Saturday, December 25, 2004

Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays

To say 'Merry Christmas' in public is not politically correct because of the apparent Christian meaning. Apparently, 'Happy Holidays' is better, despite the word 'holy' in this phrase. Freedom of religion as well as the separation of religion and politics is very important in the United States of America. Funny then, that most political analysts are certain that George W. Bush won his second term as the President due to his Christian believes and values. After all, 75% of all Americans are Christian.

I just think it's funny that Bush was voted as President because of his prayers for the American people but that he can't wish everyone a 'Merry Christmas'. Instead, he wished everyone 'Happy Holidays' in his year-end press conference.

Happy New Year! (I wonder if that is politically correct considering that some cultures use a different calendar.)

Saturday, December 11, 2004

Scott Peterson and the Media

The jury already found him guilty for double murder. The question now is: Life sentence or death penalty. Although I have a clear opinion on that question, it is not the main topic of this blog entry.

It is fascinating, if not shocking, how big of a role the media played in the trial so far. Since it was clear that Scott Peterson had an affair, the public was sure that he must have killed his wife Laci and their unborn son on Christmas two years ago. The popular media had no choice than to follow the masses - the public would boycott a neutral TV station or newspaper. During the trial, it was more important to analyze the facial expressions of the accused and the jury during testimonies than to analyze the evidence. Maybe because there was no evidence.

However, this has been and continues to be an almost exclusively emotional trial. Apparently, the thought that he might have killed his beautiful pregnant wife (who was a nice person as described by her family and friends) on Christmas is so bad that no hard evidence is needed. I'm not saying that he is innocent, I'm just wondering how everyone is so sure that he is guilty. Just because he didn't cry during the testimony of Laci's mother?

Friday, November 26, 2004

Thanksgiving

I think Thanksgiving is the biggest holiday in the U.S. - for the economy at any rate, especially the food and the retail industries.

It’s amazing how much food gets made (and eaten) over the long Thanksgiving weekend. Some sources claim that there are 280 million turkeys sold for the Thanksgiving celebrations alone (source: HungryMonster.com). That would mean that every American, including newborn babies, eats one whole turkey. That alone would explain the holiday season weight gain. But according to a US Census press release from October 5, 2004 this number is more likely the amount of turkeys raised in the U.S. in 2004. Anyways, I have no doubt that a majority of them will end up as the centerpiece of the Thanksgiving feast. And the myth that turkeys are so stupid that they drown when they look up while standing in the rain, does not really make me feel better about eating them.

But besides all the food that is sold in the days before Thanksgiving, the day after Thanksgiving is the most important shopping day. It is an indicator on how the holiday season will turn out for the retail industry. The most amazing thing is that the stores open at 5:30 AM. How can someone voluntarily get up at 4:30 AM on a day off only to be there when the doors open. I guess, many people can't sleep anyways because of the amount of food they had. One of the many tips on how to compensate for the amount of food was to park on parking lot as far away from the store as possible on the next day to get the extra workout of walking. I guess it’s very unlikely to get a front row parking spot unless you indeed get to the store before sunrise anyways.

Happy Holiday!

Saturday, November 20, 2004

Golden Gate Bridge


The Golden Gate Bridge

With this picture, I was just testing Hello and it seems to work just fine. Anyways, we took the picture when we were on a trip to Sonoma county with friends for some wine tasing.

Friday, November 19, 2004

My First Entry

Seeing so many Googlers walking around the Googleplex in Mountain View, CA with a blogger t-shirt, which was, as so many Google t-shirts, provided for free by the company, I had to start a blog of my own.

There are a lot of things unique with Google as a workplace and the free t-shirts are only one small piece of that. There is a closet in one of the buildings at Google's headquarters that gets filled with different kinds of Google t-shirts and sometimes other promotional items about twice per week. To make it easier for employees to see when new t-shirts arrive, a web cam is set up to monitor that closet.

Another great thing is obviously the free food. Food bins with a wide variety of snacks, including some very fancy ones, are located on each floor in each building. The free daily lunches and dinners are prepared by a team headed by chef Charlie, who formerly prepared food for the band members of The Grateful Dead and for George Clinton.

Other unique experiences of my short time at Google include a visit from former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, the excitement around the IPO which made many of the Googlers that I interact with pretty rich (and I'm not even allowed to own any stocks of the company), and the smart and interesting employees in general.

My project at Google for this year is almost over but I will look forward for more time at this exciting place in 2005.