First Day at Google

How could today have been anything but interesting? Google, whose mission it is to store the worlds information and make it accessible, had given me the wrong departure point for the shuttle to get to their office so I missed the one I needed, but ended up hooking up with David (also from Columbia, we'd met already in New York), having a coffee at the new stop (the Muddy Cafe: I'm going to be there a lot) and then catching the next shuttle. Which turned out to be a cross between a bus and a limo, black inside and out with leather seats and filled with people tapping at laptops.

The Google 'campus' was a little less amazing than I'd imagined in some ways, and a lot cooler in others. Its a collection of buildings, many of them rented out from SGI who occupied them before. The dull necessary bureaucracy (photos, passwords, proof of alien employability etc.) took hours, was the main stuff of the day. The most interesting experience was, (fess up), the food. In abundance, everywhere, all free. I had Indian dal for lunch and chinese stir-fried tofu for dinner. Dinner at work? Makes sense at Google. One cafe there specialized in food which is only grown within 150km of Google.

Its not only the food which is international. I am working with people from Zambia, India, Pakistan, America and Argentina. The last organized event of the day was a great speech, 'Life of an Engineer' by Googler John Cox who combines tech savvy with wit and eloquence (its a rare rare mix).

Lots of Google is eccentric. A giant t-rex skeleton in the courtyard feasts off flamingos dressed up in sombreros. In the lobby a replica of Spaceship One hangs from the roof. People put weirdly cool stuff in their cubicles. My team just one second prize in an office decoration contest (theme: Japan) and I fell victim to the winning team, who had converted the space where I was supposed to be working into ... a beach. Its true: a pile of sand and sea shells and and old sofa where my desk will someday be. This is going to be a lot of fun.