Happy Canada Day

Today, in honour of Canada day, Google served poutine. It was just awesome, I never ever thought it would happen, mostly because 98% of the food there is healthy and organic. I wouldn't be surprised if the potatoes were organic and probably not deep fried.

Secondly, I got a new t-shirt today... which normally wouldn't be a big deal, cause they are giving them out all the time but this t-shirt is personalized! On the front: Google logo and User Experience Research On the back: Focus on the User the rest will follow, http://www.google.com/usability Its very cool and by far my favourite T so far.

Tomorrow, for Canada day, while Michelle throws a big party at home, I'm going to get up at the crack of dawn to go surfing. I have no idea if I can actually surf, (I'm going to guess not) but it will be fun and interesting.

I wish I could say more...

Today... at work... I had Arts and Crafts time...

Wow... That was a long Monday.

It's shortly after 8 and I just got home from work. Mondays are very long days. Mostly filled with meetings, and I spend a good chunk of my day observing studies. Really interesting stuff. I've learned a lot here so far, my old boss back home is going to be totally impressed when I get back I hope he'll not only give me a part time job, but that hes saving some cool projects for me.

I have some stuff that I really want to try to read through tonight, it was my goal to finish it today but it hasn't happened yet and since Sean is still at work for a few hours I might be able to do it and not get sucked into the video games.

We bought a Game Cube yesterday, and of course Super Smash Bros. So that's lots of entertainment. I'd like to note that I won the first game, of the first smash bros on the new system.

I also got my order from the Google store today. Fairly happy with everything. I love the sweater and workout towel. I haven't tried the laptop bag but it looks more than big enough. The laptop light however was broken, the lightbulb needs to be sodered back into place ... so I guess I have to return it. If anyone really wants something from the store let me know.

Finally Going to Start paying for Internet.

Boo...

I'm currently hanging out at Panera cause the internet actually works here. The internet I have been mooching for the past month and half has (I think) finally got wise, I haven't been able to connect to it for the past 3 days. So next wednesday Comcast is coming out to hook me up. The best part: When you place an order online they connect you to a support person in a live chat to set everything up properly and arrange a installation time, one way or another I found out that the live chat is based in Winnipeg. Apperently most of Comcast support is outsourced in Canada.

I got a decent price for internet for the next 3 months, then when it goes back to full price... BAM... I'm gone back to Canada.

Thursday, Google took all their Engineers and Engineer Ops (like me) to the Beach. Team Building exercise you know. I was totally expecting a beach... kinda like Grand Bend. but. The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is nothing like Grand Bend. First of all ... it has Rollarcoasters and cotton candy and surfers and about a dozen pro volleyball courts and free beer (from Google). More pictures will follow. If anyone has ever seen the cartoon "The Weekenders" I think this is the beach they always visit.

Also... They tried to sell me a "Deep Fried Twinkie"

Free beer... Since starting my work here I've never been more tempted to start drinking beer. It's offered quite frequently and is very social at work to have one with friends. Everyone told me when I went to University I would want to start drinking beer .... but no... only when I started to work for google.

Weekend happenings: http://www.sfpride.org/

I can see my house from here!

Last week I guess I missed a very important product release. Google Earth has released their next version... WITH MORE IMAGES. Windsor has now become crystal clear, Bermuda is getting better, Grand Bend hasn't changed, And it can now find Little Britan in Ontario.

Can spend hours flying around and looking at all the cool stuff, I really suggest you try it for yourself. Get Google Earth

Other cool places.... Oakville is super high res now so I'm sure you can see Ava's house. Minneapolis is getting better in the suburbs so Sean's moms house is visable. A ton of stuff around here looks great. Enjoy!

That's a Lot of Email...

I spent a good portion of my day yesterday sorting through last weeks work emails. Didn't miss anything too important I don't think. I now have about 4 different projects that I'm part of. Which is great, I love having work to do. Nothing is overly urgent so I'm taking my time to get to it, so that I can do my best.

Would be very cool to be able to come back here next summer. I'm really enjoying the job so far, and I have learned SO much about everything. Many life lessons about moving across country and who to trust and who to talk to. Plus it shouldn't be as hard next year if I already have a SSN.

Starting to go a little stir crazy just working and going home tho. A group of the interns went surfing last weekend, which would have been a lot of fun. And now that the weather is getting warmer here (finally) I'm ready to go to the beach and touring around. There was a group of interns who enjoy photography, maybe they are ready to go touring too.

This morning's coffee is doing weird things to my head... I totally feel like I'm spinning. Weird.

So many things to write about... I've forgotten them all

I'm back in Cali. Very short, unexpected trip home. As you might have guessed, my grandfather passed away. The funeral was Friday and was a very nice service, very sad. My sister did an excellent job giving a short speech about Grandpa, made everyone cry a fair deal. The funeral was followed by a good ol fashioned lunch at the community centre, put on by Church ladies, with tiny salmon sandwiches and homemade pickles. Very country, very refreshing. I'm not going to say much more than that cause I don't think this is the place for it.

The flights back to CA were incredibly smooth. Probably the best I've been on in a long time. My only trouble was coming back to the long term parking lot and forgetting where I parked. I think I scared my Dad pretty good, he was calling and emailing all night till I finally talked to him. (sorry)

In other news:
Picasa web albums are in "test" instead of beta. Which is really cool, I've been waiting a long time for them to be released, I don't have many pictures on this computer so my albums are still limited, I'll be adding more over the summer. But I'll still likely use Kodak as well.

I got my first paycheck, however I'm still waiting on my backpay from last month.

I finally finished the Da Vinci Code this morning. Good book, better than the movie but the movie was good to see first. Helped me visualise a few things and helped me not be so mad when they were taking too long to get to the point, cause I knew what the point was already.

From Wednesday...

Sitting in a plane typing out my thoughts for my blog later, kinda wondering how many are reading over my shoulder but whatever. It’s a good distraction and if I had thought of it a little more I would have downloaded the file that I need to work on for school/work. As it turns out my work term report might not need to be confidential, I’ll only be allowed to talk about method… no products. Which is fine, I’ve already learned lots about different methods. Hum… wonder how my last work term report got marked, might be a little scary HA maybe I’ll be kicked out of co-op and then I won’t have to write a report……….. I’ve already got some of the best parts of co-op. (just kidding Jeff and Kate)

Turbulence sucks. Been a fairly bumpy ride this morning but time is passing fairly quickly. It’s a little after 2 EST and I’m supposed to be landing in an hour and half. Should have lots of batteries for that…. I hope…

I thought at one point I would try to get a wireless signal up here but I’m not sure whether or not the flight attendants said that it was okay. I’d rather just leave it off and not risk it…. I’d hate to be responsible for making the plane fall out of the sky. (so I’m typing this in Word)

Instead of focusing on going home and the reason for going home, I’ll talk more about CA. It’s a nice place… I haven’t fallen in love with anything there, except my job. The job is great! The weather is nice… the scenery is nice… but it’s nothing super amazing and other than Sean it gets kinda lonely. Sure I’m making new friends but I have a really good group of friends back in Windsor. I’m sure I sound very depressed and sappy right now but that’s kinda how I feel.

Currently listening to my shuffle, my old traveling tunes just came on… listening to Stroke9 … remember them… they had about 2 “hits” {Little Black Back Pack and Letters I think} but really their CD is pretty good… I bought it and usually listen to it while traveling. I remember I had it for the last time we drove to Florida and it always makes me think of crossing the bridges/causeways on our way to the Keys. I guess that was about 5 years ago now. Man. That was a good trip tho, all of us in the back of the … jeep? … I forget what vehicle we had but I know that Julie was in middle and got so mad cause we were touching her legs. heheh

Turbulence is really bad right now… I’m going to be super pissed if I throw up on my computer.

According to the map, on the tv that is in the back of the seat ahead of me… we are just leaving Mississippi. It’s cool to be able to watch where we are generally. 555 mph… crazy.

Haha… seatbelt light came off for like 30 seconds and now its back on.

Alright… “Ladies and Gentlemen we are about to start making our decent into Detroit we ask that you put away all electronic devices and return your seat and tray tables to their full and upright position.”

Sadly

I'll be going home for a few days.

I doubt I'll be updating this while I'm gone.

See you next week if not before.

Cars, Firefly and a Million Dollar Baby

Lazy weekend here been filled with lots of movies. I think that's how I like my weekends just time to unplug and veg out. I know i know, I shouldn't be wasting my time here... I should be out taking pictures and seeing the world. But sometimes its nice to be a Bum.

Saw Cars last night. Pretty good movie, not the best pixar has ever done but deffinatly a good one to watch. I haven't seen "Over the Hedge" but I would still see Cars over it. There are some scenes in the movie where it looks SO REAL. Like, they are driving along route 66 and I swear I've seen photos that look that just like that. With animation that good its not hard to see why the movie would take 2 years and about 150 people to make (not including actors).

Watched the first episode of Firefly this afternoon. It's decent, I think I'll continue watching the rest of the series just so that I'll understand the movie later. Tonight at some point we're going to watch Million Dollar Baby, I haven't seen it yet and I'm looking forward to it.

In other news:

• Ice Climbers, Game & Watch, and Young Link will not be in the next Smash Bros; I can't really say that I'm disappointed, I never liked those characters anyways. Which I'm sure is why they are removing them.
  
• At TGIF on friday I discovered that Sergey looks like never gets any sleep and always just got out of bed. I think its the hair
• Google browser sync is now available... which is cool I think. I don't think I can really effectively make use of it right now but maybe when i get home and have TWO computers.

Saturday!

Okay okay I need an update for my thousands of adoring fans... aka my parents.

Been a pretty decent week but haven't done much other than work. I got a pretty cool project at work, something I've never really had to do before so "Wee... I'm Learning."

-- momentary break to eat corn pops and wake up --

So I slept till 10:30 this morning. It was fantastic! I usually can never sleep in but its been a long week it seemed. Sean's store is finally open and doing well. It's been very busy for him helping open the new store but I think he likes it more than he hates it. It's always stressfull being the boss. It's also been a very big week for Google, lots of cool releases and media attention that I'm sure you have heard of.

I think tonight I'm going to go see "Cars", I've learned my lesson with kids movies... only go at times when the annoying-aged kids are sleeping. Plan is for 10:20 tonight.

Things I'm Missing at home:
Father's day weekend; Sorry Dad, I'll be there for your birthday
Brother's Wedding Shower; hehe only a little upset I'm missing it
Hanging out with Michelle; called her last night.... she wasn't home
Intersession midterms, projects and exams; HA-HA

My grandfather isn't doing well at all. very sad times.

{incase you were wondering how my mood changed so fast in this blog; I got a phone call in the middle}

Column Worth Sharing

Hahaha... Funny Indeed.
http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,71094-0.html?tw=rss.index

Because Shil is Hungry

Back at home Shil asked for some recipies of what we are eating here... I don't really have any but I can offer a menu. This was last night's dinner menu, edited slightly

Macaroni Salad
Elbow macaroni with carrots, mayonnaise, red onions and apple cider vinegar

Greek Salad
English cucumbers with feta cheese, red bell peppers, kalamata olives, lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil

Greek Spinach Salad
Organic baby spinach with kalamata olives, red onion, pistachios, roasted tomatoes, feta cheese, lemon juice, olive oil, Dijon mustard, oregano and garlic

Avocado Salad
Avocados with persimmons, Hawaiian papaya, cucumbers, grapefruit, oranges, lemon juice, garlic, honey and olive oil

Drunken Orange Slices
Oranges with cinnamon and Grand Marnier

Chicken Korma
Free range chicken thighs cooked with cream, coconut milk, curry powder, tomatoes, cashews, almonds, butter and onion

Aloo Palak
Potatoes and spinach with onions, garlic, ginger and curry powder

Green Lentils
Green lentils with zucchini, tomatoes, onions, garlic, ginger and curry powder

Grilled Halibut
Fresh, line caught halibut grilled and topped with a pineapple salsa of pineapple, shallots, red bell peppers, jalapenos and cilantro

Roasted Japanese Eggplant
With yellow pepper coulis of garlic, yellow bell peppers, extra virgin olive oil and sherry

Linguini
Linguini pasta tossed with a thyme cream reduction of fresh thyme, cream, white wine, garlic, shallots and celery

Sweet & Sour Prawns
Prawns with pineapple, green onion, garlic, ginger, tamari, sesame oil and rice barn oil

Vegetable Chow Mein
Chow mein with sugar snap peas, carrots, bean sprouts and green & red bell peppers

Pea Tendril
Wok’ pea tendrils

Pepperoni Pizza
With mozzarella cheese

3-Cheese Pizza
Mozzarella, cheddar and parmesan

Veggie Pizza
Broccoli, red bell peppers, roasted potatoes and gouda cheese

Seared Pork Chops
Berkshire Farms pork chops seared and topped with tomatoes, cream, red onions, oyster and cremini mushrooms and white wine

Spaghetti Pomodoro
Spaghetti pasta tossed with garlic, olive oil and red pepper flakes

Roasted Asparagus
Asparagus roasted with grapeseed oil, oregano and parmesan cheese

Arugula- Garlic Potato Mashers
Potatoes mashed with garlic, arugula, spinach, cream and butter

Turkey, Ham & Roasted Potato Soup

Beef & Vegetable Soup

Creamy Asparagus Soup

Roasted Cauliflower & Yellow Squash Soup

And to think... I skipped dinner last night...
OH. Don't forget today is 6/6/06... creepy

I Tried Boss...

Outstanding Supervisor Award for the Winter 2006 term at the University of Windsor, Centre for Career Education.

The nominations received were:

Richard Dumala from University of Windsor, IT Services - nominated by Janna-Lynn Weber
Karen Bunegra from Ontario Ministry of Finance - nominated by Adwaite Tiwary
Jennifer Ling from Barrie Sports Medicine - nominated by Nick Dutta
Bruce Wilson from Dillon Consulting Limited - nominated by Marissa Mascaro
Flavio Forest from Dillon Consulting Limited - nominated by Marissa Mascaro
Mike Bujak from Prestessed Systems Inc. - nominated by Eugene Greene

All nominees will receive a letter from our Office, along with a copy of the student's nomination form.

The winner is:

Karen Bunegra, Ontario Ministry of Finance

Apperently my nomination letter wasn't good enough... sorry Richard, helping me get a job at Google just isn't enough. At least you know I tried.... really I'm not bitter...

Why do I always feel so sick on weekends?

I don't know what it is but the past 3 Saturdays I have felt so sick and gross. I just don't understand. Maybe it is the air/water at work but I mean I was there today anyways. I had to do some laundry and I didn't have any quarters for the machine here so I thought I would give it a try. However I was not the only one with this idea and the machines were quite full. I finished my laundry but my socks weren't completely dry... I hate it when that happens.

Signs Photos

So I've thought of a new mission for me while I'm here. Going to make a photo album of signs/company names that are cool/impressive.... So like, when I'm driving by SUN and Yahoo! and Intel and Apple, I'll take pictures and see how many different places I can see by the end of the summer.

Update...

I suppose I should write a little something, I haven't been adding everyday like I planned. Today I'm slightly between job. Well actually I should be doing research about my next project but I'm not ready to start reading a whole lot of papers yet. I feel like most of my post aren't about work so much and I'm sure that is disappointing to some people back home who are checking the site strickly for GGossip... hum or would that be Goossip since it already starts with a G. I haven't figured out all the naming rules yet but I know that Google likes their G as much as Mac likes their I. As far as work goes a typical day for me starts at about 9 and ends at about 7. Long days but there are a lot of food breaks inbetween. I would say that I spend a large chunk of my day reading and responding to emails. Thats how just about everyone communicates here, I have a phone at my desk but I never use it. So far everyone has been very nice, I'm sure its cause I look like the most lost intern ever, tho. For the most part, the badge color you wear on your name tag is the only way to tell what type of worker you are here.

Other than that, my eyes go blurry all the time now. I get up an walk away from the computer every once in a while cause my eyes feel like they are going crosseyed and I'm sure I look like I'm in a daze when I walk away. Just concentrating too hard I suppose.

As I've always said to the participants in my studies, "Feel free to ask questions, I may not be able to answer you tho for one reason or another, but ask anyways."
:-P