work. It only took 2 and a half years, lol.

Jack, Kat, Rustom, Val and I visited Bryan and Hanna in Korea.

First of all, let me just say thank you to both Bryan and Hanna for hosting us. They took care of all of us, showing us great sights, great food, and great company. You guys rock!

I don't want to run through an entire diary of what happened over there, it is just too much info, and won't do it justice. Let it be enough to say that I had a great time with my friends walking around Seoul, the countryside, eating LOTS of good food, and seeing people that I haven't been able to hang out with in a long time.

Thanks again to our hosts, it was great fun up to the end - we even got to sprint to our flight! :P

Kindle?

2009-08-08T17:07:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't been able to post in a while, I'll try to be better about it.

So, it's no secret that I love gadgets - from phones to video games to mp3 players, technology is pretty freakin' awesome. Following that sentiment, I have been thinking about buying an Amazon Kindle. It's a slim e-book reader that uses Amazon to download and store up to 1,500 books in its memory. My boss is actually the one who got me to thinking about purchasing one. She mentioned it in her GChat status and it intrigued me :P

On one hand, I don't have much time to read, and it is quite expensive. On the other hand, buying a device like this would definitely motivate me to read, especially since I will want to squeeze every penny out of the purchase. If I end up getting one I will certainly write a follow-up and let you know how it is.

Pentatonic Scale and Bobby McFerrin

2009-08-03T09:59:00.001-07:00

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

Hilarious.

2009-07-08T16:06:00.000-07:00

Jeff Goldblum Dead!

2009-07-02T09:23:00.000-07:00

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Jeff Goldblum Will Be Missed

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Jeff Goldblum

John Hodgman at Radio and TV Correspondents' Dinner

2009-06-24T10:03:00.000-07:00

The Old Republic

2009-06-22T11:42:00.000-07:00

I'm not usually a fan of the MMORPG just because I feel like it prevents me from having an actual, you know, LIFE.

But this video is pretty cool. Gotta love jedi fighting.

2 Updates. 1 Day.

2009-06-17T16:44:00.000-07:00

Please read the last post, it was also written today. I update again only because I have to post this video! Jack and Rustom will be happy.

The weekend.

2009-06-17T09:49:00.000-07:00

Before I start, in response to Jack's blog entry about only needing a half can of Red Bull to last for the entire day, I usually drink 2 full cans a day. 3 if I'm really tired. In my defense, I only drink the sugar free stuff, but let's face it, I'm going to die when I'm 50. Better start living it up!

In other news, I went down to So Cal for a day to see my brother graduate. UCI has an entirely different graduation process than Cal. First of all, they only give you so many tickets, and you can't request more. What does this mean? It means that since I attended the ceremony my Stepmother could not. LOLOLOLOL, hilarious. Secondly, they lump all of their Social Sciences departments into ONE ceremony. This meant there were over 900 graduates. Which meant over 900 people walked up to the stage, handed some professor their name card , had their name read over the speakers, and then walked to sit back down. Gah. Not so hilarious.

Anyway, congrats to my brother, now he has the daunting task of finding a job in this job market. I don't envy his situation right now.

After the ceremony I took a nap. That's not really part of the story, that's just what happened. In the evening we went to Todai - a sushi buffet in the Puente Hills Mall. If was good. I defenitely ate more than the $28 it cost me to enter the place. Sucks to be you, Todai!

Then, in the morning, as fast as I had arrived, I departed So Cal for home. The only thing I really missed was being able to see my high school friends. Ed, Haamed, Pam and Ray should all get a shout out because I'm sorry I didn't stay long enough to see them. The point I'm going to make however is that 24 hours is SUCH a good amount of time to stay with family. It's long enough to see my dad, mom and grandma, but short enough that they don't mention anything other than pleasantries. I never had to worry or stress while I was there, and I was back in the bay in time to hang out in the afternoon with some friends.

Finally, at the end of the weekend, I got sick. Then I got better. Wow, fast trip, fast sickness, fast recovery, I feel like my life is somehow stuck on fastfoward.

Time as a social function

2009-06-03T13:50:00.001-07:00

I begin by asking a question: "What day does it feel like to you right now?"

My answer: Friday (actual day, Wednesday)

Yesterday, which was actually Tuesday, felt like Thursday. I'm willing to bet that everyone has had this feeling before. It is likely just an effect of our brain wishing it was the weekend. Additionally, if it is a particularly busy week, we might percieve time as moving slower than it does, so the work week seems longer. The same happens in reverse - a week can seem to fly by when the circumstances are just right.

The fact the we have all felt this feeling isn't that interesting. What IS interesting however, is that I notice that this feeling affects numerous people, in the same way, at the same time. How is this possible?

Yesterday at dinner, I off-handedly said "man, it feels like Thursday." My comment was immediately met with other comments:
"YEA! It feels like Friday for me!
"Me too!"
"Yea, it feels like Thursday for me, too."

Today at work while standing in line for lunch, I mentioned to my co-worker that it felt like Friday. She then promptly agreed with me.

How bizarre it is that our perception of time can be so consistent with each other's perception of time. Is this some kind of weird psycho-collective connection between other peoples' minds? Is it amazing coincidence? I refuse to believe it is merely caused by the fact that my friends and I do the same activities together, and so would perceive time in similar fashions. My co-worker feels the same way and she doesn't hang out with my other friends. For some reason, this week is longer than the rest. Plain and simple. Maybe Earth started spinning slower this week. Who knows.

Plenty of fish, but not this weekend...

2009-05-27T16:17:00.000-07:00

Lots has happened since I last posted about something other than technology or silly online videos.

I got promoted! You are now looking at (or reading about) a People Programs Specialist, not a mere Coordinator. What does this all mean? Well, I get paid more (which is AWESOME), and I have officially climbed a rung of the Google ladder. Other than that, nothing much. My work load is the same, my projects are the same, and the people I will interact with are the same. The only difference is that now, hopefully, my advice and my agenda items will be respected just a little more :)

I also went on the annual family fishing trip this past weekend. Wow. What an uneventful, frustrating experience. This was the slowest weekend I have ever experienced when catching fish! Only 3 fish for the whole weekend. My smallest brother didn't catch anything. To his face, I laugh and make fun of him for not being a very good fisherman, but actually it is very unusual for someone to go 3 days without a catch. I feel sorry for him. Hopefully he will go out with my dad next weekend to a local river and catch something.

In order to make the drive to the mountains, I rented a car from Enterprise Rent-a-Car. This place is THE best! The girl who rented my car was very nice, friendly, and quick. Her name is Natalie. I highly recommend renting from this place if you live in Emeryville, and don't have a Zipcar account :) I ended up renting the car and driving up the same day. IN the evening I got a call from Enterprise, and I thought there was a problem somehow. I chose not to pick and just let it go to Voicemail. It ended up being Natalie - she was calling in to see if the car was ok and if I got to the mountains alright. I was very impressed by the service.

The car I rented was a Ford Focus. I liked the ride better than my old Civic, and this was a crappy Ford Focus! Every time I rent a car it makes me feel like I should get a new one... Ah, who am I kidding. I'm too cheap to buy a new car and too sentimental to let go of my little Civic. Damn you, Civic!

Wow, a whole post about fish and rental cars...it's a wonder you even read this thing.

Twitter what?

2009-05-19T11:56:00.001-07:00

I wanted to write a post about Twitter and how I used to think of it as a useless waste of time only to have come around and realized its potential and its worth. I was going to mosey on into my point and try to convince everyone that opposes Twitter that is actually worth it.

Instead I will just say that Twitter isn't as bad as I thought - it is pretty useful and interesting. If you haven't given it a whirl, I suggest you do. Even if you don't like updating yourself, you can follow important Twitter accounts like CNN and NY Times breaking news. It takes a while to get used to, but once you're Tweeting, it'll make you feel less old :)

Finally settling in

2009-05-11T15:38:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Jack, Rustom and I hoisted the TV up on the stand, ordered a rug, and almost put felt feet on our couch. The living room is mostly livable now, which is nice.

Also, I have all but finalized my room - I just need to return a defective Ikea chair (damnnnnn you Ikeaaaa!) for one that actually assembles correctly.

I want to see Star Trek!

Michael Swaim!

2009-04-27T10:15:00.001-07:00

Another short update - I'll get you to watch this guy if it takes me forever!

The 12 Saddest World Record Attempts Ever Caught on Video -- powered by Cracked.com

Moving Day

2009-04-14T23:07:00.000-07:00

Well, we finally started moving into our new place. After 5 years in the same apartment and 7 years in the same city, it's time to say goodbye to Berkeley. When I tell people that I'm moving, they all have the same questions to ask me.

Where are you moving to?...
Who are you moving with?...
How long have you been at your current place?...
WHAT????

Yes yes yes, I have been living in a cramped apartment for 5 years. Why is everyone so shocked when they hear that? Maybe it's because my apartment was small, maybe it's because I've been out of college for a couple years now, or maybe it's because people my age can't fathom staying in one place for more than 2 years.

Truth be told, I never minded this apartment. It was crowded, oftentimes very loud, and not that nice. But what did I expect? I lived 4 blocks away from a college campus, and this place is really targeted for students who need something temporary. The only thing that really mattered to me is the people with whom I spent my time. Actually, I will be continuing that sentiment as I move to Emeryville.

If I was smart and prudent, I would be moving to the South Bay now. My job is there, and I know I will be working for Google for at least a few more years. It makes the most sense to move down there, have a better commute, and not worry about catching shuttles, traffic, and hour and a half commutes. Instead I'm moving a couple miles away from Berkeley so I can stay close to the roommate I've had for 5 years and the friends that I rock out with almost every night.

When it comes down to it, this is the only thing I really want. If I moved to the South Bay, I would never see my friends, and my life would become EXTREMELY boring - working, sleeping, working, sleeping. who wants that???

-----

I also wanted to write about all the other changes that are happening now and in the near future, but maybe I'll save that one for when I'm at work.

Zurich Photos

2009-04-04T10:07:00.000-07:00

Finally, I found some time to sit at my computer, click a button , and upload the Zurich pics I took.

Hard to photograph people in these shots since there were only 2 of us, and 2 guys taking pictures of each other can get awkward. :)

Cracked!

2009-04-02T16:31:00.000-07:00

Short update today - Michael Swaim. Here is his video. If you like it, check out Cracked.com and watch his other stuff. Consistantly hilarious and awesome!

The 4 Most Impressive Wastes of Time On Record -- powered by Cracked.com

Weekend Warrior

2009-03-26T16:08:00.000-07:00

I found this article on CNN last night.

It's a really interesting read, particularly if you are a working Joe. It says that working on the weekend isn't a bad idea. It allows you to work uninterrupted by coworkers, meetings, and last minute urgent items. This allows you to get more work done, as well as work at your own pace.

Thoughts? I know no one ever WANTS to work on a weekend, but sometimes there are those weekends that you're not doing much, or plans fall through. In that case, the article mentions that working extra shows your boss you care, are invested, and can manage yourself in a responsible manner.

Read the article, it's short and sweet. And start working on those weekends!

Technology!

2009-03-23T16:10:00.000-07:00

Being back at work, it means that my blog posts will likely get fewer and farther between. My coworker is on vacation this week, which means it's just me - one guy posting jobs and maintaining a website. LAME.

Anyway, enough whining. I wanted to talk about technology today, hence the title. I bring this up because I am sitting at my desk right now, and I have entirely too many windows open. Corp mail, personal mail, facebook, hulu, twitter, linkedin, Google Latitude.

Do you remember when you guys were in Middle School? Elementary School? How did you keep in contact with one another? How did you store information? How did you express yourself?

When I think back to pop references at the time, TV shows were always obsessed with showing teen girls talking to their boyfriends and BFFs over a landline, usually with a frustrated parent or annoying brother predictably inserted into the scene as a humorous distraction. How does tht same scene play out now? The conversations might all be the same, but the media through which interactions take place are much more diverse. There are Facebook, MySpace, Instant Messaging, Blogging, picture sharing websites, Micro-Blogging, Webcams, Skype, and the thing that started it all, Email. (Ironically present day TV shows still use the brother or parent interruption gag.)

It's crazy to think that there is so much information out there, and so many ways to keep track of people and their lives. Sometimes it's super convenient, other times, it's super awkward. At work, I am constantly on gTalk, constantly checking email and facebook, contantly "on."

What's funny is the fact that although there is so much information out there now, is there really THAT much information that you would feel uncomfortable sharing with others? I don't mean sharing with EVERYONE on the internet, because that is just weird. I mean sharing with friends. I don't mind if my friends see hilarious photos of me on facebook, nor do I really care if they know what I'm thinking when I write my blog. I think it has to do with the fact that we are evolving just as quickly as technology. We have learned to be more public, more exhibitive, more accustomed to the level of scrutiny previously endured by only those who were famous. Our private thoughts are now extrememly private, never shared; but the rest of our lives are now spewed out in great fashion over the interwebs, and we have accepted it as reality.

Wanna see what I mean? The Woody show featured this last week. It's pretty good:

Stop Motion, Stop Work

2009-03-13T06:31:00.001-07:00

It's my last day in the office, so of course I don't feel like working.

Alex and I started the day off buying some touristy stuff - chocolate, chocolate, and a little more chocolate.

Anyway, the real reason for this post is to share a video! I know Val liked dancing Matt; this one is in the same genre. Enjoy!

ps - please ignore the ugly white text when the video loads showing you the title and the rating. It is a bad YouTube feature that I hope goes away soon.

Swiss milk?

2009-03-12T02:41:00.000-07:00

Last night after work, I got to spend the evening with Mark and Matt, 2 of the webmasters here. We started with a small tour of Zurich, walking around the small streets of old town. It was very cool to see these narrow streets, each one lined with several restaurants, shoppes, and in some cases, strip clubs :)

Matt is a very good tourguide, he was also the one to give us the previous tour when I visited Zurich last year. If he ever needs a career change, I"m sure he could give tours of Zurich for a living, haha.

We ate at a restaurant that Matt said was good - and though it was very Swiss, the ambiance felt oddly enough like a late night Denny's run with beer involved. I had a veal sausage and roesti, tasty stuff! After dinner we walked aroud a little more and ended up at a small place called the Aelpli Bar. So - first, backstory.

The reason Matt wanted to take us to this bar was in order to give Mark a taste of childhood. When Mark was very young, he went to this bar and was given a milk drink to try. He described it as akin to unfiltered sake and milk - above all else, he described it as fricking delicious. We were in search of that long lost, but not forgotten, drink.

Matt led us back into the smaller streets of old town, then turned down a crazy, shady looking alleyway, and already I thought that we would be going to some dive bar that served weird milk. Sure enough, the Aelpli Bar was in the middle of this tiny alley, and did look quite dive-ish.

I was way wrong. When we walked in, the first thing I noticed were the faces that looked back at us. We were easily the youngest people in the bar by 30 or 40 years. It was packed with older people, sining older people. The music in the background? A Swiss band playing, among other things, an accordion. Everyone was singing traditional Swiss songs or children's songs. WHHAAAAAT?

If you ever come to Zurich, go to this bar. Think of the cheesiest, oldest stereotype of Switzerland you can think of. I'm guessing it involves people in lederhosen, old white people singing and swaying back and forth with steins of beer, accordians, the Alps, snow, and a St Bernard with a tiny barrel of whiskey around its neck.

THIS WAS IT.

It was the most bizzare thing ever, but it was really cool. We all tried the Aelpli milk, and Mark wasn't lying, it was delicious. Oh, and if you're thinking that my stereotype left out some sort of elk horn from the Ricola commercials, Mark has one in his office. :)

Now it's back to work. Man, I love the Zurich team!

Inept Bartenders

2009-03-10T09:52:00.000-07:00

Monday: Into the office at 8:50am. Out of the office at 8pm.

Long day, but still good. After work, Alex and I went to a place next to our hotel named Vapiano's It was an odd experience. when we walked in, we were handed a plastic credit-card type thing and we welcomed in very hurried German. Ok, so we have a card and no one sat us at a table. Great.

We wandered upstairs and tried to order a drink. The bar tender was serving an older man who ordered some sort of drink involving Schwepps Bitter Lemon, lime, and rum. Oh man, this poor girl did not know how to mix a drink. It made me want to jump behind the bar and save her the embarrassment. The older man waiting was obviously saddened by his lame drink, but was still nice to the girl who was trying her best. I think the oddest part of her drink making was the fact that she must've used 3 or 4 latex gloves in the process - she would put on a pair to cut the limes, and she used another pair to pour the rum. What?

And what purpose did the cards serve? You swipe them at the bar when ordering drinks or food, and it adds any orders to your tab. You pay at the end, kind of like getting to the end of the cafeteria line where you need to pay for all the food you put on your tray while in line. An interesting idea, but very confusing considering I had never seen it before and was given a card with no explanation on it as soon as I walked in.

Awake on Zurich time

2009-03-09T06:53:00.001-07:00

Saturday afternoon I left for Zurich! Flew Lufthansa, which is a good airline overall, much better than US companies for the price, except this flight was...special.

For the second time in a row on a flight from the US to Europe, I was asked to switch seats with someone for their convenience. The first time it was to accomodate a woman who wanted her older mother to sit with her, and this time it was because a mother had brought her baby, and wanted the seat in order to put the baby down when meals came. In both cases I was very nice about it, I really don't care which seat I'm in as long as I get to pass out.

The seat I was given this time around was in the very back, next to the lavatories, which sucked because people were constantly brushing past my arm in order to get down the aisle. Gah!

We got into Zurich Sunday morning, and had enough time to check into the hotel and get settled before I passed out from exhaustion. I'm quite disappointed in myself because I wanted to walk around a little but ended up sleeping Sunday away.

Now it's Monday, I'm in the office, and to be honest, I'm way more excited to be working than if I were to spend my time traveling Zurich...

I just had lunch with Dennis Hwang! He's the one who used to do all of Google's homepage Doodles, and now manages all of the Webmasters globally. The nerd that I am is quite star-struck - this is one of the first Google employees and probably worth his weight in gold and then some. When Mark introduced Alex and me, Dennis said that he had heard a lot about us and that we did great work...Holy Crap. It's good to know that my work, even if it is small and relatively unimportant, can still be noticed by someone you don't expect. It just means I need to stay on my toes even more.

I get to go to a design review with the webmasters today - should be pretty interesting since I have no idea what goes on there. I probably won't even be able to talk about the things that go on in there...

Zurich and life

2009-03-06T12:20:00.001-08:00

For the last few years, the Google Jobs website has been housed in a pretty unreliable CMS. The reason I say unreliable is becuse the whole jobsite is a hack that has been housed in a system that was never built to accomodate a site as large and dynamic as the jobsite.

With this in mind, I am making yet another trip to Zurich tomorrow. I will be gone for a week in order to brainstorm, develop, and sculpt a new CMS that is meant solely for Google Jobs. It is pretty interesting to think that I will be a vital part of building a new piece of software - making it look and feel the way I want, and making it do things much more efficiently.

Am I excited about building the system? YES! Am I excited about leaving for a week? Not as much as I should be. I feel like there is so much left to do here, and leaving for even a week means that I will either get hopelessly behind, or hopelessly out of the loop.

Leaving for a week, even for work, doesn't negate the fact that I still have responsibilities at the office. And since I am wearing about 5 different hats right now, it'll be hard to come back to a pile of work that will likely be taller than me.

On top of that, I need to find housing. This is turning into a big headache since we can't seem to find a place we like. Maybe it's time to give up and resign myself to the fact that I will be living in the apartment on Telegraphuntil I can afford to buy a house. Lame!

In any case, I leave tomorrow and won't be back until next Sunday. I hope things will stay on the tracks until then.

Paintballin yo' face

2009-03-02T11:53:00.000-08:00

We went paintballing this past weekend! It was great!

I've always wanted to go, but never had the time, opportunity, and a group of friends that wanted to put their bodies on the line.

This Saturday we went to Paintball Jungle in Vallejo. $65 a head got us 500 paintballs each, rental guns, a mask, and CO2. It's a pretty expensive hobby, but I think I'm hooked. The place is outdoors, very large, and it had space for us to play by ourselves without many people interfering.

The service was alright, though they didn't explain things to us in as much details as I would have hoped. It worked out though, and we all stayed safe and ready to shoot other people with awesome firearms.

If you haven't tried it, you definitely should!

2009-02-11T23:43:00.001-08:00

Hey 2009, suck a fat one.

Moving Day and Spending Things

2009-02-04T14:59:00.000-08:00

It always seems like the new year is the most expensive for me. There are so many activities going on, and it's supposed to be the wintertime!

I have just finalized my travel plans to Zurich - I'll be there for one very long week, and I don't know how useful I will find it. Honestly, I feel like I have too many things happening on this side of the Atlantic, that now is not the time to be galavanting off to Zurich. At least this is for work, and hopefully I'll get some good training and a little recognition for it.

Jack and I are starting to look at housing. There is a really awesome place - newly built townhouse with 3 br, 3 bths for really cheap, but it's in a bad neighborhood. In my opinion, I think the danger is manageable, but the trouble will be convincing others that they will be safe in this house.

On top of paying for a trip to Europe and a new apartment, there are things like dinners, ski trips, and golfing to worry about...I need to get a raise and quick.

2009 - Why so harsh?

2009-01-26T21:31:00.000-08:00

I wanted to write a post about how much 2009 sucked, and detailed descriptions of what has gone on to make it not the best start to a year I've seen in my lifetime. Now that I start this post I find that I don't really want to describe anything.

2009 - please be kinder!

Fore!

2009-01-19T22:59:00.000-08:00

When I was young, I would go golfing every once in a while with my dad. I was always impressed with his game, he loved to golf when he was younger, and he has had a lot of practice. Because he liked golf so much, he also liked to atch it on TV. Back in those days I swore never to like golf. It was boring when it was on TV, and frustrating when played in person.

Now, I love it! Kat took Rustom on a golf trip for his birthday and invited Jack and I to come along. It took us 3 hours to complete the back 9. For those of you who don't know whether that's a long time or not, the course marshall drove by on his cart and politely suggested that we hurry the crap up :)

Even though we were rushed, poor shots, had to wake up early, and tired from running around chasing balls - it was really fun to be out in the morning air and trying not to suck. I have definitely changed my mind about golf! I even managed to get par on the 18th hole, which is something I really hope I can repeat next time :P

I'm thankful for my dad, he taught me the basics of the golf swing! And with practice, I'm hoping I'll be able to become a decent golf player. Now all I need is a good set of clubs...

Rustom and I went snooping around local garage sales and thrift stores looking for some clubs. We bought 10 for $14, which ain't too shabby, if you ask me. These clubs are kind of hit or miss, but most are in pretty good condition, and held up nicely at the driving range today.

Golf, anyone?

Lonely Workplace

2009-01-15T16:27:00.000-08:00

Google announced cutbacks to the workforce yesterday. About 100 people were told they were let go yesterday morning, and the news stories started flowing in soon afterward.

It makes me realize how safe we thought we were in the Google bubble. Economic times are tough, and it was a blow to us when we heard that our temps and contractors' contracts were being ended early, but cutting temps is a measure that you would expect from an organization that needs to save money and cut its resources. To have a group of employees leave the company sends out an even stronger message that Google is feeling the economic crunch.

I am very glad I still have my job, and my thoughts go out to those who were less fortunate - many of whom I knew and were friends to me, not just coworkers.

Vegas - Where college is never really over

2008-11-19T11:17:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I went with a bunch of friends to VEGAS!

A sleepless 48 hrs later I came back exhausted and broke. It was pretty awesome.

I don't really want to blog about the details, but it was great to hang out with a bunch of people with whom I haven't partied since college. Work life is so tiring and busy, but it's great when all of my friends, who have jobs and responsibility, can get together and not give a shit for a weekend. Ironically, one topic of conversation this weekend was about how we literally didn't give a shit this weekend.

Vegas, I hate you. I love you.

Blogger should be Bloogle

2008-09-10T21:32:00.000-07:00

Alright boys and girls. This is try #3 in my blogging history.

Since I work for Google, I figured I should at least start to use a Google product. Not that I'm such a nerd that everyone should only use Google products, but when the products are reliable and simple to use, it's hard not to become a Google fan.

I'm already bored with this but I'll give it a whirl for a month or two.