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Thursday, July 19, 2007

HP7 is Coming

Of course the internet is buzzing with spoilers, activity, etc of the upcoming HP7. Myself included, will be getting the book as soon as possible and reading it this weekend. Hopefully the next update will be my own impressions of the book.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Biking to Work

I biked to work for the first time today. According to Google maps, the route is about 5.85 miles each way. It's a pretty decent route, because there are bike lanes alongside East Bayshore, Garcia Road, Amphitheater Parkway, and Shoreline Boulevard. And the route is flat, so there are no hills to slow me down.

Also, there is a shower on the first floor of my building, so after getting to the office, I was able to shower before starting work. And there are towels, shampoo, and body wash I can use.

I'm really starting to enjoy the perks of working here.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Two interesting cycling articles

Since I have an interest in road cycling, I thought I'd share two interesting articles published by the NYTimes:

1) The Bicycling Paradox: Fit Doesn't Have to be Thin

- The jist of the article is that unlike running, where thin, strong people are the best, even people who are overweight can be decent cyclists. Much of this has to do with how the body sits on the bike, and how your center of gravity can allow you to still be powerful on a cycle. I guess I can relate somewhat to all of this, since I am by no means and thin, and seem to do a lot better on a bicycle than running.
2) A New French Revolution's Creed: Let Them Ride Bikes

- Interesting - Paris is allowing for cheap rentals of bikes to get around various sections of the city. It's a great idea and should hopefully help significantly reduce CO2 emissions in the city. I wonder if anything like this would work in the US, however. Off the top of my head, SF would be too difficult because of all the hills, NY would suck because there's really no bike lanes and the Metro/buses/taxis seem to be good enough. Maybe Chicago. LA is too spread out. How about Las Vegas? Doubtful. Anyway, I'd be interested in seeing another article about how this program works out in a year.

Excited

Today was pretty cool. Besides training, there are a few things why working at Google is awesome

1) Free, excellent food - today I ate at one of the 14 cafeterias, and had some really tender roast lamb, portobello mushrooms, fresh salad, and some great chocolate chip cookies. It seems that everyday during lunch, it's another adventure to one of the cafeterias with some people on my team, along with some really good food.

2) Great facilities - I mentioned a few of the amenities yesterday, like a game room, but along with that, we toured a few of the buildings, and there's free food everywhere, ping pong tables, a ball pit, massage chairs. And today, we rode around the Google campus on some fixed gear bikes that anyone can take to get from building to building. To be honest, much of this hardly feels like work, but again, I think that's the point - for us all to feel very happy when we come here everyday.

So yes, many of the reasons why I wanted to work for Google are holding true, and I'm very happy for that. As work picks up in the coming few days, it should be exciting.

Monday, July 16, 2007

First Day, First Impressions

So, I had my first day of work at Google. A little crazy at first, since there were about 100 new people starting work this week, and only 4 total going into Search Quality, the division I am in. Can't mention much about the work itself, since I signed a whole bunch of non-disclosure paperwork. On the other hand, I will say that I'm happy to get 2 24 inch monitors, a kitchen stocked of free food, and a game room with a XBox 360, PS3, Wii, and foosball. I haven't got to play any of the games yet, and I don't really want to ask people to play because then I'll look like that's all I want to do. I'll give that a few weeks, then. As for the work itself, it seems very intriguing and it will be a good challenge, especially after an extensive background in historical research. It will be interesting to see how my skills in that area will translate into this position.

In the meantime, I'm trying to adjust to going to be early so I'm not tired in the afternoon. I was okay today but I don't want to build up and sleep debt. I do, however, need to find things to occupy my evenings. Without a TV, you have to get creative. Of course, once Harry Potter comes out this weekend, I know what will occupy my time. Until then, I might as well read some books on my shelf that I haven't looked at for a long time. Or surf the net some more. Probably the latter.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Time to Start Fresh

First things first - my trip to China and Thailand was incredible. I took plenty of pictures, which you can view here or on Facebook. I could go on and on about the experience, about what I learned about Chinese or Thai cultures, the food I ate, the sights I saw, and everything in between, but my trip was packed in with only a few days of downtime before work.

So for a little background information, I have moved into a house with three other housemates in East Palo Alto. I live in the master bedroom. I'm starting work at Google tomorrow, as part of their Search Quality Evaluator team. When people have asked me what the job entails, to be honest, I haven't been told much. It has something to do with rating web pages for quality and content. It has something to do with filtering out spoof sites. It has something to do with basic HTML. So, with my limited knowledge, I'm somewhat worried about tomorrow. But, my jitters are typical for any new experience. Will the people like me? Will I ask too many questions? Will I break any unspoken rules? Will I learn things quick enough?

In the past, I've usually been okay handling new situations, but this is my first time experiencing full employment, so it's a different environment entirely. I did, however, pick Google because of its laid-back environment. And I hope that holds true.

Luckily, I have not been hit with much jet-lag. I got a lot of sleep on the plane back so I've transitioned well back to Pacific Time. Staying occupied, however, has been somewhat difficult. Leaving Stanford is like leaving an entire community and since my house is pretty empty right now (only 1 other person living in it), I've had to keep busy by cooking for myself and making some big but long-term investments in my new dependent lifestyle. For example, I spent $200 at Target today, purchasing bathroom cleaning supplies, pots and pans, and kitchen utensils. All of the things I've taken for granted, I now need. But, thankfully it is not a sunk cost, because when the toilet clogs or I need to cook, I'm ready for it!

Finally, after watching a few stages of the Tour de France in Hong Kong, I was pretty excited to come back and bike around the Bay. I've gone out twice with Wilmot, and gotten beat pretty badly. Guess I have a lot more work to go.

More reports after my first day of work tomorrow!

Thursday, July 19, 2007

HP7 is Coming

Of course the internet is buzzing with spoilers, activity, etc of the upcoming HP7. Myself included, will be getting the book as soon as possible and reading it this weekend. Hopefully the next update will be my own impressions of the book.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Biking to Work

I biked to work for the first time today. According to Google maps, the route is about 5.85 miles each way. It's a pretty decent route, because there are bike lanes alongside East Bayshore, Garcia Road, Amphitheater Parkway, and Shoreline Boulevard. And the route is flat, so there are no hills to slow me down.

Also, there is a shower on the first floor of my building, so after getting to the office, I was able to shower before starting work. And there are towels, shampoo, and body wash I can use.

I'm really starting to enjoy the perks of working here.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Two interesting cycling articles

Since I have an interest in road cycling, I thought I'd share two interesting articles published by the NYTimes:

1) The Bicycling Paradox: Fit Doesn't Have to be Thin

- The jist of the article is that unlike running, where thin, strong people are the best, even people who are overweight can be decent cyclists. Much of this has to do with how the body sits on the bike, and how your center of gravity can allow you to still be powerful on a cycle. I guess I can relate somewhat to all of this, since I am by no means and thin, and seem to do a lot better on a bicycle than running.
2) A New French Revolution's Creed: Let Them Ride Bikes

- Interesting - Paris is allowing for cheap rentals of bikes to get around various sections of the city. It's a great idea and should hopefully help significantly reduce CO2 emissions in the city. I wonder if anything like this would work in the US, however. Off the top of my head, SF would be too difficult because of all the hills, NY would suck because there's really no bike lanes and the Metro/buses/taxis seem to be good enough. Maybe Chicago. LA is too spread out. How about Las Vegas? Doubtful. Anyway, I'd be interested in seeing another article about how this program works out in a year.

Excited

Today was pretty cool. Besides training, there are a few things why working at Google is awesome

1) Free, excellent food - today I ate at one of the 14 cafeterias, and had some really tender roast lamb, portobello mushrooms, fresh salad, and some great chocolate chip cookies. It seems that everyday during lunch, it's another adventure to one of the cafeterias with some people on my team, along with some really good food.

2) Great facilities - I mentioned a few of the amenities yesterday, like a game room, but along with that, we toured a few of the buildings, and there's free food everywhere, ping pong tables, a ball pit, massage chairs. And today, we rode around the Google campus on some fixed gear bikes that anyone can take to get from building to building. To be honest, much of this hardly feels like work, but again, I think that's the point - for us all to feel very happy when we come here everyday.

So yes, many of the reasons why I wanted to work for Google are holding true, and I'm very happy for that. As work picks up in the coming few days, it should be exciting.

Monday, July 16, 2007

First Day, First Impressions

So, I had my first day of work at Google. A little crazy at first, since there were about 100 new people starting work this week, and only 4 total going into Search Quality, the division I am in. Can't mention much about the work itself, since I signed a whole bunch of non-disclosure paperwork. On the other hand, I will say that I'm happy to get 2 24 inch monitors, a kitchen stocked of free food, and a game room with a XBox 360, PS3, Wii, and foosball. I haven't got to play any of the games yet, and I don't really want to ask people to play because then I'll look like that's all I want to do. I'll give that a few weeks, then. As for the work itself, it seems very intriguing and it will be a good challenge, especially after an extensive background in historical research. It will be interesting to see how my skills in that area will translate into this position.

In the meantime, I'm trying to adjust to going to be early so I'm not tired in the afternoon. I was okay today but I don't want to build up and sleep debt. I do, however, need to find things to occupy my evenings. Without a TV, you have to get creative. Of course, once Harry Potter comes out this weekend, I know what will occupy my time. Until then, I might as well read some books on my shelf that I haven't looked at for a long time. Or surf the net some more. Probably the latter.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Time to Start Fresh

First things first - my trip to China and Thailand was incredible. I took plenty of pictures, which you can view here or on Facebook. I could go on and on about the experience, about what I learned about Chinese or Thai cultures, the food I ate, the sights I saw, and everything in between, but my trip was packed in with only a few days of downtime before work.

So for a little background information, I have moved into a house with three other housemates in East Palo Alto. I live in the master bedroom. I'm starting work at Google tomorrow, as part of their Search Quality Evaluator team. When people have asked me what the job entails, to be honest, I haven't been told much. It has something to do with rating web pages for quality and content. It has something to do with filtering out spoof sites. It has something to do with basic HTML. So, with my limited knowledge, I'm somewhat worried about tomorrow. But, my jitters are typical for any new experience. Will the people like me? Will I ask too many questions? Will I break any unspoken rules? Will I learn things quick enough?

In the past, I've usually been okay handling new situations, but this is my first time experiencing full employment, so it's a different environment entirely. I did, however, pick Google because of its laid-back environment. And I hope that holds true.

Luckily, I have not been hit with much jet-lag. I got a lot of sleep on the plane back so I've transitioned well back to Pacific Time. Staying occupied, however, has been somewhat difficult. Leaving Stanford is like leaving an entire community and since my house is pretty empty right now (only 1 other person living in it), I've had to keep busy by cooking for myself and making some big but long-term investments in my new dependent lifestyle. For example, I spent $200 at Target today, purchasing bathroom cleaning supplies, pots and pans, and kitchen utensils. All of the things I've taken for granted, I now need. But, thankfully it is not a sunk cost, because when the toilet clogs or I need to cook, I'm ready for it!

Finally, after watching a few stages of the Tour de France in Hong Kong, I was pretty excited to come back and bike around the Bay. I've gone out twice with Wilmot, and gotten beat pretty badly. Guess I have a lot more work to go.

More reports after my first day of work tomorrow!