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.