Eternal Flame: You Must (First) Set Yourself on Fire.

I'll concede that I can be a bit cheesy at times. So grab your favorite Melba toast and bottle of wine ... this will be my final post on this blog, and cheese is inevitable.

Saying goodbyes at Google was just as difficult as you might expect -- if anyone reading this has parted ways with me at some point, you need no further explanation! Packing up my beautiful Victorian room also wasn't fun. My last two breakfasts in the city took place at a cafe a few blocks from my house -- The Grove, Fillmore. It's one of my favorites and should not be missed if you're in the area (I recommend the Mac&Cheese and orange juice ... though maybe not paired together). 

It's time for me to close the last twelve weeks of my life in Silicon Valley, and begin a new adventure here in Boulder, Colorado.  I opened this blog with a couple mantras I picked up in Elizabeth Glibert's Eat.Pray.Love. : La dolce vita; La dolce stil nuovo (the sweet life; the sweet new style).  I am overwhelmed as I realize that I spent my last 3 months fulfilling the potential of these quotes. I truly lived a sweet life and could not be more grateful to the people who contributed and celebrated these ideals with me this summer. 

A quest to continue living my life in a way that fuels my eternal flame is no trivial feat. But I think I'm up for it. I have a few people in my life who add kindling to my fire, just by letting me in their presence. I have a few blocks of wood, stacked and built over time to outlast the winds and chills that may come up. And of course, I always have the hope of finding those handfuls of gasoline, that when thrown on the fire, cause everyone to step back and silently say, "Wow," as they watch the flames erupt in a beautiful display towards the sky.  

Here's to my (and your) future being lit by consistent, flickering light.
Katie

Googley Highs and Advice from Executives

You might think the excitement would stop there for the day, but you would be wrong. After filming this video clip, I found myself casually chatting with Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. It was all luck really. I was hanging out with an intern friend of mine who is working on some cool research for Google. Many of the secret projects within Google get a fair amount of executive attention, and my friend's project is no exception. Thus, my friend and I were catching up this afternoon and suddenly Larry and Sergey stroll up together right next to us. It's a good thing their eyes were initially scanning the area for stuff about the project, because I think I saw them and my jaw literally dropped open. Honestly, they look and interact like a couple of overgrown college nerds who have been friends for years (surprise! This statement in-of-itself is factual... but people are still consistently surprised to hear it's true). After the initial shock wore off quickly, we proceeded to have a completely normal conversation with them -- well, I mostly listened since it was about the project. Yet it was one of the most surreal experiences I have had at Google to date. 

Tomorrow is my last day already. Wow.

Shoelaces: It's just another Whirlwind Wednesday

(Extra points for those who noticed the Manic Monday reference)

It's 7:30am and I'm riding the shuttle bus towards Mountain View for one of the last times this summer. The city, as usual in the mornings and evenings, is overcast and muggy. Given that it's my last week, you might be tempted to think (as I did) that it would be a bit boring as I tie up loose ends on my project and say goodbyes…not quite.

This morning, I opened my calendar and laughed out loud at what I found (I didn't literally laugh out loud, as people tend to sleep on the shuttle in the morning. Besides, they already got woken up by the man to my right who sneezed so furiously that he hit his head on the seat in front of him! Good morning, sunshine!). Back to my calendar: I laughed because my last Wednesday here has a whirlwind of events. Following breakfast on campus -- I am thinking it's going to be a Belgium waffle this morning -- I have an interview with a Product Management (PM) director. All APM interns who would like to be converted as full-time employees must go through a final interview with a director. Wish me luck!

Right after the interview? Sprint to a conference room across main campus and jump onto a video conference bridge with a Zoogler in the Zurich office. Even though my time here is ending, some of my projects are not, and I want to give them as much momentum as possible before leaving.  Following the Zurich meeting, I will be working with our user experience designer on a project or two. I also will be presenting for about 10 minutes to my team shortly after lunch about my summer at Google.

Sprinkled in over the entire day is what I have dubbed "the Shoelace Challenge." At the end of this week, it would be ideal for my work to bed seamlessly passed off to my team. Projects inevitably create loose-ends of "untied" thoughts that are hard to trace after a person leaves. My goal is to tie-up as many of those loose ends as possible. After all, it's clearly preferable to receive a shelf of tennis shoes all laced-up neatly in a row than a jumbled box of tangled laces! (I suppose that's not true if you're a cat...but cats can't read blogs...)

The late afternoon hits and I will find myself in a Google conference room learning a  secret flashmob dance routine. For those not familiar, a flashmob is when a group of people storm a busy, public area and do a unexpected dance routine in the middle of a confused crowd (there are some great examples on YouTube!). Thus, I will be learning a routine in order to flashmob the deck of busy boat deck later this evening. To celebrate the end of an awesome summer, Google rents out a massive boat on the bay and cruises interns all around it. Did I mention it's a 3-story boat and has an open bar? No doubt in my mind: it's going to be a whirlwind of a Wednesday.

And just when you thought it couldn't get more ridiculous...

...a free Android phone appears. Details in the video:

How many Silicon Valley companies does it take to make two loaves of bread?

My experiences this past Saturday would indicate that it takes 3 companies. It's odd, after growing up in Colorado, to suddenly find myself casually interacting with employees working at some of the most recognized company names in the country. Introductions are almost laughable. After getting someone's name, you might ask, "What are you up to this summer?" only to hear the nonchalant reply: "designing the next version of the iPad."

On Saturday, I found myself in the company of of seven eclectic people, spread across three of Silicon Valley's hottest companies: Google, Apple, and Facebook. No big deal. The irony is that we were getting together to delve into some good old-fashioned home cooking. The goal? Multiple batches of homemade dough, which would yield 3-cheese pizzas and a loaf of whole-wheat bread.

This particular group of people was very social, avoiding most of the stereotypes associated with "super-nerds" (although there WERE a few pretty intense rounds of Settlers of Catan played in the early evening). Nevertheless, it's inevitable that the conversation occasionally slips into tech talk mode. The typical banter with a mix of people like this tends to revolve around the hot topics of the moment, such as "Facebook Questions: viral or useless?" or jokingly, "Careful, you're holding your iPhone the wrong way and blocking the antenna!" Or the product that just never seems to get old to rip on, even months after the release: the iPad.  While the conversation flared and laughter filled the kitchen, my mind disengaged, and a nutty idea occurred to me: the people in the room, if we were not all steadfastly devoted to each of our stellar employers, could collectively destroy Google's, Facebook's, and Apple's product roadmaps for the upcoming years!! Of course, these topics did NOT come up in conversation, as everyone there was fully aware of nondisclosure agreements and passionate about the privacy of their company. But nevertheless, I laughed to myself at the power circle around me: there were many secrets stored between the eight of us.*

Note that while I said it takes three silicon valley companies to make a loaf of bread, I haven't commented yet on the edibility of the outputs. I'm happy to report that the pizza turned out stunningly delicious…but the whole-wheat loaf of bread is about as edible as a brick. It's a good thing that the future engineers will be asked to design spaceplanes or the next great mobile platform…as asking us to cook up a quick ratatouille for the world may result in an excess of indigestion. 

*I have to call out Apple here, because it's no fun not to. Apple is highly (in?)famous in the valley for being highly secretive. Even Apple employees are kept completely in the dark about many products, to the extent that most have no better idea about what the next version of the iPhone will look like than the general public.