It's Monday Morning: Beware of the agressive, adolescent, male seals!

Most people walk into the office on Monday morning, preparing themselves for the week ahead. This past Monday, I did as well. Okay Katie, what meetings are big this week? What meetings will be big this week … as soon as you organize them! Are any projects of yours launching this week?
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I waited patiently in the Google bus line in downtown San Francisco; it's a bit reminiscent of the third grade recess line; the casual passerby observes a line of antsy, excitable people fidgeting along the side walk. However, instead of the members of the line being 7 years old and covered in candy remains, the employees are decorated in Google badges and the newest smart phones (and yes, probably most are covered in candy remains as well). The Google bus approaches and people hurriedly take their seats and whip open laptops to connect to the on-board wifi. At this point in the morning, I have settled myself near the back of the bus, sharing the double seat with a member of the Google legal team. Upon opening my calendar, I see that I actually have one meeting taking up the whole day!? By squinting at the text further, I read the headline: "KAYAKING."
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After arriving at the office, I followed my same morning routine: scanned a news feed to learn about the various tech talks and other events at Google that day (A mediterranean tapa cooking class, free waltzing lessons, The Future of Social Networking talk, etc). I went and got an egg-white made-to-order omelet, grabbed snacks from the kitchen around the corner from my office…and then instead of starting off the day thinking about millions of users searching the web, I jumped into a car with my team at headed south.

We kayaked in a place called Elkhorn Slough a little south of Santa Cruz. I didn't get any video, since the waterproofing wasn't very good in the kayaks, but we were within three feet of seals and otters. There was one particular area filled with adolescent, male seals lounging on the docks (they smelled terrible too - surprise!). We were warned to steer clear of them, as they have been known to chase down some kayaks. The otters were particularly curious and would come right up next to the kayaks, floating on their bellies with their heads cocked to the side. It's especially nice to experience this adventure with my team, as it is (admittedly) entertaining to see some of the top code-writers in the world getting splashed by the surf or paddling furiously away from hormonal seals!

If Nooglers are New Googlers, then Gayglers are...?

Gay Googlers!

Today I had an experience unlike any other: the biggest celebration of LGBT pride in the middle of San Francisco. It was...chaos. A truly combustive grouping of the most bizarre (and fabulous!) people I have seen to date. I am an engineer; I love counting. I saw:

• 12 Starbucks along the parade route
• At least 10 million sequins
• 4.5 stark naked people strolling down the street (the 0.5 actually accounts for an entire cohort of topless women)
• Hundreds of thousands of people joining together to sing a message of acceptance.

I was told that Alan Eustace, Googler's SVP of Engineering, is quite the dancer! I am proud to work at a company which can openly accept and celebrate diversity of the people on this earth. Now onto an impossible task: attempting to remove a fraction of the 10 million sequins which surreptitiously accumulated on my clothing over the day.

Stranded and exhausted in Louisville, Kentucky.

It's 4 AM from the floor of the Louisville, KY airport. This is where your inner-monologue kicks in: waaaaait a second -- aren't you living in California this summer, Katie? Why on earth would you leave that paradise to find yourself in the, well... unnecessarily hot, humid, admittedly-a-little-less-exciting-than-San-Francisco, city of Louisville?


The ultimate irony is that for the past three nights, I have been living like a princess in a Hyatt suite while attending the ASEE Confernce -- king-sized bed, hot showers, a nice panoramic view of the downtown Louisville skyline. Now, after a series of tornados in Chicago and a stroke of bad luck, I found myself choosing to endure an overnight stay in Kentucky (the "emergency hotel room" was $80 and the college student in me just couldn't justify that!). It has, however, allowed me to experiment with my amateur architect skills, as I have collected three chairs from around the airport and constructed a very lumpy "bed."


On the bright side, I have made many, many friends over my last 18 hours in this airport. One of my favorite coincidences is meeting someone who went to high school with Google's Marissa Meyer, and was barely able to recall her name. Bear in mind that she is arguably the woman in technology right now! I am still here for a few hours, so who knows what this treasure trove of airports holds?
Santa Cruz Blissss

World Cup - Goooooooal!

This morning I got into work excessively early. I took the a shuttle leaving from downtown San Francisco at 6:40 AM in order to make it to work before a video conference for a new project I am working on with Zurich. Needless to say, due to the 9 hour time difference between California and Switzerland, Zurich teams have to stay late for meetings and California teams arrive early.

After working on the wifi-equipped shuttle for the hour in preparing for the meeting, I decided to take a break and go for a walk. One of my favorite things to do in the morning is take a five minute walk across the Google campus to a Google-run coffee shop. It's no Starbucks, but they can make you almost any kind of drink you want. And the pastries are homemade and delicious. Oh right, and it's free!

Next to the coffee shop, I was surprised to find a collection of Googlers sitting in couches facing a wall this early in the morning. And then I noticed the three big screen projections on the wall facing them -- a triple display display of live World Cup action, all day long! While I don't follow soccer much, I thoroughly enjoyed joining a group of Googlers on a couch and listening to the tactical talk while sipping my caramel macchiato. I felt it was a bit ironic to listen to the banter about Switzerland recently upsetting the favorite, Spain, yesterday. Note to self: find out if the Googlers in your Zurich meeting like soccer -- if so, CELEBRATE!

Also, if you haven't seen it yet, you don't want to miss the Google feature specifically for the world cup. If you type in "world cup" into Google.com, you'll see a cool display of the most recent action. Be sure not to miss the bottom of the page, which has been changed from Gooooooogle to Gooooooal!

Why success stifles innovation...always hate the facebook layout changes?

Join me on my most recent though experiment:


Imagine for a second that everyone in the United States owns the exact same microwave. This microwave has a set of numbers to enter the cook time. Now imagine a dazzling new design which automatically recognizes speech and you simply tell it how long to cook. It also can answer basic questions for you --  if you ask it aloud, "How long will it take to melt frozen chocolate chips?" the microwave will preform the Google search in the background and speak back to you, "45 seconds, but stop and stir it twice." What a cool microwave?! ... Until a vivid image of my grandmother creeps into my mind: she accidently asks the microwave a question (when she really trying to talk to my grandma) and drops her chicken stew to the floor when the microwave surprise "speaks" at her. If this truly happened, and millions of people were waiting for the next microwave because there old one needs to be replaced, the world would unite...and complain. They would complain. A lot.


After a long day at the office:

Point Reyes National Park

A brief look at some weekend exploring:



Also, I have officially moved into my room in San Francisco! After living out of a suitcase for the past 5 weeks, it feels good to be all settled in.


First official meal as a city girl? Coq Au Vin, a savory chicken dish, from an incredible little restaurant called Cafe Claude. It would have been difficult to find just strolling along the streets of San Francisco. Yet I knew it would be amazing, since we couldn't get a reservation until 9 PM on a Sunday night! With the exception of a mildly haughty waiting staff, I definitely recommend Cafe Claude if you're looking for great French food.


Avoid the Melt Cafe -- it may masquerade as a fondue place, but the whole experience was off: mediocre food, empty at 6 PM on Saturday, bad service, etc. Maybe we just were there on a bad night. Thus, I'm now on a quest to find a great fondue restaurant this summer.

IMPACT: No plans for Russia ... don't panic...yet.

Did I mention that other than playing all the time, I happen to learn too? When you are surrounded with many of the most brilliant people in the country, learning in high volume is somewhat inevitable, I guess. However, this also translates to exceedingly high expectations of all Google employees, including interns.

While at work, I find myself in a somewhat alternate reality as I spend the day working with people and on projects that we all understand (or, as the case for interns may be, eventually understand). Sometimes I try to allow my mind to detach itself from my body and float off as some ephemeral observer over the room -- everything surprises me, as I quietly take in how bizarrely fascinating this place can be. Here a few moments just from the Friday in my third week at work that caused my conscious to hiccup:

• I had one-on-one video conference meetings today with both Zurich and New York City. The most ironic part? This is not atypical for a given day of the week. We looked over some of my designs and talked about the engineering feasibility of launching the features within weeks. Again: weeks. Google rolls products out fast and furiously.
• There is a cafe on the Googleplex campus which makes delectable mango smoothies. Most afternoons when I am not in meetings that I can't take over video chat on my laptop, I go and sprawl out under the trees with a smoothie. My favorite work spot happens to be on the field where the sand volleyball court is (and yes, Mom, since I know you're smiling a little... sometimes I get a little distracted and watch the Googlers play! haha). Today I met Sameer who was in search for a Co-ed doubles volleyball partner for a tournament next weekend in Santa Cruz. He had already paid the fees when his regular partner had to cancel. Sigh...so I'll be playing all day on the gorgeous beaches of Santa Cruz next weekend. We hit around a bit after work, and it seems like all of my old doubles reactions haven't left me yet.
• Every Friday afternoon, Google throws a giant party. This past week, it was a large awards ceremony celebrating a few special achievements made by some employees. OH -- have I told you about Ken? Ken is a new deaf friend who helps me practice my ASL; he works on CC for YouTube. He is brilliant, funny, and most lucky for me, patient. Anyway, we watched the awards ceremony together, along with his interpreter. It was fabulous to get some practice and begin picking up some technical signs.  

Also this Friday, I had my first small moment of panic. As I was working in my office, I got an email that made me realize I could be in a little over my head. Here's my attempt at capturing the moment on video:

Comical

NERD ALERT: This post is likely to contain mostly things only a huge nerd would find funny. On the other hand, if you bear with it, you may learn a thing or two.
I've recently stumbled across two comics that seem fitting. First, perhaps the most succinct value prop. representation possible:

Second: At some point, I shall talk more about my projects with Google (currently, I am working on 3 separate ones). One of them has to do with Google Maps, which reminded me of this from xkcd.com:

For those readers not familiar with xkcd, it is a viral cultural phenomenon of the computer world. You can increase your nerd-cred by many points if you read and reference these. If you're looking to take a dive into the site, I recommend starting with a few of my favorites:

• Geek pick up line: http://xkcd.com/162/
• Inevitably, this shows up all around Valentines Day: http://xkcd.com/55/
• Bad rap music meets cryptology (maybe my all-time favorite): http://xkcd.com/153/

I hate Walmart but love shopping on Amazon!

The scenario: You have just discovered that you want to surprise your friend with a book that you know he would enjoy. It was published recently enough, and in the morning paper you spot that it costs only $10 at Walmart! You think, Wow -- that's cheap! But no way will I buy that from big, ugly anticompetitive Walmart. Thus, you decide to consult the quaint local bookstore and discover the book is $15. It then occurs to you that you will need to ship the book to your friend, and the post office is inconveniently located across town. After a quick Google search on the book, the first search result takes you to Amazon.com. There it costs only $10, and you can ship it directly to your friend for only a few dollars more. How convenient! Two clicks and it's bought and on its way. Amazon is already showing you a  list of other great books that you might want to buy -- it's as if they're reading your mind! Wow. 


The question: Why is it that monopolies on the web aren't seeing the grassroots movement that monopolies on the ground increasingly must fight?

Google: Self-Actualized Employees Do Great Work

Self-actualized employees do great work.

Welcome to Google, where signing the offer letter means far more than a commitment to come to work each day. I have a new theory: Google recruits and invests in employees such that they are often in the top-level of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, self-actualization.

Level one is the purpose of the Google office environment (fulfilling basic needs like food, water, and sleep). Hungary? Eat at one of the dozen organic, hormone-free cafe's on campus for free. Thirsty? Walk 20 steps out of your office to one of the micro-kitchens and grab an Odawalla from the fridge or make a caramel latte (all still free). Tired? Rest your eyes in a Google nap pod, sitting along the corridors. Or why not get a professional massage down the hallway (literally, 5 office rooms away from my office).

Levels two through four (safety, love, and belonging) are taken care of during the recruitment process. Their interviews incorperate many efforts to identify highly-functional individuals. However, a few extra perks can't hurt! How about on-site childcare (oh yes, there are Google babies!) or free on-site laundry services?

With all of these levels taken care of, there is only one place left to live: the incredibly rewarding experience of self-actualized work. Need more proof? Here are some of the things that happened to me today which spurred me to come to this conclusion: I sat outside and ate Eggs Benedict while perusing the New York Times morning paper on my laptop; I was assigned a female mentor in the Zurich office and will be "meeting" with her next week over video conference to talk about life; I laughed for a solid half-hour with another PM in the New York office about the possibilities of Google search; I heard Olivia Cabane speak about the "science" of developing charisma; AND (the kicker!) I got a bunch of great work done with Google engineers too.

But don't take my word for it. Come and visit the Google campus. There are a lot of smiling and laughing people. And it's not just the Nooglers. Although you can usually pick out the Nooglers in a crowd, because not only are they wearing the new Google t-shirt they got last week (again) or walking out of the cafes with two plates of food (WARNING: The Google-fifteen is not a joke) ... but they're also the ones writing ridiculously optimistic and sparkly blog posts to the outside world, still in shock that places like this actually exist. Self-actualized employees do great work.